Joe Hex's page

Quick question...
At the start of the adventure path the signature trick traits players have access to do not include Magical or Alchemical. How does a spellcaster or an alchemist create a signature trick that includes those features of their class to create a signature trick performance? Are they limited to only non-magical sig tricks? Feels like it puts them at a disadvantage. Should they really have to wait until another magical or alchemical performer comes along to show them? I'm still running The Show Must Go On. Characters are nearing 5th level. The casters know plenty of magic at this point.
I have a player who really wanted to use dancing lights as part of a sig trick, but there were no traits that seemed to fit.

This prestige class states that after reaching 2nd, a character gains all of the class features of a previous class. Does that include spell casting? Nothing written about the prestige class in ISG indicates you do not gain those spells. In that case, it seems too good. Am I missing something (I often do)- sacrificing a levels’ worth of features is no small thing, but considering what you gain, it’s not much of a sacrifice. What am I missing?

As the title says, which knowledge skill would occult topics and psychic magic fall under?

It should be it's own knowledge skill, but if it was intended to be, it's not listed as a class skill for any of the occult classes. Some have "Knowledge: All", but most don't.

The next obvious go-to would be the already vastly encompassing Knowledge: Arcana. But, it really shouldn't fall under the arcana umbrella, because, that would run contrary to the whole theme of Occult Adventures- hidden knowledge, esoteric secrets, the unknown...

If it is Arcana, pretty much every arcane caster would understand the occult topics, and secrets in OA. Psychic magic and the occult is meant to be a hidden and separate phenomenon than the 'conventional' arcane, and divine magic most are aware of.

So does anyone, especially the developers, have any thoughts on this?

Could someone clear this up for me...

If a monster uses all of it's natural attacks, and/or iterative attacks, does that count as a "Full Attack"- and a full round action, as it would for PCs?
If they wanted to move and attack, would they be limited to a single standard action attack?

This such a basic question, I'm almost embarrassed to ask, but it really is not that clear (at least to me).

Does the sidebar addressing Flurry of Blows in the revised action economy apply to both, the Core Rulebook Monk, AND, the Unchained Monk?

This has been debated quite a bit in new action economy threads, but no official clarification has been provided.

This thread was completely inspired by Petty Alchemy's 101 interracial Quirks, thread!

What PC racial quirks do you use in your game?

Example from mine- The best way to keep a male Dwarf in line, is to threaten to tell his mother of his bad behavior! There are few greater shames for a male Dwarf, than a disappointed mother. Also, tradition holds, that Dwarf mothers, are allowed to swat their sons, no matter their son's age, for shaming the family!

I love the Brawler; I think it's a really fun class, but I don't understand how to explain things 'in game', like their ability to bypass damage reduction, as if their fists were magic. I get it mechanically, but just not the 'how'.

The Monk can pull things like this off, because they're mystics. They harness Ki energy. But the Brawler's fists, are mundane, meet and bone.

The best I can do to make sense of it, is to look at it, as if during their mastery of general ass-kicking, they tap into something primal enough, it's related to Ki.

I dunno- anyone else scratch their head over this?

Simply put, what possibilities are you excited about, and which do you dread for Pathfinder in the future?

As far as I go, I'm most hopeful for Occult Adventures- It's the book I always wanted, and never thought would happen. It's a genre and atmosphere that has been on my personal wish list for years, and it's actually happening... It's not so much the introduction of "physic magic", but how they are doing it. The occult feel, and atmosphere is a genre bending addition, that Paizo seems hell-bent on getting right for Pathfinder. I'm optimistic about this July.

My greatest Pathfinder fear... One day, I'll I go online and read, that Pathfinder is going "digital only"; with a new "business model", that only includes PDFs, other digital schemes, and a half-assed promise of a "print on demand" option from some third-party-site (that ends up costing twice as much and current hardcovers.)
If that sounds familiar to long time table top gamers, it was the 'canary in the mine', that came before the collapse, of the once-great company White Wolf.
Granted, I like digital content as an option, but it sure as hell is not my preferred medium for table-top games. I'll buy PDFs for secondary, and even tertiary material in my campaign... but dammit, there is a reason I'm not gaming online. It's a refreshing break from living through a freaking 'device' that I don't want or really need.

I missed the playtest window on what looks to be the most amazing damn book in years... Is there still an outlet to provide feedback before it hits the shelves?

If not, it's still fun to discuss. I personally, could go on forever with what I hope this book brings to the game, but I'll start with a single thought and see if anyone else cares to join me in post- playtest talk.

One of the gems that stuck out to me in the playtest PDF, was the Mesmerist- the glorious bastards of the occult physic genre.
I have high hopes for this class, but one of their features, their "Mesmerist Tricks" felt off. The problem being, the options were mostly strictly combat abilities. I get that a PC needs to stay alive, but the completely battle-natured feel of it does not match the feel of the class... If their Tricks are a major class feature, and we compare them to another atmosphere heavy class like the Witch and Hexes, it does not hold the same archetypal integrity.
You'd think a class like the Mesmerist, would have a huge variety of head-F*%k ways to manifest, in or out of combat; but there is no real variety here. If you take the Witch example, their Hexes range from very direct combative power, to utilities such as changing appearance (in or out of direct combat), flying, or mixing brews... The Mesmerist, being an equally diverse class in concept, should have as many option to reflect different routes a member of the class could develop.

Anyway as I said at the beginning, I could go on forever about this book, but I'll start the discussion with the Mesmerist.
Apologies if this thread is redundant, and specifics like this are already being discussed- I searched for a bit, and found nothing recent, and post-playtest.

What's your approach? Does mythic status change your character's leadership score greatly, moderately, or not at all?

I've been handling it by giving characters a +2 to their leadership score for every mythic tier they possess. Does that seem too much or not enough?

I've been playing since 2nd edition way back when I was a kid, and the one and only class in the game that still to this day utterly confounds me is the Bard. All of the Bard's ability's are predicated on some type of musical or performance based action, which in itself can be cool, but when it comes to adventuring and combat is a little bonkers...

Spells require a verbal component (Singing or reciting something), and in the case of Bardic performance, actually putting on a performance.

Am I wrong in interpreting this as the Bard literally breaking into song during combat to cast a spell, or breakdancing to defeat his or her enemies like an 80's music video in the case of Bardic performance? It all seems so silly... Mechanic wise, how does someone maintain a performance as a free action?

It could very well be that I'm missing something obvious here; my only exposure to the gaming community has just been my group of friend that I've played with. I've never posted online before, but since I've started up again with Pathfinder, I've been set on settling some of these old WTF questions. Pathfinder has done an excellent job of tweaking the classes, but the Bard remains just freaking weird to me... which sucks because a lot about the class I find cool- Jack-of-all-trades, performer, collector of lore, etcetera...

Anyway, could someone clear this up for me. Is the Bard class as goofy as I think, or am I missing something. Thanks in advance for indulging me here! :)