Linkman81's page

Creatures of tiny or smaller size can use their dex rather than str for climb and swim checks.

Thanks for your reply. That helps, but doesn't quite cover the gap. The bestiary page listed the climb skill as a 21, and listed the racial modifier for climb as being a +8. If we plugged in the dex instead of the STR, itd be 5+8..., then we'd get a 13. Still shy of a 21. Maybe I shouldn't be trying to figure out where the number comes from, it just messes with my OCD.

Hey guys, this may be a newbie question, but I'm having a little trouble figuring out the math for the stats of a familiar that I'm creating for a character of mine. I chose the scarlet spider as the animal I would make my familiar. the stats are here.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/vermin/spider/scarlet-spi der

my confusion is what exactly I'm looking at. We all know a character sheet in the skill area has a blank for the ability score mod, the skill ranks, and a misc. mod blank. All 3 of those add up to be the total skill bonus. In the bestiary page for the scarlet spider, it lists the "skills" and the "racial modifiers." are the skills listed the end result after the modifiers and everything else is totalled? or are the "skills" the skill ranks of the creature? here is how it looks on my character sheet, and why I'm confused.

[skill name, total bonus, ability mod, ranks, misc mod.]
Acrobatics, 13, 5, -, 8
Climb, 21,-4, -, 8
Perception, 4 , 0, -, 4
Stealth, 17, 5, -, 4

If the skills listed in the bestiary page are the skill totals, then how did it get a climb of 21 with a negative stength modifier and only a racial bonus of 8? I must be doing something wrong.

Recent discussion on the matter.

there are many discussions exactly like mine, but none are pressed to look into the lunge question. Mostly they just argue over threat range with or without a reach weapon when they are enlarged. Lunge is my question... and does it scale like natural reach does. The feat breaks once you increase the size of the creature too far, if it remains only an increase of 5 feat of threat.

EDIT: whoa!... I hadn't even thought about it that way... does lunge increase NATURAL reach?.., which obviously scales... hmmmm

natural threat range is double with reach weapons in spite of your size. The charts on that link pretty much settle that. What my real question is... does the effects of the lunge feat scale with your size as well. It's reasonable to assume that feats were designed around medium sized characters. Would HUGE or larger creature with the lunge feat only get an additional 5 feet of threat when fighting PCs? Intuitively, you'd assume that it would scale with their size, but it's not spelled out, and I'm not sure there's a FAQ post that would cover it. I think the default answer would be a big NO, it does not scale, you get what the feat says no matter what the size. But an extra 5 feet of threat to a colossal creature is hardly a lunge, more of a slight lean. lol. There is merit to either side of the argument.

This is going to be a hard post to reply to without posting or referencing pictures. since we're dealing with extended threat ranges, but I'll see if I can describe my issue as clearly as possible. First off, check out this page.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat/space-reach-threatened-area-te mplates

(paizo will break the link by putting a space in there somewhere, take that out to make the link work again.)

Ok, I have a trip character that uses a reach weapon and has the lunge feat. Lunge adds 5 extra feet of offensive threat. The big question is when you are enlarged and now are one size bigger, are your threat ranges multiplied? or added? If you look at the link for a large (tall) creature the threat range of a reach weapon is no longer just single square ring around the creature, it is a double square ring in parts. The same goes for the non-threatened area inside the reach weapons threat. This makes me think that the threat ranges are multiplied... meaning you are twice as big, so your range is twice as far. SOOooo.... if you add a feat that adds 5 feet of extra threat... does it jump to 10 feet for a large size creature. Half of me says no... because the feat doesn't specify anything about sizes of creatures. And this 5 feat of reach would apply the same to small player characters as well. But this combat system was obviously designed around medium sized creatures being the standard, and everything else seems to scale with the increasing size of the creatures as seen in the threat range charts on the link... so why wouldn't the effects of a feat? What do you guys think?

I'm currently playing an archer build and I've trying to take advantage of the different feats and abilities granted to an archer build. After speaking with my GM about making fire arrows... he recommended that I look into making barbed arrows because if an enemy gets shot with a fire arrow, he's going to spend a move action on their next turn to try and pull our the arrow and negate the fire effects (his game his rules). So I asked him... is the sky the limit for my arrow designs as long as I account for the cost, material, and skill in making them? He said "yes."

Soooo, I need some creative ideas to make my arrows badass. I've read on some forums where people have attached holy water vials and oil soaked wool for fire arrows... what else can you think of. Barbed arrows, of course, to prevent being pulled out. There are already a number of different arrow designs already in the game that deal slashing damage instead of piercing, or deal effects like bleeding. Then, of course, there are the different material types like silver, adamantine, etc. that bypass DR.

Any other creative ideas that would give me some extra added effects. It appears the GM will reward creativity in this regard for my character. I do have the Called Shot feats in my plans so arrow designs that are specific for a part of the body could work. For instance, the feat Manyshot which I plan to get at lvl 6 fires two arrows at once. I don't see why I couldn't fasten a rope to each and perform a called shot on the person's legs (given they are bipedal) and do a trip maneuver. He may not allow it, without a penalty to the attack roll on top of the called shot penalty... but I'm looking for ideas like that.

I've only been playing for 2-3 months, and am having a blast. I'm currently involved in two different campaigns, one of which seems to be starting to wind down a bit (and the other just started). We are about 3 months (weekly sessions) into the campaign and we are all lvl5 and lvl6 characters at this point.

Although I'm still a noob when it comes to pathfinder, I'm finding that there does seem to be a bit of a recipe or method for keeping games exciting and the players engaged. I'm a big PC gamer, so I have noticed what keeps me engaged in those over the years as well. I wanted to ask the forum for ideas so that we can keep things moving along and don't lose players.

Specifically, we've started to have a problem with players constantly being on their phone or bringing a laptop to surf or play games while playing pathfinder. Now, I know what you're thinking... the GM should just not allow that... and you're right, but we'd rather fix the cause, not the symptom. They're searching for entertainment because they're not getting it in the campaign it seems. So anyway... here are my ideas, and I wanted to get some other ideas from the community as well.

1. Keep the story-line moving, force the players to stay involved by keeping the story moving, with or without them.

2. Award experience often, and keep the players leveling. New abilities are fun. If the game is getting stale, that's one way to gain more interest.

3. More combat

4. Make the players feel powerful, without breaking the game and making it too easy.

5. More surprises and turns in the story / combat.

6. Utilize a more elaborate combat map - a larger combat grid that involves structures and cover with enemies in different regions of the combat area of about 100'x 100'. Not just single room or hallway combat all the time.

7. Reward players somehow (xp or loot) for excellent roleplay and a minimum of metagaming.

8. more espionage and theft. Granted that your alignment allows it, the feeling that you're getting away with something or have pulled off something incredible without a scratch while danger lurks around every corner is incredibly satisfying to me. I think people would like that.

9. Throw in an easy combat now and then to make the people feel strong and badass. It's not realistic that the party would always find combat situations that are equally matched to their current skill at every encounter. Give me a dozen goblins to mow down every now and then... and describe to me the heads flying as I swing. That'd make me smile and I'd be retelling the story for a week after the battle.

10. "Eye's on the prize" Give the party members something to work for. Let them know what they are working for... such as everyone getting rings of regeneration that were a set lost in a ancient temple... or a vast treasure. Knowing what you're trying to find gives you a sense of determination and excitement in finding it... because when you get it... them my character is going to be UNSTOPPABLE! That sort of thing.

Anyway, you guys get the idea. If you agree or disagree with any of these let me know. I'm just trying to gather some good ideas for my GM so that we can keep this game going as long as possible.

I posted this in general discussion and was told that I should've posted it here. So here it is.

Hey guys, I built an archer for a campaign we JUST began this week. I decided to go human for the extra feat and the stat increase... as well as a fighter archetype to take advantage of all the bonus feats. Although I'm pretty savvy at research, I've only been playing for about 3 months, so I may not have things quite perfect. The stat roll for this character was the best rolls I've ever had. Just a 4d6, drop the lowest type roll for stats. It was witnessed by the GM thank god.

17 Str
19 Dex(17, Human+2 @ lvl one)
15 Con
13 Int
10 Wis
8 Cha

Anyway, here's my feat build for lvl 1-20

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1euUeLMxes1f6LDLOlHIFnmyGi_geLafUxcP g3XSEaNw/edit?usp=sharing

You may not see certain common archer feats in there such as point blank master and others... simply because many of the archer archetype class abilities overlap with those feats, so if you can wait until they are given to you, you don't have to waste the feat.

Anyway, let me know what you think about the build. Everything is pretty well thought out, but I'm humble enough to know that I certainly don't know everything. I'm hoping that someone will see something that I overlooked and I can continue to tweak him further. FYI, we started the campaign 2 nights ago, so the Race, Class, attributes and lvl1 feats are locked in.

Hey, welcome to the forums. We've got an Advice section that's better suited for this type of discussion, I've flagged your topic to be moved there, where more people are likely to give you feedback.

The most popular type of archer on these boards is a Zen Archer (monk), but there are some neat Fighter things too.

Here's a link to some old fighter archer builds: RavingDork's archers that you could compare your build to.

ok, thanks man, my GM won't allow Monks. Doesn't like them I guess. so, honestly, I haven't even looked at them as an option. I checked out RavingDork's build... he has a lot right it seems. A little harder to figure out though, how he has it organized on his sheet. I did miss the feat "HAMMER THE GAP" That's pretty awesome, I'm gonna have to fit that in somewhere.

Hey guys, I built an archer for a campaign we JUST began this week. I decided to go human for the extra feat and the stat increase... as well as a fighter archetype to take advantage of all the bonus feats. Although I'm pretty savvy at research, I've only been playing for about 3 months, so I may not have things quite perfect. The stat roll for this character was the best rolls I've ever had ever. Just a 4d6, drop the lowest type roll for stats. It was witnessed by the GM thank god.

17 Str
19 Dex(17, Human+2 @ lvl one)
15 Con
13 Int
10 Wis
8 Cha

Anyway, here's my feat build for lvl 1-20

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1euUeLMxes1f6LDLOlHIFnmyGi_geLafUxcP g3XSEaNw/edit?usp=sharing

You may not see certain common archer feats in there such as point blank master and others... simply because many of the archer archetype class abilities overlap with those feats, so if you can wait until they are given to you, you don't have to waste the feat.

Anyway, let me know what you think about the build. Everything is pretty well thought out, but I'm humble enough to know that I certainly don't know everything. I'm hoping that someone will see something that I overlooked and I can continue to tweak him further. FYI, we started the campaign 2 nights ago, so the Race, Class, attributes and lvl1 feats are locked in.

Just to summarize for newcomers to the thread I think this issue has been 90% resolved.

Combat maneuvers such as trip and disarm are indeed written as "attacks" that can be used as part of an attack action, full attack or attacks of opportunity. It's only logical that since these maneuvers are synonymous with [melee] "attack" that you could use it where an "attack" happens as part of a standard action, be it in a feat or otherwise. If it's allowed in an AoO, I don't see why it wouldn't be allowed as an attack outlined in a feat.

What was not settled is whether or not a combat maneuver "hits" as stated in the cleave feat. It is my personal opinion that "hit" in this case would more accurately mean "succeed" (as in your attack roll). If they ONLY intended for you to use a regular attack for cleave they would have been more specific and use the term "damage" instead of "hit." Then, no one could argue that a maneuver could be used instead of swing of the blade.

Also, I was confused on the language used for the rules of Attacks of Opportunity in my original post. In my second post in this thread I conceded the point and quoted a few rules that made that point concrete. You only get one AoO per ROUND without the Combat reflexes feat. And a round is defined as a single point in initiative cycling through all involved and returning to the original point. I was confusing the terms ROUND and TURN. My example was if a parade of (5) creatures each ran past you through your threat range, would you get to swing at all of them? I was thinking if I had 3 AoO, I could take multiple swings at each creature as they ran past me. This is incorrect. You only get three a ROUND, not three for each person's TURN.

@galahad2112 as awesome as a triplock sounds... it doesn't work. I had the same idea, and eventually found out that an FAQ did cover that as not being legal. Since an AoO is resolved in the moment before the provoking action happens, the creature is still prone and thus can't be tripped. Here is the link to the FAQ that covers it...

http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9n8a

EDIT: oh wait, I see what you were meaning... the difficult terrain and them moving to close the range with you allows you to trip again... not necessarily tripping them when they attempt to stand.

@Grijm - The way I read it... Cleaving Sweep is more analogous to Whirlwind attack. The fact that they named it cleaving sweep is what is misleading. They should have called it whirlwind trip. Cleaving relies on you chaining successful hits off of adjacent foes. Whirlwind Attack and Cleaving Sweep lets you hit all foes in reach regardless of consecutive successful hits or adjacency.

@Malag - here's my reasoning for thinking that trips will work with a feat like cleave.

Performing a Combat Maneuver:
"When performing a combat maneuver, you must use an action appropriate to the maneuver you are attempting to perform. While many combat maneuvers can be performed as part of an attack action, full-attack action, or attack of opportunity (in place of a melee attack), others require a specific action."

From my perspective, this says that a combat maneuver is an attack action because it can be used as part of an attack action, full attack or attack of opportunity. The description for cleave states... " If you hit, you deal damage normally and can make an additional attack (using your full base attack bonus) against a foe..."

I can't argue what was "intended" but as far for how it is written, it looks clear to me.

If you were talking about the AoO question, I agree. RAW doesn't support endless AoO because it's different creatures. I conceded that in my second post. The definition of ROUND is pretty concrete. You get 1 AoO per ROUND, unless you have the Combat Reflexes feat. So if I had a dex of 14, I could get 3 AoO total in the time from my action in initiative until it came back around again.

BigPanda, I can see what you're saying. The game tag/description of the feat and the details of how the feat works are different and somewhat contradictory in concept. To be clear though, I'm only interested in the mechanics. In my mind, the mechanical details of how the feat works trumps any description of how the feat would play out in real combat.

(copied and pasted from http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/cleave-combat)

Cleave (Combat)
You can strike two adjacent foes with a single swing.

Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack, base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: As a standard action, you can make a single attack at your full base attack bonus against a foe within reach. If you hit, you deal damage normally and can make an additional attack (using your full base attack bonus) against a foe that is adjacent to the first and also within reach. You can only make one additional attack per round with this feat. When you use this feat, you take a –2 penalty to your Armor Class until your next turn.

That is CLEAVE... GREATER CLEAVE which I've quoted in my original post lets you continue to make additional attacks one after another if you keep on successfully hitting them, and the next target is adjacent to the last and still in reach.

Whirlwind attack lets you attack all creatures in threat range regardless of whether you successfully hit any particular one, and regardless of them being adjacent to each other or not.

Gauss, I think you're right. Here's the deciding text...

Under the section "Making an Attack of Opportunity" it reads...
"An attack of opportunity is a single melee attack, and most characters can only make one per round."

And of course the definition of a round...

The Combat Round:
When the rules refer to a "full round", they usually mean a span of time from a particular initiative count in one round to the same initiative count in the next round.

and...

A round normally allows each character involved in a combat situation to act.

Soooo, I think you're right... and although it doesn't spell it out explicitly in the AoO section, like many other finer points in the book, they rely on you understanding the exact definition of the language they use to understand it fully.

Hey BigP4anda and Toirin. Thank you both for your reply. BigP, you're right in that cleave is a single swing...that if it connects, you get an additional swing. I think what you're describing about a single swing hitting multiple targets sounds more like whirlwind attack. If you read the description for Great Cleave it reads that you can make single attacks, and if you hit, you can swing again at an adjacent foe. Granted, you can't hit a creature twice, but as long as you keep succeeding on your attack rolls, and there is a new foe next to the creature you just hit, then you can go down the line "bopping them on their heads." That is beauty of great cleave. Regular cleave, you just get your first attack, and one additional attack. Great Cleave you can chain on forever really if the enemies were in one big conga line and you had a great attack bonus.

My real question did go unanswered though. The rules about Attacks of opportunity state that you can only take one attack of opportunity per round (most often, that particular enemies round who provoked it) against a creature. Meaning if they ran through your threat range jumping through 3 threat squares, you could normally only make one attack of opportunity UNLESS you have the feat combat reflexes. Then you can make additional attacks equal to your dex modifier.

Now all that is fine and good, but it doesn't say anything about making one attack of opportunity against 5 different creatures on YOUR OWN turn. It's a bizarre situation, but that's what I'm trying to sort out. I know that in the long run, it all comes down to what your GM will allow, but I'd love to have some firm evidence to back myself up before I ask him about it... because I SOOOOO want to be able to do this! lol. That being said, I do realize this build is VERY specialized and against anything flies, or a foe with its own natural weapons like claws...this build falls apart. But for a few fights in your campaign. You're gonna go up against many smaller level creatures or a team of orcs... and this guy is gonna rule the engagement.

If you really wanna get excited, use a guisarme which gives you reach (10 foot), through in lunge... which gives you an extra 5 feet.

Also, check out Lunge paired with the Combat Patrol feat. your 10 foot reach weapon just became 25 feet of threat at level 10. 30 foot of threat at level 15. Fun stuff to theorize, but there again, how do you handle multiple attacks of opportunity with many creatures.

I guess the best way to ask this question would be if 5 creatures ran through your threat separately on their turns would you only get to do an AoO on the first one (no combat reflexes feat), or would you get a AoO on all of them?

I am making a Lore Warden who seem to be pretty good at tripping and disarming when using a great flail (or guisarme for reach trip). My question is on how a few feats would combine and how to resolve Attacks of Opportunity from multiple creatures per turn.

My questions is can you use Great Cleave (description of feats and maneuvers below) to chain together trips that provoke AoO for each foe... and attack that AoO on each foe, then using the remaining attack given by a successful cleave to trip another, and continue the chain? All the descriptions for the feat combat expertise and the rules section for attacks of opportunity talk about the rules for making multiple AoO on a single creature per round not multiple (or at least not that I've found yet). It's also worth noting that those AoO are resolved durning THEIR round of action. My question is about whether or not I can take a SINGLE AoO against many DIFFERENT foes during MY round of action. I'm finding that this is a little bit of a unique situation where you have to resolve an AoO from an enemy that isn't during THEIR round of action. Anyway. What do you think. Here is some info to help your processing

The definition of a trip and disarm are...

Trip = You can attempt to trip your opponent in place of a melee attack. You can only trip an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved Trip feat, or a similar ability, initiating a trip provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your attack exceeds the target's CMD, the target is knocked prone. If your attack fails by 10 or more, you are knocked prone instead. If the target has more than two legs, add +2 to the DC of the combat maneuver attack roll for each additional leg it has. Some creatures—such as oozes, creatures without legs, and flying creatures—cannot be tripped.

Disarm = You can attempt to disarm your opponent in place of a melee attack. If you do not have the Improved Disarm feat, or a similar ability, attempting to disarm a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. Attempting to disarm a foe while unarmed imposes a –4 penalty on the attack. If your attack is successful, your target drops one item it is carrying of your choice (even if the item is wielded with two hands). If your attack exceeds the CMD of the target by 10 or more, the target drops the items it is carrying in both hands (maximum two items if the target has more than two hands). If your attack fails by 10 or more, you drop the weapon that you were using to attempt the disarm. If you successfully disarm your opponent without using a weapon, you may automatically pick up the item dropped.

Now, the Feat Descriptions...

Great Cleave = As a standard action, you can make a single attack at your full base attack bonus against a foe within reach. If you hit, you deal damage normally and can make an additional attack (using your full base attack bonus) against a foe that is adjacent to the previous foe and also within reach. If you hit, you can continue to make attacks against foes adjacent to the previous foe, so long as they are within your reach. You cannot attack an individual foe more than once during this attack action. When you use this feat, you take a –2 penalty to your Armor Class until your next turn.

Greater Trip = You receive a +2 bonus on checks made to trip a foe. This bonus stacks with the bonus granted by Improved Trip. Whenever you successfully trip an opponent, that opponent provokes attacks of opportunity.

What do you think? Foes that are all adjacent in a row... can I trip the first one, then attack them for the AoO and then use my remaining cleave attack to hit an adjacent foe with a trip, then AoO, then cleave another adjacent, AoO, cleave adjacent... and so on? no need for comments like... yeah, they wouldn't all be standing in a row... I understand that would be rare, this is a hypothetical situation to illustrate my point.

what are your thoughts?
Thank you in advance for your help.