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I think that based off the feedback given. That I'll stick to, "They might be afraid, but an intimidate check will only give you info from them that wouldnt endanger them in return." In this case, they might give up their leaders name, and maybe the rough number of troops, but not the base locations, patrol routes, etc. Unless tortured further to drag the info from them. Which draws up will saves and bluff/sense motive. Though I do like the gaining additional bits of info per 5 the DC is exceeded, since that both encourages people who build into the skill, and matches most of the other checks that have a matching 5+ over scaling. I know one of the bigger problems I have is finding a middle ground of RAW and reasonable reality. So I greatly appreciate everyone's replies in how it should be handled!
I am having a small issue in a game I'm running. I'm running Ironfang Invasion(No spoilers given here), and of course, the players have captured a hobgoblin to interrogate for details. I offered torture, as that's the usual method of obtaining information from an unwilling subject, but another player brought up a section in intimidate: Influence Opponent’s Attitude
Success: If successful, the opponent will:
Fail: If you fail this check by 5 or more, the target attempts to deceive you or otherwise hinder your activities.
Which I feel is a bit of a problem. Cause even LOW-level characters can hit Intimidate DC's of individual monster foes. Like right now, they are level 4, so an On-CR encounter for them including these hobgoblins, still means that they are CR 1 each. and with a not great Wis score, it's DC 12 Intimidate and 1 minute of conversation to make even the most loyal, devout, or "terrified of their own leadership" soldiers crumple and give the PC's all the information they know, with no saving throw or attempt to resist. While torture optional rules include heal checks to deal nonlethal damage or ability damage, and takes an hour, and still allows both a will save to resist, and the ability for them to try to lie about information, attempting bluff checks against the PC's Sense motive. So I guess I'm asking that is it better to just shorthand interrogations to "I roll intimidate, that's a 15, So he tells me everything", or would it be better to use the more complex rules for torture? In this case, they plan on killing the hobgoblin anyway, no matter if they get info from him or not, if that matters at all. Just worried about setting an easy precedent for "I roll to intimidate the king, It works, so now he tells me how he's been sacrificing orphans for his secret cult!" kind of thing. Perhaps a decent middle ground would be to allow Intimidate on "weaker" monsters, but more devout, harder-to-break foes would require torture? I don't know. ^^; In any case, Thank you for your time and assistance!
Chuck Mount wrote:
I was originally leaning this way because I wanted to try swashbuckler, and didn't want to do the typical scimitar/Slashing grace build. So I was originally looking at how to make that work best, was considering the Dueling Sword and/or dueling dagger and then the glaive came up with Bladed brush(Shelyn-specific feat). Tagging in Devoted muse was because it is the Shelyn-specific Prestige class, and it pairs pretty directly with swashbuckler. I saw some other people reccomending it in "Glaivebuckler" builds, and heard about the Paladin dip for Cha to Saves and Lay on hands and stuff. Also ties into it being a Shelyn build too. I'll take a look at the Magus though, and see what that gives and stacks with. It should be interesting I hope!
Java Man wrote: I reeeaaaaly like swashbuckler weapon training at level 5, free improved crit at 5th level is tremendous. After that devoted muse, paladin or even warrior poet samurai. I somehow missed or forgot that I don't get the crit range bonus until 5th. Yeah, So I'll probably do 5 levels Swashbuckler, then 2 Paladin, then into Devoted Muse. I'll check out the Warrior Poet Samurai though! I think the Dancer's Grace won't stack with the Devoted Muse's AC bonus, Flourishes are nice though, Though some don't work as well with a Swashbuckler type build, like Vital strike, as I'm more leaning towards full attacks when possible to crit fish for Panache. I already get Weapon finesse from Swashbuckler and Bladed brush... Graceful strike is nice though, though I get the same but better effect from Precise strike deed. And Battle dance could be fun, but I don't think would work in this build at least so far. So I could see you stacking Warrior poet with Paladin or fighter maybe, but not as much with Swashbuckler/Devoted Muse. Thank you for the suggestion though! I grok do u wrote: If you plan on going paladin for divine grace, consider a swashbuckler archetype that gives up charmed life like Noble Fencer. They don't stack, so unless you're expecting to have to deal with a fallen paladin, you might as well replace it. That's a fair point that I didn't think about. I'll look into archetypes, though it seems there's only 3 That modify or replace it... Azatariel: Swaps some fun abilities, but in the end doesn't help with the Divine grace issue...
Of those, I think Noble Fencer is the only real choice, and a thematic choice too for a Swashbuckler/Paladin of Shelyn to have social bonuses.
Working on a build for a game, and decided to try a class I haven't tried yet. I wanted to distance myself from the usual power builds of Slashing Grace Scimitar to make my character a bit more unique, and thanks to the DM agreeing on a few points, I think I have a good base nailed down, but I would love to hear additional thoughts on feats, traits, and class ideas. Right now, the DM has approved using a Fauchard in place of a glaive for Bladed brush, as even the description says they are basically the same weapon. This turns my Glaive: 1d10 19-20x2 crit, into a Fauchard(reflavored to glaive): 1d10 15-20x2 Crit, at the cost of an exotic proficiency to wield it. Which I am extremely greatful for. We are starting at level 5 right now, but After looking around a little, I saw a few ideas I kind of like. Swashbuckler 1: Deeds, Panache, Swashbuckler's Finesse
Feat 1: Weapon Focus: Fauchard
At this point is where I'm starting to branch out in other potentials. I could go straight Swashbuckler through to higher levels, Taking Slashing grace for dex to damage(DM approved this) or Look into multiclassing a little. A fun build I found reccomended 2 levels in Paladin for lay on hands, 1/day smite, and +cha to all saves. Then several levels in Devoted Muse. Devoted Muse stacks with Swashbuckler levels (-3) for deeds. But just the first level grants the pretty great +cha to AC. If I multiclass, I'll probably do Swashbuckler 3, Paladin 2, and Take Muse 1 Immediately, before doubling back to Swashbuckler 4 for the bonus feat, then sticking with Muse until the game ends or that caps out. Though I'd need to swap feats, or delay muse as I need Combat reflexes and Improved Feint. DM was once again kind enough to allow Swashbuckler finesse to carry as a requirement for Devoted Muse, since it's pretty much a swashbuckler prestige. So I think It'll end up being Feat 5: Combat reflexes, and Swashbuckler 4 feat being Improved Feint. So I can take Muse at 7th level, and Slashing Grace at 7th as well. Thank you all for your time and inputs on this. I know and am greatful for the DM being so flexible for this build to happen as well as it is.
TxSam88 wrote: go check out Broken Moon Adventure, part of the Carrion Crown Adventure Path. Are you just referring to the Werewolf Ecology section on pages 70-75? That certainly has helped with expanding werewolf lore in general, but not about magic items, spells, rituals, and the like for them, nor Does it go into Jezelda at all, besides that one of her boons is to grant Natural Lycanthropy. Though I could try to re-read it in depth to see the interactions with those Werewolves and the other characters.
I'm working on a character for a game coming up in the next couple months, DM wants to run Hell's Vengence, so we are doing Evil characters. I've decided to do my werewolf character(corruption rules) that I talked about in a previous Advice question after that game kinda fell through. So I've been having a lot of fun working with Chat GPT to bounce ideas off of for expanding Jezelda's lore/abilities, since it's a bit scarce in the material at the momment. So I was curious if this would be a decent place to post some of that stuff and just see what people's thoughts on it are. I'll do a bit of it below for example. Some of the biggest hardships is balancing Spells/Magic items. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Starting off, I worked on some tenants for Jezelda's "Cult", like the Paladin tenants of more good dieties, this was to be for clerics, general followers to exemplify, and maybe antipaladins? 1: The Gift of Lycanthropy is Not to Be Hoarded, it is a weapon to be unleashed on the world.
4: Embrace the Beast Within
7: Protect the Pack, Strength Through Unity
I tried to balance the cruel and demonic edge of being a Jezelda worshipper, and also not being ENTIRELY lone wolf. Spread Lycanthropy, Honor Jezelda through hunting/killing, A tenant about being smart about the moon phases, Being true to the curse that forms the religion, a target to prey on, and a key about camaraderie for packs, that still fits the very survival of the fittest evil tilt that Jezelda would have. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Additionally, Some WIP Magic items, I wanted it to have 2 main effects, so I was thinking of using keywords. "Lycanthropic" and "Blood Sacrifice". More or less just meaning that the former has a "Generic" effect, like +2 on will saves, that increases on the 3 nights of the full moon, say to +3 or 4, or gains another benefit, like 1/day reroll a failed will save. And lessens in effect, or has a different effect on the three nights of a new moon, Such as dropping to a +1 on will saves. And the latter has an increased effect if used as part of a full moon sacrifice(TBD if it's any living sacrifice, or has to be a sentient creature, power levels should change accordingly) Such as an amulet of a Werewolf-lord's fang wrapped in a leather cord with moonstone beads, Should give nondetection, but in the day/Days/Week after the sacrifice, can give a +# CL bonus to the nondetection, or grant 1/day Disguise self or a stealth bonus etc. One of my favorite examples so far below: Crescent Claws of the Moonbog - Gloves
I feel like the only problem I IMMEDIATELY see, beyond getting DM approval, is that this is a lot of "Keep track of what day it is and what bonuses I get" Though I still think if it's only on a small handful of gear, it shouldn't be too much tracking. As being a werewolf anyway, I have to track the moon phases. Thank you all in advance for any feedback you provide, and if you like, I can always post more stuff as I work on it.
I'm starting to branch out from module play into homebrew things, and I was looking at trying to make some custom gods that weren't overly powerful, and a way to outline players to have an idea of what guidelines there would be if they wanted to make their own as well. Does anyone have any idea about this? I'm hoping I won't have to sit down and manually crunch the numbers myself... But I was starting to look at the following:
Which is a lot to go through, and why I'm hoping there's some guidance that I missed on creating them.
Apologies on the delay in my reply! I see a lot of good ideas here. And while I might incorporate some of them, I think I will keep witch for now, getting the ranged touch spells, and focus on using fortune/misfortune and cackle, and ranged touch spells to debilitate enemies. I just gotta find some good options to use, like Bestow Curse, Frostbite, etc. This could also be an interesting thing to deal touch-range buffs while lingering at that 30ft range, even Cure spells or enlarge person could be applied as well. Deadly dealer will probably apply if I want to save spells, have cast all the spells I need, or have run out or the like.
Name Violation wrote: Problem is with that BAB, you're never going to hit anything with an attack unless it's a touch attack So would you think that something like Ranged Feint would be an option over Vital strike? Since vital strike requires it NOT be a touch attack. Maybe some other accuracy buffs too. Belt of dex helps, +# on the cards will help, but it's still gonna be rather low, especially compared to more martial types. I suppose I could more focus on being a bad touch Witch, and use the deliver touch spells through thrown cards part, and use default card throwing if I can't do anything better or need to save spells. Once I hit harrower, I can do the draw three and modify the spell being cast, throw the card and deal whatever touch spell. And those are ranged touch by default.
As usual, I was inspired to build a character because of a series I watched, which has me wanting to build gambling-styled character who's lost his soul to a demon/devil in a game of cards, and now has to do their bidding. The character is already a cheating type of gambler and not really a good person. But starting with looking at how to make playing cards a viable weapon, the only thing I really found was the deadly dealer feat, which lets you use playing cards as darts (1d4+strength damage) and Harrow cards as masterwork darts. It requires arcane strike, but allows you to give +1-5 damage as a swift action, and to turn the card damage to lethal damage. In my looking about, I found that basically it boils down to Card caster Magus(plus or minus Staff magus or myrmidarch magus). Though it seems that Card Caster isn't written well and requires a fair amount of GM interpretation to work well, not to mention you still destroy cards when you use them... Which leaves me with the next best option I can find, the Cartomancer Witch, and the Harrower Prestige class. I've outlined the build I'm thinking of below, with relevant magic items, my big concern is feat selection and maybe spells.... Levels 1-5 are Witch(cartomancer) for the following:
Spell Deck can also deliver touch spells at 3rd level, and gives the spell deck returning, and the cards aren't destroyed.
This means by Level 5 we have 3 feats, up to 3rd level spells, deadly dealer, 2 hexes, and your spell deck for spells/dart weapon etc. Then we go for Harrower prestige class, which adds a lot of flavor, and buffs some of your spellcasting. It grants you +1 spellcaster level of your base class, so you can still be a level 20 witch spell-wise, you just lose your grand hex and some other free hexes. You also gain some other fun benefits like:
Spirit Deck(Standard action to make a whirlwind of razor-edged cards of force against a target foe, Draw cards=level, if it matches your alignment exactly, 5 dmg per card, if partial, 3 dmg per card, non match, 1 dmg, and opposites are 0 dmg.)
So by level 10 we have Everything at level 5, plus The harrow blessing, Harrow casting and the first 3 of the 6 towers, and the Spirit deck ability. At level 15, we have the rest of the abilities, and are a Level 15 witch for spellcasting. This just leaves the last five levels, probably for the rest of witch, to round out our high level casting and more hexes. Which brings us to how to potentially make this work with feats, or other class suggestions... Harrowed is a mandatory feat for the prestige class, And gives you a bonus vs enchantments, and 1/day draw a card from your deck, and gain a hovering +2 bonus on any one D20 roll that is modified by the associated ability. Otherwise, it seems like you'd just want to do a ranged build with Point blank shot, Precise shot, Deadly aim etc. Though I've only really seen people recommended Startoss style with vital strike to go with deadly dealer, which should allow you to gain more damage and bounce your attacks a bit. But is there any other good options? Trying to keep the flavor of gambler with some of these fun mechanics, but I also want to make a character that will pull their own weight as well.
So, I ended up doing the following, but I did find some other fun stuff to potentially make the trap build fun. Name: Sniv
Level: 12
Race
-----Class: Unchained Rogue-----
Deadly Traps: +1-5 d6's to trap damage if the trap deals damage.
Uncanny Dodge:As usual.
Improved Uncanny Dodge: Us usual. -----THE BUILD-----
FEATS & TALENTS
T6 Camouflage: 1/day 1 min to make foliage camouflage, that gives +4 stealth pretty much all day, and with a lenient DM, allows you to repeatedly snipe from camouflaged cover without needing hide in plain sight etc.
F11 Extra Rogue Talent: Quick Trapsmith: Set up a trap (CR=1/2 lv) as a full round action.
-----Equipment-----
Otherwise, it's some basic items, the main magic items like Cloak of resistance, Belt of Dex, headband of Int, etc. Though there are some interesting alternate options, like belt of the weasel. Those of fun note are sleeves of many garments, traveler's anytool, robe of infinite twine(for trap making and utility), boots of springing and striding, and a quickrunner's shirt. Really want to lean into the mobility of the character as a stealthy/squishy type scout. Weapon: I went with a Mithral/Darkwood Greater transformative weapon, as darkwood and Mithral are somewhat comparable in what they do, so transformative uses the appropriate material, Darkwood Quarterstaff/shortbow with a mithral string/augments, or a Mithral Dagger/Shortsword with Darkwood handles/sheath. I also added Sniping, which grants a +5/10/15 to stealth after sniping. Mix in Kobold Sniper/Superiour Sniper, and you get a net Bonus to stealth after sniping instead of a -20. Armor: There is a LOT of options here, but to start, I went with Darkleaf Cloth leather armor for a +8 max dex. But you may want to consider Just cloth armor if you Dex is higher. I also added several fun enchantments, Shadow Blending gives 40% miss chance if in the dark(50% if shadow enchanted), Shadow enchant for the previous and a +5/10/15 to stealth, Trackless for +5 to stealth and -5 to track you, Comfort so you are treated as hot or cold weather clothes, Restful so you only sleep 2 hours, and as if you slept in a bed. And Glammered, to make the leather armor just look like clothes to seem less conspicuous. Other items:
Alternatively, there are some other traps that could be fun. Like: Insidious Bear Trap: 6,300gp but can, on command, Open, snap closed, or reset. And 1/day can be made invisible for up to 5 hours, granting a +40 to the Perception DC and Disable device DC, and can also 1/day be set with an audible or mental alarm, as the alarm spell. It can ALSO be set with a password on setting up, allowing creature that say it to pass through without triggering the trap. If you can modify this with special materials like Adamantine or Cold Iron etc, and/or swap the default bear trap to the sawtooth or offset jaws types, you would be SET with just a couple of these. Then there's the Trapmaker's sack, which can 1/day make any trap CR 4 or less and magically set it up, though you still need to make the craft check. This includes Pitfalls with green slime, wall scythe traps etc. And the best part is that they just EXIST there now, no more cost to you, and permanently. There's a Trap stealer's Rod, which is a +4 bonus magic crowbar, and can turn into masterwork lockpicks. If used to disable a trap, and you beat the DC by 5+, then once a day, you can "Steal" that trap for up to 24 hours, placing it somewhere else. Then there's things like the Stone of Alarm, which is a little expensive at 2,700 gp, but command word fixes itself to something, and those that don't speak the command word and touch it have it screech an alarm head up to 1/4 mile away. This can be useful for critical items you want to keep track of, or a trapped item in your handy haversack etc. Or even more fun, place it onto the pressure plate of your Insidious Bear trap. ----- Feats and Spells-----
--Spells
I will not be covering the various trap spells, as these likely aren't affected by your other abilities and you have limited methods of effectively casting them anyway. And the last fun thing to note, if the potential if you wanted, to build into Fiendish Obedience with "Andirifkhu" The CE Demon lord/Kobold pantheon deity of knives, illusions, and traps. While the obedience is kinda harsh to perform, (torturing creatures every day) You get some FUN abiltiies, from +2d6 sneak attack, to extra bleed damage on slashing damage dealt, to a 1/day empowered blade barrier that you are immune to. But my favorite is taking the Obedience feat to select from other trees, and taking the Sentinel "Killing Machine" ability, that lets you turn yourself into a trap. -----The end----- So far, the build is: Camouflage with netting or the camo ability and the like, stealth ahead to scout, rendezvous with the party after marking appropriate things(if you can), build a plan of attack, then stealth ahead to place traps as you are able, and lure enemies into Bear traps/ranger traps/ball bearings/entangling nets etc, and with allies knowing where they are, should be able to enjoy enemies that can't flee(if the traps are staked down), are prone, or otherwise entangled and the like. You stay stealthed while they fight and shoot 1-2 times with sneak attack to apply debilitating attack debuffs as you feel the party needs. And worst case scenario, true sight or high perception foes can still be caught unaware with prehensile tail grabbing a smokestick or other smoke-producing tool to obscure you. As before, if anyone has any feedback or suggestions, please let me know!
So, I LOVE racial archetypes(when reasonable) so when I was thinking about a rogue to fill a party niche, I gravitated a bit towards kobolds, and their special archetype. Which doesn't LOOK bad in my opinion, just limited use since players often don't use or care about traps. So I'll outline what I'm thinking below, but otherwise, any feedback or suggestions are greatly appreciated! Name: Sniv
Starting Level: 10
Race
- Small size: For that +1 AC, +1 attack, and +4 stealth, at the cost of melee fighty bonuuses.
- +2 to craft (traps)(important later), Perception, and Profession (Miner)
-Favored class bonus: +1/2 to AC bonus of Trap sense(replaced, but with a near identical ability, DM should allow this to apply to that) Class: Unchained Rogue
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
8th
10th
In the future:
THE BUILD
FEATS & TALENTS
T6 Camoflage: 1/day 1 min to make foilage camoflage, that gives +4 stealth pretty much all day.
Additional Considerations
I was thinking about Empty Quiver style to be a kinda Switch hitter, With a ranged focus.
I have also heard about using smoke resistant racial traitand the equipment trick: smoke sticks for cover, or using Daggermark poisoner to make a poisoned trap with no save that deals 1d2 con dmg for 6 rounds. But I haven't checked to see the wording on it, or if it is viable. In any case, thank you for your time!
I'm looking at playing my alchemist again after a while of not doing so, so I thought I'd post his build below and ask what people thought. I'll leave notes on each selection for why, and I'll preface any ability with ? to indicate an option I'm unsure about. I am going for a balanced build between flavor and function. I want a character that does what he wants to do well, and isn't 200% optimized for combat damage. Thank you all! Class: Alchemist (Plague Bringer)
Race:Ratfolk
Favored Class bonus:Thought I'd mention, +1/6th of an alchemist discovery. So +3 discoveries by level 18. Traits:most DM's allow 2 traits, and a drawback for a third, so That's what I'll build here.
The background/Flavor:
The Build:
Class abilities
-C1: Brew Potion: Gain the brew potion feat, but you use your Alchemist level as your caster level. (lets you bypass the usual, "Not a caster can't take crafting feats" problem with alchemist, and is inbuilt for letting them contribute low level cure potions and the like early on. Also exceedingly handy later with the "Alchemical Allocation" Spell.)
-C2: Disease resistance: Replaced poison resist, this gives +2/4/6 then immunity from disease. Thematic for someone working with disease all the time, though arguably poison is more useful to be immune to, I like the flavor.)
-C3: Swift Alchemy: Poison a weapon as a move, It takes 1/2 the time to make an alchemy item. (So the bonus speed for poisoning is great, so while you are stand action throwing bombs, you can still poison allies weapons with your blood if they allow you to do so. Though the faster craft speed is REALLY nice, especially when paired with Signature skill: craft, or the 5th lv feat, Master alchemist.)
-C6: Swift Poisoning: Apply poison as a swift action. (This is kind of nice, because it's "MAY apply" so if you are using your swift or immediate action for something else, you can still poison as a move, or triple poison as 2 moves and a swift.)
-C9: Bombs to 5d6
C20: Grand Discovery: Pick from the grand discovery list and learn 2 normal discoveries. (there's some fun options in here, but sticking with thematics, I am going with the philosophers stone. Feats
-F7:
Discoveries
-D8: Fast bombs or see D6: Fast bombs turns the standard action to throw a bomb into a normal attack action. (Basically, you benefit from high BAB and haste now. You can also grab some of the previous 4 discoveries mentioned too if you like.)
-D12(2x):
There are a variety of good discoveries to take, combat or support oriented. But I'm more concerned about the first 10-12 levels, as that is the highest I've ever gotten in a game so far. But modifications to bombs typically come with a save or be debuffed ability, and several abilities to work with potions. As mentioned above though, sticky poisons is a potential option, despite both poisons not being very effective for players, expensive to use, AND flavor-wise, it's unlikely for a doctor like him to use poison, but with plague vial, it allows a good use for that negates all those negatives. Craft: Alchemy
In general, we are looking at Roll+Int mod+Class skill+alchemist class bonus+tools. Though you can easily add in some other bonuses, like Crafter's fortune. Though the highest DC for craft alchemy will be DC 40 for Alchemical blood. +10 to increase crafting speed. So once you hit Take 10(cause there's NO reason why you shouldn't if you can) +30, you are only working on increasing craft speed due to the multiples of progress mechanic. In this case, we prioritize intelligence as the ability to allow more extracts, higher DC's, more Bombs per day, and more splash damage. So We are looking at 10(take 10)+5(int)+1(skill ranks)+3(class skill)+1(alchemist class)+2(alchemy table if affordable)+5(crafter's fortune) for a whopping 27 result at level 1 before the Racial or trait bonuses. In this case +2 for Tinker, and +1 for spark of creation, totaling 30. So as long as you have the full crafting table, and can take 10, you can craft 95% of all alchemy items with enough time. Then you add in Signature skill:Craft, Swift alchemy, Master alchemist, Full pouch, and other feats, abilites, spells etc, you can really pump out items for your group. Speaking of which, I mentioned in background my "Jak's Attack packs" A kit of gear for adventurers to help them in many situations. I've asked this once or twice before, but the more recent post was here: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs42jna?Alchemists-every-situtation-packs Consisting of 2 bandoliers and 2 spring loaded wrist sheaths. It gives a nice stockpile of always accessible utilities to help in a number of situations. Other Crafting
Brew potion: Given for free at lv 1.
Equipment
Armor: Leather or Studded initially, can probably upgrade to mithral chain at some point, though getting any of these with the "Alchemist Suit" bonuses as custom upgraded magic armor is a good idea if possible. (Alchemist suit carries 8 doses of alchemy items/poisons etc, that can break to hit you or the enemy on a melee attack, constriction, swallow hole, etc etc.)
Chest: Apron of the careful chemist is fun here, +2 bonus to dex won't stack with your belt, and the +2 craft alchemy doesn't stack with your Alchemist class bonus to it. It still gives alchemy items you give to yourself or others, a +1 to the saving throws. Like antiplague, +5 on saves vs disease for 1 hour, is now +6 for the party, as long as the Alchemist does it. You COULD also look at the cloud engineer badge if DM allows adventure path items, but all it does is give 1/day each life bubble and reduce person, and a +2 competence bonus on craft alchemy and knowledge engineering, the former won't stack with the alchemist class bonus.
Hands: There are some FUN options for gloves, and while I tend to like the gloves of storing, I have to lean towards "Poisoner's gloves" here, as you can load each glove with a poison, potion, or extract, and give a melee touch to inject that into the creature. Good offensively or defensively, You can load cure potions or extracts in, to heal allies with the touch, or offensively, with poisons, or bad extracts. I remember hearing something about using a combination of this and skinsend previously.
Neck: I start with a green filter scarf, as a gift from his parents, It's a mundane clothing item that I believe grants +1-2? to saves vs inhaled poisons and the like. But moving to magical gear, there's the typical Amulet of natural armor and the like, though there is also the necklace of bloody incisors early on, that is 10 uses, load the teeth into splash weapons and give then 1d4 slashing damage for each tooth, and 2 more slashing splash damage. But once used 10 times, it is destroyed. But Necklace of Adaptation is far from a bad item either, as it allows you to negate problems breathing. Also thematic for an alchemist working around dangerous chemicals all the time.
Shoulders: The usual cloak of protection as a default, potentially doing the custom magic creation to add in muleback cords.
-Admixture vial: 1/day combine 2 extracts as the combine extracts discovery.
-Formula Alembic: Can use a potion with 1 hour prep to scribe to your formula book without expending the potion.
-Retort of control: Helps spontaneous alchemy if using that rule set. But also you can designate 1 creature type/subtype to not be effected by the item crafted. (example, a "Human" Designated alchemist fire can be thrown into melee with a human ally and a dire rat enemy, and the human takes no damage from it.)
-Caduceus rod: Does a LOT, most importantly, +5 insight bonus to craft alchemy, +1 insight to atk/dmg with alchemy items/alchemist bombs, and 5/day pick from 5 abilities.
-Preserving flask: While boro beads replenish used extract slots, preserving flasks maintain the extract as a kind of potion, and after 1 day, it no longer costs you an extract slot. Then there's mundane items that help as well, like flask pike, stormshaft javelin, Bomb chucker etc. But I won't bore you with that here. Notes
And as far as spells, there are a few important ones to pay attention to like Crafter's fortune for that +5 to craft. Full pouch to make a copy of alchemy items for 1gp worth of alchemical herbs, good to restock your allies equipment kits. Alchemical allocation to be combined with high level potions or expensive elixirs. My favorite combination for this is preserving flasks with alchemical allocation, and pass around a singular dose of "Spirit rush" elixir when needed. It's active for an hour, and if you would be reduced to 0 or less, you are healed, ethereal for 1 round, and teleported 30? feet away from the source of the damage. A really handy emergency button for the cost of the 2nd level Preserving flask(or boro bead) for each ally, and the single dose of elixir.
I realized while adding more references in the additional tabs, that the Calc page just added it all the bonuses together. Working on an update now that'll separate the Bonuses in the left column into the different bonus types, so you'll automatically only take the biggest bonus for everything that applies.
Well, there's a couple ways to do archery builds as far as I'm aware. There's a number of feats and abilities you can take to give yourself those bumps in hit. One of the bigger things to look at for DR is that dragons if I recall, mostly only have DR/magic, so any effect that makes your bow +1 should help there. Otherwise, look at Clustered shots feats, so your individual bow shots all count as 1 attack. You could take archer fighter archetype for some neat bonuses like Bonuses to perception, bonus bow range, and no Attacks of Opportunity when shooting the bow without needing the snapshot feat that removes it. Boosting damage should be easy enough with called shots, Deadly aim, etc. As far as wind effects, there's a few ways, "Silver nocking point" is a 3k item that reduces penalty due to severe winds. The Cyclonic +2 weapon enhancement that entirely takes care of it, but it's expensive... Or there's the "Weathered Warrior" combat feat that reduces penalty as well, and might stack with the silver nocking point.
There's always the option of buying potions/scrolls, or even maybe a custom Wonderous item of #/day invisibility spells. Then of course there's having a buddy cast it on you, like an alchemist, wizard etc. Though as far as ADDING it to your list of spells known, I'm not sure if you can outside of magic items or multiclassing.
Belafon wrote:
Another way SORTA around this, though at financial cost, is the Preserving flasks. Make it an infusion, fill up the flask, then after 24 hours, the flask preserves the extract, and it no longer takes a slot. https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/m-p/preserving-flask/But BACK to OP's Original question. I see no reason why you can't take the feat if you meet all the pre-requisites. Though as always, DM has final say, and if you still have concerns about how it would interact, of course ask them. Sorry if that feels like a bit of a cop-out.
Java Man wrote: Sorry, I was intending that for Kiba, who implies that infusions can be stored for after the 24 hour limit. https://aonprd.com/AlchemistDiscoveries.aspx When the alchemist creates an extract, he can infuse it with an extra bit of his own magical power. The extract created now persists even after the alchemist sets it down. As long as the extract exists, it continues to occupy one of the alchemist's daily extract slots. An infused extract can be imbibed by a non-alchemist to gain its effects.In addition, this post here from James Jacobs, Creative director.
I don't see why you can't, as long as you meet the pre-reqs, also regular alchemists already get the brew potion feat, which is nice since they are-but-aren't a caster to apply for much else. (promethean disciple for constructs, and master craftsman for Wonderous items and Arms/Armor.) Also, Infusions could also mess with this, since infusions aren't every 24hrs, they last until broken or used. So an infused extract recreated this way I BELIEVE would basically be a "free" Potion. But DM would probably put a stop to it if you abuse it.
Hello! I've made several posts about alchemists before, and I have for a long while had a fairly simple excel sheet for processing mundane craft alchemy. Though I have spent some time and effort on making a better one, I was hoping to post it here, and get some feedback on it. If people think I should add, remove, or change certain things, including the format or colors or even the font. I'm still adding to the orange sections, which is just a quick and dirty reference for feats, traits, equipment, and spells that affect craft, alchemy, splash weapons, or poisons. Also, I can't take any credit for the poison section, as I have never done anything with it before, so I googled someone else's Poison guide and filled in the blanks there, though I hope to do a more in-depth review on it as I continue to work on this little passion project! Here is the link, I have locked down editing any of the database fields for editing, and you should only be able to edit the Green dropdown fields, or the Gray "type in your own number" Fields. If you want to edit any of those, please download your own copy of the sheet using the menu! I look forward to whatever feedback people may have! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cCxoLGcBwkXMnnxWUI2zBkLJsn8E8M8s4nD EFJTUs7w/edit?usp=sharing
Chell Raighn wrote:
I don't know how this plays into it, cause D20PFSRD and all, but there is NOW a section under deathwatch about it. "Does deathwatch detect things you can’t see? The following information was provided by Michael Brock, who previously served as Pathfinder Society’s campaign coordinator. He is not a developer, but this information likely applies to PFS organized play: “It is intended to be used only on creatures already perceived. You have to be able to see the creature to instantly know whether each creature within the area is dead, fragile (alive and wounded, with 3 or fewer hit points left), fighting off death (alive with 4 or more hit points), healthy, undead, or neither alive nor dead (such as a construct). It doesn’t magically advise or let you see or know there is an invisible creature or a very stealthy creature in the area and what the health and condition of that creature is.” [Source] http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2p1t1?DeathwatchNo-Ambushes-Pinpoint-all-Invisi ble#8
So, in this case, it would let you see mimics and statue-constructs, but not invisible/hiding creatures. Which kinda works in the way that it still detects stuff in general in it's area, but doesn't detect things that you don't perceive... Which I feel is a good middle ground.
Ryze Kuja wrote:
Thank you kindly! That makes a lot of sense, but I couldn't find the rules or an FAQ about it.
Ryze Kuja wrote:
Ah, thank you! So it seems that it's more based on reality then perception then? Though the consequence of spamming it to find hidden constructs/mimics etc is losing the spell as if it was cast should prevent people from abusing the targeting rules.
I think I found a more concise way to phrase my question, though part of it has already been answered. So let me try to phrase it this way.... You have a wizard who goes into a room with 2 mimics, 2 treasure chests, and 1 illusion of a mimic. The First mimic passed it's disguise check, the second one failed. The Wizard has it on good faith by a trusted ally that 1 treasure chest is actually a mimic(but it's not) and one chest is just a chest. Lastly, the illusion mimic is clearly a mimic. This sets up the following when he tries to use the 5 missiles of magic missile on the 5 chests.... 1: A mimic that he doesn't know is a creature, but IS a valid target.
When he casts the magic missile, what happens to each missile? Do they strike regardless of what he perceives, or because of what he perceives to be creatures? Thanks to the above, I think we can scratch #5 off though.
Azothath wrote:
That's good to know for the case of illusions, but what about the main example presented? A construct creature like say a graven guardian looking like a statue. Can you magic missile it before you know it's a construct creature? I don't think Illusion school rules wouldn't naturally apply to the main question of Casting a creature targeted spell on something that you don't know yet is actually a creature. But as said, the info you provided does answer the part of it asking about illusory critters, so thank you kindly!
Hello! I had this come up recently in a game I'm running, and wanted to get some external assistance since I can't find a good answer for it via Google. Thank you in advance for your help! So the question currently, is Casting targeted spells on things that you don't know are applicable targets. For example given, Magic missile has "1-5 Target creatures" which means you can't use it on weapons the enemy is holding, doors, the bad guy's orb of ultimate power etc. But how does this interact with say an illusion of a dragon? It technically isn't a creature, and thus, isn't a viable target for the spell to be cast, even if the caster thinks it is. And on the opposite side of the coin, if you have the wizard checking a suspicious chest to see if it's a mimic by casting magic missile on it. If it IS a mimic, it's a valid target for the spell, even if he doesn't KNOW it's a valid target. And if it's not a valid target, what happens? The spell just doesn't cast? The spell is used but fizzles? Originally, this came up a while back because a player wanted to use 'permanent' deathwatch via the deathwatch glasses item to negate stealth checks and invisibility, since "Using the powers of necromancy, you can determine the condition of creatures near death within the spell’s range. You instantly know whether each creature within the area is dead, fragile (alive and wounded, with 3 or fewer hit points left), fighting off death (alive with 4 or more hit points), healthy, undead, or neither alive nor dead (such as a construct). Deathwatch sees through any spell or ability that allows creatures to feign death." So they were saying that if it's a construct object pretending to be a statue, without making any checks they should automatically know it's a creature and what HP it is at. I ruled at the time that you have to perceive the statue or mimic as a creature with perception, it making some type of action, or otherwise drawing your attention before deathwatch would work on it. And now it's come up again in the example of the caster wanting to check if things are a viable target by casting the spell in advance of actually knowing. So by that logic still, magic missile shouldn't be able to be cast on a mimic before you KNOW it's a mimic? And on that same idea, illusions or other things that may or may not be a legal target? I guess it boils down to is spell casting targeting based on what things actually are and not perception, or perception, regardless of what the reality is?
Sorry to resurrect this after so long, but I found this thread while googling additional info for my alchemist. And while this may be long solved, I'd like to add my opinion for when/if others find the thread. Firstly, the original question. Starting off with WHAT is an Infusion? It's a discovery that states you can infuse an extract with extra power to make it persist and continue using your 'spell' slots, but continues to refer to it as an extract, and once an 'infused extract'. So it is VERY safe to say it's a case of all infusions are extracts, but not all extracts are infusions. So anything applying to extracts work on both, but is something specifies working with infusions, it may not work with extracts. So in this case, though Preserving flask specifies extracts and infusions, it doesn't NEED to, as all infusions ARE extracts. Next up, Would Preserving flasks still count against daily slots? I would say no, as the preserving flask states explicitly that "Preserved extracts count against an alchemist’s extracts per day on the day they are prepared, but not on subsequent days." This also runs into the question of removing it to another vial. And I say both mechanically and likely RAI/balance wise, That even an infusion extract once removed from a preserving flask is no longer potent. As referenced here in preserving flask: " An extract stored in a preserving flask remains potent until it is consumed or otherwise removed from the flask." So a regular extract stored in a preserving flask is maintained by the magic of the flask, and remains potent like a infused extract, but still, only you may drink it. Removing by any means except drinking it would ruin the extract. Additionally, an INFUSED extract functions in the same way, but with the following changes: That after the first day, an infused extract, Like a base extract, stops using a spell slot. As the magic needed to maintain the infused extract is switched from your 'spell' slots, to the magic of the flask. AND that others may still continue to drink the extract instead of just you, as it is still an infusion. Though as with a regular extract, once the infusion has switched it's magic source from your slots to the magic of the flask, it is ruined when being removed except when drinking it. I believe this is reasonable and in line with other items like rings of spell storing, as you can only store 1 extract per magic item (costing 1K, 4K, 9K, 16K, 25K, or 36K Respectively, 1-6 Spell level). So if you wanted to store spells en masse, you'd have to spend that much money on each individual flask, and STILL use up the spell slot to begin with when first making them. I mostly find the flasks good for higher level extracts to hand out to other party members that they may or may not use in a particular day, or for the illustrious Alchemical Allocation mixed with a shade walking or Spirit rush elixir, or even just a high CL Barkskin potion or the like. Lastly, As it was mentioned above a little, I believe that Boro Beads are rather different from Preserving flasks, and fill similar, but different roles. As flasks use your 'spell' slot for the day, then on following days, keep the extract potent for use, and can't be used again until it IS used, or dumped out. While Boro Beads refresh the slot after being used, such as drinking extracts in combat, then afterward, using them to refresh the slots to brew more extracts in the same day, and can be used every day. Flasks=Carry spells to new days, Beads=Using more spells in the same day. So while they achieve the same goal of "More spells a day" they do fill different roles. Thank you all for your time, and please let me know if you have any disputes, questions, or disagreements about my statements!
I know this is really old, but I was making another post referencing it and thought I'd update about how you can, as an alchemist, include Boro beads/Preserving flasks and Alchemical Allocation with certain Elixirs. Starting off, I was researching this, and people seemed a little confused on Boro Bead vs Preserving Flask. So I'll outline the differences below. ----------
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
So as you can see, they both cost the same, and do something kinda similar in effect, giving you more spells per day. HOWEVER, The Flask turns a previous day's Extract/infusion into an effective potion after the first day. It no longer affects your extracts per day, which overrides the infusions "Infusions count against your total per day until used". Which makes them IDEAL for extracts you want to give out to the party on down days, or at the end of the day, and keep your total spells up the next days. Boro beads however, REPLENISH a spell slot once it is used. This makes them better in the momment, after you have crafted and used your extracts, as Alchemists don't USE their 'spells' until the extracts or infusions are drunk, or destroyed. In short, TLDR: Preserving flasks are for buffs and infusions you want to pass out for party members to hold onto until they may eventually need to use it. Boro Beads are for immediately replenishing a spell slot. ----------
Elixirs however, are special, specific magic items like potions, that have very specific effects. Some of which are good, others, not so much. I'm here to talk about my 2 personal favorites, but by all means, check out the elixirs for other options too! The first is Elixir of shadewalking:
A little expensive, 3.5 K for a single use. But Alchemical allocation means you can reuse it nearly as much as you like. This is an excellent target for a Boro Bead use, as you can prepare the allocation, drink it and the shadewalk, do your travels, then if needed, use the bead and prepare another extract when you are done. And an 11 hour, 12 creature(no size restriction) fairly safe travel with a speed increase? I think that's pretty decent in games WITH travel. The other, is a Spirit Rush Elixir:
THIS is the target of your Preserving flask. Give each party member a preserving flask of alchemical allocation, and just buy 1 of these. If you think you are going into a hard fight, Have them each drink the allocation, then the spirit rush, and pass it to the next person. 2,400 gold plus 4,000 Gold per preserving flask pays for itself quickly when spirit rush activates, Healing 3d8+5, and pushing the in danger party member away from the danger to allow back line to try to heal or assist them as needed. Compare that to Raise Dead's 5,000 GP cast each time, or Resurrection's 10,000, plus if you don't have a caster capable, the cost in time and money to find and pay for it to be cast too. Anyway, that's it for this update, but there are plenty of fun elixirs that buff skills or give darkvision and stuff, I just wanted to share this to make SURE you grab Boro beads and preserving flasks for your kits!
I've asked before a few times about my Alchemist, whom has a kind of "Every situation pack", or, 2 bandoliers and 2 spring loaded wrist sheaths loaded up with alchemy items, potions, and other gear. From sun and moon rods, to cure potions in Iron vials, to Liquid blades or Bladeguard, or remedies like antitoxin/antivenom or Antimetic Snuff. But recently, I had a DM introduce an item to me from a DM (N)PC, a Staff of anti-BS, loaded with a few different spells to help deal with random usual adventurer problems, like knock, see invisibility, dispel magic, etc. Which got me to thinking, what other items, be they normal items, or custom magic items, might exist to augment regular play like that? I know some items might be specific to certain characters, like gloves of storing. But whether specific or in general, I was hoping to find out what you guys might recommend to carry around to deal with adventuring problems, like a bag of flour for Profession chef or the like, that can be used to show invisible creatures by tossing it over them, or looking for footprints in the dust on the floor after. Thank you all for taking the time to read this, and even more so if you take the time to reply! Previous threads about the "Every situation packs":
Starting up a wrath of the righteous game, and I'm joining a bit late. But I wanted some inputs on what I've built, and what you think could be improved or swapped for flavor. Thank you! Race: Kitsune: +2 Dex/Cha, -2 Str
Stats: 25 point buy(including racials)
THE BUILD IDEA
THE BACKSTORY AND FLAVOR
For Wrath, this is mildly changed up as Yua will be taking the Riftwarden orphan trait, as it ties to the archmage path. A simple swap to the flood being the thing that killed them, to whatever demon or monster in the campaign for the trait, and giving Yua a reason to stick with the crusades while looking for her sister. THE NUMBERS
Tattooed sorcerer is a potential idea, as it swaps my Laughing touch ability, (which isn't that great), one of my bonus feats, and my 9th level bloodline power, a rounds/day greater invisibility as a spell like, which I may miss. In return however, I get a familiar that can be stored on my body in a tattoo(probably hidden under kitsune's fur?) mage's tattoo as a bonus feat, Which gives my Enchantment school spells +1 Caster level, and the ability to make spell tatoos. Finally, enhanced tattoo lets me pick 1 enchantment spell without Focus, or expensive Material components, to cast 1/day as a spellike ability, at +2 CL. I would probably take the Valet Familiar archetype, letting me be a better team crafter with my archmage abilities to craft things. 1: Laughing touch(or familiar), Spell focus: Enchantment
At 5th level, my 19 Cha should be bumped to 20, and without magic Items, I'm looking at Spells being DC 10 +5(cha) +1(spell level) +1(kitsune magic) +1(Favored class bonus) +2 (Spell focuses) +2(bloodline Arcana) for a total of DC 22 for a first level spell. Though non enchantment spells are sitting at the regular 16. 7: Start into metamagics here, Silent spell, persistant spell, extend spell etc, or maybe grab The Eldritch heritage for a familiar then if I don't do the tattooed sorcerer. Or if DM allows, the coveted Leadership for a high Cha character....
At level 10, I'm looking at DC 23 for first level enchantment compulsion spells. 5th Level spells being the top, at DC 27 11: Any feats past this point are mostly guesswork. Ideas include Greater spell pen, metamagics, spell focuses for conjuration or other schools, Spell perfection....
At 15, I've put 2 more pointed into Cha for 22, and my FCB has stacked some more, for first level spells being DC 25 and 7th level spells at 31. 17:
THE MYTHIC I'm taking Archmage of course. Though my path here is a little less clear. My bonus points for stats are going to Charisma of course. 1: Wild arcana lets me cast any sorcerer spell as a swift action, wether it's a known spell or not, and at +2 CL. opens SO much versitility.
Name Violation wrote:
As FraVit said, You SHOULD be able to take it from cavalier, and cavalier SHOULD stack with your effective druid levels, from being a hunter. I asked my DM and they okayed it, but not sure about others... In any case, I'm not planning on switching to that unless they die at that point. FraVit wrote:
That looks pretty good! Though I think my only concern looking at this is the large amount of cavalier orders to pick from. And since it'll be a dip, I think I'll just get the base ability to modify the challenge? Unless I choose to put more levels in later.... Wonderstell wrote:
AW. That sucks, but yeah, I see it. Guess I'm still stuck with combat expertise at first then.
Name Violation wrote:
I'll check with DM, but he's kinda strict, so us not being in that area may be a problem. I think I'm looking at armor expert, maybe reactionary, and a campaign trait(with a drawback). There isn't much That I can find for good hunter/mounted combat specific traits. Wonderstell wrote:
It's used to start off the game with an "intelligent" animal companion. They get 3 more tricks per INT, and more strict DM's may let you get away with more casual animal companion rules if it is intelligent. So the immediate buff for INT is to start them off with more tricks, more feat selection, common as a language they understand, and hopefully, DM not having you roll handle animal 1-2 times a turn instead of just saying, "We'll go here and attack." I'm mostly doing that for RP reasons. That my character loves their animal companion, and thus, invests in their protection. I was looking at Leather Lamellar armor, but I could look at dropping it, since I can't afford it at first level anyway with other gear. Java Man wrote: I like a one level dip into Wildchild brawler for a character like this, your companion stays at full progression, you add Martial Flexibility (which can be used for teamwork feats) and don't need that 13 int for combat expertise. I might just take a look at this, I haven't seen the wildchild, but it sounds pretty good! FraVit wrote:
I have heard of dirty fighting, but long forgot about it. I think that's a pretty good take instead of expertise, so thanks for that! Then I can restat my int a little. 2: I haven't looked at the cavalier, but should I wait on that until I get the large sized wolf? So like level 8?
Though, where are the extra feats at level 1 come from? Humans only get 2, and animal companion should only start with 1? Temperans wrote:
They'll be large at level 7, where we can start riding, and if I get that dire collar, I can make them huge, and then the feat would make them even bigger. Though I don't know what the rules would be for a medium human on a huge wolf... Though enlarge person could resolve that. I'm a little undecided on if I should do a stay and fight kind of fighting style, or the hit and run charges. As that seems to be the two ways to do it. And there is a LOT of items that could apply for animal companions, and searches are only of mild help filtering out the good ones for the momment...
I'm making an update to an old character I made, and was hoping to get some inputs on how best to build a mounted character, since before I just built him like I would any other melee character. I'll put what I have below and why, and please let me know if you have any ideas. Thank you! Race
Stats
Traits
Class
One question is if it's worth it for the Packmaster archetype? It seems like there's no REAL downsides if you just, don't take a second animal companion. But if you DO, you can take boon companion to get 4 free levels on like, 4 level 1 eagles to scout, or a level 4 eagle, or whatever you want. Animal Companion for this I think is going to be Wolf as a traditional choice, and that at level 7, you can start being mounted. Feats & progression
Animal Companion (wolf)
Feats are a HARD point for me, because before I just built 2-weapon fighting with a dagger and handaxe, and otherwise built dex. But there's a LOT out there that is SO cool, I can't justify spending all the feats for 2-weapon fighting instead. I'll list a few below that I am considering. Ride By attack: You can move/attack/move, and don't provoke from the move. Great hit and run.
Hunter Gear
Otherwise, I am looking at a knife(dagger), Camp axe(handaxe), and a Longbow(for more hunting/ranged) Which should cover a variety of survival tasks and potentially combat. Animal Companion Gear
Slotless:
Spells
References
So, unlike a few of my other posts where I have a good idea for build already in mind, In this case, I just have a theme, and would like to hear some feedback about it. It's mostly for flavor, but I don't want to be a drag on a team that I'm put in. The idea is of course a Wolf McWerewolf druid, just throwing as much into that theme as possible for fun. I've outlined my few ideas below, but please, let me know if I missed anything, or if there is anything in particular you like or dislike and why. Thank you! -Race: Starting off a skinwalker (witchwolf) to set the theme.
-Class: Druid
Pack lord can stack with it, and gives another bonus to wild empathy on top the usual for their animal companion, must select an animal companion, and the ability to take multiple companions, splitting up their animal companion levels between them.
Otherwise, there's Wolf Totem Druid.
So that was a LOT of info. But quickly going over my opinions...
-Traits There's some fun traits you COULD select, I'll outline a few flavorful ones below.
Child of the moon is just SO good on a werewolfy character, and gives you an in game reason to track lunar cycles if you are stuck without the actual curse. The affliction more so states the lycan connection in flavor text, and the other two come from the skinwalker(witchwolf) and are racial traits tied to them. Otherwise, typically universal traits like reactionary are good. -Feats As discussed before, there are a few feats to mitigate the downsides of the archetypes, but otherwise, a few options below.
Divine Interference lets you sacrifice a spell slot to make an enemy reroll, which is great to avoid crits.
-Lastly, something the DM may not allow of course. The afflicted/true lycanthropy templates, or, more preferably, The corruption rules Lycanthropy. The templates are not advised, and many would have a hard sell for the DM to let them take them. Typically it's viewed as a curse, and not something people WANT, so a template that almost gives you nothing but positives won't be greatly received. The corruption rules shift this however into each ability being a positive AND a negative, which balances it against the usual levels and abilities you ALREADY have. A quick rundown for those unfamiliar, You have to be reduced to below 10% HP by a werewolf to catch the affliction. Thereafter, you are at Stage 0 Lycanthropy. You must succeed on a DC 15 will save 1 night of the full moon or go wild. You can fail the check, but still be bound up, preventing you from progressing to stage 1, but then all other nights of the full moon you change with no save, and if you make it to the end, the DC increases semi-permanently by 2 until you gain that next stage. Next, typically, for every 2 levels you've lived with the curse, you get a manifestation of the curse. There's 2 versions. If the curse is just a bad thing the DM wants you to get rid of, you'll just get the bad part, probably of a manifestation of their choice, called a stain. If you willingly embrace it, or DM wants to give you some bonuses, you have the option to take the gift. If you refuse the gift, you instead get a +2 bonus on your save to prevent you from going up a stage. Lastly, the DC for the save increases by 1 for every manifestation you have. So, with this in mind, you should want to lower the chances of going wild, because after 3 failures, you become an NPC and have to roll up a new character. So with that in mind, there is a LOT that works in our favor with this build. Starting at level 1, you are looking at DC 15 will save, once per month. As a druid, wisdom is a big stat, especially if you want to cast, so you might be looking at getting Wisdom up to 19 at least eventually. For now though, we'll say you start at 16 base, a reasonable number. Witchwolf gives an inherent +2 to wisdom, bumping us up to +4. Witchwolves also get the optional bonus of +2 racial bonus to all saves when shifted. Level 1 druid gets +2 to will saves. And finally, if Dm has allowed, fiendish obedience at level 1 gives you a +4 profane bonus to saves, plus the second chance re-roll. Leaving us at +12 to will saves with a re-roll at level 1 for the purposes of this saving throw. You would have to roll a 1/2 twice in a row to suffer the ill effects of the corruption. And if you choose to be older, to up your mental stats, or take another trait to give a bonus to will saves, or get magic gear or spells to help your save, you could push it even further down, with that reroll there to help, just in case. I figure all of this plays well into each other, and can be role-played pretty nicely. You feed the beast's urges daily, offering prayers and hunting prey to satiate it. Plus you can hold the beast in check due to your strong mental fortitude. And if DM is feeling particularly nice, When you hit level 14(or sooner with prestige classes) the obedience ability would turn you into a "True lycanthrope" or a natural lycanthrope. Which just gives you control over your transformations. So a reasonable handshake between the template wolves and the corruption one, is at this point(with 6-7 manifestations) you no longer have to make the will saves to avoid transforming. Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear your feedback!
Mark Hoover 330 wrote: Pick an aspect... Yeah, the robot trait was specifically for rise of the iron gods. I still need to look at traits to select some that fit, and a drawback or two. As far as the jungle setting, that was something that I hadn't considered, and though you MAY have ripped off Thundercats, I think with enough difference, it's just 'Inspired By'. But thank you for your feedback! I'll certainly be looking at perhaps a more tribal beginning, depending on the theme for the game, once GM gets it. So a potential urban or tribal background, each one viable. And on the topic of family, I actually usually try to avoid the orphan/The BBEG killed my parents! Trope, as I feel that happens way too often. But I think him having family he isn't aware of and discovering them during a campaign would be great fun. A loving aunt or grandmother who would have taken him in, if the could have found him. I'll have to get out my character building conspiracy board to fiddle with stuff, see what fits. Sysryke wrote: I like everything you've come up with so far... Thank you! I spent a few days trying to think things out. And yes, I haven't quite gotten to relationships yet, as I didn't wanna jump the gun and start establishing all of this, and then as Mark put above, and move from an urban setting, to a jungle tribal town. Though I think just a little reflavoring should suffice for some/most of the important figures, I just haven't gotten that far yet. But trust me, it's certainly on the way! Though as this is still early, I like to have a few things for stuff that happened to him already, but it wouldn't fit to have, "Slayed the demon lord and saved the world" and he's level 1. As an extreme example, but hopefully it gets my point across. That I want stuff to fit what level he is, and how much time he's been doing things. I also like to ask the DM how best to fit me into the campaign, and adapt it to that. Tim Emrick wrote: This is background for my monk... I plan on making him more of a dex-y monk thanks to his racial bonuses. And I had considered a circus/performer start for monk, as I heard a D&D story on Youtube about someone who went that route. But I didn't just wanna copy what someone else did. And I think it mostly depends on DM's interpretation of alignment. The way I typically view it is Good/Evil is if you do it for the betterment of others, or specifically for the harm of others. And Lawful/chaotic is more if you follow 'A' Law, be it the law of the land, of the country, a code of nature or a paladin creed, monk vows, etc etc. Or if you don't care about rules, and do anything and everything to get what you want, within reason. So I think a lawful bound monk should just have to sternly follow some code of living, even if it's not the law that you get arrested for breaking. A good example might be a Pirates or Thieves oath, You may break the law to steal things, but you have a code of honor you are bound to even still.
I am taking my catfolk monk from a previous game. (discussion for build here if you are interested: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43gb1?Catfolk-monk-build#15 ) And wanted to kind of reinvent him for future games, since he was rather basic for Roleplay. I think I came up with some good ideas, but I was hoping to hear what people have for unique monk backstories that isn't the standard, "They grew up in a monastery!" Feedback, suggestions, or other ideas are more then welcome! We have several weeks before the first session. To familiarize you with the build if you don't check the link. He's based on the Catfolk monk favored class bonus, "Add 1/2 to the monk’s damage rolls with claw attacks and claw blades. A monk who selects this bonus at 1st level also treats claw blades as a monk weapon. If he is an unchained monk, he can use his style strikes with unarmed strike or claw blade attacks." Catfolk are also +2 Dex/Cha and -2 Wis, so a scaled fist is the way, since it replaces all Wis requirements for monks with Cha. Lastly, he's building off the claw blades, so he's going to take ascetic style to let him use ki strikes, stunning fists, scaling dmg dice, etc with the claw blades. Now onto the meat and potatoes of this thread, his backstory. I wanted to do something substantially different from the typical monastery, and figure that monk hood isn't something that HAS to be from martial traditions and formal schools. So I came up with him being an orphan/street urchin in a large crime-riddled city. He grew up eschewing material goods because he could never afford them, and learned quickly that having nice things just let to you being a target for thieves and criminals. He learned out of trial, error, many fights and tears and nights unconscious and bleeding in back allies his fighting style. What worked and what didn't was effort and pain. He never got nice clothes or armor, as those signaled to others that you had items worth taking, so he learned to be aware of his surroundings and gained a Monk's AC bonus. He never carried external weapons when younger, as any weapon you have can be taken from you and even worse, used against you. Often fistfights stay just that, leaving opponents knocked out in a gutter or ally, without their purse and bleeding, but alive. But once you introduced a weapon, others drew theirs, and what was a fight for some item, became a fight for your life. So he learned to fight with tooth and fist and claw, Only graduating to claw blades as an extension of his natural claws in his early teens. These blades were useless to any non catfolk, and easy to hide as they slipped over his already existing claws. A bit of paint and it blended in well enough to pass most cursory inspections. Thus he learned a monk's unarmed strikes, and the favored bonus for claw blades as he practiced both unarmed strikes and more lethal blades. He learned how to move quickly in the backstreets, fleeing with stolen food or away from bandits, eventually gaining a monk's movement speed. While he doesn't know what he has is Ki, he does know that he can focus his attention and awareness to a knifes edge for short bursts, performing what seemed to be normally impossible feats of agility or strength. He can only do so a few times each day, before the mental strain taxes him too much to be able to reach that state again before resting and recovering. Thus gaining monk's Ki powers. I'm sure there's more I could work into it, but I'm assuming that he won't be starting a game anywhere outside of levels 1-5. So I think as is, thematically, it seems good an appropriate, though it may conflict somewhat with a lawful locked monk class. Though that depends on DM to DM. In this case, he will have a code of personal honor and his strict training regimen he follows, the former out of moral concerns, the latter because of his childhood of survival in unforgiving backstreets. In any case, please let me know! Thank you for your time in advance for any feedback or other ideas you may like to give!
zza ni wrote:
I never thought about using scrolls. But those are good to add to the roster of potential items. As for the oils and things, I should try to add some of those too to my list of potentials. I think I focus a bit much on just potions, but it seems potions vs oils are mostly the same, the exception being you can apply an oil to a conscious ally as a standard action. So I think the main difference besides is how you want to roleplay it... Like a potion of grease could make you start sweating a thick oil, while an oil of grease is a quick smearing over skin... In any case, looking at including more oils in the future, thank you!
zza ni wrote:
I'll try to look into those for reference, but I didn't even consider grabbing those. I can ask the DM for his interpretation, and make a note on her sheet for future reference. Thank you! That's a great idea!
zza ni wrote:
Kitsune favored class bonus for Oracle. “Lower the penalty for a weapon you are not proficient with by 1. Once the penalty is 0, you are treated as having the appropriate martial or exotic weapon proficiency.”Otherwise, the feats, besides weapon focus, don’t require you to be proficient. Sorry for forgetting to put that!
So, for a freeport game(pirates and villany and cults!), I am making a backup character incase my current one dies, or in the event I have to switch off for story or personal reasons. In any case, I'll outline the build below, and please offer inputs on potential ideas to improve or add more flavor! If you like it, feel free to use it, or bits of it for yourself! If you want to skip the flavor, head below the dotted line.
The idea is a lv20 Black blooded Waves oracle that starts off heavy into archery, then becomes a switch hitter at level 7 through spells and the water form revelation. I'll start with flavor, so you can get an idea WHY I liked stacking certain things. Rin and Yua are twin kitsune with grey fur. I leaned into this with the "Gray furred kitsune are often seen as oracles" and decided to do a bit of Yin/Yang with them. Yua is a fey blooded sorcerer, based on mind control magic(stacking the kitsune favored class bonus and the fey sorcerer bonus) then battlefield control with grease, create pit, etc, then fire damage spells, like burning hands and fireball. I also try to go full 9-tails with her if I can through the magical tail feat, and things that give it. Rin on the other hand, is a Black-blooded Waves oracle, focusing on physical damage, buffs, and archery, then switch hitting. -I chose kitsune because of the oracle line, and the fey sorcerer stacking bonuses, and made them twins.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- So now, onto the ACTUAL BUILD. --A quick preface. DM has authorized "The world is square" rules, which consolidate a LOT of feats and remove others. I'll identify which ones matter below, before the build.
--Race: Kitsune (-2 Str, +2 Dex/Cha)
--Class: Oracle(waves) [Black-blooded archetype]
The black blooded archetype is taken for flavor, but mechanically, gives access to a few more revelations and locks you into the black blooded curse. Black blooded curse: Turns your blood black, positive and negative energy treat you as undead(channels, cure/inflect spells, etc etc), -4 on all dex skill checks(our dex is high enough to cancel it before skillpoints are added, still hurts), and a scaling resistance, then immunity to cold damage. --Build By level
F3:Rapid Shot - More arrows=more damage
F5: Weapon focus (Bows) - You like hitting your target? F7: Extra Revelation: Fluid Travel/wintry touch - Hard choice. The other goes to level 15's revelation. Fluid travel is hours/day, you can walk on any liquid surface, water, acid, lava(though you still take fire damage from being close), or you can go underwater, gaining 60ft swim speed, and you can breathe under water. Alternatively, Wintry touch is a minor frost touch, 1d6+1/2 level 3+cha times per day. But at level 11, ANY weapon you hold becomes a frost weapon.
F9: Manyshot - As before, more arrows=more damage F11: Clustered shots - To bypass DR that many small hits have a HARD time with.
F13-19: Unknown - I don't know of any other good archery feats to take besides maybe far shot. So this could be the opportunity to take magic crafting feats if your group needs it, or more melee feats to be a better switch hitter... Or take more extra revelation! R15: Fluid Travel/Wintry touch: As above. As before, tell me what you think, and I know it's FAR from optimal, but I think the flavor built in is really fun.
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