LazyTemplar's page

Bracers of the Glib Entertainer are amazing for increasing versatile performance. Downside for archers, is it competes with Bracers of Falcon's Aim, which is amazing for archers.

Also grab the Dance of 23 Steps masterpiece. As an archer, you can ignore the melee attack penalty. And since you're only a 6th level caster, your concentration checks quickly outpace the DC.

The tiefling was raised by the Order of (insert campaign significant lawful good deity). Tieflings are often shunned by societies, and it is not uncommon for newborns to be left at temple doorsteps. However, the priests were always coy about how exactly they became his/her custodians, not wanting to lie (lawful) but also unwilling to reveal the truth. Maybe they're sworn to secrecy, or the truth is too grim to mention.

As he/she grew older, their arcane and martial talents became apparent, and he/she was apprenticed to a magus known by the order. The tiefling has graduated so to speak, and has been sent to investigate (insert campaign hook) as his/her first experience.

During the campaign, you start dropping hints that eventually reveal his actual origins. Perhaps his parents were actually killed by a Paladin of the order that raised him. Or the magus that trained them was actually their biological parent. Be creative.

Let's look at a similar skill - diplomacy. Diplomacy isn't about being the most verbose or polite person. It's about using words to convince people to like you, and/or do what you want. Someone with an extremely limited vocabulary and bad grammar can still do that by seeming genuine or down to earth. While conversely, a very intelligent person using lots of big words and proper pronunciation may come off as arrogant or ungenuine.

We can think about intimidate the same way. It's not about how scary someone is, but being able to use threats (real or implied) to get a desired response. For instance, lets say you're trying to intimidate a patrol of town guards to stay out of your business. If you come off as a wimp, they ignore you, search the cart, and find the contraband. If you come off as too serious a threat, they call in backup and have you arrested. A successful intimidate check means making them just uneasy enough to say "screw it."

A few other "that guy is scary" failures might include:
-Target faints, and therefore can't offer any help.
-Target runs away.
-Target decides this is the last straw, and you're the bully he will finally stand up to.

Here's a video example (spoilers if you haven't seen Primal Fear). Richard Gere - unsuccessful intimidate check. Edward Norton - successful intimidate (and maybe bluff) check. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyGbtYaVcaA

Sigh. Is there a secret signal for "this is clearly a joke" on the forums I don't know about?

Because between "he's being silly" and "that guy must be really bad with temperature units," at least 3 people just picked the latter.

I think it's important to realize that warm temperatures are very dependent on where you've spent most of your life. I've walked for hours in 100+ degree weather with regular water and been fine. On the other hand, France had one of its worst heat waves in decades relatively recently, getting up to the upper 80s, and they had hundreds of DEATHS caused by it.

Typical temperature can influence things, and unless most adventurers spend regular time in these environments, it actually makes a bit of sense.

They use Celsius over there, so 80 degrees is actually 176 degrees Fahrenheit. Pretty darn hot.

I'm looking to make a very effective, proficient character, who doesn't appear to be much...

<snip>

just basically an underestimated character, who somehow manages to pull victory out of his butt, luck rolls, or whatever.

That sounds like every bard I've ever played. I've yet to have a group take one seriously *before* I show up with a well-built one.

If you're shooting for an underestimated character that breaks expectations, might as well take advantage of the useless bard misconception.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/QuirkyBard

To add to Jiggy:

The oracle and druid also make very good divine melee characters. The oracle by picking an appropriate mystery (Battle, Metal, etc.), and the druid by wildshaping into a creature with lots of teeth and claws.

And while not exactly a spellcaster, the alchemist often feels like one, either by throwing bombs or going melee vivisectionist (high strength plus sneak attack).

Grease his firearms. It forces a reflex save every round to prevent him from dropping them, which can really slow down a martial who's full attacking (the downside is his Dex is probably great so it might not work, but since it's a save each round he's likely to fail sometime).

If he makes his first save, there is no grease effect.

http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9qnp

Not sure if this has been covered (it's a long thread), but here's my take on things. The paladin was being extremely dishonorable, but not evil. Since paladins of freedom don't have to be honorable (they're chaotic, after all), he wouldn't fall.

All good characters should have a reason to kill - a "why." But it's lawful types that have to be concerned with the "hows" and "whens" of killing. That is, you kill them in fair combat, while they're armed and capable of defending themselves. You don't lie or cheat to obtain victory. Etc. In essence, you follow the rules. Chaotics don't care about the rules.

For instance, say Evil Dictator ("Ed") is threatening the world. A lawful type would have to fight Ed directly. And if Ed surrenders, might have to deliver him to a court of judgment, rather than killing him while he is prostrating himself.

A chaotic, on the other hand, could sneak into his bedroom and slit Ed's throat while he sleeps. Or invite him to a fake parley, and blow up the building. Or take Ed's (also evil) family hostage, to force him to surrender.

In essence, good alignment means "I have a moral obligation to try to stop Ed." Lawful good tries to stop Ed by the books. Chaotic good stops Ed, and may be willing to lie, cheat, steal, and fight dirty along the way.

Applying this to the events at hand, we must only ask "Is it evil to kill a creature who attacked your party?" I would say, no. The requirements of honor (not attacking during a parley and not killing helpless creatures) are not applicable against a chaotic character.