I'm a Morrison-era DP fanatic, and the show does an amazing job bringing its particular flavor of weirdness. Danny, Flex, the Archons--all wholly realized. I'm particularly impressed with Dalton's complex take on the Chief and Guerro's multifaceted performance as Jane. Bowbly is killing it as Rita Farr, and it's hard to imagine anyone better than Tudyk for Nobody. I hope the word spreads about what a b&++%@$-crazy delight this show is.
David knott 242 wrote:
Sure--but it seems likely that Drogon would have reacted very differently to Arya doing the stabbing that it did to Jon.
Irontruth wrote: If you only go by what was shown... literally the only thing he does to affect the story is confirm Samwell's findings. It's true that the showrunners chose to deemphasize the ambiguous magical forces of GRRM's world. We don't get as much reflection on the nature of prophecy, for example, or Bran's hidden exploitation of Hodor's body, or Sixskin's attempt to escape death. But that doesn't mean these elements are entirely absent from the show. You hear a lot of complaints that the show was hamfisted, gratuitous--but it was capable of subtlety and nuance, up to the very end. Was Bran a puppetmaster? Without being in his point of view, where the novels should take us, it's impossible to say for sure--your perspective, that he was useless, is just as much a fan theory as my own. The text is open to interpretation. I rather enjoy the ambiguity. One place I regret how the show leaned away from magic is with Dany's relationship with her dragons. There's plenty of material in the books implying that she and Drogon have a wargish connection, that he responds to her strongest emotions and supressed desires--and vice versa. The actions of Drogon after her death--sparing Jon, destroying the throne--gain an additional layer of meaning if it's possible that something of Dany's spirit lives on in Drogon, as the spirit of Orell lived on in his hawk. One of GRRM's greatest accomplishments as a writer is his ability to imply so much more than he says outright. It would be a shame to restrict our appreciation of his ideas to the ones that are revealed with absolute certainty.
I like that Bran's chessplaying is left hidden in the margins of the show. I mean, it seems clear enough--whenever someone apologizes to him, he's like, "Hey, it's what was needed to get us to this point." It's amusing to see people miss the forest for the trees: "Ugh, Bran's so useless, why is he warging out in the middle of the battle? Why doesn't he DO something?" The kid can mentally travel through time and influence people's actions in the past. He's not checking his email, folks. Then, at the end, "Why do you think I came all this way?" Heh.
Wraith Bonewalker wrote: I.... I'm going to be busy for the next week, so my posting is going to be erratic. Bot me as needed. Beep boop beep boop, I am the Wraithbot 9000. Wraith takes the wine bottle from Geborah and scrutinizes the label, estimating the vintage's value. Appraise: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21 Working with Geborah, Wraith leans against the shelf, slowly and carefully lifting and pushing it away from the wall. Strength check with Aid Another bonus: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 1 + 2 = 16
GM Phntm888 wrote: I've decided that the Bonded Mind messages do need to be directed to someone, however, everyone that has the feat and is nearby can make a DC 10 Perception check to pick up on the message as well. Do only allies get a chance to listen in, or could a Mitran inquisitor select the Bonded Mind teamwork feat and eavesdrop on us?
Ask your GM if he can help defuse any conflicts. For example, he could say that in his campaign world, animating corpses is no more evil than dismembering living sentient beings, or 'smiting' as they call it. Alternately, ask to be allowed to rebuild your character to focus on more socially acceptable necromancy, such as an Enervation or Boneshatter specialist.
Good roleplaying at my table entertains me and my players. I try to encourage it. Offering mechanical advantages on rolls is worth trying; it might be just the motivation that some players need to put a little more effort into their play. Try to be interesting. Try to be eloquent. Try to be memorable. It makes for better games.
TarSpartan wrote: CdG is a full-round-action, exposing one to attacks of opportunity. It is rare that multiple party members cannot reach one another with a double-move, so the odds of being able to pull this off without taking significant damage from another party member are slim. A full round action takes a character's entire turn. Examples include a full attack action, running, and withdrawing. The action is complete by the end of the character's turn--there is no opportunity for other characters to double move, or take other non-immediate actions. In any battle where combatants are temporarily helpless--hit by Hold Person, for example--coup de grace is the optimal strategy. Creatures like wights that create spawn when they kill should coup de grace as a matter of course. Creatures motivated by hate and revenge focused on a single person, like Revenants, should coup de grace the second they get their chance. I've used coup de grace as a threat from an NPC more often than I've used it for real: "Drop your weapons and surrender, or your friend gets a red smile!"
Take one level of sorcerer, bloodline blue dragon, to increase your lightning damage per die by one. Consider being dual-blooded with orc, for another +1 damage per die, or with stormborn, to increase your DC with lightning by 1. Consider being a tattooed sorcerer to increase your caster level with evocations if you don't go with dual-blooded, or if your GM allows you to mix the two archetypes. Dazing and Quickened should be two of the three metamagic feats you pick to qualify for Spell Perfection. I don't care much for Preferred Spell myself, but if you take it, your third metamagic feat will be Heightened Spell. Otherwise, consider Elemental Spell for the last, since it will allow you to bypass electrical damage resistance, which is fairly common. Selective Spell would also be a good choice, as would Empowered. Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, and the Greater version of each give bonuses that double from spell perfection, as does Caster's Tattoo, which you would get from being a tattooed sorcerer. The Magical Lineage trait will make adding metamagic to your lightning spell much better, as will wayang spell hunter. Spend some gold to increase your spells available--A lesser rod of echoing spell is cheaper than three 3rd level pearls of power. Of course you will want the highest wisdom headband you can afford. Buy yourself a few blocks of Incense of Meditation. Use them whenever you're sure you'll have a long day of adventuring; you will do astonishing amounts of damage. Have fun!
ProfPotts wrote:
That turns out not to be the case. Sean K Reynolds wrote:
Remember a cone is three-dimensional. By angling a spell above or below the horizontal, you can affect different conic sections on the ground. Unfortunately, there's no good 3D spell templates floating out there, showing, say, the different collections of cubes that can be affected by Burning Hands. But without going into a lot of explanation, a 15' cone can affect a 10' line on the ground plus a bunch of fire above everyone's heads, and a 30' cone can affect a 20-25' line on the ground (depending on the exact angle) plus a bunch of fire above everyone's heads. Also, either can affect a shorter line if you angle it into the ground.
1) The target will be dazed or confused for the duration of the performance even if it ceases to be fascinated. 2) I interpret fascinate + confusion to mean you check for confusion and follow the results, and if the creature "acts normally", they act as if fascinated. 3) No. One performance is in effect. extra) Fascination applies a perception penalty that daze does not, but is easier to break.
Isonaroc wrote:
Zone of Truth appeals to me too, except that the subjects are aware of the effect and could pivot away from questions or simply not answer. Suggestion might be a less ethically troubling spell than Dominate Person for compelling the truth. Protection from Arrows can be cast on others, too. I understand what you mean about hit points being an abstraction. Since modern firearms can fell an elephant (93 hp) and shoot through 1/3 inch of cast iron (hardness 10, hp 10), DR 10 starts to sound less than impressive.
A spell I haven't seen mentioned is Phantasmal Revenge, a spell that could eliminate active serial killers, decimate criminal syndicates, and perform surgical counterinsurgencies. I'm also surprised not to see a lot of interest in spells like Seek Thoughts and Discern Lies, which could transform human relationships. Commune--imagine the questions a panel of nobel prize winners could pose with Commune. Or imagine the value that you could get out of it by posing the big questions: "Is there a God?" Or for you simple pleasures folks, reflect that with twenty questions you could pick a winning lottery ticket out of a million possible numbers every week, or out of a trillion every other week. If Wish is out, Summon Monster IX gives you access to diverse spells through creatures like Ghale and Trumpet Archons and Astral Devas. Protection from Arrows would work against bullets, right? Probably worth the slot.
A familiar has its master's skill ranks, which means whenever a duettist makes a knowledge check, the familiar can too, which is very similar to rolling twice and taking the higher result--approximately as beneficial as getting a +5 bonus on a single roll. A bard doesn't get +5 from Bardic Knowledge until level 10. The familiar can Aid Another on many skill checks too, including the non-knowledge ones. A duettist doesn't get to make knowledge checks untrained, so there's the cost of scattering one point into every knowledge. Also, they don't get the auto twenty from loremaster. On the other hand, a familiar gives Alertness, the equivalent of 4 (and eventually 8) skill ranks, plus the familiar bonus to a skill/hp/initiative/whatever. On top of that you get everything a familiar can actually do: scouting, combat actions, etc. Saving combat actions on performance is pretty big, and if you get your Improved Familiar, there's Use Magic Device possibilities, Commune once a week...great stuff.
I prefer the less favorable interpretation, based on a very literal reading of the spell. If multiple casters place a Shield Other spell on a target, when the target takes damage, the damage is reduced by half. Every caster then suffers the damage that the target didn't take. So if three clerics cast Shield Other on a Target, and the target is struck for twenty damage, the target takes ten damage, and each of the clerics also take ten damage.
MrCharisma wrote: OATH OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL PALADIN? Do OotPC Paladin levels stack with bard levels for Inspire Courage effects?
What it says on the Cover wrote:
Well, no. The sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma. The sun's not simply made out of gas. No, no, no. The sun is a quagmire; it's not made of fire. Forget what you've been told in the past. Plasma: electrons are free. Plasma: fourth state of matter--not gas, not liquid, not solid.
Amanda Barry wrote: As an archivist, I am mostly convinced that naturalist is better than inspire courage, (except with animal companions, since it's language dependent), because I think AC and saving throws against all unique abilities is better than extra damage and anti fear stuff, and the bonus to hit is the same. What's fun is you don't have to choose. Inspire Courage's competence bonuses stack with Naturalist's insight bonuses. My favorite PFS games are the ones when my Arcane Duelist and his Archivist pal are both at the table. Naturalist is strongest when there's a single enemy target, or at least a bunch of the same species. When there's two or more equally dangerous but very different enemies, it isn't as effective.
Don't sweat it, man. I'm posting heavily these first few days because a) we're all hyped up after a month of waiting, b) I got pulled out of the group and didn't want to be a bottleneck in the action, and c) happen to have a little free time while my daughter is on a trip. I'll post at a more typical rate as time goes on, I promise.
Refuge is Wiz 9, Cleric 7.
Yellow Sign and Overwhelming Presence are Wiz 9, Bard 6.
Spell Sage looks like a good archetype for a wizard who wants to specialize in enchantments or sonic blasts. Overwhelming Presence looks like a pretty fun spell to cast at level 11, even if it costs two level 6 slots.
It simply isn't true that a ranged combat character HAS to use a bow to be effective. Bows are optimal, but other ranged weapons are feasible. For example, I've seen an awfully powerful dwarf Inquisitor that used a repeating crossbow to deadly effect in a Paizo AP that went from levels 1-14. I've seen a ninja tear through adventures with a shuriken build. I've seen a savage technologist wreck enemies with a switch hitter style using thrown weapons early on, then switching to futuristic pistols at higher levels. (Iron Gods, of course)
You like dwarves? What do you like about dwarves? Answer that, then choose a class that lets you emphasize that. Is it their affinity for caves and stone? Their association with tradition, duty and honor? Their beards and love of strong drink? Whatever your answer, choose a class that lets you play up that aspect of dwarviness. From a mechanical viewpoint, the bump to Wisdom makes Dwarves a good choice for any class that needs it, and the hit to Charisma makes them less suitable for classes that rely on it. People have mentioned druid, warpriest, inquisitor, monk, cleric, and shaman as strong choices, and they are. You mentioned ranger, which is another excellent choice, but you're right that crossbows are somewhat less effective than other missile weapons. You'd be better off as a two-handed-weapon ranger, or a weapon-and-shield ranger. Access to dwarven weapons such as the dwarven longhammer, chain-flail, and waraxe give you some interesting options. Good luck!
You don't have to be able to see everyone's rolls...just the untrustworthy player's. Sit as close to each other as possible, and ask him to use clearly visible dice. Tell him that it's because of COURSE you KNOW he's not cheating, but you just can't shake this silly suspicion in the back of your head, and it's ruining your fun. The tougher question is what do you do when he cheats right under your nose, and you catch him? It sounds like you're unwilling to confront him, or enlist the other players in an intervention.
For what it's worth, the Bestiary constrictor snake gets 1.5 str to its constrict damage, which is equal to its bite damage. I'd rule your companion snake's constrict equals its bite. I'd rule that you need the GMF casting that makes all of a creatures' natural weapons +1 to affect both its bite and constrict. Does PFS let you boost your animal companion's intelligence and thereby take feats like Greater Grapple?
So by your interpretation, despite the use of the phrase "just as if using a metamagic feat", rods don't actually work just as if the user was using a metamagic feat, because they didn't reprint the entirety of the rules for metamagic feats a second time under the section for metamagic rods? I apologize for the acerbic tone, but I find your reading hard to support, and unnecessarily complicated.
Dave Justus wrote: So if you are a sorcerer and using any rod except a quicken rod, it takes a full round. If your spell is modified by the quicken feat, but your are using a rod, it will take a full round action (at least as the rules are written). So your interpretation is that spontaneous casters lose the benefit of Quicken Spell if they use any other metamagic feat or rod along with it? That seems hard to justify. "...spells modified by the Quicken Spell metamagic feat... can be cast as normal using the feat" is pretty unambiguous. Spells modified both with Quicken Spell and other metamagic feats fall in the category of "spells modified by the Quicken Spell metamagic feat". And additional metamagic applied by a rod works "just as if using a metamagic feat". I interpret this to mean that a spontaneous caster's spell modified with Quicken Spell, whether from a feat or a rod, has a casting time of a swift action, even when modified by other metamagic. Outside of this thread, I'm not aware of any other GMs who interpret differently.
Dave Justus wrote: A sorcerer, using anything but a quickened metamagic rod, will have to take a full round action to cast a spell. The quicken rod gets around this, but a quickened spell by itself doesn't. That turns out not to be the case. From the PSRD: Quote: If the spell’s normal casting time is a standard action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action for a sorcerer or bard. (This isn’t the same as a 1-round casting time.) The only exception is for spells modified by the Quicken Spell metamagic feat, which can be cast as normal using the feat.
Ryan Freire wrote: Lightning domain has no PF deity associated with it, i'd just ask the gm if they'd let you use it. A problem with publication order, to be sure. I'd have Hei Feng, Rull, and Tjasse offer Lightning instead of Wind. A half-orc cleric of Rull with the theologian archetype, with Lightning as its Focused Domain, could be a very effective blaster. Build it along the same lines as the better-known fireball theologian, dipping one level into crossblooded orc/blue dragon bloodline sorcerer (a descendant of Kazavon, perhaps?), and you have a pretty deadly critter. You'll want a Rod of Elemental Spell or some other way to get around electrical resistance, which is even more common than fire resistance.
Pizza Lord wrote:
Whoops! I left the x4 for huge out of my calculations! The rules say that weight limits for dragging can double under favorable conditions. I'd say that pushing a hydrodynamic vessel over liquid qualifies. So, 520 x 4 (for huge) x 5 (for dragging) x 2 (favorable conditions) = about 10 tons. My bad. With a heavy load, a run action gives x3 movement. 100' reduces to 75' at a heavy load. Thus, 225'/round. I would not apply the 5'/round rule for carrying up to double carrying capacity over your head in this instance any more than I would apply it to a dog hauling a sled or a horse pulling a cart. With the x4 correction, a 50 ton ship would go around 40'/round faster--that's an extra 5 mph, or 108 miles/day, a significant improvement.
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