Karnas Sunderscale's page

@Karnas, you and I are on the same wavelength here, because I just came back to further complicate things.

After looking at the language of the archetype, the overhand chop ability, and Grick's posts, I think that RAW a mounted, two-handed fighter wielding a lance, in one hand mind you, would still gain the benefit of the overhand chop, because mechanically speaking he is wielding a two handed weapon. He isn't currently wielding it two-handed because a lance can be wielded one-handed while mounted. So clearly there are some corner cases here that seem to test the limits of the RAI. I mean the name of the ability is overhand chop, conveying the idea that the warrior is whipping the weapon headlong over their head in order to throw some extra power into it, but that's all fluff. By RAW a lance could be wielded in one hand, and still apply the overhand chop mechanics for damage. How's that for muddying up the works?

Edit:@Karnas again. I told the player I would make him stow the shield and wield the sword in both hands before I'd give him the benefit of the overhand chop damage bonus. The thing with the lance makes me want to ponder that some more. I'm pretty sure in the end I'll make him stow the shield to use the ability, though.

I hear you, and that's when the DM's common sense must prevail and he must do his job as judge and jury (mind you fairly and eloquently as to not Pi$* off his players) to rule. Let the English in the title be your guide as I have seen over 30 years that this is in fact exactly how the game designers intended it. The problem is we are all to over-analytical and make easy things complicated in this game. I personally would never rule on a weapon that cant "chop" being used with this mechanic. Too many lawyers in this world, thats the problem with the world-lol!

@Karnas--Funny, I was just going to bring up that very point. The name bastard sword was a colloquialism for a sword that was built as a hand-and-a-half sword. Which places it, historically anyway, clearly in between a one-handed and a two-handed weapon. This is also one of the reasons I felt like RAI it should work with the overhand chop ability.

Edit: @EpicEndGame, I will have that conversation with him, but one of the major contentions here, is that the character wants the versatility to use a shield when that extra bump to AC will work in his favor. If he gets the sized up bastard sword, the shield becomes obsolete, unless he carries a regular bastard sword and a large sized bastard sword, but then, again, he's losing the versatility.

Of course the sticky part is...do you allow it while using a shield and wielding it one-handed? If not, then what is the impetus for the player choosing a bastard sword in the first place. Sooo, to throw a hair in the soup, a bastard sword used without a shield, allowing it to be used two-handed when necessary, an emphatic YES.

while asking for character advice, did you just casually mention that a member of your gaming group enjoys electrocuting small animals, or did I read that wrong?

Yeah caught that too. Who are we to judge....LOL

A bastard sword is also called a hand-and-a-half-sword. It is designed to be used two-handed or one---with the proper training. It is simply a less "gangly" version of a two-handed sword. The assumption of the overhand chop technique is using a weapon of a large enough dimension to garner enough force to make this martial ability effective. Due to its shear size and weight the bastard sword is in this catagory regardless of the fact that it is still svelte enough to be used one handed in the hands of a highly trained warrior. A scimeter wielded with two hands is not the same. It does not have enough size/weight to generate the required force for a technique such as this.

As per above, plus the following: Arcane spells allow the manipulation of something that is there already, i.e. a body of water that is divine in nature because a God in a pantheon created that water and morphically placed it where it is. This natural substance may be arcanely "adjusted" to do any number of things, BUT may not be created because creation of something that is naturally occurring is divine.
That being said, a shirt is not a "naturally" occurring item so a spell of creation in the arcane realm could replicate it.
I would assume that said wizard "creating" a downpour to soak his foes is merely manipulating the water that is already around him (in clouds or just as humidity) and then channeling it in a way that is conduscive to his needs. Technically he could use this type of overpowered spell to fill canteens should his party be in desperate need of water, but the actual genesis of water is left up to his divine counterpart since this is tied to a divine being.
Divine magic is a manifestation of a Gods power which is temporarily imbued in the vessel of their worship---a cleric. Whereas arcane magic is a "force", an "essence" which belongs to no God or mortal, but which can be harnessed to either of their needs or whims.
I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you need anymore advice. Good luck!

You know what guys? forget it. There are like two or three people who've posted that actually get what I'm talking about. I'm done.

I totally get what your original question was and I think its rather simple. The same reason why on Earth in 2013 we have highly intelligent people choosing to make a living with their hands, i.e. sculpting, painting, MMA fighting et.al.---because they "feel" a pull, it

For a spontaneous caster the spell acts as if it were (using your example) two levels higher than normal, so the caster would expend a 4th level spell slot, but not have used a 2nd level spell slot.

It works the same for a wizard, except they must prepare the metamagic spell in advance (except for a few exceptions, such as specific items or abilities that apply the metamagic feat on the fly).

Thanks..I have always assumed this and play it as such, but you must admit, the wording is ambigous enough to be open for questioning..

I have never found an ample definition of metamagic feats and how it applies to the spell slot used....what has caused confusion is specifically the spontaneous casters...let me explain.
If I am a bard and apply a metamagic feat to a 2nd level spell and it effectively increases the spell slot level 2--to 4th level--then have I just used both a 2nd level spell and a 4th level spell to cast this one metamagically enhanced spell? As it reads to me, it appears so. And if this is the case does the same hold true for the wizard, or does the wizard only sacrifice the enhanced spell slot of the metamagic spell while preparing his daily spells?

Because demons don't die on the material plane, they just get their bodies destroyed and they shoot back to the Abyss. They ARE souls in the Abyss, therefore their souls don't have an afterlife if you destroy them.

That makes sense. I get that. Thank you.

Yes, but it even says that mortals who die, even in the clutches of demons (who live in the Abysss), go to their own afterlife.

That may have been in 3.5 (I don't know) but so far the evidence points towards there being no penalty for dying in the Abyss, any more than there would be for dying in the Elemental Planes.

Ok, so what do you reason makes the death of a demon on its home plane any different then the death of that same demon on the material plane?

Well considering even people/classes who have literally sold their souls to Demons/Devils/Daemons can be resurrected after dying, I'd say a normal guy dying there is just fine.

Agree, but....the assumption is that they die on the material plane...I think the argument in the past was that the Abyss laid claim on their soul (not a mere demon) and did not allow them to be resurrected.

I don't remember ever reading this, can't find it either. The bestiary section on demons however states that death is their enemy because it allows the mortal to go on to his afterlife reward rather than staying to be tortured.

Does it "feel" like you've read this before because it does to me, yet, I can not find it now, and its totally relative to a situation my PC's are in. BTW, its 3.5 not pathfinder, but the differences are semantics IMO.

I need some help/advice.
I know I have seen this rule somewhere in the annals of d20 but I can not find it and I do not know if it is a hard/fast rule.
If a PC dies while on the Abyss can he still be resurrected or does the Abyss claim his soul and its game over for that character.
Thanks

definitely go for the maximized rod and take empower as a feat, reason being is that maximized takes up a spell slot 4 higher and empower is what 2 or 3, I believe 2. No question when u think about it that way.

Karnas Sunderscale wrote:

Neither is the Ultimate Magus Prestige class... so what's your point?

My point is that Pathfinder is not the end all be all and for those people that act like it is you are just "jock-straps" who jump on anything new that comes along thinking its the latest and greatest. Frankly I dont even prescribe to most of the Pathfinder rules and still abide by 3.5 which I personally feel is superior. Don't turn this into a pissing match nor a competition of semantics please.

Karnas I was talking to Mister W. John Hare about what his point was.

After all he pointed out that practised spellcaster was 3.5 not pathfinder.

Which is kind of silly considering we were already talking about a 3.5 prestige class...

which was my point. That since we already left the realm of pathfinder and brought in the 3.5 prestige class that he couldn't really say, "Oh but that feat is 3.5 not pathfinder."

O my--- my bad, I didnt mean to seem so gruff and I am the one with egg on his face. My apologizes. I guess I get a little defensive when it seems like so many people want to throw out all the wonderful tomes, i.e. the complete series et.el., and only adopt Pathfinder as the end all be all. I believe there is room for a heterogenous mixture of the both.

W. John Hare wrote:

Karnas Sunderscale wrote:

Snapshot wrote:

Lyrax wrote:

But pearls of power are cheaper and just as awesome. And they don't use up a slot.

Pearls of power are nice but they only allow you to recall spells already cast not prepare extra {different} spells.

As for over multiclassing the problem is you end up with a crap load of low level spells and no high level spells.

What ends up happening is "you cast 1 of your 35 magic missiles and your foe with his shield spell, just disintegrates you because he can."

Been there, sounds cool, but its not that cool.

It is very cool if done right. Ultimate Magus prestige class takes care of that as well as the feat practised spellcaster

Practised spellcaster was a 3.5 feat, not currently available in Pathfinder (unless there is a book I haven't seen yet. :)

Neither is the Ultimate Magus Prestige class... so what's your point?

My point is that Pathfinder is not the end all be all and for those people that act like it is you are just "jock-straps" who jump on anything new that comes along thinking its the latest and greatest. Frankly I dont even prescribe to most of the Pathfinder rules and still abide by 3.5 which I personally feel is superior. Don't turn this into a pissing match nor a competition of semantics please.

Lyrax wrote:

But pearls of power are cheaper and just as awesome. And they don't use up a slot.

Pearls of power are nice but they only allow you to recall spells already cast not prepare extra {different} spells.

As for over multiclassing the problem is you end up with a crap load of low level spells and no high level spells.

What ends up happening is "you cast 1 of your 35 magic missiles and your foe with his shield spell, just disintegrates you because he can."

Been there, sounds cool, but its not that cool.

It is very cool if done right. Ultimate Magus prestige class takes care of that as well as the feat practised spellcaster

Rings of Wizardry are only for lvls 1-4. Each ring only doubles one specific level of spell.

Ring of Wizardry I - doubles level 1 spells
Ring of Wizardry IV - doubles level 4 spells

As for taking a level of Bard, Sorceror, Summoner, Witch and Wizard sure you would have oodles of level 1 spells... however the guy who took 5 levels of wizard is at level 3 spells.

Add the fact that a Ring of Wizardry I is 20,000gp, would mean that the earliest you could afford it (assuming you dump all your gold into purchasing one) would be level 7. So while you are playing with oodles of level 1 spells (most cast as a level 1 spellcaster) you have a straight caster going with level 4 spells as a level 7 caster.

If you were planning to dip would be probably at most 1 level worth and into something that your would benefit from the same casting stat (ie Bard/Sorceror).

The build is using the Ultimate Magus prestige class which allows both spontaneous and prepared spell casting classes to go up simultaneously. If one was to have a wizard and sorcerer both casting spells as though they were lets say 7th level, and one were to obtain a ring of wizardry III then the doubling of both classes level 3 spells is well... very appealing

A ring of wizardry will affect spell slots of all classes that it can affect. Please note at this point your casting level in any class is horrible, and you have access to a lot of really weak spells instead of some weak spells and some nice higher level spells.

I dont really follow your last sentence would you elaborate from "please note...

Karnas Sunderscale wrote:

does a wizard have to use the metamagic rod while preparing his spells or can they be used on the fly

They're used on the fly. The rod must be in their hand at the time of casting the spell to use it IIRC.

Thanks that's what I thought too. I would love to hear your thoughts on my other thread regarding the ring of wizardry.

would a wizard need to use the rod while preparing his spells or can they be used on the fly

does a wizard have to use the metamagic rod while preparing his spells or can they be used on the fly

Would a multi-classed sorcerer/wizard wearing a ring of wizardry have a level of spells doubled for both classes?

Mind == Blown.

New character concept!

Not really, you should have your facts straight before making such claims. Ultimate Magus prestige class allows the advancement of spells for both prepared and spontaneous arcane casting classes. The shear volume of spells available; therefore, becomes immense--allowing the spell caster to be involved in every encounter and problem.

So the various strength rings of wizardry effectively double a level of spells either 1st through 9th. So the question is, would a multi-classed wizard/sorcerer have BOTH their class spells doubled? I think so, there is nothing within the context of the explanation for the rings that would seem to indicate not. What do you think?

Does Death Ward thwart an assassins death attack?

In Pathfinder, each dose of poison you take raises the fortitude DC by 2. It also extends the duration (since poison in PF generally runs over a course of 4+ turns, rather than twice like in 3.5).

I recommend looking at the SRD.

Thank you that cleared it up.

Karnas Sunderscale wrote:

Magic weapons do not produce extraordinary or supernatural effects though. They are spell or spell-like.

Then you will have to reference the spells used to create the magic item to determine if they allow SR, and then annotate the caster level of the weapon on the character sheets so they know what to add when attacking with that weapon and are forced to roll against SR. Me personally, that's too much granularity for not enough gain.

I agree it seems like way to much work, and would slow the game down, as well as making weapons imbued with magical abilities nearly useless. But at the same time it has always seemed to me that based on the rules that damn SR would nullify it.

The logical answer is no, BUT I can not find it in the rules that says anything to the contrary. In other words if a pc gets poisoned by a harpoon spider for 1d6 damage, can he be hit again for the poison damage. And I'm not talking about the secondary damage 1 minute later.

...?

All I can say is, if you house-rule that Evocation effects themselves don't need to overcome SR, then you don't really need to worry about it :-)

I hear you... BUT obstensively one could house rule anything. I want to know what the letter of the law is on this.

Spell Resistance wrote:

Only spells and spell-like abilities are subject to spell resistance. Extraordinary and supernatural abilities (including enhancement bonuses on magic weapons) are not.

Reference is here.

Magic weapons do not produce extraordinary or supernatural effects though. They are spell or spell-like.

Does a PC have to bypass SR in order for a weapons special ability, i.e. flaming, frost, sonic et el., to effect the said creature? As a DM I've been befuddled by this question for many a year.

Bottom line with TOB--- and I say this with a lot of experience... If you are to allow pc's the opportunity to play characters from this book you must convert the entire campaign to encounters having the same classes. The reason.. TOB is grossly overpowered. If the pc's are these classes and they are not going up against foes that have the same benefits, they will tear through them effortlessly. Don't get me wrong, the book is cool as hell, but it's way over the top. Every humanoid you would have the party encounter you would need to have levels of one of the TOB classes or your just looking for a slaughter fest for the pc's.

Karnas Sunderscale wrote:

Hi People... My item is on page 7. I would love some feedback. One thing I realized to my horror is my entry did not come out with the sections that I had made bold--bold. Does anyone belive that would be grounds for an auto-reject? It has only now come to my relization that there is something about 'bbc' something-or-other in order to have had it post the way I intended it to. I am new to these forum postings so I was unfortunately ignorant to this action. Even now I'm not sure if I would do it properly even knowing about it. Anyway... feedback would be great thanks..

Karnas Sunderscale wrote:

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Terrestrial’s Guide
Aura faint evocation; CL 5th
Slot--; Price 39,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs.

Terrestrial’s Guide is a godsend to all mixed race parties wishing to explore lightless depths without alerting all those with darkvision to their arrival.
The item appears as a mirror finished hooded lantern with bas relief images of the sun, moon, and eyes inlaid upon its glittering surface. Oddly, the hood of the lantern is rimmed in the blackest of obsidian and it seems to absorb some of the very light it sheds.
The item has 3 charges which renew each day. However, after 6 charges have been used the item must be exposed to direct sunlight for a minimum of two hours in order to recharge.
Upon command the lantern sheds bright illumination in a 60 foot radius as per the daylight spell. By turning a mechanical dial, the aperture adjusts allowing the glow of the device to be turned down to any desired range in 5 foot increments to as low as a 10 feet expanse. Furthermore, this light is enveloped by an outer shell of impenetrable darkness. Effectively, a hemisphere of light is created which does not project radiance beyond the scope of its perimeter, thereby, disallowing anything with or without darkvison to see the globe of light unless they become enshrouded within it.
If one charge is expended the lantern produces

...

First off, thank you very much Charles for the feedback. You are the first to do so and it is very appreciated. Also I see you have been very diligent with many replies to others and that is very kind of you. I would like to address some of your comments though for clarification. With the pricing of my item being several thousand Gp's higher then a Lantern of Revealing due to my items multiple effects, it is a safe assumption that its basic effect is continuous. In the context of wondrous items when they say 'upon command' and then do not define a time consideration they are almost always considered continuous. Due to word count considerations every nuiance unfortunately can not be defined and certain things must be presumed. Also, I believe you read into the enshrouded darkness effect in the wrong way. As you define it, it would not be effective. If a party were to be walking into a large room or cavern with posted sentries or just simply monsters lurking, those creatures would in fact potentially notice a globe of darkness approaching. However, if our group is dungeon crawling or underdark delving with foes all possessing darkvision and having no light sources what-so-ever , then our fateful group of adventures are casting a beacon of light around every corner, tunnel, crevasse, etc. So in this respect it is invaluable. With the 'clawing darkness' effect it reads out that if charges are expended and those within the lights confines miss their saving throws they are effected--period. Either it works or it doesn't. To question whether that would have a time period after the charge is expended is a fact I don't believe is valid. Last thing, defining the actual effect (the brightness as I believe you say) of the clawing darkness would be akin to defining the tone of a Horn of Blasting. Not necessary, but if it were... then certainly up to a savvy and imaginative Dm. Overkill for a entry submission in my humble opinion.

Karnas Sunderscale wrote:

Benjamin Bruck wrote:

Karnas Sunderscale wrote:

Hi People... My item is on page 7. I would love some feedback. One thing I realized to my horror is my entry did not come out with the sections that I had made bold--bold. Does anyone belive that would be grounds for an auto-reject? It has only now come to my relization that there is something about 'bbc' something-or-other in order to have had it post the way I intended it to. I am new to these forum postings so I was unfortunately ignorant to this action. Even now I'm not sure if I would do it properly even knowing about it. Anyway... feedback would be great thanks..

Its my understanding that nobody got disqualified for failure to use BBCode, so you don't have to worry about that.

If you'd like to use that stuff in the future though, there's a button labelled "BBCode tags you can use:" just below the text window, that'll show all the tags the forums support.

Welcome to the boards by the way!

Thank you for your help. It is especially appreciated since you are one of the top 32 and still found the time to do so. Cheers.

They had a template for the items and if you just copy/ pasted that, the codes you needed were included. As Ben said, I don't think lack of codes was grounds for rejection, I think some of the finalists didn't have bold.

Thank you for taking the time.

Karnas Sunderscale wrote:

Hi People... My item is on page 7. I would love some feedback. One thing I realized to my horror is my entry did not come out with the sections that I had made bold--bold. Does anyone belive that would be grounds for an auto-reject? It has only now come to my relization that there is something about 'bbc' something-or-other in order to have had it post the way I intended it to. I am new to these forum postings so I was unfortunately ignorant to this action. Even now I'm not sure if I would do it properly even knowing about it. Anyway... feedback would be great thanks..

Its my understanding that nobody got disqualified for failure to use BBCode, so you don't have to worry about that.

If you'd like to use that stuff in the future though, there's a button labelled "BBCode tags you can use:" just below the text window, that'll show all the tags the forums support.

Welcome to the boards by the way!

Thank you for your help. It is especially appreciated since you are one of the top 32 and still found the time to do so. Cheers.

Hi People... My item is on page 7. I would love some feedback. One thing I realized to my horror is my entry did not come out with the sections that I had made bold--bold. Does anyone belive that would be grounds for an auto-reject? It has only now come to my relization that there is something about 'bbc' something-or-other in order to have had it post the way I intended it to. I am new to these forum postings so I was unfortunately ignorant to this action. Even now I'm not sure if I would do it properly even knowing about it. Anyway... feedback would be great thanks..

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Terrestrial’s Guide
Aura faint evocation; CL 5th
Slot--; Price 39,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs.

Terrestrial’s Guide is a godsend to all mixed race parties wishing to explore lightless depths without alerting all those with darkvision to their arrival.
The item appears as a mirror finished hooded lantern with bas relief images of the sun, moon, and eyes inlaid upon its glittering surface. Oddly, the hood of the lantern is rimmed in the blackest of obsidian and it seems to absorb some of the very light it sheds.
The item has 3 charges which renew each day. However, after 6 charges have been used the item must be exposed to direct sunlight for a minimum of two hours in order to recharge.
Upon command the lantern sheds bright illumination in a 60 foot radius as per the daylight spell. By turning a mechanical dial, the aperture adjusts allowing the glow of the device to be turned down to any desired range in 5 foot increments to as low as a 10 feet expanse. Furthermore, this light is enveloped by an outer shell of impenetrable darkness. Effectively, a hemisphere of light is created which does not project radiance beyond the scope of its perimeter, thereby, disallowing anything with or without darkvison to see the globe of light unless they become enshrouded within it.
If one charge is expended the lantern produces shadowy illumination within its expanse for 50 minutes.
If two charges are used the lantern produces an effect known as clawing darkness. Any within the confines of the lanterns light must make a fortitude save DC(14 ) or have all traces of darkvision eradicated for 10 consecutive rounds as tendrils of both light and darkness assault their eyes.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Items, daylight, deeper darkness; Cost 19,500 gp.

it should be:

and a Tarrasque in a pear tree.

Perfect!

On the Twelvth Day of Waiting, Paizo gave to me:

Twelve Goblins Burning...

Eleven Nymphs a waxing...