Jeremias's page

Hey all!

I am little bit stumped and could use some help. My players have built some very strong fighter-type characters: An UC Roge with the Eldritch Scoundrel Archetype, two Kineticist (Fire and Water) and a Life Oracle. Going by an essay about Bench-Pressing (https://rpgwillikers.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/bench-pressing-character-cre ation-by-the-numbers/) I would say they are in the blue zone in almost every aspect, sometimes even above that.

They are now going up against a cabal of very intelligent and savy wizards (the Technic League, https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Technic_League) and have already been spotted and described by citizens.

Now, what can those poor wizards do? As written, they are often underequipped to safely counter people who deal 150 points of (fire) damage per round.

I thougt about energy resistance/protection shenannigans and the very good displacement ability. And a lot of Will-Saving stuff in the offensive. Any further advice?

Dear Forum Users!

My Players want to play the Kingmaker PC game. We have finished Varnhold Vanishing and my players have already beaten the Drelevs and will soon go on their way to the barbarians.
Does anybody know if the game will spoiler them? Does the Big Bad get revealed?

Hello Folks!

The question is in the title... I am struggling with that question myself. As a DM I let the players do it as long as they pay for it, which can lead to interesting cases (e.g. the druid reincarnating as an Orc).
But now I am in the situation where I died two times in the same AP book, Book 4 of Kingmaker. First in an ill-advised chase after the intital attack and again because the final big bad concentrated his attacks on me. As I died once before (some redneck ogres critted me), I'm thinking: Is this really how it should play out?

Is it really like that, that death and ressurection comes cheap after Level 12? Or would you think, that this leads to a revolving afterlife-door kind of world which should be avoided? What are your thoughts on this matter, not only my personal situation but also from a broader perspective, especially the IC and OOC impact on the world/game?

Hey Folks,

I know, there are a few other threads open at the moment... But I didn't want to hijack them.

I have a question and need advice: Should I do something about my Occultist after the last errata?
I took "Consume Magic Items" as an exploit...

I have a Charisma of 18 (I love High CHA characters...), so I get 5 uses of the exploit. Is that enough? What is the experience around here?

Hi Folks!

I have a rules question and wanted to ask for advice.

First the rules question:

Consume Magic Items (Su): The arcanist can consume the power of potions, scrolls, staves, and wands, using them to fill her arcane reservoir. Using this ability is a move action that provokes an attack of opportunity. When using this exploit, the arcanist adds a number of points to her arcane reservoir equal to 1/2 the level of the spell contained in the item (o-level and 1st-level spells do not recharge the arcanist's arcane reservoir). If used on a potion or scroll, the item is destroyed. If used on a wand, the wand loses 5 charges; if it has fewer than 5 charges, the wand is destroyed and the arcanist gains no benefit. If used on a staff, it loses 1 charge and the arcanist gains a number of points to his arcane reservoir equal to the level of the highest-level spell the staff can cast using only 1 charge; if the staff has no spells that require only 1 charge, the arcanist cannot consume that staff 's magic. No more than 1 charge can be drawn from a staff each day in this way. Points gained in excess of the arcanist's reservoir's maximum are lost. This exploit has no effect on magic armor, weapons, rings, rods, wondrous items, or other magic items besides those noted above.

Does it really mean, that staves are not subject to the "you get points equal to 1/2 of the spell level"? So, a Staff of Minor Arcana (Shield 1 Charge) can supply Arcane points?

Morning,

I just read the FAQ. And to me it seems that with the new wording for Dragon Ferocity the attack-to-damage ratio from Power Attack changes to the progression for twohanded weapons. Am I right?

I would like to discuss consumption of armies.

In my previous campaign, the PCs had a very high level, so most of the time the dealt with problems themselves and had a small army for basic stuff.
Now I GM the Kingmaker AP and want to introduce mass combat earlier. My players won't be thrilled to give money away, especially each week (considering they just barely avoided a kingdom crash due to bad tax rolls, it's understandable).

Now, how do the consumption rules for armies work? I know you have to pay each week. Normal consumption is paid every month. Does this mean, that consumption reductions from, for example, farms cannot be used for armies?
I'm not sure myself. Could anybody shed a light on this matter?

To give you a little background...

My group is still in the opening of Rivers Run Red. We use a rules set for the kingdom part, which is mostly UC, with a little customization. What happened:
The PC tanked the economy check and couldn't pay the upkeep. The also tanked the following stability check and had 1 Unrest before that. So, after one round, they went down to 5 Unrest. The next round they had a little money and build a wall to reduce the unrest...
Few months and a few very, very bad rolls later (almost every roll was way below 10) they had no money and an unrest score of 8.

As the GM I let the NPCs (Oleg and Svetlana, for example) suggest, that maybe they could loan some money in Restov. They went there and got money. But they also got the annoying aunt of one character as a diplomat and the baroness had to marry an old noble from Restov. At the moment, the swordlords have no interest in destroying the kingdom, but they certainly want to control it. Both agents (the new baron and the new chief diplomat) know that most people on the council are not their friends.

So, what should they do? My ideas were:
- Try to disgrace Lily Teskerton
- Try to disgrace Khesten Garess
- In some way destroy the Levetons marriage (Divide and Conquer!)
- Bring up the background of Jhod

How should I give my players signs of things to come? Especially the information gathering about the council members?

And I'm still not sure how to incorporate the coming doom named Grigori... That will be funny. I hope my girlfriend (the baroness) won't kill me then. ;)

Seemingly simple questions:

Can I make a swift action during a Full Attack? For example, could I try to hit somebody, then activate Arcane Strike?

And, in my case related: If I have not enough ammunition, could I still declare a Full Attack? In my example, I want to use Rapid Shot, but I only have two shots left and would normally have two attacks (BAB +8). But rather than make a second attack at -5, I want to have two attacks at -2. Would that be possible?

Morning all!

As I understand it, this question is already in the FAQ queue, so it will get answered... in the future. But I would like to poll opinions.

Important Links:

Advanced Firearms: Advanced firearms are chamber-loaded. It is a move action to load a one-handed or two-handed advanced firearm to its full capacity.
Firearm Rules

Alchemical cartridges make loading a firearm easier, reducing the time to load a firearm by one step (a full-round action becomes a standard action, a standard action becomes a move action, and a move action becomes a free action), but they tend to be unstable. The misfire value of a weapon firing an alchemical cartridge increases as listed in each entry.
Ammunition Rules

Metal Cartridges:
These sturdier versions of alchemical cartridges serve as the ammunition for advanced firearms. They can hold either bullets or pellets.
Metal Cartridge description

Normally, between my GM and myself, we can solve every rules question. In this case, we are unsure about the following questions:
1. Are Metal Cartridges like Alchemical Cartridges in regard to reloading speed and misfire chance? The description would say so and the text about reloading speed is before the description of the various ammunition types.
2. If you say yes to the first question: Would this reduce the reloading speed of an advanced firearm (like in the case of an early firearm)? I would like to know, WHY you think it's yes or no.

I think my GM will also look at this thread. For us this will be important next tuesday as I have acquired a advanced firearm... So I hope for a good discussion.

As a side question: Is it possible to chance the material of the bullet in Metal Cartridges? Or build a Flare Metal Cartridge?

Morning folks,

sooo, my (very) generous GM gave me last session a +1 reliable rifle. Yeah, the same gun which is found in the "advanced firearms" section.

I play a Musket Master and up to this point I had much fun just using and unloading it to the enemies.
Now, my conundrum: A rifle can be reloaded as a move-equivalent action. Thats great. With my Beneficial Bandolier I can reload it once per round as a swift action. At the moment I am Lvl 8, so I can use my full BAB with the Bandolier.
But: With Fast Musket, Rapid Reload (muskets) and Alchemical Cartridges I could reload my musket as a free action. That enabled me to utilize Rapid Shot, Snap Shot and Combat Reflexes.

So, I now have a list of Class Features and Feats which are obsolete if I want to use the rifle instead of a musket:
- Fast Musket (Archetype Feature)
- Rapid Reload (Muskets) (Bonus Feat from Archetype)
- Weapon Focus (Muskets)

As it stands, my GM would let me retrain Weapon Focus and I was thinking about taking Rapid Reload (rifle) as a Lvl 9 Feat. My GM already said OK to the more liberal interpretation of Rapid Reload. So I could use RS, SS and CR again...

So, my conclusion at the moment would be to learn RR next level (which is probably in only one or two play sessions) and stay on the gunslinger course... Or to to something completely different. I thougt about multiclassing in some other class but I am not sure if that is feasible from a RP or rules-wise Point of View.

What I'm asking, is this: What would you do in this situation? Bear in mind, I already a top-tier DPR monster. So, more options would certainly be more interesting than sheer firepower...

Hallo to you all and Goodbye to my own players. This thread is not for you. ;)

I have a little problem and I wanted to ask for advice and experience from other GMs. Be careful, slight spoilers for Kingmaker may follow.

We play the famous Kingmaker AP with a group of four players. Two are playing druids, one plays a cavalier, the last one is a witch.
Druid 1 is a temperamentful player, who has somtimes a little trust issue with me (because of previous bad experience with other GMs) and has a great interest in epic stories. I know him for more than ten years, almost exclusively as a GM. Druid 2 is my girlfriend, who likes to play with cute animals (she just loves Perlivash and has a celestial wolf companion). The Cavalier plays a noble, slightly haughty scion of the house Surtova, him I know from the University, now for the last few years. The Witch player is a very good friend of mine, who is the most relaxed and easygoing person I know.

After many problems the group has completed the first book and is now trying to nurture their small kingdom.
Without any meddling from my side Druid 1 was deemed Marshal, the cavalier got to be general, the witch went on to be the Magister, and Druid 2 was elevated to ruler.
Druid 1 was once human but was killed in the final fight of book 1 and reincarnated as an orc.

Now, after muuuch backstory, my problem:
Druid 1 wants to slip into melancholy. He has a long-term love for druid 2, who is much less concerned with the Gozreh-appropriate balance between nature and civilization (she follows Desna). Druid 2 does not reciprocate his feelings. He feels misunderstood by all of his friends and allies and does not know what to do.
He wants to conceal his decline into melancholy before the other players and asked me to let them roll the dice to perceive it. He doesn't really want to play it out...

And now the core question: Should I let them roll and if yes, which skill and DC would be appropriate?

Morning,

two questions were unearthed during my research for a new campaign:

1. How does the Bladebound archetype synergize with the Mythic feat "Legendary item"? Not at all?

2. How would Wordcasting interact with the mythic archetypes?

If you have any idea, please tell. I know that the second question is far more "out there", so to speak. :)

Morning Folks!

After an epic conquering of a nation my group will start the AP "Wrath of the Righteous", with me taking a players seat.
Most of the other guys are pretty sure which class they will take, atm we have:
- Paladin, the player can optimize fairly well
- Wizard
- Cleric, the player has great system mastery and is a regular on this boards
- Undecided, Paladin or Cleric, maybe something else

I thought about a gish concept, but my first question: Will this party need anything else? I won't play a rogue (don't like the class), but something else sorely needed?

Then to my concepts:
I thought about two concepts, here my findings:
- Azata-blooded Aasimar Arcane Duelist, later with Elven Curve Blade and a high Dex
- Human Kensai, with a Aldori Dueling Sword, maybe as a Bladebound, also with high Dex

Both Builds would be with Str 13 for Power Attack and high Dex for Weapon Finesse. Because Mythic Weapon Finesse gives Dex-to-Damage I wanted to skip more Strength Increases.

Now my questions: Are these builds viable? Are there traps I didn't see? What would my weak points (aside from hit points) be?

Other Alternatives where I have an idea for a roleplaying concept would be a pure Bard or a Monk. For the Monk I am not sure how to properly adjust him to the level of the other characters without going Sohei or Zen Archer (first doesn't interest me, second did the cleric player in the last game). And I am not sure if they adjust well to the AP. Any hints?

Thank you for your answers!

Hello!

Again and again I was too stupid to find the errata listings on the HP. I will find it (even now, when I was once again not able to find them, even with google), but still. Is it me being stupid or is it really a little bit hidden?

And I don't mean the PDFs. Them I found.

Howdy,

I was unsure about that. Army Ants can cling to a creature, but they have the following sentence in their description for "Cling":
"High wind or any amount of damage from an area effect destroys all clinging ants."

Now, is the Dragon Aura from old or older dragons an area effect in this regard?

Hi folks,

first:
My players: Stay out please. :)

now:

My players got "lucky" the last time and they once again encountered a recurring nemesis, a vampire lord (3.5 template) called Irina. This time, the little Sorceress was hellbent on killing them and snatching her love interest, the party wizard. With higher priority on the snatching.

After a really long and epic fight (everybody is around lvl 15-16 and there are five players) Irina decided to flee with the body of her beloved wizard. At this time she only had around 20-25% of her HP left.

But the wizard is not only dead... No, he was drained. I rolled, that in three days he will rise as a vampire. I'm not entirely sure his teammates can rescue him in that timespan, biggest problem: He was the only one with teleport. At least they are in Palischuk, a modest city.

So, if the wizard rises, what happens rules-wise?
- Does his alignment change? (From Neutral Good to...)
- Does he get bloodlust or something like that?
- How would (Lathander-)paladins react to an undead vampire, if his alignment is still good?

The last question is no rules question, I know. But the first two are. Can anyone help me out?

Hello Folks,

I'm playing in one game, which is, at the moment, a 3.5 game. The GM told me he will switch to pathfinder soon.

My problem is the following: I started as a fighter with rolled stats. I'm have an high average and thats nice, even if I don't have an 18 in strength...
For roleplay reasons my character became a paladin of torm. With his low, low charisma score of 10.

I give you a rundown about my current attribute scores:
Str 15
Dex 15
Con 17
Int 14
Wis 13
Cha 10

As you see, charisma is my lowest score... I've got combat expertise and when we will switch I will take the trip feats I have at the moment. The character is currently fighter 2/paladin 1 and I've earned a level, so I have to consider which attribute to raise. I thought about Str or Cha.

Now my question: Is there any way to migitate this? Any way at all?

Hi everybody,

does anyone knows of PFS plays in germany? I am interested in trying it out but it seems to me there is none. The newest thread, according to the search, was from 2010...

Hello Folks!

I will start my third session with the Kingmaker AP this friday. My group has dealed with the temple and will (after "dealing" with Tuskgutter) return back to Olegs and interact some more with the Cleric of Erastil there...

Now comes my problem: How is Erastil "good"? I understand the whole "protecting the family" thing, but I find it odd (and from a certain viewpoint not good, but neutral) that Erastil is so men-centered. We have a world, where there is no physical distinction between men and women. A female fighter is no different in her combat stats from a male fighter.

I thought about just striking that little tidbit out and reducing Erastil to the protection of family and the home, as well as an god who don't get cities and don't like them.
How did you do it?

If this is in the wrong subforum, just tell me, I will petition the mods to move it. But I wrote it here to get feedback especially to the NPCs of the Kingmaker AP...

Thanks, Jeremias

Hello Folks,

in the entry for breath weapon, the following is stated:
"Breath weapons allow a Reflex save for half damage (DC 10 + 1/2 breathing creature's racial HD + breathing creature's Con modifier; the exact DC is given in the creature's descriptive text)."

Now I want to give a specific creature in my setting the lich template. As every other undead template, this means that the Con modifier is set to 0. Now how do I deal with breath weapons? As written, this means my dracolich is much weaker in his breath weapon than the living dragon...

Or, in your experience, does the lich template more than account for that little weakness?

OK, why rules questions? Because I wanted to ask about the first part and if there are any rules I have overlooked. The rest of the post could easily go in the advice section.

Thanks everyone!

Hi Folks,

my players found the abovementioned Scarab of Golembane, see here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/magicItems/wondrousItems.html#scarab-gol embane

I looked it over and thought: Wow, for a measly 2500 GM, they can ignore *every* Damage Reduction? Even the epic DR from the adamantine golems? And this is really the only golem I am concerned with. They have powerful weapons (3 Lvl 15 and 2 Lvl 16), so they can pretty much ignore the DR of every golem except the two adamantine golem bodyguards of a pretty dangerous wizard.

Could you help me out? Is that really the right price or do I miss something?

Hello everyone!

One of my players wants to play a melee-oriented druid in an upcoming Kingmaker AP. He is not a big fan of animals on his side and I didn't find an archetype without it.
He suggested something like rage as an alternative. What do you think? Did somebody already did something like this?

Morning Folks!

So, for starters:
I don't play the Kingmaker AP, but I use the Kingmaker rules for my players. They got the task to pacify Vaasa (Forgotten Realms) and are really high-level (due to Expedition to the Demonweb Pits).

My problem is not with certain high-level-encounters (they are enough of them, really), but withl low-level enemies. I defined a few places in Vaasa where the bandit activity is really high, mostly with a few camps and the like. It would be silly to bump the bandits to 12th level or higher just to challenge the players. I hoped for them to train their first army (ok, militia) and use them to flush out the bandits and capture them.
My problem: They want do destroy the bandit camps for themselves. And they can do that, between an wizard, an oracle, a paladin (with cleric cohort) and a cavalier, all Level 16 (or 15 with the cavalier), I would have to put dragons on the battlefield.
My thoughts at the moment: Let them burn the camp, but enough of the bandits flee in different directions so they will escape. The other bandits in the area will scatter, so it will be very hard to find them with just 5 guys.
Another idea: There are a few high-level baddies out in the wild which could use this situation as a distraction or something like that.

What would you do? Is there something even nicer I could do to them?

Hello Folks!

I've got another rule question, but considering the difference, I made a new Thread.

Here comes the half-fiend with his "Smite Good"-Ability

Smite Good (Su): Once per day as a swift action the half-fiend can smite good as the smite evil ability of a paladin of the same level as the half-fiend's Hit Dice, except affecting a good target. The smite persists until the target is dead of the half-fiend rests.

Source: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/halfFiend.html

So, does that mean, he can, even with many HD, only smite *once* per day? I would understand it so. So, second question: The paladin gets extra damage against Evil Outsiders, Evil Dragons and Undead. Does the half-fiend (or any other creature with this ability!) gets extra damage against anything?

And again, thanks for answers!

Hello folks,

a rule question for you:

If a character marked a target for Smite Evil and at one time in the fight he needed Breath of Life, must he mark the target again?
And if the target needed Breath of Life, what happens then?
Basically: If the target dies and gets revived by "Breath of Life", what happens?

Thanks for answers!

Heyho,

just a quick question: Does anybody knows about a mor longterm solution then "Protective Penumbra" for a vampire who wants to walk around during the day? Especially, if he wants to do that in a city with a paladin ruler?

Best regards, Jeremias

Hello Folks!

After my wizard was killed (not a good idea to take on half an army), I'm making a new character. I liked the tactical thinking necessary, but I wanted to make a melee character. So I got to the Bard, especially the Dervish Dancer Archetype.

My Build at the moment:

Aasimar (for Darkvision and other things)
Str 13
Dex 19 (23) (+3 from Levels, +4 item)
Con 12
Int 14
Wis 12 (+2 race)
Cha 16 (18) (+2 race, +2 item)

Feats:
Dodge
Mobility
Power Attack
Weapon Finesse
Dervish Dance
Improved Critical

Traits:
Adopted (Elf, Warrior of Old)
Power of Suggestion

Equipment:
+3 Mithril Breastplate
+4 Scimitar
+4 Belt of Dex
+2 Headband of Cha
+2 Ring of Prot.
+2 Amulet of Nat. Armor
+2 Cloak of Resistance
Boots of Speed
Ring of Feather Falling
+1 Comp. Short Bow

Skills:
Bluff 12 Ranks
Diplomacy 12 Ranks
Disguise 4 Ranks
Perception 10 Ranks
Perform (Dance) 12 Ranks
Perform (Sing) 8 Ranks
Perform (String) 4 Ranks
Sense Motive 10 Ranks
Spellcraft 8 Ranks
Knowledges: 2-4 Ranks in a few Knowledges

Spells:
4: Dance of hundred Cuts, Dimension Door, Greater Invis., Freedom of Movement
3: Aura of the Unremarkable, See Invis., Confusion, Glibness
2: Detect Thoughts, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Enter Image
1: Charm Person, Tap Inner Beauty, Exp. Retreat, Feather Fall, Feather Step
0: Detect Magic, Mending, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Ghost Sound

AC: 29 (33 with Mobility) (10+9+5+1+2+2)
Attack: +19/+14, 1W6+10
Attack + PA + Insp. Courage: +19/+19/+14, 1W6+19
Attack + PA + Rain of Blows: +19/+19/+14, 1W6+16, AC +3, Ref. +3
Critical Threat Range: 15-20

Mostly I liked the image of the scimitar-wielding, dextrous fighter. But I'm not sure, if a more strength-based build wouldn't be better...

If I drop Dex and Cha and buy a Belt of Phys. Perfection, I get the following stats:
Str 20 (+2 item, +2 level)
Dex 16 (+2 item)
Con 16 (+2 item, +1 level)
Int 14
Wis 12 (+2 race)
Cha 14 (+2 race)

Feats:
Throw away Weapon Finesse and Dervish Dance

So, I would get 24 HP and my Save DC (and a few already high skills would get -1) would drop a little. Most importantly, my AC and Attack would change:
AC: 27 (31 with Mobility) (10+9+3+1+2+2)
Attack: +18/+13, 1W6+9 (with the Scimitar +4!)

Now, if I take EWP (only a thought) and get a elven curve blade (and still have one feat left over!) I would get:
Attack: +18/+13, 1W10 + 11 (Now I'm assuming a blade +4)
Attack + PA: +15/+10, 1W10 + 20
" + Insp. Courage: +18/+18/+13, 1W10+23
Attack + PA + Rain of Blows: +18/+18/+13, 1W10+20, AC+3
Critical Threat Range: 15-20 (still!)

So, is it worth it? Getting -2 to AC and -1 to Attacks for more HP and better damage? And what to take as a feat?

Or did I fail at basic math? Maybe I failed at the first stages?

So... Can you all help me?

Hey Folks,

one of my players wants to take a second class, ranger. In the context of his belief (Forgotten Realms, Lathander), normally only Cleric (and maybe fighter?) is allowed. But: this rule is from the old 3.5 edition... For my Understanding is this a little strange, mostly from a fluff perspective.
But I wanted to have a second opinion. What do you think?

Hello everybody,

I'm a little stumped, what to give out as cool rewards for the end of the adventure.
Situation: The players just defeated two avatars of Lolth and derailed an abyssal plot against the good powers of Faerun (Expedition to the Demonweb Pits). They are about Level 15 and the group is: a LG half-elf paladin, a N human wizard, a CG human blind Oracle and a N (or NG) elf Druid.
Theyv'e got a few nice titles from another adventure already.

My thoughts at the Moment are a little fuzzy. I thought about giving them feats or cool equipment (like an holy avenger for the paladin). But like I said, I'm still searching for ideas.
We are playing again today, but the druid player will come back to our continent next week, so he has a little time.

My long term plan is for them (minus the wizard, he want to quit after the epilogue) to go forth and civilise Vaasa, a rural country with no clear ruler. And I want them to build and rule a country which would last longer than their lifetime (at least for the half-elf and the human...). With this in mind, what would you recommend?

Hello folks!

I wanted to ask you, what exactly do you think is really not nice by the GM, even if it is in the rules.
For example (and what got me really upset yesterday): Our Fighter (archer) got charmed and the succubus told him to throw his bow away. In Lava. The GM thought about that beforehand and he tought that the bow would be destroyed almost instantly. (It is not, but that I got from fast ruleslawyering). ca. 18,500 GM down the crapper and the main weapon of our fighter nearly destroyed. Our Group is 10th level, about to hit 11th level soon. And the treasure flows very slowly. On the top of everything, I said to the GM "Oh. Please keep in mind, that you just destroyed 18,000 GM, because that is a big deal." and he answered "Why should I?".
I think, we can save the bow. But that is the result of, as I said before, fast ruleslawyering (Hardness of magic objects and swimming bows on the surface of the magma). Not really the intention of the GM.

What do you think: Is that a dick move? Or not? If not, where is your "line in the sand"?

Hi everyone,

yesterday I used a Rod of Maximize Spell and a Wand of Fireballs to shoot at my Enemies. Neither myself nor my GM could find a sufficient RAW-Judgment. So I'm asking you, can you help us out? Is there some Rule we overlooked?

Incidentally, my GM ruled that I could do it. But we both are people who like do it right...

MfG, Jeremias