Joex The Pale's page

I am looking at adding the half-fiend template to a creature with levels of barbarian. The racial base speed is 30', which is raised by the barbarian levels to 40'. Which to do use for the fly speed? I'm guessing the racial 30' speed, since it's an inherent template. But what if it was an acquired template, gained after the barbarian levels?

I have an idea for a BBEG. He started off as just an ogre-kin orc, but then I discovered the [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/demon-possessed-creature-template=Demon-possessed creature[/url] template and loved it. I was thinking that it would stack well thematically with the half-fiend template, since a creature with demon blood already flowing through it's veins would be that much ore likely to be susceptible to a demon possession, right? But here's where my problem comes in. How do all these templates stack up? (pardon the pun)

Demon-possessed is acquired and half-fiend is inherent, so no conflict there. But what about the ogre-kin, which is another inherent? As I understand it, the only restriction to stacking templates is that the prerequisites must be legal. I realize stacking all these on will screw with the CR mightily, but are there any restrictions to stacking templates that I'm not aware of? The order of templates, if it makes a difference, is ogre-kin, half-fiend, demon-possessed.

For the curious, I'm putting it on a melee build Dragon Disciple. Build so far is Barb2/Ranger2/Sorc1/DD4. This would make him CR9, correct? (I use 25 points builds and PC wealth for my bad guys. I think that makes the result CR=HD. Or should that be CR=HD+1?) With the addition of Ogre-kin(+1), Half-fiend(+2) and Demon-possessed(+2), the result would be CR14. (I'll post a completed build later.) Does this sound right for all the additional bumps? Makes this guy a real glass cannon, but oh, what a cannon!

Also, I'm not done building him yet, but I think his Str will be very close to the magical 51 Str required to cast Blood Money for Wish. Just tossing that out there... ;)

I was recently talking with a player about her Druid and how she could be more effective against swarms. We were lamenting the fact that her Earth domain ability was single target and therefore useless, since she could spam them like nuts. This brought us around to a way of changing the SLA effect to another attack style, such as short range spray or stationary puddle. I thought of a feat. Something that would allow the caster to change the attack style from dart to spray to puddle as they wished every time they manifested the ability.

So the 30' range 1d6+1/2 levels dart could be instead a 5' puddle dealing 1d4 for level/2 rounds or a 5' spray dealing 1d4+1/2 levels fan effecting 3 connecting squares adjacent to caster.

What say you all, would this be worth a feat? If so, would this be over/under powered? It looks balanced to me, but since I came up with it, I might be a tad biased. ;)

As the title says. It says in their description that diminutive or fine swarms do not take weapon damage. Does that include natural attacks? What about weapons with elemental effects on them? What about spells that emulate weapons, like Flame Blade?

On a related topic, it seems that swarms can occupy space with another creature. This looks like it means that you could stack multiple swarms into on square and increase the damage they do in that way. Stack enough swarms and damage can get deadly quick. What say you all on this stacking? Legal? Limitations?

I have a player with an Arminger who is interested in taking Shield Slam. He has a class ability that allows him to use a polearm and a shield at the same time, so he wants to be able to shield bash people and bull rush them back out where he can hit them with his polearm. It's a good build idea and Shield Bash would fit great. I do have a question about it though. I have an opinion on it, but I would like other inputs and don't want to prejudice the jury. ;)

Here's the ability in question I want advice on.

And here's the feat description.

The bolded portions are the sections I am a tad fuzzy on. Would the bonuses from Slam still apply to the bull rush attempt made using Shield Slam, since the feat changes the mechanics slightly?

Ok, for anyone who have read the books, I'm looking to re-create Kozah's Needle, a staff wielded by Dahlia, an Elf companion of Drizzt in the Neverwinter Saga. As described in the book, it's quite badass and I wouldn't mind stating it up. I'll put the description in a spoiler for those that haven't read the book yet and might take umbrage at having it described before they get to it. ;)

Ok, now, if you don't want to know anything about the weapon until you read the book, this is your fair warning. Stop reading and scoot! Although it really doesn't give anything away, as it's merely a cool weapon and doesn't really have any plot significance. But, I hate when people spoil things for me unintentionally, so I try to be considerate.

Now, how to go about creating such a beast? :D

I have a new player joining my group and she is interested in playing a human monk using a quarterstaff as her primary weapon. We're very early stage in character creation and she's open to suggestions, but I have very little experience with monks do I thought I'd toss this out to the many wise minds of the forum.

What sort of builds, arc Mrhetypes, feats it grease would you recommend? She's pretty much set on what I mentioned above, but is willing to add to that.

I should mention the other party members area half-elven greatsword fighter, a human caster druid and a kitsune sorcerer about to go into dragon disciple. I was thinking of recommending either a two-weapon crit fisher with Butterfly Sting or a trip build with Paired Opportunists. I just recalled something about a staff based trip feat chain, I'm going to go look for it right now.

*edit*

I should also mention 6th level. Yes, I should mention that

I'm building a whip fighter and in torn between whirlwind attack and combat patrol. Both will allow me to hit things within 30 ft once enlarged, but I'm blasted if I can decide if offense is better or smacking people when they try to do things would work out more in my favor. I'm planning on using it with Stunning Assault and the hobgoblin intimidate chain, Dex build.

Thoughts?

Ok, I get the rules for combining magic items into one item, add half the cost of the lesser effect to the item cost, create as normal. What I'm curious about is how do the magic auras interact? Specifically, I want to add a Prisoners Ring enchantment to a Ring of Protection. So, the RoP is the base item with a weak Abjuration aura. We then add the PR enchantment, which has a moderate Divination aura. Which aura will show up to detect magic, the base item's aura or the stronger secondary aura? If it's the latter as I suspect, how could it be masked without GM fiat?

Ok, this is the creature in question. It currently resides in a maze-like area in the sewers under a plaza, a series of short tunnels and small, high-domed rooms topped with sewer grates. The creature recently came into its spells and is interested in building a lab-type lair where it can experiment and build things. Given its stated resources and its rat-based nature, what sort of lair should it be?

I was envisioning an excavated area below this area, reachable through a few different rat-sized tunnels, but I am not married to the idea. Thoughts?

I have an NPC who's a dandy and a bit of a fashionista. I was looking at his sheet thinking it must drive him nuts to wear the same magic items day in, day out. I feel for the poor guy and was trying tiu figure a way out for him.

This got me thinking about the Glammered enchantment . If he couldplace this on his other magic items, it would solve his problem perfectly. Can anyone think of a reason why this couldn't/ shouldn't be added to belts, robes, boots, jewellery, etc?

I am inspired by the character creation coolness that is RavingDork, so I thought I would begin a thread as he has done, posting some of my favorite creations in a shameless bid for worldwide fame and adulation. Or just the occasional "that's cool" would do as well, I'm easy. ;)

So with no further ado, let me start with my first evil duo. I give you:

Randy SilverWind and his fair maid, Marion.

I'm new to this and using Google Drive, which I'm not really familiar with, so let me know if anything isn't working and I'll try and fix the problem.

Also; Disclaimer! As with RD's creations, feel free to use these in personal games and for general PC-bashing happy-fun-time, but refrain from doing anything that would turn a profit or entail lawyerish-type people becoming involved. Is cool? Is cool!

Ok, the description clearly says you get the enhancement bonus of the pistol on your attack and damage rolls. But what about other enchantments? If the weapon is unholy, does it also do +2d6 vs Good?

I think I know the answer to this, but thought I'd pop it out there anyways. Does the caster level that creatures with spell-like abilities have stack with any spellcasting caster level they might also have?

I was thinking of having a LBEG "stockpile" skeletons near a location the PCs frequent, with the orders to attack only if a living creature enters the building they are stored in. Now, if the LBEG creates more undead then he can control, the previous undead become free-willed (as much as a mindless creature can be, anyways). Now, what does this do to their "programming"? Will they continue to stand quietly in the building until a living creature enters it, or will they begin milling around, sneaking out at night, snapping each other with wet towels, etc. The idea is to keep adding a few skeletons at a time until the building is bursting with them, then unleashing the whole hoard in a great wave of bony badassery. But this won't work if small groups of "free-willed" skellys start roaming the neighborhood looking for trouble as soon as they're released. What says the community?

As an aside, the skeletons are the result of feeding a hoard of rats. (I have it on authority from a rat guy I know that they won't eat the bone given a choice, so they should leave nice clean skeletons.) They are coming out of a sewer under a bustling city, and I like the thought of templating them to make them a bit more unique/interesting/powerful, but neither of the existing templates really work for me. Bloody doesn't make sense, considering they've likely been licked clean by hungry rats, and burning wouldn't mix well with the wooden building they're being stored in. Any other templates out there for skellys?

Ok, building a BBEG who's a manipulator. His spell of choice is modify memory, for which he has taken SF, GSF and Spell Perfection in order to get the DC up as high as possible. Vetala vampires get modify memory as a side effect while using Drain Prana. Would the Spell Perfection and other feat enhancements to the spell also effect the Drain Prana's modify memory DC?

Ok, this is my plan. I have a Wiz2/Clr2 heading for Mystic Theurge. (Don't start, I know it's not optimal.) I was looking at the Sacred Summons feat, but as I am LN, there are next to no creatures I can summon on the lists as they stand. So I began thinking of cool ways to add to the list. I could have just asked the GM if I could add some critters, but I like to earn my toys, so this is what I came up with.

Since I have an interest in taking Craft feats and starting up some sort of crafting commune/business in game, I looked through the various outsiders and decided Azer fit the bill nicely. Hard-working fire-Dwarves that would appreciate a "working man" wizard. They start off small, but you can add character levels to them to bring them up, so I could "scale" them to the various Summon spells. But, since when you Summon a creature, you get a random creature of that type, how could I get the same creature, making sure to get the one with the class levels I want instead of a random Azer of that level?

Then I found Summon Recall. Perfect, almost exactly what I was looking for! Now, I need to gain access to the proper Azer. I could just Summon random creatures until I get the one I want, then "save" that creature, but a) the feat doesn't work that way and b) that's a LOT of Summon spells. So instead, I'll use the feat as a template for another custom feat for summoning the same creature repeatedly and gain access to the creatures another way.

I could research, or have a scribe do it, the name of a Azer noble. I could then have either Sending or Planar Ally cast on my behalf (I have access to a higher-level spellcaster that I think I could ask this boon from) to contact said noble and barter for the services of his liegemen. Here's a few things I thought up to tempt him with;

1) Offering the services of my group (or just myself if they aren't willing to assist) against the Efreeti, offering to "assassinate" certain Efreet that he would provide the names of in order to advance the Azer in their ancient war with them. This was inspired by a recent thread on PCs killing outsiders after gaining their boons, but before paying them. I don't agree with that usually, but I could get behind it in this particular situation. Hmmm, killing evil, slaving outsiders for fun and profit... :)

2) Collaborate on creating magic items and other things that the Azer would find difficult/annoying to create themselves. (Such as anything wood or paper, for example. They do live on the Plane of Fire, after all!)

3) Allowing us/me to be Summoned in return to pay in service for the service his people render unto us. I'd hold this one in reserve, though. Suddenly popping away to deal with a threat on the Plane of Fire could be, err, uncomfortable...

So, that's my ideas so far. The game is in hiatus at the moment, but when we get back to it I plan on starting some of these things into motion. In the meantime, does anyone have any ideas/comments/criticisms/gushing praise they want to share? ;)

So, trying a Hound Master Cavalier as a BBEG henchmen and I'm creating his hounds. I was looking at ways to bump their attacks and I have a few questions.

Quick overview; Human Cavalier 15 has Eye For Talent trait to give each hound +2 Int so they are eligible for Teamwork Feats. All three are specialized around tripping and attacking things that fall down. (Hounds have Lt Armor Prof., Imp. trip, Greater Trip, Gang Up, Feinting Partner, Imp. Feint Partner, Combat Reflexes. Cavalier has most of these and can share Paired Opportunists or Tandem Trip as well) So, with that in mind...

1) Permanent Greater Magic Fang vs. Body Wraps of Mighty Strikes w/Advancing. Since they both give enhancement bonuses, they don't stack, so I have to choose. GMF is far cheaper, but the BW can have abilities like Advancing, which would work well with pack tactics.

2) Mithral chain shirt barding. Is it a) needing a Light Armor Proficiency feat and b) worth it, if so? I could add Tripping Strike or Coordinated Charge if I dumped the Lt Armor Prof.

3) Awaken. There's a couple ways this can be done to the hounds. Should I bother? Is the ability to give voice commands and not having to use Handle Animal worth the expense? Are there other benefits I'm not seeing? I'm leaning towards doing it for flavour purposes, but not married to it if there's better things to invest in. Also, 3a) would the Eye For Talent +2 carry over onto the new Awakened Int score?

4) Cavalier is using a +4 Ominous Menacing Cruel scythe for his tripping. (Did I mention he also dabbles in Intimidation? Order of Cockatrice.) Are there better choices?

No rush, he's a long-term project.

Ok, I was thinking of adding a magic double hackbut to a BBEGs henchie as a sniper rifle, more plot device then actual weapon, but I statted it out in case the PCs came up against the working end of it somehow. I came up with a +3 Human Bane double hackbut of Distance with a Far-Reaching Sight, but then I took a closer look at the hackbut.

Emphasis mine. Now my question is this; all classical sniper tropes have said sniper firing from the prone position already, would this still entail the -4 to attack rolls? Since the -4 is explained as part of the lack of bracing due to not using the cart provided, wouldn't the bracing involved in being laid out on the ground with a prone shooter laid out behind it brace it sufficiently to negate that penalty?

I have a character I'm creating that will be able to cast Alter Self. When I assume a new form, can I choose to have the gear become melded or hidden even if it's a humanoid form?

Can a rogue with the Familiar Talent take the Improved Familiar feat and get himself an Imp?

I created an Int based rogue and had some skill points left over, so I dumped them in Linguistics. I then started counting up his languages and discovered that without even really trying, he has 15 languages. I was wondering if there is a way for a Half-Orc to gain the Gifted Linguist racial trait so I can have this fellow speak all the languages, ever? :D

I Did a Quick Search And Found Nothing, So I Ask; If a BBEG Gives An Unholy Weapon To a Commoner 1, Does That Commoner Die?

I'm building a vampire bard who pretends to be human and I want to disguise his various SLAs as one of the appropriate type spells. How would one go about doing so? Opposed spellcraft checks to detect his fake castings?

This came up in my game the other night. I had two different PC casters try at various points in the game to cast spells in a stealthy fashion. I ruled that any spellcasting that has a Verbal or Somatic component would be blatantly obvious to anyone in the immediate vicinity. I'm not positive I'm correct in that though. I recall in a very hazy fashion reading rules about casting spells without appearing to or in a disguised way. I think it required a skill check, or perhaps a feat then a skill check. (It might also have been something I read in Dark Sun back in the 2ed days and I'm mashing it into a more recent memory of game rules.)

Can anyone think of such a rule/skill check variant/feat to allow subtle spellcasting? I did a quick search of all the obvious places in my books and found nothing.

I'm playing Around With a Quickling Build. I Have His Speed Up To 190 With Barbarian 1/ Monk 18. I Also Gave Him Half-Dragon To Boost His Strength And The Overrun Feat Tree With Boots Of The Mastadon For Zoom-Stomp Fun! Is There Any Way To Boost His Number Of Attacks Using This Attack Mode? As I Read It, He Can Only Make The One Attack As A Standard Action Overrun, Although I Can Include That In a Charge. Also, Would Vicious Stomp Stack With The AoO From Greater Overrun? I Think It Would, Personally. Also, I Just Grabbed Half-Dragon As My Go-to Template, I Imagine There's Better Way To Boost His Str From 8 To The Required 13.

I recently introduced my players to the main characters in their storyline and they believe they already have them all identified. So, naturally, I want to turn it all on it's head for them. So what I'm thinking is the actual BBEG is the fellow they're accepting jobs and help from, and he's setting them up to confront and defeat his real opponent, the rightful ruler. Through rumor, manipulation of the facts and outright lies, he will convince the party that the ruler is evil and up to no good, and needs a good firm talking-to by the party. Then when the climactic confrontation finally takes place, Mr. Nice swoops in and steals the kill, crown and glory, leaving the PCs with a burning pile of WTF on their doorstep.

I realize the danger of pissing off the party and I think I know them well enough that they can handle such a storyline, not to mention that I will give chances for them to uncover the plot before things come to a head. So let's assume you've all given me the "don't do it" advice and let's move on the the planning stage.

I'm leaning towards a high level bard, around 18th and human is what I'm envisioning. A real smooth talker, heart-throb, man's man. Woman love him and men want to be him sort of guy. The works. And he uses this fame and prestige to manipulate people subtly to get what he wishes. And he's currently angling for the top job in town through an arranged coup by some willing dupes; aka the party. I'm looking for any archtypes, feats, spells and magic items that would make him into an "all will love me and despair" kinda guy. I'm not married to the Bard class, but am leaning heavily towards it.

So, let 'er rip and let's see what you got! :)

I was thinking of a rat swarm variant. Idea comes from the Tome of Ultimate Evil. (or some-such, I keep blanking on the name but LOVE that book!) It's a Hive Mind rat swarm. Every few dozen rats added to this thing give it another +1 to Int and eventually it gets minor spellcasting. The PCs first bumped into it about 3 months ago game time and are about to bump into it again. At the first encounter, there were about 200 rats. A buddy who knows rats says there could easily be 9000 now, and that if bred selectively and aggressively, they could have as many as 20,000 in their swarm! This would put them well into the 20+ Int range and give them the spellcasting equivalent of a 4-5 spellcaster. Now, my question is this; what sort of caster should it be and what spells would make for the most awesomeness??

I look forward to everyone's ideas. People on this forum come up with some of the most wonderously evil ideas to throw at players... ;)

I have been brainstorming a BBEG and have sort of fallen in love with the idea of a dueling nobleman with a little extra punch behind his rapier. Now, dueling with a rapier screams Duelist, and magic+swordfighting is the whole concept of a Magus (roughly). My question is; can this character be an effective threat?

For stats, I was thinking human dual talent, giving him 18 in both Dex and Int, on a 25 point build.

Now, I had a couple of ideas in his Magus build. I was thinking, him being a rich noble and a BBEG, that I would load him up with magic. He has a house wizard that could craft him all sorts of goodies, so I was thinking of a Wand Wielder arcana (perhaps combined with Wand Mastery?) so he could spam whatever spell he chose, plus be a very versatile "caster". I also like the idea of the Familiar arcana for a Greensting Scorpion for the +4 Init (although the optics of a refined gentleman carrying around a bug doesn't sit right...) and maybe the Spell Shield for some fast AC, brings me to about level 9-ish.

From there, I was thinking head into Duelist territory. The first few levels seem made to pair with Magus. Good Ref saves, more Init bonuses, more AC, Combat Reflexes, static damage bonuses. I tell you, it's like Christmas in June! I love Duelist all the way to 10th, but I could live without the stuff after 5th if there's better levels out there to dip into.

So, I was looking at creating this bad-boy to be about the 15-16th level range. Originally, I was thinking of tossing in a few levels of Aristocrat for flavour purposes, but I am ok with dumping that idea for a short dip into something that would fit the motif I'm heading towards here. Gear, feat and archetype suggestions are welcome. I'll post my working build once I get it roughed out.

I'm planning an encounter with a boat load of level 2 goblin ninja complete with alchemist fire and goblin skull bombs raiding a compound the PCs are in. Six PCs, level 5. Sorcerer, Fighter, Rogue, Druid, Inquisitor, Armiger.

Open with a fire bomb attack on the stable to draw them out, deeper darkness to flatfoot them, Gang Up feat on all the goblins to maximize sneak attacks. I want confusion, chaos and pain without a TPK. There will be a Drow ninja 10 leading them, but he will be engaged with taking down a NPC the party is with and won't bother the group unless they interfere. He'll be wielding Str poisoned Shuriken and built to feint for sneak attack flurries of Shuriken.

Is there anything I'm overlooking? The druid will have Daylight, which she will hopefully cast at some point to negate the deeper darkness. The goblins should be 1-2 hit mooks that I'm thinking the PCs will have a ball splatting all over the place. I'm a little worried about the skull bombs, 5d6 can add up quick, but I love the image so I'm going to try them in limited quantities.

Ideas, comments, recommendations?

I was looking at the Pathfinder SRD site and found these neat toys, one of which would be a cool fit for a BBEG I have. Here's a link.

Now looking at it, and at the other few examples listed, it had me thinking of creating a few more, perhaps even some cheap ones to put on minions. But I could find no formula. Anyone know how they come up with these costs?

I was recently reading a post where Daze Monster was justifiably being dumped on by everyone. I think the consensus is pretty much unanimous that the spell as it stands sucks donkey nads, to be indelicate about it. So, how do we fix it?

Spell as it stands is level two and dazes a creature for one round, done. OK, that's pretty underpowered. What about adding duration to it? We could extend the dazing effect to 1 round/two levels. Or having the daze effect stay one round duration, but have the spell itself last one round per level and the caster can use the effect every round as a move or standard action.

Do these modifications help to make this a spell worth having in a repertoire? If not, how would YOU fix it? Let's get some discussion happening and fix the problem, shall we?

I was looking at the feat Sacred Summons, which looks really cool at first blush. But then I took a peek at the summoning lists to find that there are zero creatures that exactly match my gods alignment of Lawful Neutral. So, my question is this; what's stopping me from just adding/swapping creatures into the lists? I imagine there is some sort of balance issue that was taken into account when the lists were created, but shouldn't adding creatures be a case of straight up CR balancing?

As a related topic, I recall reading in Dragon Magazine (I think) a variant to the summoning rules where a summoner created a custom list by researching and contacting specific individual outsiders whom he forged agreements with and could then summon to his aid. There were mechanics involved, but they are long lost from my memory. The disadvantage is a greatly reduced list from which one could summon creatures, since the process was rather involved, so you didn't have the 6-12 choices, but more like 2-3 choices, depending on how vigorously you pursued populating your summoning lists. The advantage was that you summoned that PRECISE individual, so if you could Call them instead occasionally, you could then gift them with items that would increase their power and versatility. I think there was also a mechanic to either "level" them with you or add new ones as you went.

So, with all of the above in mind, this is what I was thinking. I wish to have my character make peaceful contact with a LN outsider, likely an Azer, since they seem to be the ones that most closely fit with my character's outlook. I was thinking of researching and arranging a "meeting" with an Azer noble or similar powerful individual of that race and arrange for the periodic "borrowing" of some of his vassals on an ongoing basis. As I became more powerful, I would return to update the agreement to contract more powerful vassals to fill roles in my higher level Monster Summoning lists.

Advice, similar experiences and/or resources are all welcome in this.

I have a player who has Craft (armorsmithing) and wants to craft himself some armor during some in game downtime. He recently acquired a pair of mithral breastplates as loot and wants to reforge then into a set of banded mail. Now, since he has the raw material, just needs to melt it and reforge it, what should the cost be? It doesn't make sense for the full +9000gp for mithral heavy armor, but I don't want to just give it to him for time at the forge either. What would be a fair compromise?

In creating a Cleric/Wizard that I plan on moving into MT later. My question has to do with spell specialization and cross class spells. He's a specialist conjurer, and I was thinking of specializing in Summon Monster, which both classes get. First off, does the spell receive the benefits regardless of which list it comes from? And furthermore, does the Conjurer boost to Conjuration spells count on both spell lists? I'm also open to spell suggestions. He's chosen necromancy and enchantment as his cross school and I'm looking to sick to that in both classes, for the most part (healing being an obvious exception. )

Ok, I have an encounter coming up where I want to capture the party alive. I really want to have this succeed, but don't feel right using vastly more powerful opponents against the party. I was thinking EL+3 to EL+4-ish. They will be orcs or half-orcs, one of which needs to have 3 levels of Barbarian, both for story reasons. Other then that, I am open to suggestions of all types to make the most awesome capture team of all time!

The party consists of the following:

Half-elven Fighter 4th
Half-elven Rogue 4th
Kitsune Sorceror(Draconic) 4th
Half-ogre Arminger 4th
Human Druid(no pet, caster) 4th
Half-elven Inquisitor 4th

The Fighter and Rogue have some teamwork feats that make them a nasty flanking duo and fight that way whenever possible. The Arminger is a tank that ties up the nastiest critter or shelters the casters, whichever is needed most. The spellcasters do summoning and illusions, with some direct damage and control spells. The Inquisitor is built for mid-range combat, using ranged attacks within 30' and popping close for healing the front liners when needed. In total, they are a powerful group. I've been hitting them with EL+1 to EL+2 encounters since day one and they have had little trouble with most of them.

Whether its builds, items, scenarios (city based campaign, at the moment) or any other useful suggestion, I am open to them.

My Armiger came to me with a request for a feat suggestion that would allow him to pull enemies to him, something like Come and Get It from 4th Ed D&D or the aggro ability of WOW tanks. I know of a few feats that askew him to reposition enemies or stop them from moving, but nothing that brings them closer. Any such animal I may not be aware of?

Is there anything stopping a fighter from using WA and a whip to attack everything within reach with a trip attack? If not, and assuming he has Combat Reflexes and a crazy high Dex, could he not then hit use the AoO from the Greater Whip feat to hit each if those creature with another special attack, such as disarm? Also, when does the AoO counter reset? If I have seven AoO per round, and use all seven during my action, am I SOL until the beginning if my next turn?

Gang Up, a whip and a pair of war dogs.

This is my concept for a fighter I'm making, with the idea that he can use the war dogs as the allies needed for Gang Up. Anyone see a problem with that? Also, using Gang Up, the dogs can attack in melee while I use the whip's reach to attack from a safe distance and still get the flank bonus, correct?

Ultimately, I was thinking of having the druid in the party Awaken my dogs so that they then qualify for teamwork feats. Again, anyone see a problem with that idea? Also, at this point, having human level intelligence, could they not also begin taking fighter levels with me, opening up more feat options and making them more capable allies in combat?

I recently created a kobold-half Dragon in my game as a nasty little surprise for my PCs. But I am confused my one thing. What is thier new CR? The half-dragon template says to add +2 (or +4, can't remember and book not in front of me) to the base creature's CR. But with the Kobold's CR being 1/6, what is thier final CR? 1? 2? 1/2? 2 1/6? What's the common concensus among you all?

This is my first attempt creating a creature for 3.5ed and I could use some help putting the polish to it. I looked around and didn't see a forum devoted to just monsters, so I hope this is a good place to post this. Here is what I have so far...

Magling

Type: Monstrous Humanoid
Size: Tiny
Hit Dice: 6d8+18 (48hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30’, Climb 30’
Armor Class: 21(+5 Dex, +2 Size, +4 Natural), (touch) 16, (flat-footed) 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/-5
Attack: +9 Bite (1d4-1)
Full Attack: +9 Bite (1d4-1), 2 +4 Claws (1d3-1)
Face/Reach: 2 ½ ft / 0ft
Special Attacks: Dominate Monster 1/Day, Symbiotic Sorcery, Magic Item Use
Special Qualities: SR 16, Regenerate 1, Share Spell, Improved Evasion
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +10, Will +8
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 14
Skills: Spot +11, Listen +10, Hide +11, Spellcraft +11, Climb +11
Feats: Alertness, Iron Will, Weapon Finesse
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or Solitary plus Symbiote-Slave
Challenge Rating:
Treasure: Normal
Alignment: CE
Advancement: 7-12 HD (Tiny)
13-16 HD (Small)

“I have come across many bizarre creatures, but this was certainly one of the strangest. I was about the size of a goodly sized cat, with short, wiry black hair covering its body. I was bipedal, with extremely skinny limbs, long-fingered hands and long tufted ears.
The creature rode upon a mans shoulder, one long-fingered hand wound into his hair to support it, while it whispered into his ear and gestured about it. Its wide mouth was full of sharp needle-like teeth, which the creature enjoyed showing to me at the most disturbing moments in a large, gruesome smile. I have never felt such evil, such madness, such utter chaos as I did that day as I felt the impact of that smile.”

-Randy SilverWind, Master Bard

The Magling is a creature of Magic and Chaos. It looks vaguely like a blending of cat, monkey and demon. Its skin is leathery and a sooty dark grey. Its yellowish-tinged black, wiry, spiky hair grows from its wrists, ankles, upper chest, groin and head. Its ears are extremely long and pointed, rising erect to far above its head. Its eyes are widely-set and almond-shaped, with bright yellow, horizontally slit pupils and a blood-red eyeball. It has a tiny, pug-like nose and a wide, narrow lipped mouth full of dozens of needle-like teeth. Its limbs are gaunt and stretched looking and end in hands and feet with long, agile digits. A long rat-like tail sprouts from its backside, obviously prehensile. It smells of smoke and cinnamon. It has a range of expressions, yet they all seen to manage to have an insane grin worked into them somehow. While it is quite fond of screeching, hooting, cackling, giggling and laughing manically, it rarely speaks to anyone other then its Symbiote-Slave and even then never above a whisper.
It speaks Common, Draconic, Abyssal, Orcish and Goblin.

COMBAT:

Maglings disdain personal combat, preferring instead to ride their Symbiote-Slaves into battle like steeds and using their Symbiotic Sorcery spell casting to destroy their foes. If their Symbiote-Slave is removed from their control, either by killing it or dispelling the Domination effect, the Magling is next to useless combatively, although it is still difficult to kill.
Dominate Monster: By far it’s most potent power; this ability can only be used once per day. The save DC is 21. Any creature under its effect regards the Magling as a treasured pet and would die to defend it from harm. Any creature under this unique Domination effect also gains spell casting abilities. (See next ability.)
Symbiotic Sorcery: As long as the Symbiote-Slave is under the effect of the Magling’s Domination power, it gains spell casting abilities as if it were a sorcerer of a level equal to its Hit Die or Class Level. This power functions for as long as both creatures live and as are within 100’ of each other. If they are separated by more then this, the Symbiote-Slave loses its spell casting and becomes overwhelmed by the need to be near its “pet.” It will utilize all means to do so.
Every time the Symbiote-Slave casts a spell using this power, there is a cumulative 1% chance of draining 1 level or HD. This lose is permanent and cannot be reversed as long as it is under to control of the Magling. Any creature drained to 0 level or HD dies, “burnt out,” rising as a Revenant bent on the death of the Magling that controlled it. For this reason, Maglings are careful to change Symbiotes well before this occurrence, although it still happens occasionally, especially when pressed hard in combat or if the Magling is careless about watching for the warning signs. Maglings usually kill their old “mounts” as they can only control one at a time, and the thought of one of their former slaves possibly being cured and becoming a font of information for their foes is not a pleasant one for them.
Regenerate: Maglings regenerate all damage except that caused by silver weapons at the rate of 1 per round.
Magic Item Use: Maglings, due to their magical natures, can utilize any magic item usable by sorcerers.
Shared Spells: Any spell the Symbiote-Slave casts upon itself can be shared with its Magling master. This works just like the familiar ability of the same name.

ORGANIZATION AND SOCIETY:

Maglings are solitary creatures, living only to find stronger “mounts” and cause chaos. They occasionally cross each other’s paths as they wander, with these meetings either ending in battle or mating, depending on the sexes involved. Some rare meetings end peacefully (for matings are not peaceful affairs) usually when one Magling realizes it’s greatly overmatched and bribes its way out of the conflict. Maglings covet magic and gems, and obsessively collect both.
Female Maglings that have mated will seek a defensible place for them to have their litter. Once they find a place to their liking, they fortify it as best they can and settle in to whelp and wean their kits. They give birth to 6-8 kits at a time and wean them in about 6-8 weeks. (Kits have the stats of Giant Rats.) Once the kits have been weaned, the mother abandons them to fend for themselves so as to continue her wanderings. The kits stay together as a pack, utilizing the rudimentary skills their mother passed along to stay alive until maturity, about 1 year. At that time, the one kit that succeeds in gaining a “mount” first usually kills all of its siblings soon after, hunting down as many as it can. It is rare for a Magling whelping to produce more then one mature Magling.
Maglings are omnivorous, but prefer meat; the bloodier, the better. They also enjoy killing it; the slower, the better.

Any feedback I can get on it would be appreciated. Also, I am stumped on how to figure out a CR for the damn thing! Any ideas on that? I'm looking forward to all the great help I hope I am going to get! :-)

The game will start about 8th level, any core class, plus most prestige, allowed. Normal races please. Non-evil, otherwise go nuts. Not a hack-n-slash but will have SOME combat), so have some sort of skill of speciality please. Post here with a method of getting in touch. Looking to playtest ASAP, but my schedule is wonky, so work with me.

I have a quandry. One of my players has written up a new 8th level character as a 6th Fighter/2nd Weapon master. The Weapon Master has an ability at first level called "Ki Damage 1/day/level." This allows the character to maximize his normal weapon damage on a successful hit. He's reading it as 1/day/TOTAL levels while I am reading it as 1/day/Weapon Master levels. As you can see, that makes a big difference. (2/day as opposed to 8/day.) Which would you folks see as being the correct reading? (I know I have final say since it's my game, but I like to try to be fair so we've agreed to let the masses rule on this one!)

So, please, dicuss. And I have no problem being wrong on this, it's happened before, it'll happen again! :-)

This is a new idea I have recently had for adding some flavour to my game world. I stole the ideas from Kevin J. Anderson's novels with the Virdani, a world-spanning forest that is intelligent and bonds with certain humans telepathicly, as well as Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy, where living ships are carved from a special "wood" found only in a certain magic-polluted area of the world. Combining these two ideas, I've gotten this...

Ages ago, the Eldar Race spanned the world. They made many wonders, some of which survived the cataclysmic war which ended both their reign and their race. One of these things the Elves found and came to revere. It was the Eldar's Grove, a species of intelligent, telepathic trees that lived deep in the center of the forest the Elves called home. Although the Elves revered the trees and cared for them carefully and tenderly, the trees were slowly dying. Until by chance the Grove were introduced to humans. Some of the Eldar blood lived on in these humans, for the trees found what they had been missing for centuries; companionship. They found that they could "bond" with humans, as they had with the Eldar Race in times long past, which sparked some long-buried need in the Grove. The Grove began to recover, and yet it needed more, something more that had also lay lost for centuries. Through their new-found allies, the Grove Preists, they allied with a band of shipbuilders on the coast nearby to complete the cycle, the purpose for which the trees yearned. They were made to become ships. Once the wood was harvested from willing trees, shaped and molded into beautiful ships by loving hands, they were then sailed to a ruined city of the Eldar for the "awakening." It was a journey fraught with perils, as not all ships that set out for awakening returned, the ruins being haunted with creatures both living and dead. An ancient shipyard in this city still contained enough magic to awaken the ships back to their full sentience. Combining the natural sentience of the wood with a spirit of a sailor summoned back to be the ship's figurehead, the ships became alive. These ships, once awakened, were worth the danger and the sacrifice. They had full awareness, personality and control over their "body." A crew was still needed to assist the ship in sailing, but such a ship never rotted or required hull cleaning, as nothing could attach to the hull. The ship could "feel" it's surroundings, making it an excellent guide in treacherous waters, being able to locate currents, sandbars, shallows and monsters in it's area with ease. The ships also, coming as they did from the Grove, maintained a link and an empathy for the trees that gave them existance. While they lost the telepathy, they could feel the trees and could share thier feelings in return, even some thoughts, nuturing in the trees the next wandering spirit willing to make the sacrifice and transformation into a Eldarship.

This is the background. Please, feel free to use this in your own campaigns. All I ask is that you post back here with reports on how the concept was received and any memorable game experiences that resulted. I have not yet created stat blocks for the Eldar Grove, Grove Priests or Eldarships, but I plan on doing it soon and will post it when I do. Any assistance in this area would be appreciated, for although I enjoy coming up with the big ideas, I hate dealing with the details. Also, any and all feedback would be welcome. In the meantime, enjoy! I hope you have as good a time using it as I did creating it.