Khalarak's page

Hey guys, just thought you might like this.

The specific ability I'm referring to is Steelbreaker Skin. While thematically I love it, it seems a bit too potent. At a certain point you simply become immune to weapons for 10-20 minutes a day, unless the opponent is using adamantine.

As a case in point, if I'm reading the rules correctly a balor's sword has hardness 12 and 20 hp (10+2 hardness for being steel with a +1 enhancement bonus, (5x2)+10 hp for being a Large one-handed blade. Even at 15th level, when a balor should be an almost overwhelming threat to the group, if he happens to land a couple of hits on the oracle his weapon is gone. Obviously he probably would avoid striking the oracle after his first swing, and the balor has a lot of other attack options, so this might not be a huge problem, but effectively making someone immune to a full attack is kind of rough. This example is also a lot weaker if you interpret any of a weapon's effective enhancement bonuses from special abilities to count towards increased hardness and hp. Even considering these matters, however, just striking the oracle once immediately applies the broken condition to a weapon, imposing some pretty significant penalties.

Of somewhat more concern are projectile weapons. At a certain point, an arrow that strikes the battle oracle just isn't going to survive (if you count the arrowhead as the portion of the weapon that takes the damage, it has hardness 10 and probably 1 hp, considering a dagger only has 2). By level 11, the oracle is simply immune to nonmagical ranged attacks, and quickly becomes immune to even ranged attacks of pretty decent enhancement. On top of that, the language seems a little ambiguous; the ability states that the *weapon* takes damage from striking the oracle. This ability is supernatural, so it's entirely possible that the bow would splinter and shatter from firing an arrow at him; is that the intent? Or does it refer to the projectile?

My numbers here are pretty rudimentary, and if anyone sees any glaring flaws in my logic please point them out. This just seems a little excessive.

I was looking this over and I can't quite figure it out. Is there a particular reason wolves are considered significantly superior to riding dogs for purposes of summoning spells? The only difference between them I can discern is that the wolf is a bit faster and has 1 point higher AC, but on the other hand the riding dog has a higher attack bonus and deals more damage, not to mention has a higher chance to trip the target. Otherwise, they're identical in virtually every way.

Am I missing something? Did anyone notice any similar oddities about the summoning lists? Any insight would be appreciated.

We've just finished Rise of the Runelords a few weeks ago, and my guys are currently occupying themselves cleaning out Xin-Shalast, putting their newfound and completely unnecessary wealth to good use, etc. However, they're also talking about tracking down the rest of the runelords soon, starting with Xanderghul. They've gathered that, if awakened, he'd probably be best suited of the runelords to rule a new Thassilonian empire, and want to nip that particular problem in the bud.

So I have a dilemma: not having played many illusionists in the past myself, I'm unfamiliar with any ways (be they feats, spells, magic items, simple tactical choices, etc.) there might be for great and mighty Xanderghul not to get completely pwnt by true seeing. The spell's expensive, but my players were keeping a small chest of the material components tucked away for a rainy day even before they gained access to Xin-Shalast's millions of gold worth of wealth, and I'm expecting them to have it going almost constantly once they start hunting him.

Similarly, is there some way for Sorshen not to be negated by protection from evil and mind blank? Krune not to be rendered impotent by a simple dimension lock? Karzoug figured out fairly early on that the party was using runeforged weapons against him, and it felt weird having the master of transmutation relying on everything *but* transmutation spells because he knew trying to transmute the party was a waste of spells and actions. I'm trying to avoid a similar situation.

So if the goodly people of the Paizo boards could lend me their genius in working around these problems, I'd be most grateful.

Heyo,all. My Rise of the Runelords game contains not one, but two gnome priests of Desna, one of whom is a survivor of ancient Thassilon who'd slumbered, unknown, in a mostly collapsed prison beneath the Therassic Monastery since the empire's fall. In an effort to get back in touch with the religion and get caught up with all that's happened in the last ten millenia, he's got it in his head to search out Desna personally via plane shift.

Clearly, meeting a goddess is a momentous occasion, but I'm unsure how to handle it and could use any advice you fine people could provide. Should I make it an arduous task to prove their worth, or should she welcome her children with open arms? Should they literally meet her face-to-face, or should she make herself known through visions and dreams? If any of the Paizo staff wouldn't mind weighing in with what they could tell me about what plane she dwells on, what her domain is like, etc., that would be amazing. I haven't got my hands on a copy of Gods and Magic yet, but if that information is in there that would be good to know too.

I'd like to make this as fulfilling as possible for my players, but I've never roleplayed a god before and it's daunting me. Thanks in advance!

Hello all, just a thought I had walking home from class yesterday.

As it stands in D&D, only wizards, clerics, bards, and other spellcasters can produce weapons, potions, amulets, armor, and such of supernatural potency. I suppose at first blush that makes sense; those who have the magic make the magic items.

However, fantasy is *full* of alchemists and blacksmiths who can make true wonders, even artifacts, with nothing but the skill in their minds and the sweat of their brow. I noticed this problem a little while back when I tried to make a 'legendary blacksmith', a 20th-level expert, but realized he couldn't make magic items unless he could also sling fireballs and walls of stone around. Neither can even the most skilled alchemist make even basic healing potions. Blah.

Now, I do think that spellcasters should be *better* at making magic items than normal craftsmen. After all, they have magic on their side.

So the solution I thought of is fairly simple: allow non-spellcasters to take magic-item creation feats, in their case substituting the number of ranks they have in a relevant skill for the caster level requirement (for example, only characters with 5 or more ranks in Craft (weaponsmithing, armorsmithing, leatherworking, or bowyer) would qualify for Craft Arms and Armor. After that, they can simply make the appropriate skill checks, making silver-piece progress as normal for crafting the item in question (perhaps adding the caster level of the desired special ability to the craft DC). It will probably take your average 5th-level weaponsmith over a year to make a simple +1 longsword, so its unlikely he'll do so unless compensated handsomely. But for your supremely skilled 20th-level smith, he's capable of making truly spectacular items without actually being a spell-slinger, though the 20th-level wizard is still a superior (and far more dangerous) craftsman.

From a flavor standpoint, you could say that taking the feat represents learning simple arcane formula and components that, while not enabling him to actually cast spells, achieve the desired end when it comes to crafting. Hell, you could even substitute rare materials for the normal spell prerequisites.

I don't know if this breaks down at any point. Figuring an average fighter at level 20, with full ranks in Craft (weaponsmithing) and enough other bonuses (Int, masterwork tools, etc) to bring him up to a +28 modifier total, I figger it still takes 29 years (rouhgly 1500 weeks) of taking 10 to make a 20th-caster-level sword. Truly an epic undertaking, but theoretically worth it for such a potent weapon, particularly if he's an elf or dwarf. Now, adventurers most likely have better things to do with their time, so assuming instead a 20th-level expert, he could do it a tad faster (being willing to invest Skill Focus feats and such), but still not in the 200 days a wizard would be able to achieve.

Thoughts? Is it even worth the trouble to anyone else?

One of my favorite DM tools is this: http://www.coveworld.net/eberron/goblin_translator.html

It's a simple program that takes what you type and scrambles it into something that sounds authentically goblin-like (at least in the Eberron setting). It's consistent, and I've never seen it generate the same word for different English words. I always thought it would be six different flavors of awesome to have something like this for other languages as well (including non-Eberron Goblin...); it's great for coming up with magic items, demons, deities, even character names (my real-life name translates to Drakech Kuul'Khaalken ;) ).

The only problem is I have exactly zero expertise with this kind of thing, and I haven't contacted the programmers who put this together yet. Anyone here have the know-how to put something like it together, for the enjoyment of all? :P

I apologize if someone's already brought this up, but I noticed a few things about the fey bloodline that gave me pause. First of all, I absolutely despise the irresistible dance spell; I lost two important villains (including a great black wyrm) to it before banning it from my games. Then I noticed, looking at the Alpha 3 sorcerer, that not only did they get that spell as part of their class, they also got an ability that lets them reroll any spell resistance roll, thus removing the only real obstacle there is for this spell to annihilate almost anything not immune to mind-affecting effects.

So here's how I picture it working: Sorcerer moves up to enemy, casts Irresistible Dance, makes his touch attack (since those are largely 'check for 1s' at higher levels). Checks for spell resistance, and against almost any target, if he's given two rolls he's most likely going to succeed. This results in the target, including a balor, a dragon, or that powerful-blackguard-you-spent-4-hours-building-and-wanted-to-be-a-climactic -battle DANCING HIMSELF TO DEATH over the course of 2-5 rounds, during which the entire party is free to pummel them with everything at their disposal; full attack sneak attacks, full attacks from fighters and barbarians, save-or-suck spells, etc. And if they dont' kill him in that time, the sorcerer, being a sorcerer, simply does it again. Not only is it almost a guaranteed victory, its humiliating for what should be a memorable villain.

Personally, I don't want Karzoug the Claimer to dance himself into oblivion when I've spent a year DMing Rise of the Runelords, and while that won't happen in my games because this spell won't exist, this makes it all too easy to do so in the core rules. Please, please, PLEASE fix the dance, at the very least.

I don't know if this has been thought of and hashed out already, but I've often heard the prime complaint against the defensive fighter being that he has no way to make people hit him. Feats like Goad fix this to a certain extent, but has anyone thought about just being able to use Intimidate to taunt? It makes sense (someone who knows how to pick out someone's fears and frighten them would be able to prick those same spots to make someone angry) and would help fighters get a *lot* more mileage out of Intimidate than they currently do.

This is just an idea that popped in my head, and I'm no good at figuring out the mechanical aspect of such, but what does everyone think?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77885391@N00/2552163681/sizes/l/

I looove the Pathfinder goblins with a passion that is entirely unbecoming of a supposedly mature man, and Wayne Reynolds did a wonderful job of giving them a distinct look from the standard D&D variety. But I've been disappointed that Gogmurt never got an illustration in Burnt Offerings, and was a little dissatisfied with some of the other goblin portraits (no offense to the artist, if you're here). So I'm working on my own illo of Gogmurt, in all his goblin-pyromania-meets-power-of-nature glory. This isn't complete yet, but lemme know watcha think.

Oh, and let me know if there's a more appropriate place to put this. >_>