Kohana the Dead's page

Hey there folks. I am playing the shapeshifter variant ranger and have reached a BAB of 6 which gives me iterative attacks. However I am not sure what my full attack should look like. The relevant info is as follows:

Feats:
Power Attack
Weapon Focus(natural attack)
Aspect of the beast (2 primary claws)
Improved Initiative
Improved Unarmed Strike
Imrproved Natural Attack (claws)
Multiattack

BAB is 6/1
STR is 23(+6)
Amulet of Mighty Fists +1

I also have a secondary bite attack.

I believe my full attack (I always use power attack) is two claws at +12,a bite at +10, and an unarmed strike at +7.

Is this full attack sequence correct?

Arnim Thayer wrote:

I agree that Perception is overcomplicated.

Ok, but most of what is complicated (including all 5 senses) is also ignorable. It doesn't actually detract from anything to include and it does add something for some people.

On Search vs. Perception ... Perception seems to me to be mostly passive, what characters notice. When I DM I have players roll a d20 ten times and write down the numbers. As opportunities for them to notice something come up, I check their lists and cross off numbers. If they meet the DC I tell them what they spotted or heard. But Search is active, "I search the room for clues," or "I search the library for a book on demons." It is also based on Int. A smart person can search well, even if she isn't particularly perceptive, because she can figure out clues and patterns and recognize when things are out of place. That's why I would like to see Search out of Perception.

I agree completely with you. Search should become its own skill again. This makes sense for the reasons you stated as well as too much skill condensation will make backwards compatilbilty more difficult.

I don't understand combining spot, listen, and search into perception and then breaking up perception into five senses. With races having touch-based, taste-based, etc. bonuses to perception checks, players must keep tract of 5 sub-skills with their individual sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell modifiers. Does anyone find this actually complicates this skill instead of simplifying it?

It already says so for most of that. "You can summons a ghostly hand" and "The hand does not threaten" and "You must concentrate on the hand."

It's a single hand, which means 2 handed weapons are out.

As for the wizard not being proficient with the weapon. Humans are proficient with anything. Elves, longswords and rapiers. I can go on but there's not much point. The wizard will likely be proficient with whatever weapon it is. But if he's not.. there's more still..

Finally, Hand of the Apprentice still has Mage Hand's 5 lb limit. So I'm not going to calculate the weight of a LARGE weapon, but if a Great Sword weighs 8 lbs.. well you should be able to figure out what I'm saying.

Thanks, I should have looked up mage hand as it takes care of using large weapons. Any thoughts on the intelligence modifier to damage?

This ability should be clarified please. We noticed potential abuse in our playtest by a mage carrying a large size greatsword just for this ability. The description should explicitly state that the hand can draw a one-handed weapon of a size useable by the caster, or draw a weapon with which the caster is proficient. Also should the casters intelligence bonus be added to damage? We felt it made sense to add intelligence modifier for attack rolls, but not for damage.

Has anyone else noticed how powerful this can be at lower levels?

After several playtests, condensing skills has been appreciated at the table. The only complaint has been deception vs deeption skill checks since skills have never been opposed by themselves before. It seems that skills under Pathfinder RPG are an area that still needs tremendous work. Allow me to recommend the following skills for Pathfinder:

Acrobatics (Dex): combines Balance, Tumble, Escape Artist
Appraise (Int): same as 3.5, but includes new use to identify items
Athletics (Str): combines Jump, Climb, and Swim
Craft (Int): same as 3.5
Deception (Cha): combines Bluff, Forgery, and Disguise
Fly (Dex): as described in Pathfinder RPG
Handle Animal (Dex): combines Handle Animal and Ride
Heal (Wis): same as 3.5
Knowledge (Int): as described in Pathfinder RPG
Linguistics (or Speechcraft) (Cha): combines Diplomacy, Intimidate, Gather Information, Decipher Script, and Speak Languages
Perception (Wis): combines Spot, Listen, Search, and Sense Motive, no perception checks by sense (unnecessarily complex)
Perform (Cha): same as 3.5
Profession (Wis): same as 3.5
Spellcraft (Int): as described in Pathfinder RPG, combines Concentration
Stealth (Dex): combines Hide and Move Silently
Survival (Wis): as described in Pathfinder RPG, also includes Use Rope
Theft (Dex): combines Open Lock, Disable Device, and Sleight of Hand
Use Magic Device (Cha): same as 3.5

Combining skills in this way will require significant adjustments of all class skill points per level. DC’s listed and the descriptions of these skills must change to reflect the basic functionality of the new skills. Simply combining several skills under a new name without changing their ease of use is not a functional change. A name change alone does not streamline the current skills system!

There are definitely certain things our group agreed on after the playtest. Everyone liked the change to turn undead. The radial burst of positive energy was easy to calculate, not looking at a chart for max HD undead to be affected. Also turning was used to heal on more than one occasion which worked out well. We also all agreed that feat chains ddo not work out. I played a fighter who was trying to use Great Cleave. I could not stand toe to toe with a monster for 3 rounds to use the feat. I would be dead before I used the feat.

OK, so I did a full prestige class build and I have been told it is too strong, can someone tone this down for me?

I realize the term "Shoanti Thundercaller" may be the property of Paizo.

Shoanti Thundercaller

Hit Die: d8

Requirements: To qualify to become a Shoanti Thundercaller, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

Alignment: any nonlawful

Base Attack Bonus: 7

Skills: Perform (oratory) - 12 ranks

Spells: Ability to cast arcane spells of 2nd level or higher

Special: Ability to Rage, Bardic Music

Class Skills: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex)

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Shoanti Thundercaller

Level BAB Fort Reflex Will Special,Spells per Day

1st 1 2 0 2 Bardic Music, Bardic Knowledge
2nd 2 3 0 3 +1 level of existing class
3rd 3 3 1 3 Rage 1/day
4th 4 4 1 4 +1 level of existing class
5th 5 4 1 4 Intimidating song
6th 6 5 2 5 +1 level of existing class
7th 7 5 2 5 Rage 2/day
8th 8 6 2 6 +1 level of existing class
9th 9 6 3 6 Battlecry
10th 10 7 3 7 Tireless Rage,+1 level of existing class

Class Features: All of the following are Class Features of the Shoanti Thundercaller Prestige class

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Shoanti Thundercallers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day: When a new Shoanti Thundercaller level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming an arcane trickster, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Bardic Music: Levels of Shoanti Thundercaller stack with levels of bard for purposes of determining uses per day of Bardic Music.

Bardic Knowledge: Levels of Shoanti Thundercaller stack with levels of bard for purposes of determining class level for Bardic Knowledge checks.

Rage (Ex): A Shoanti Thundercaller can fly into a rage a certain number of times per day. This is identical to the Barbarian’s Rage ability. Daily uses of Rage gained from levels of Shoanti Thundercaller stack with daily uses of Rage gained from previous classes.

Intimidating Song (Su): A Shoanti Thundercaller of 5th level with 18 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use music or poetics to intimidate a chosen foe. To use intimidating song, a Shoanti Thundercaller makes a perform check. The result of this roll is used as the DC for an intimidate check to demoralize all opponents within 30 feet. Anyone who fails is shaken for the duration of the encounter. Intimidating Song may be used only once per encounter and consumes one daily use of Bardic Music.

Battlecry (Su): A Shoanti Thundercaller of 9th level with 22 or more ranks in a Perform skill can use music or poetics to rally his allies (including himself). To be affected, an ally must be able to hear the Shoanti Thundercaller perform. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the Shoanti Thundercaller perform and for 5 rounds thereafter. An affected ally gains 2 temporary hit points/per 1 rank in perform of the Shoanti Thundercaller and an extra attack per round at his highest base attack bonus. This effect is not cumulative with similar effects, such as that provided by a weapon of speed or by the haste spell). Battlecry consumes one daily use of Bardic Music.

Tireless Rage (Ex): At 10th level and higher, a Shoanti Thundercaller no longer becomes fatigued at the end of his rage.

Thanks, I already plan to take intimidating strike so intimidating foes is a main part of this character's flavor. I don't know that most characters would have DR at all when reaching this prestige class, so I may have to look for something other than the ironskin chant.

Hey there everyone, we just started Rise of the Runelords and I am playing a multiclass Barbarian/Savage Bard (variant from Unearthed Arcana).

I am looking to make a prestige class to represent a Shoanti skald and could use some ideas or a point in the right direction if anyone has made a skald prestige class before.

My thoughts for a ten level prestige class are as follows:

Prereqs: ability to Rage, Bardic Music, BAB 4(This would make the prestige class available at 6th level)

Progression: full BAB, Good Will saves, Bad Fort & Reflex, levels stack with barbarian for purposes of determining rage/day, levels stack with bard for ALL bardic music effects, spellcasting improves at every even level

It would be cool if new bardic music effects replaced the standard inspire competence, suggestion and such. Something like a shared rage song, since this class if for a battle leader type.

I AM AN IDIOT. What I meant to ask was if they have open lock. Clearly disable device was added in the errata.

I have been looking into a scout build, and while in the description of the trapfinding ability it speaks as if they have disable device, that skill is not listed for the class. I know open locks was added in the errata, but do scouts in fact have the disable device skill?

Some of this has been stated so forgive me. What we are talking about is an evil spell verse an evil act. The spell itself is not evil, although certainly more macabre than its cousin Detect Thoughts. It was the act of damaging someone who surrendered that bothered me. We had no idea it was a version of Detect Thoughts. We just saw our Mystic Theurge(basically the cleric of the party) grab a crystal from the air after it exploded from the forehead of an unnarmed prisoner and caused some HP and INT damage. We reacted to unnecessary harm dealt to a captive which is an evil act. The fact that she is a cleric of Asmodeus is less relevant than the fact that she had just asked for mercy by surrendering.

The only saving grace to this incident is a reading of the spell description. It reveals that once concentration is stopped, the crystal forms. The incident suffered from bad timing as you couldn't dismiss or end the spell before the damage was done.

A completely different point that has not been addressed is the fact that you cast this spell on someone who had already succumbed to your hold person spell making her helpless. So is casting a damaging spell or performing a coup de grace on a helpless foe evil because they are helpless? I know I have done a coup de grace once or twice in this game after the hold person was set up.

Discuss

Thanks for the info everyone. We have agreed that a boost in CON adds your modifier per hit die. So at my most recent level I got my HD roll of 9, plus 8 additional HP(8th level character) because my CON increased.
With our DM we can always use as many HP as possible.

Daigle,

If you are going to play a cleric/ fighter of Kelanen and give up turning, have you thouhgt about a favored soul. The have awesome saves, get weapon focus and specialization as bonus feats(i think) which would go along with the martial flavor of your character. The only downside is a limited number of spells known, but from a flavor/ role-play standpoint the favored-soul could be sweet. I know you probably are already done creating but I finally found this thread.

This is the dead dervish speaking. I have to agree with the last couple of postings. Close wounds can save someone who is taking damage that will bring them to -18 or more HP. The max of 9 points of healing could stabilize them at -9. This spell is great for those close death situations where you just pass the threshold. This was not one of those situations. I had 21 HP when I was mauled with 48 points of damage. I am talking about spleen on the wall, liver on the ceiling kind of dead. Even after the casting of the spell I thought I was dead and the spell had only made me less dead at -18 instead of -27.

This whole discussion really boils down to how each person views death and whether you cap out at -10 or can go further. According to the players handbook you can go lower than -10.