James Gibbons's page

I would say giving -4 to saves vs one school would not be of equal power considering you're going to base it off whatever you're casting next. It lasts 1 day per level. I would say -4 to saves vs spells from one school for one round would be about as powerful but it's really in the spirit of the spell.

Spell descriptors is something else though, but you'd have to be creatively descriptive. Like giving them giant ears to me more susceptible to fortitude saves on sonic descriptor spells, that might be worth a -4

you could do tons of mundane things. you could make peoples butts grow so they get stuck in their saddle or their waist shrink so their pants fall down and entangle them. make some party members see blue as red and red as blue if they're teasing you about how your stink cloud spell is just your dirty farts.

You could make peoples hand swell up so they couldn't hold their weapon. You could make someone really ugly so that they have a hard time talking to people. you could make peoples feet shrink only slightly then start a cobbling business where you sell people too small shoes and they think their feet have just grown and they buy more shoes

you could make your own face all messed up when you're doing naughty burglary type things so later no one can identify you. you could make your own arms seem very small and try to win arm wrestles with your deceptive strength.

Got another FAQ?

Because nothing here:

Quote:

ou may change one feat to another through retraining. Retraining a feat takes 5 days with a character who has the feat you want. The old feat can’t be one you used as a prerequisite for a feat, class feature, archetype, prestige class, or other ability. If the old feat is a bonus feat granted by a class feature, you must replace it with a feat that you could choose using that class feature.

says anything about retraining feats gained by racial traits.

When you find that GM;

Edit: whoops that's a class feature. What I meant to say was all those bladed weapon proficiencies from being a tengu.

I've been using the wound threshold rules since they were released, because that whole "fine until 0 hp" thing always bugged me.

Goku's power level doesn't go down when he gets punched. HP is all about experience and rolling with the punches. A commoner who rolled an 8 on his damage roll with his spear got an 8 on everyone who doesn't have some kind of damage absorbing hide (DR)

The difference between a level 1 wizard and a level 10 fighter, or even a level 1 fighter, is combat experience

The wizard feels the spear penetrating his arm and all his muscles tense. The only pain he's ever felt is his brother punching him in the arm and tensing seemed to help with that pain. Tensing against the spear though only helps it jab in deeper. The wizard feels another sharp pain as the spear is pulled out. He see's blood. His blood. He faints going unconscious at the sight of it.

That same spear attack against the fighter goes a littler differently. The fighter has been sparring for years. He knows that when that spear hits him he's got to loosen up and let it push him back otherwise a lucky hit from a stronger person might run him right through. The tip of the spear pierces his arm and he staggers backwards before it can go too deep. Sparring weapons dont pierce flesh though and this pain puts him off guard. If he takes another hit like that all the adrenaline rushing to his head might just make him pass out.

That same spear attack against a level 10 barbarian. The barbarian is in the heat of his rage giving him unnatural combat instincts. The spear comes his way. He isn't fast enough to dodge completely but it barely grazes his arm as his body memory kicks in and he rolls with the spear as if it were the same as the hundred spears that have struck that spot before. His callused skin creates a resistance for the spear reducing it's effectiveness. He also knows that if he yells loudly or clenches his teeth right as it hits he wont feel the pain till later.

To answer some of the questions posed in the responses.

- His powers were instantly revoked, he had designs to go to one of Orcus’ rivals and pledge themselves to them and get his Cleric powers reinstated since Orcus inevitably would have many enemies.
- He desecrated the statue because in the latest adventure the group went up against a Beblith that bore a mark of Orcus. The Bard/Cleric, along with the party actively fought against forces that Orcus allied with and had sent this guardian to protect. The party attacked the Beblith and won, the Cleric/Bard felt slighted that his God would “oppose” him with a demon that when the fighting began actively tried to kill him.
- He wasn’t stripped of his powers, as demons fighting their own kind or even his own followers isn’t outside the realm of reason for a demon like Orcus. But he was so bothered by the incident he actively started plotting to desecrate the statue.
- I forewarned him about the results of his planned actions before he carried it out, but he went ahead with it anyway. “It’s what a chaotic evil character would do” he argued, while I explained its suicidal he went ahead with it anyway.

So this to me actually doesn't sounds like him doing something lolrandum cause chaotic It does sound like something thematic and a response to actual events in the campaign.

What I think you should do is have all chaotic deities snub him. like "you think you're worth our time of day? we're deities we've got bigger s!~% going on" and have even lesser demons just pretend he's not there for a while (but make it clear that they're doing this like "the imp looks at you through the corner of his eye but seems to be trying to pretend you're not there") because the lords of abyss or whatever dont make war on eachother just cause, and taking on the player would be an affront by someone that orcus couldnt ignore.

Then have like envoys of a neutral evil or neutral chaotic deity come to the character like "hey we heard about what you did, you've got guts and we currently have something in the works against orcus"

But the snub is the important bit. The punishment for pissing off an evil deity is you're out of evil club. Classic evil dieties like lucifer are all moody goth kids. No one's coming after you because we are better than you and we dont care what you think

Edit: read a little more of the thread and my assumption giving the player the benefit of the doubt was incorrect it seems

so here comes puny str 19 fighter level 2 with his +6 to hit and +9 damage (ABP - always be powerattacking) and big buff 23 str raging barbarian level 2 comes up behind him mad as heck with his +8 to hit and +12 damage (ABP) to slap the the fighter's ice cream out of his hand. The ice cream falls on an elf wizard's foot killing him instantly, because... elf wizard. This happens to be enough experience to boost the fighter and barbarian both to level 3 and the fighter AM MAD now too (he variant multiclassed barbarian). Both the fighter and barbarian are now +9 to hit and +12 damage.

The fighter takes a natural progression after this.
Weapon Specialization at 4
weapon training at 5
grabs greater weapon focus and switches out an old feat for improved critical at 8
another weapon specialization at 9

meanwhile the barbarian only gets power attack progression. He can take witch hunter to add another +1 damage at the same progression against spell casters but even then he's always short for damage

-2 at 4 weapon specialize
-3 at 5 weapon training
-4 at 9 weapon training
if something has spells/SLAs and the barb's got witch-hunter he's even at 4 and 8 but behind at 5,6,7,9 and 10 by increasing amounts.

in addition if the barb takes reckless abandon at 2 and weapon focus at 5 when the fighter gets weapon training he can stay at the same to hit rolls, but only if he takes both those. He can be ahead until 5 if he takes weapon focus before 5 but if he doesn't take weapon focus he'll be behind by one from 5 until sometime after greater rage

Defensively speaking he's better off

The fighter gets that +2 will from rage at lvl 3 too so the barbs got way better saves from the start.
The barbarian can get superstitious at 2nd level if he wants, and the earlist the fighter can get the advanced armor training feat is at 3. here's a breakdown of that by level assuming they take it as early as possible
lvl 1 fighter +0 barb +2
lvl 2 fighter +0 barb +4
lvl 3 fighter +3 barb +4
lvl 4 fighter +3 barb +5
lvl 5 fighter +3 barb +5
lvl 6 fighter +4 barb +5
lvl 7 fighter +4 barb +5
lvl 8 fighter +4 barb +6
lvl 9 fighter +4 barb +6
lvl 10 fighter +5 barb +6

the fighter is down 2 for 5 of those levels, down 1 for 4 and down 4 for 1 of them. The barbarian also hands down winds on fort and dex saves because superstitious applies to those and armed bravery applies to only will.

Fighter is top dog for DR though
The fighter gets the barbarian's uncanny dodge at 7, though the big thing at 7 is the barbarian gets DR 1 while the fighter can grab improved armor training armored juggernaut for DR 2 in heavy armor at the same level. The barbarian could be invulnerable to grab his DR early but the Fighter's DR stacks with Adamantine which you can start to get at lvl 8 (if you want to use half your wealth by level on that)

As for AC the barbarian if he's smart is taking AC hit's at power attack progression thanks to reckless abandon, which might be mitigated by beast totem if he's going that rout? (he should go that rout, whispers greater beast totem) His beast totem would only just keep up with his reckless abandon so he's basically only getting what he can buy for AC. The fighter gets to have full plate and it's getting better every couple levels by allowing more dexterity bonus.

At this point what I see going for the barbarian other than those saves is fast movement and trap sense.

wait wait wait what's that on the wind? It's levels 10, 11 and 12. For the barbarian 10, 11 and 12 spells pounce, greater rage, and come and get me. Starting level 20 the fighter is never going to catch up again. But Why did we have to wait this long?

nb4 a barbarian with VMC fighter doesn't get weapon training till 11, making it useless at lower levels.

Is there something I'm missing here? Are barbarians doomed to play second fiddle until they learn to strike a swinging sword from a warriors fist? I illustrated this so clearly because a lot of games don't get to level 12 and im sure many people who enjoy optimizing as much as me curse ourselves with having less fun by looking at the numbers and obsessing over "why didn't I play a VMC fighter?" while we wait for a come and get me that might never come

I deny that it can be done.

Additional magical properties like that would be the full price of the magical effect and then half again, since you're not enchanting the weapon as a weapon, but the weapon as a wondrous item.

I think rods are rods first and maces second, so if anything the magic weapon properties I assume would be the price and a half.

Tons of rods course as a +1 mace. Would turning a metamagic rod into a +1 mace cost 3000 go?

8000 doesn't seem that bad, especially if it can also be used as a +1 mace.

how much does pricing magic weapon qualities work on maces? is it still half again for being the same item or are they considered "different items" like when you're putting weapon enhancement on a shield.

I have liked arcane blast since the moment I read it. Back then I didn't even back then I was new and didn't even consider things like bypassing SR or energy resistance. I still already knew I was never going to take this feat.

It's three years short of a decade and my mind is brought back to the feat. So I wonder; What would you charge your players for a rod that grants this feat?

The rod need not do anything else. Simply "when you are wielding this rod you gain the arcane blast feat"

And to answere the question already forming in some of your minds, yes I did just start reading Harry Dresden novels.

I've recently seen several different mentions of magic flails, light and heavy, with the dueling quality. They were old threads I think.

Seems to me that since the flail can't finesse it can't be duelling. Did duelling magic quality change or am I missing something about flails?

swoosh wrote:

Nitro~Nina wrote:

Alchemists do not have the same training requirements as Wizards.

Check again. Alchemists are in the same age/training category as wizards.

Ahh, I didn't realise you were speaking that specifically. Yes, Wizards and Alchemists require exactly the same time to train.

What I thought you meant was more generally. Alchemists require much less strenuous investment into a single ability, being able to have a more all-round education. They don't all need to be geniuses, unlike Wizards. Intelligent, yes, but not genius. They don't even need to worry about upping their DCs if they're going Vivisectionist.

Additionally, their fluffy requirements are much less restricted. Wizards usually need big academies or a strict master/apprentice dynamic, cut off from the world in a process that must be incredibly costly. Alchemists, on the other hand, could learn in a more practical way, and end up crafting many useful alchemical items as they go. They can already craft everything they need to equip an army at level 1 if they take the time and have enough of them, while Wizards most certainly cannot contribute in such a fashion until later levels.

Alchemists pay for their educations right away and could realistically be easier mass-produced since far more Hobgoblins start with an Int of 12+ (their minimum to be able to produce all of their extracts as they progress) than start with an Int of 15+ (a Wizard's minimum); this only becomes more extreme if your Alchemists and Wizards want to care about DCs, which some Alchemists don't need to do.

Wizards, on the other hand, would be rarer to find, harder to find teachers for and much less rewarding to society unless they got into the higher levels, which is less likely on a chassis that's so fragile early-on. Alchemists are so much more consistently resilient early-on between their armour proficiencies, Mutagens and self-healing.

For Hobgoblins specifically, Alchemists make far more sense to train from a resources...

Wow I've never thought this way about the mechanics and how they relate to flavour anymore. That means that for races without an int bonus only heroic people can be wizards, or at least will eventually have to stop progressing. Even heroic orcs couldn't be high level wizards. Only PCs. I'm definitely taking this information and analyzing it against all races and classes for world building.

Oh shoot, that's 140160 silver whoops. So 14016 gold is still pretty good, but sorry to get your hopes up.

This small University sits on a cliff overlooking the coast. The Campus is split into 9 buildings, all connected. It’s suitable for hundreds of students, up to 50 of them in on campus residence.
Five of them are colleges (Military, Magic, Bard’s, Trades, and Herbalist)
The other Four are the Dormitories, Administration, Security and Library.
The Military College is where most large events happen. Pleanty of nobles sending their kids here. In front is a large courtyard which has paths to the other buildings on campus. The interior of the building has a lecture hall, a dojo for sparring and a grand ceremonial room. Attached is a sports field. This arena has the equipment for equestrian events but is also suitable for many outdoor activities.
(Ceremonial Room 1180/10, Classroom 250/8, Courtyard 180/5, Dojo 310/8, Sportsfield 790/10 Total 2710/41)
The Magic College is a little taboo, but it’s much safer than trying to learn magic on your own. It’s got a lecture hall like the other colleges, but it’s main item of interest is it’s library. It’s collection has everything any arcane collection would have as well as tombs that aid in spellcrafting research. It also has many specialized areas including a scrying room, a summoning chamber, an alchemy lab and even a burial ground that has been charged with negative energy to give the students a chance to work first hand with undead.
(Alchemy Lab 390/10, Burial Grounds 550/4, Classroom 250/8, Magical Repository 730/12, Scrying Room 550/2, Summoning Chamber 1040/0, Total 3510/36)
The Bard’s College is smaller but more exciting for sure. It’s a lecture hall and a ballroom. On it’s second level it’s got an Observatory for viewing the night sky. It’s even got a workroom for Artisan’s creating traps.
(Artisan’s workshop 360/10, Ballroom 760/10, Classroom 250/8, Observation dome 440/5, Total 1810/33)
The Trades College is where most common people tend to go. The equipment here is useful for practical skills. It has 5 workstations all in one large room, as well as a scriptorium and s classroom for larger groups. The workshop has a Forge, Textile equipment with a loom, a station for leatherwork, a workbench for clockwork and a workbench for carpentry.
(Classroom 250/8, Clockwork Shop 360/10, Forge 370/10, Leather Workshop 310/10, Scriptorium 320/5, Sewing Room 300/10, Workstation 300/8 Total 2110/53)
The Herbalist’s College is the smallest of all the buildings. It’s one room with brewery equipment lining the walls and a space with tables as a classroom. Behind that are three large gardens, one with herbs, one with alchemical and magical reagents, and one with a wide variety of crops .
(Brewery 380/10, Classroom 250/8, Gardens(x9) 180/8 Total 2250/90)
The lodge is the Tallest building, set pretty close to the center for easy access from all buildings. The first floor is an open room with tables and chairs, along with an open concept kitchen. Other rooms on this floor are the lavatory and a bath with a sauna. The second floor is a communal livings space for 50 students. One more floor up is the Teacher’s rooms, suitable for ten teachers. Lastly at the top of the tower is the bedroom and private dining room of the headmaster. This building is cleaned and has a chef, so board’s not free.
(Bath 130/3, Bedroom 300/3, Bunks(x5) 400/8, Common Room 300/7, Kitchen 160/4, Laundry 120/3, Lavatory 120/0, Lodging 430/12, Sauna 120/3, Sitting Room 480/0, Total 4160/43)
The Administration Building is the most Coastal, and has stairs to access the docks down the cliff at the water. It’s also the building with door access to the sewer. The sewer goes out directly to the water down current of the docks. The building can be seen from nearly anywhere on campus thanks to it’s belltower. The facility stores all of the campus supplies. The front part of the building has a desk area where anyone can come for administrative need, as well as an office for the headmaster. Out front there is a stall for several horses/
(Belltower 450/1, Dock 320/12, Office 120/0, Sewer Access 110/0, Stall 250/8, Storage 120/2, Storefront 190/5, Total 1550/28)
The Security Building a squat tower and serves as the front gate. The gatehouse has two stories. It is flanked by the Armory and the Infirmary. The guard’s bunkhouse is attached as well. Extending to either side of the building is a wooden wall with a walkable parapet. With the cliff on one side this can extend all the way around the campus. The gate has a built in gauntlet. The gatehouse and Armory make this come staffed with competant armed guards.
(Armory 390/0, Defensive Wall 260/0, Gatehouse (with gauntlet) 630/0, Infirmary 370/8, Bunks 400/8, Total 2050/16)
Finally there’s the Library. It’s got a specialized section for every set of knowledge except arcane, which can be found at the magic college. (Book Repository(x9) 460/8 Total 3680/64)

(Military 2710/41, Magic 3510/36, Bard’s 1810/33, Trades 2110/53, Herbalist 2250/90, Lodge 4160/43, Admin 1550/28, Security 2050/16, Library 3680/64, Total 23,830/404)
This total 23,830gp assumes you bought it, which is double the price of if you built it (11,915gp). This nets you a bonus of 404 on you check. Take ten that’s 414/10 gp per day. Add a statue to bump it up to 415 if you like neat numbers.
41.4gp *365days = 15,111gp per year. I actually increased the amount of garden space. If you want more income just keep doubling down on herbalist’s college and make in an agriculture college. There’s lots to expand on, like the stables and amount of guards.

Remember buildings assume they’re staffed with unskilled labourers so you don’t have to add organizations but you can if you want a more useful or competent faculty. Having a military college also justifies you beefing up your campus security to be basically an army.

My only issue with this is that the artwork for Hobgoblins sometimes shows them as very bulky and muscular, when an elf-like build would make more sense, thematically. (Granted, there are plenty of humans with a Conan-like build, so it's not completely out of line for their to be *some* Hobgoblins with muscular builds.)

The same applied to the Warforged from the Eberron setting. Quite often the artwork made them seem to be not only incredibly muscular, but also bordering on size Large, and then their stats were nothing like the art portrayed them.

Elves, and everything with an elf like build has -con. Things that look buff like dwarves and hobgoblins +con. And hey, they don't call it "bear's strength"

I can't figure out how vampires interact with grapple

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary/vampire.html

round 1
So Say the vampire has just successfully grappled a PC
- no extra effects
assume PC doesn't break grapple

round 2
the vampire can choose to pin the PC or do natural damage to the PC
- If pinned the PC takes 1d4 con damage and the vamp gets 5 temp hp
- If damaged the PC takes 1d4+4 damage plus energy drain. that's 2 negative levels which includes 10 damage to PC and 10 temp hit points for vamp
assume PC doesn't break grapple

round 3
???

now why would the vampire pin, unless on the third round the vamp does both by maintaing pin?
does the energy drain temp hp stack with it's self normally?
it wouldn't stack with the blood drain temp hp right?

It seems to me that because this "emanates" from you it would follow the regular rules from the magic section for emanations.

Emanations act the same as bursts but work for the duration of the spell, in this case permanent.

bursts can't affect anyone with total cover from the point of origin.

total cover occurs when there is a block in line of effect.

that means if you're in a box no one would be affected. Make a glass box (so you can see out of it) and put it on a wagon. It's cheap and makes you look like a freak but it's totally effective by raw. Put your air/talking holes in the bottom of the box btw. Any breach in the walls and it's not a line of effect blocker.

Maybe role play a pope figure.

edit: if you spend a bit more money on your cart it won't look weird, you'll just look like a noble. google "musei vaticani padiglione delle carrozze le berline dei papi" (it's Italian, some carriage in some meausium")

I can see it. A young dirty who had yet to find his place in structured rules driven pantheons. He enjoyed his freedom too much, however all the other chaotic dieties were too spontaneous for him.
Then he came across a people who were in desperate need for their own home land. Their was so much beurocrasy in their current rullers system that outlying lands and lower class people were not given the time of day.
So for the first time this deoty picked a proffet. He was the most suitable leader in a small makeshift community. He instructed him on how to lead their people away to their own perfect land where they would no longer me under the rule of the beurocrasy. The new civilization thrived, encouraging all the most important parts of a society to thrive without beurocrasy knowing the dangers that follow it. For hundreds or however many years now they have thrived and worshipped this deity all that time.

I would vote for a social talent for every vigilante talent making ones. This would make the social persona more playable, like a dedicated party face. Have him be everything for social interaction that the vigilante is for combat.

I'm sure everyone's wondering, I just can't find if anyone's been answered yet.

Can we use arcane strike on mystic bolt?