So, in our game last night our party found themselves against an intelligent swarm with elemental resistance. The swarm in question was thankfully not completely immune to weapon damage. It took half-damage from bludgeoning weapons and was immune to other kinds of weapon damage. The alchemist in the group tried hitting it with an alchemist fire and was told that the swarm took no damage from it, thanks to it having fire resistance 10.
I looked at this thread and the general consensus seemed to be that the only reliable way to counter something like this would be with a swarm bane clasp.
Here's the thing though, we are 5th level but because of the nature of the game we've had little to no down time. What down time we've had no one character could spend more than 500gp on equipment. So, basically we are all running around with our starting gear and whatever we've managed to loot. My character has only has about 1,500gp even if we were able to buy and sell things without limit. This means that a swarmbane clasp is out of reach for my character and given the setting I fully expect to encounter more powerful swarms in the future. I'm not the only melee fighter in the group so while we could pool our money to get a clasp for one of us, it won't really help the others.
Is there anything I could look into getting that would help? My character is effectively a non-caster and it would be nice to be able to contribute in a helpful way against the next swarm that probably will be fully immune to weapon damage. I feel like this fight was a sort of warning saying "hey, you guys should probably have a plan on how to deal with something like this in the future"
Basically, as the title reads. I'm looking at future feats for an animal companion. They currently have Power Attack, Combat Reflexes and Bodyguard. But at higher levels I'm looking at Martial Focus (Natural) and Cut from the Air.
Because of shared Teamwork feats it gets a massive bonus from flanking (specifically from Outflank and Pack Flanking and Auspicious Birth[Conjunction]). So, my question is what bonuses apply to this attack? In theory the arrow or whatever is being "flanked" before it strikes me or my animal companion (who is standing next to me). Would this bonus apply? It just says an attack roll.
And an additional question. Does it make any sense to have both bodyguard and cut from the air? or would it be better to retrain bodyguard once the animal companion qualifies for both Martial Focus and Cut from the air?
Edit: Just realized the answer to this question is yes, as cut from the air only applies against ranged attacks.
So, my hunter/cavalier just picked up a warcat animal companion and I was looking over its abilities and I noticed something strange.
Does the warcat animal companion get grab on all of it's attacks? or is it restricted to its bite the way the bestiary one is. The only problem with using the bestiary is that the animal companion gets abilities the bestiary version doesn't and vice versa meaning its not an entirely accurate comparison. (The animal companion gets rake, while the bestiary monster gets rend and trample)
For additional clarification. If it does get grab on all 5 of it's attacks is it forced to let go before continuing it's attack? Or if it successfully grabs with it's bite can it go ahead and do it's claw and rake attacks as normal (foregoing the now redundant free grabs)
It doesn't have any abilities that trigger on a successful grapple so there's no mechanical advantage to releasing after it successfully grabs something.
I did some cursory searches and didn't see this question come up.
I was looking at ranged weapon enchants and the Greater Transformative weapon enchant caught my attention and I was wondering how the cost of this thing works.
1. Do inactive abilities count toward the cost of adding abilities to a weapon?
<Rambling about why it saves my character money>
Spoiler:
I'm primarily looking at this as a cost savings and so it's ok if the answer is no. My original plan was to have a primary melee weapon and a backup ranged weapon. My planned melee weapon is currently something like a +5/+4 weapon (+5 to hit and dmg / +4 in assorted abilities). My planned ranged weapon was a +1/+1.
The thing is, my character can alter their size meaning I was looking at enchants like resizing (+4k) and adapative (+1k) for the ranged weapon and shrinking (+1k) on the melee weapon. This means my planned +1 /+1 ranged weapon ranged weapon has a market price of 13,430 gp. So, I'd only be spending an extra 1.5k (compared to the 4k for resizing).
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One of the ranged enchants I'm looking at is conserving. Which would never be active during any of the weapon's melee forms. Conversely, most of the enchants I'm looking at for the melee weapon would not apply while it's in it's ranged form. So, what would I end up having to pay if the weapon is turned into it's ranged form?
For example, lets assume that it is +5 melee weapon with Training, Impact, and Dueling.
It gets turned into a bow where only the +5 and the training enchantment are active. If I want to add conserving do I pay the difference between a +6 and a +7 or the difference between a +9 and a +10?
2. Can I turn the two handed melee weapon into a double weapon, and have the 2nd half enchanted separately? or would the melee weapon in question have to start off as a double weapon? (IOW does the weapon's "natural shape" matter when it comes to adding enchantments?)
3a. Can I turn the melee weapon into a double weapon, have the extra side enchanted to be +1. Then turn it into a bow using the +1 side and enchant normally?
3b. Assuming I'm able to do this, would I be able to directly change the weapon from the +1 bow into the +5 melee weapon? Or would I have to spend an extra round turning it into a double weapon that possesses both sets of enchantments?
4. Doesn't really matter to me what the answer is on this but I'm just curious. if it's a double weapon with two separate enchants is it possible to turn it into a different double weapon that only possesses one of the enchantments? Thus allowing a 3rd set of enchantments to be built into the weapon?
So, I was looking at the Gutbite Belt today and I'm trying to understand how it works.
It states that it does damage as armor spikes whenever you gain the grappled condition. To be clear I'm looking at getting one of these made for my Cavalier/Hunter's animal companion which is a large riding constrictor. I assume that this item will trigger every time the constrictor succeeds at it's initial grapple attempt triggered via Grab(Bite) and that it will not trigger whenever the constrictor makes a grapple check to maintain. The item will also trigger if for some reason something tries to grapple my snake and succeeds.
So, here's my question. When it triggers what happens?
Is an attack roll required or does it just deal automatic damage?
When it comes to Damage what is the damage? I assume it's 1d8 since the snake is a large creature. But is it just 1d8 or is it 1d8+str?
Assuming that the snake has the appropriate tricks to do so, could it attack with the belt using it as actual armor spikes? would such an attack have the grab ability tied to it? (it counts as the wearer's mouth) Would armor spikes even do anything for the snake?
Armor Spikes wrote:
Armor spikes deal extra piercing damage (see “spiked armor” on Table: Weapons) on a successful grapple attack.
I remember doing research on them before and wasn't able to come to a clear understanding how they interact with grapple checks. Given that the snake has a strength of 26 getting to add str vs not is non-trivial to say the least.
Additionally, if I wanted to enchant it as a magic weapon (something that is explicitly stated as a thing that can be done) how would that work? would I have to pay to make it masterwork or is it already considered to be masterwork?
So, I tried searching the forums on this and was unable to find an answer.
Lets say I have a 4th level hunter, riding their animal companion and they have the teamwork feat Spirit of the corps. Additionally, the hunter is wearing a ring of tactical precision.
Now, the bard in the group casts Heroism on the animal companion. If the hunter activates Spirit of the Corps on their turn to use with an attack. Do they get +2 or +3 on that roll?
On a side note, if I'm wearing a ring of tactical precision and I have the feat Swarm Scatter and I'm next to two allies who also have it. Do I get a +3 to my AC (+2 for two allies and +1 from the ring) or would it actually give me +4 to my AC (+2 for each of two allies)? Based on the wording my inclination is that I only end up with a +3, but I'm not sure.
It was suggested in this thread (Best 1st level domain powers) that clerics who take the animal domain suffer a feat tax in the form of boon companion.
I don't believe this is the case, since while it might be a good feat for clerics with that domain to take, it isn't required and it isn't even your only option to increase the effective level of your animal companion.
I'm adding a section on prestige classes to my Animal Companion Guide and I want to know what prestige classes either give an animal companion or stack with classes that give you an animal companion.
I have a first mother's fang cavalier that I've multiclassed into hunter with. I would like for my snake to be able to assist in scouting and the spell Harmless Form seems like a good match. It would allow the snake to take on a small size giving it a bonus(instead of a penalty) to stealth.
However, looking at the spell I'm wondering about some things.
1. Can I even cast this spell on my riding constrictor? The spell states that the new form must have the same approximate body shape and it must be unobtrusive. It lists a bunch of forms but I'm not sure if that is an exclusive list or just a bunch of examples. I believe it works and that I should be able to pick for it to either become a viper or a constrictor as these are animals that could be purchased.
2. Assuming I can use the spell, what abilities would the constrictor gain or lose? Since it references beast shape II I'm assuming it would keep everything except for it's constrict ability as a constrictor and that it wouldn't gain poison as a viper. Additionally, that it's stats and natural weapons would change as per the size change rules. Or do these not change and it just gets the static bonuses listed for a small creature via beast shape I?
3. If harmless form doesn't work on my constrictor (or I suppose even if it does) what other spells/feats would allow the snake to assist with scouting? I considered Night Stalker from Classic Monsters Revisited, So far as I can tell there are two versions of this feat one of which requires you to be an ogre and the other one doesn't. Nethys only seems to list the one with the ogre pre-req and both books as it's source. I liked harmless form because it has an 8 hour duration meaning a single wand of it would probably cover my needs for quite awhile.
So, I'm working on an animal companion guide and I'm trying to provide a table of classes/archetypes/options that grant a character an animal companion and what the progression looks like. So far I have the following.
I have a separate set of tables for feats I just want to make sure this list is complete before I start diving into an analysis of each class option and how they stack up against each other.
I was looking at the Combination Feats today. Some of them require weapon focus with a weapon that does a certain kind of damage. At a glance I would assume that you can only use the feat with the weapon you've taken weapon focus in. However, when I was looking at them closer I noticed that it isn't how it's worded.
Am I right in thinking that you can use any weapon to make use of the feat so long as it's a qualifying weapon?
That is, if I took weapon focus Dagger, and the feat Thousand Cuts. I could then make use of the feat with a longsword?
I apologize if this has been answered before but doing a search for Weapon Focus and combination feat understandably didn't narrow the results very well.
I tried doing some research on the forums for this and was having trouble finding things that directly addressed what I'm looking for.
I'm planning for the future and in a few levels my hunter will be picking up an additional animal companion. I'm looking at getting a warcat but I'm open to other options.
I'm mainly trying to figure out feats for the warcat to take. I already have and/or will be getting teamwork feats like precise strike, pack flanking, outflank, etc, which get auto-shared thanks to hunters tactics. It also will have an int of 4 thanks to Eye for Talent, so any feat it can physically use is fair game.
Power Attack I think is a given. It's beyond this point that I'm not sure. I could go the grappling route (dirty trick, rapid grappler, etc.) but even with rake it ends up losing attacks, so it doesn't strike me as an effective way to go.
I've looked at the following options
Improved Natural Attack
Rending Claws
The overall benefits of these seem pretty minor and I'm not sure they are worth a feat. I also looked at chaining the following feats off of Feral Combat Training
However, each option is incredibly feat intensive for what you get out of it. I feel like I'm missing something really obvious but many of the feats that seem like they would be good are much less impressive once you start to dig down and/or easily get overshadowed by magic items/spells.
I have a character who is a PackLord Hunter that will be travelling within the worldwound. The packlord ability will allow him to add an animal companion when he levels and I realized that this seems to be based on the following ability.
Hunter wrote:
If a hunter releases her companion from service or her animal companion perishes, she may gain a new one by performing a ceremony requiring 24 uninterrupted hours of prayer in the environment where the new companion typically lives.
So, what I'm wondering is. What kinds of druid animal companions (if any) would be considered native to regions within the worldwound? I can't find any information on what sort of biomes are in the area other than that it's the abyss without being the abyss. So, does it all count as just abyss? can an area be both abyss and forest?
Alternatively, there are the animal companion archetypes Apex Species and Aberrant. Would simply applying one of these archetypes allow you to pick any animal companion you want so long as the region it's acquired from matches the terrain?
For example:
Could you gain an Apex Species (Underground) Lion while deep inside of a cave system? or Would you still have to visit an appropriate forest or plain in order to acquire the lion at which point it would gain the Apex Species (Underground) archetype?
Assuming this works, Would the Aberrant archetype, Apex Species and/or some other archetype be used to make any normally selectable animal companion available in the worldwound?
I am not the DM for this game, I'm just trying to get a bunch of ground work done for him to make his job easier. Ideally, I would like to provide him with a list of animals and say "based on Sources X and Y, these kinds of animals are options to me, is animal Z available?" or "based on sources X and Y I can pick anything I could normally pick so long as it has this archetype, is animal Z with said archetype available?"
So, during the play test I saw things that I didn't like, brought up my concerns and got mixed support. Changes were made but they felt like half-steps that didn't really address the core issues. So, after awhile I stopped following the play test and decided to just wait and see.
So, I've been going over the rules and I feel like my favorite type of character to play was taken into a back alley and beaten to within an inch of its life. I like playing necromancers and as a result I've also played many variations of cleric.
There are things I like. I like that create undead is a ritual and that there is a chance the undead you create has a chance to go berserk and attack you. I like that it's possible to have intelligent undead as minions. This means you can have something like a ghoul without worrying it will turn on you. It struck me as an interesting choice that you don't have to be a spellcaster to use the ritual.
Outside of this trying to specialize in undead seems very lackluster at best. You can't have more then 4 minions and you have to spend an action every turn getting the minion to do anything other than stand there. This would be fine if using feats:
*You could increase the minion limit
*You could command more than one minion at a time with an action (even if it makes them all perform the same action against the same target)
*They would continue to act on the last instruction you gave them if possible.
Necrotic Infusion seems to be the only way to buff your minions. Granted, I like the feat, it gives even more reason to heal them during combat. Otherwise I found... well nothing. There things like bind undead and command undead but these become pointless even as temporary abilities when you remember that you can only have 4 minions. At best they let you leash something that's more powerful than what you can create, with the downside that the party will eventually be forced to put them down. Since, even the improved command undead only lasts 24 hours before it gets another save. This was the exact reason taking intelligent undead via command undead wasn't something you did in 1st edition. The reward didn't outweigh the risk of being attacked in the middle of the night by your own undead. I suddenly have this mental image of a necromancer running around with a cage on wheels full of undead. They command one, which then gets to be let out and adventured with. If it survives the day it goes back into the cage afterward.
So, I started looking at what else a cleric gets and overall found it kind of bland and lackluster. I can choose between being a wizard or being a fighter. Even if I take the wizard option I get 1 focus spell and some buffs to my offensive magic at very high level. Nothing else particularly excites me about the class. I see that at 8th level you can get a second focus spell. I'm sure that my perception is being colored by how badly pet classes have been gimped (animal companions seem a little better off then others) and that much of what i didn't like during the play test is still present. Is there something I missing?
The hunter archetype Pack Master allows a character to have multiple animal companions. I'm trying to understand the interaction between having multiple animal companions and feats like Totem Beast and Corpse Companion
If say I had 3 animal companions would all 3 benefit from the feats or do I have to choose one?
Corpse companion automatically re-applies its self when your existing companion has been destroyed and you get a new one. But what if the old one hasn't been destroyed?
The way pack master functions you don't gain all of your animal companions at once. You can get a new one instead of advancing an existing animal companion. This means that the feat Evolved Companion would automatically remove its self from your existing companion and apply to the new one. Totem Beast and Corpse companion lack any wording saying that your old companions lose the benefits of the feat when you gain a new one. Which leads me to think that they end up applying to all companions.
IMO corpse companion "should" apply to all of your animal companions and Totem Beast "shouldn't". But a strict reading of the rules seems to indicate the exact opposite is the case.
So, I was looking at the magic item Icon of Aspects and I was curious about certain applications of it.
1. What happens if you swap out a domain power for the 4th level animal domain power? (assuming its one normally accessible via your deity) Does the animal companion poof in out of nowhere?
2. More importantly, what happens if you keep on swapping out a power for the 4th level animal domain power? Does the animal companion just go away and then immediately come back? Is it reasonable for you to maintain the swap or is this simply outside the limits of the magic item?
3. If the cleric has picked an inquisition as one of their domains could they use the icon with said inquisition?
4. Alternatively, can the Icon be used on a normal domain to swap out for an inquisition? (assuming that the inquisition in question lists the deity you've chosen)
By RAW I wouldn't think 3 & 4 work, but in reading over inquisitions they seem to be intended to be interchangeable with domains and so now I'm not sure.
I've been looking at feat progression for animal companions and while I do have a plan for a build I feel like there are a lot of wasted feats and there may be something better.
Some background, my character is a cavalier/hunter with eye for talent and a bite attack. he will at minimum be sharing the following teamwork feats, outflank, paired opportunists, snapping flank, and precise strike. As well as some method to reliably flank.
the animal companion (to start with) will be a constrictor with an intelligence of 3. initially I was thinking of doing a grapple build, something like this
They both basically do the same thing, Build 2 adds 1d6 bleed to both my bite and unarmed strikes combined with a rend attack, compared to Build 3 which also rends but only adds a 1d4 bleed to said attacks. I feel like Build 2 is better but I'm taking 5 feats just to basically add a rend. Both builds leave out obviously good feats like power attack and improved natural weapon. But I wasn't sure how much mileage I'd really get out of them since animal companions don't progress as quickly as characters.
I have also realized that build 2 doesn't actually work because neither boar style nor shark style are valid choices for Weapon Style Mastery.
One last thing, at level 10 (when I take a level in mammoth rider) I will have the opportunity to upgrade to a lion or even warcat (if I can get DM approval). Which may or may not warrant a different set of feats.
any help will be appreciated
edit: I miss-clicked and posted this originally in the rules forum instead of the advice forum. I've flagged that post and it can be deleted.
I'm looking to flesh out some final details for a character I'm developing for a new campaign.
I can post the full build if it matters, but for now I'll post what seems relevant.
Race: Human (Varisian)
Racial Traits: Eye for Quality, Fey Magic, Fey Thoughts
Classes: Cavalier/Hunter
Concept: A teamwork/mount focused melee character
I'm looking for advice on what 0 level druid spells I should pick.
Fey Magic gives me 3 0-level and 1 1st-level druid spell which I can cast once per day. I've picked urban because it makes sense for his backstory. These will be spells that I won't be able to use all the time and even when I can use them, only once per day. I've pretty much settled on Rite of Centered Mind for my 1st level spell, but you're welcome to make a case for another 1st level spell that you feel is better.
Outside of being a race that already gets the swarming racial trait (eg ratfolk) is there anyway to get it via feats, classes, spells, etc?
The only thing I've been able to find is mythic racial heritage. I would of figured one of the higher level polymorph spells could grant this ability but so far as I can tell it seems to be absent from the list of abilities you can acquire.
I have a cavalier/hunter character I'm trying to plan out and realized that one of the feats I was planning on getting Pack Flanking, will largely be redundant because my character will have mythic tiers. Specifically, he will be getting the mythic ability Mounted Marshal
So, Now I'm looking for a replacement feat. The bonus feat is coming from the first mother's fang cavalier archetype and it has the following limitations.
First Mother's Fang wrote:
At 1st level, he gains Combat Expertise as a bonus feat, and if his Intelligence score is less than 13, it counts as 13 for the sole purpose of meeting the prerequisites of combat feats that require Combat Expertise as a prerequisite.
At 2nd, 8th, and 15th levels, the first mother’s fang gains a vigilante social talent and a bonus combat feat. ... When selecting his bonus combat feat, he can choose from only combat feats that list Combat Expertise as a prerequisite.
A teamwork feat would be ideal, but it doesn't have to be. I've been looking at feats like My blade is yours and mirror move but I don't know how much mileage I'm likely to get out of those.
This question comes from a detail that came up regarding my cavalier/hunter. In order to meet certain pre-reqs I'm taking Racial Heritage (Nagaji).
Is there any way to get a bite attack as a Nagaji?
I have some open feats and it would be nice if I could get some additional use out of the feat. At the moment I'm planning on eventually grabbing a Ring of Rat Fangs so I can qualify for the feat Snapping Flank
I figure by the time I'm in position to get that feat the ring should be easy enough to get. But, IMO it would be better not to rely on a magic item for the feat since if the ring stopped working not only would I lose the feat but I assume my animal companions would as well.
for convenience I've posted my current planned build below.
Spoiler:
Campaign: Wrath of the Righteous
Race: Human (Mwangi-Bonuwat)
Religion: Shimye-Magalla
Racial Traits: Eye for Talent, Fey Magic [Urban](Stabilize,Purify Food, Create Water, Rite of Centered Mind), Fey Thoughts(Perception, Sense Motive)
Traits: Caretaker, Blackthorn Rancher, Touched by Divinity (Shimye-Magalla / Travel Domain)
Draw Backs: Warded Against Nature
Class: Cavalier (1), Hunter (3), Cavalier (3), Hunter(2), Mammoth Rider(1), Hunter (X)
Favored Class: Hunter
Archetype(s): Packmaster, Roofrunner & Blight Scout(Hunter), First Mother’s Fang (Cavalier)
Feats: Racial Heritage[Nagaji](1st), Exotic Heritage [K. Nature](3rd ), Eldritch Heritage[Sylvan](5th){I have specific DM approval for this}, Horse Master(7th)
Bonus Feats: EWP Butcher Axe [Cavalier](1st), EWP Orc Hornbow [Cavalier](1st), Combat Expertise [Cavalier](1st), Pack Flanking[Cavalier](5th)
Bonus Teamwork Feats: Precise Strike[Cavalier](1st), Outflank[Hunter](3rd), +1 # of Companions[Hunter](4th), Snapping Flank[Hunter](11th)
Suggested Feats: Blood for the Empire, Bonded Mind, Duck and Cover, Pack Attack, Seize the Moment, Tribe Mentality, Escape Route, Imp. Eldritch Heritage(11th+), Coordinated Charge, Totem Beast, Battle Cry, Masked Renown, Planar Focus, Mounted Combat, Ride By Attack, Spirited Charge
Stats: Str: 18+2, Dex: 14, Con: 12, Int: 14, Wis: 11, Cha: 13
Suggested Gear: Equestrian Belt, Ring of Rat Fangs, Corset of Delicate Moves, Jousting(armor enchantment), Juggernaut’s Pauldrons, healer’s satchel, Cracked Magenta Prism (Ioun Stone)
of course, I'm open to other suggestions as well. The game hasn't started yet so I can still make considerable changes if needed.
I'm building a Cavalier/Hunter for a new campaign and I'm wondering if there's anyway to make it so that I can always take 10 on my ride checks.
I know about the rogue talent skill mastery, but I don't think I can take that many levels in rogue to get it.
Magic Items, feats and/or traits would be ideal, but I could consider a level dip provided I'm not having to take more then 3 levels in something. Also, since my character isn't a crafter, I should probably avoid custom items.
Assuming that you're able to get both abilities on the same character would they stack?
Body Bludgeon requires that the target you pin be one size category smaller and powerful shape lets you treat your size category as being one size larger for
"any size-based special attacks you use"
This seems like it would work, but I'm not sure. Additionally, regardless if this works or not are there any feats or class features that would work with body bludgeon?
I thought I saw a feat that made you count as a larger size category when performing combat maneuvers, but I've come up empty.
I'm wondering because I'm trying to put together a build that uses body bludgeon, but your options (for classes) become quite limited once you need to be a size bigger then large which seems to be a major failing of the build. Unless maybe you have a way to reliably shrink your enemies.
It seems to be generally accepted that if a creature can cast a spell as a spell like ability, this has no material cost even if the original spell has a costly material cost.
Where does it actually specify this in the rules?
I was trying to find where this is stated and was unable to find it anywhere. This would suggest that unless a creature's ability specifies otherwise, they have to pay any associated material costs (costly or otherwise) any time they use a spell like ability (eg a bat creature that can cast fireball as a SLA has to, um yeah).
The following would fix many complaints about the ancestry system and will help the Half-races feel more useful.
Start by renaming ancestry feats to ancestry traits. Using the word feat makes it seem like they should be equivalent to class feats in terms of power which most of them are not.
Give us all of our ancestry feats at 1st level (which IIRC, would be 5). This does two things, first will allow the ancestries to actually feel different at 1st level. As it stands most ancestries feel exactly the same at 1st level. Second, the half-humans actually become worthwhile. As it currently stands a half-human does not become an actual half-human until 9th level. At first level they have no ancestry, at 5th level they become a human, orc or elf and at 9th level they can finally be a mixture of the two. I have played many many characters that never made it to 9th level, so I can assume many players will never gain any benefit from the half-human option.
Make some abilities cost two traits. There are currently some ancestry options that give you a free feat. Make these abilities and others of similar power cost 2 traits instead of 1. Similarly, make all of the non-level 1 traits cost 2 instead of 1. This allows for interesting choices without making one ancestry seem way better then others. just because a particular trait that ancestry has access too is more powerful then the ones offered by other ancestries. For symmetry make the feat that gives you ancestry traits 2 instead of 1. You also avoid the oddity that low level NPCs of two different races should technically be nearly identical in terms of abilities outside of stats.
Heritage Feats can stay as heritage traits. This bars them from later being taken by the feat that gives you ancestry traits.
Normalize the base abilities of all of the ancestries. As it stands dwarves technically get more than everyone else and halflings decidedly get less then everyone else. Small Size should either provide a definitive mechanical benefit, or the small races need to be compensated with some other static bonus. Dwarves either need to lose an ability, or all other races need to get an additional static ability to put them on par with dwarves. Halflings need all of the above and an additional ability, as it stands they are weaker then everyone else as they are basically small humans that get a penalty and don't even get to count as human.
So, when looking over the different ancestries it's easy enough to see what ability got traded for what. All of the non-human ancestries get 2 set boosts and 1 flaw. They get common plus their own language. Then each gets some special ability that's not tied to a heritage feat.
medium sized creatures seem to be the norm, if you're small this "advantage" costs you either in hitpoints, movement or some combination there of.
6, M, 20ft, with each getting 1 or more of the following, +2HP, S, +5ft, +extra ability
How many each gets, is as follows
Dwarves: 4
Elves: 4
Gnome: 3
Goblin: 3
Halfling: 2
Human: 2
Even if I ignore size and I just compare medium sized races to other medium sized races, dwarves and elves get more benefits then humans do. The only advantage humans seem to get is that they can be half-orcs or half-elves or take the general training feat. Even then, you are gaining this in place of your normal ancestry feat. The thing is, a level one ancestry feat should be relatively equivalent to other level one ancestry feats, regardless of what race it's coming from. Making this not quite the advantage it seems.
All things being equal, there's little reason to pick a human over a dwarf or an elf and there's little reason to pick a halfling over a goblin or gnome. At minimum, humans and halflings need an extra trait or an extra ancestry feat in order for it to make sense to take one of these ancestries. Ancestries give you so little now in terms of set benefits that it's easy to compare them on a normalized curve.
I've been mulling over the issue of skills and have tried to come up with a solution that will make both sides of the fence "happy".
Instead of characters getting a bonus equal to their level to all skills. Allow characters to pick "skill bundles" at each level. Perhaps a number of them equal to the number of skills they chose at 1st level to train in. Each bundle would consist of 3-4 skills that go together or can be grouped in a way that makes sense.
The skill bundle "Scouting" for example would include Stealth, Survival and Nature.
In this way the player has agency over what skills their character is good at but a number of associated skills will also increase. This is representative of "picking up other skills" as part of your adventuring experience.
Each skill would appear in 2 bundles, with one bundle giving you a full +1 and the other bundle giving you a +0.5. In the case of the +0.5 you don't get the full bonus until you get the +0.5 bonus twice. It would allow for players to actually specialize in a particular skill and other characters won't lag behind too much on untrained skills unless that character has literally never done anything remotely similar to the skill in question.
It's an idea, I'm sure there are problems with it I haven't considered but (to me at least) it seems better than the proposed skill system, while still maintaining some of the "spirit" of it.
I did a cursory search and couldn't find anything. So I apologize if this has come up before.
So, I'm looking at the feat "Hand’s Autonomy" which basically lets your possessed hand act independently on your turn in a limited fashion. One of the things the hand can do is
Hand's Autonomy wrote:
The hand can make a single melee or ranged attack with a light or one-handed weapon as a full-round action.
Since there are no other details about how this attack is treated I'm curious. What all would it get?
I assume it gets your base attack and strength mod. Would it get to make use of feats like weapon finesse and power attack? Would it benefit from class abilities like sneak attack?
My thought is, you could get the vestigial arm discovery and apply possessed hand to that extra hand. Then with Hand's Autonomy you would be able to get an extra attack each round the benefits from sneak attack (assuming you're flanking or using some other method to make all of your attacks get SAD).
I've looked over the forums and the grappling rules and I'm struggling to understand how this would work exactly.
1. At 4th level the monk gains several abilities that lend themselves to being able to "draw in" additional creatures once they are grappling a single creature. When this happens, what does the monk have to do on their turn? can they maintain the grapple on both creatures or are they forced to let one go (since they don't pick up greater grapple until 6th level)
2. At 6th level, when the monk has 2 creatures grappled can they draw in additional creatures only to be forced to release all but 2 on their next turn?
3. At 8th level, the monk gets the grab special ability but must burn ki points to use it. If the monk starts their turn grappling 4 creatures of the same size as the monk (1 on 4) can they spend ki points to maintain their grapple on all 4 creatures and how much do they have to spend? Could they grapple 2 normally and spend 2 points to grapple the other two at a -20. Do they have to spend 4 points and grapple all at a -20. Can they spend just 1 point and use the grab ability on any number of creatures they are grappling. Or does it not matter if they spend any points or not since they only have enough actions to grapple 2 creatures and so they'll be forced to release the other 2 regardless.
4. Assuming they were able to maintain the grapple on all 4 opponents, will the monk have to spend additional ki on each round or does the grab ability stay until the "grabbed" creature(s) is/are released?
5. The Grabbing combat style feat feels like a natural fit for a Tetori monk, but it looks like they can't take it until they are 8th level or dip into brawler. Am I missing something or are the pre-reqs simply poorly conceived?
6. If the monk can only grapple 2 creatures due to limited actions, how is this done by things like the giant squid? The image of a tentacled creature like this waving around 3+ people in it's tentacles is fairly common, yet the rules don't seem to support this being a thing.
This build was inspired by another post, discussing the interactions of abilities with grapple.
I decided to go with a Rogue(Kidnapper) build in this case but so far as I can tell the following class(archetypes) should also work without much modification.
Race: Human
Class: Rogue
Archetype: Kidnapper
Rogue Talents: Improved Grapple(2nd), Combat Trick – Strangler(4th), Ambuscading Grapple(6th), Greater Grapple (8th)
Feats: Racial Heritage[Ogre](1st), Great Fortitude(3rd), Corrupted Flesh(6th), Improved Stench(7th), Pungent Stench (9th)
Other Feats to consider: Body Shield, Chokehold, Hamatula Strike, Pinning Knockout, Sleeper Hold
The main idea, is that you can grapple an opponent who should immediately start to be affected by your stench ability (as well as anyone who tries to get near you). The now nauseated opponent will be unable to resist as you grapple them doing sneak attack damage.
obviously, anyone who is immune to poison will be immune to this, as will anyone who makes their save against your stench ability.
Is there something I'm missing that would make this more effective?
Is there some way to "reset" my stench after someone's saved against it?
This build leaves a "free" floating feat that could be spent on something. Also, it relies on the ability to retrain one of your feats at 6th level, otherwise Pungent Stench gets pushed back to 11th level.
I know this has been discussed before but the discussions I found were on specific classes. Anyway, I don't tend to play many melee characters and what I'm wondering is which is better in general or at least what the pros and cons are to each.
I've seen a high level dual wielding ranger and they were a flipping human blender on the battlefield. I've also seen a homebrew feat that gives additional attacks to 2 handed weapon users. This seemed horribly OP to me since it was my understanding that
dual wield = more attacks
and
2H = more damage per hit
and so, to get to do more dmg per hit AND get just as many attacks??!!
I also realize at higher levels you'll start running into more Dr X/- type creatures, 2H seems like it may be more effective at that point.
But as I said, I don't know. Is one better than the other or are they fairly equal provided you're the right build.
I was looking at feats for an alchemist and noticed that one of the feats being considered requires spell focus. Initially, I figured this meant that there was no way to get the feat since alchemists don't count as spell casters for purposes of taking feats.
However, when I checked Spell Focus I noticed that this feat doesn't actually have any pre-reqs.
Am I right in thinking that an alchemist could take spell focus (and therefore take other feats that have it as a requirement), it's just that the feat won't do anything for the character directly.
Or did I miss an errata somewhere that says that this feat functions normally for alchemists?
I was looking at an Oracle build when this caught my attention.
Lich (Horror Realms pg. 14): wrote:
You have (unknowingly) fulfilled most (but not all) of the ritualistic components to achieve lichdom. You have yet to turn into an undead creature, but you are close. You take damage from positive energy and heal from negative energy as if you were undead.
At 5th level, add control undead to your list of 2nd-level oracle spells known
At 10th level, add undead anatomy I to your list of 3rd-level oracle spells known and undead anatomy II to your list of 5th-level oracle spells known
At 15th level, you are immune to death effects.
Control Undead is a 7th level wizard spell. I have to wonder if this isn't a typo and they meant Command Undead, which is a 2nd level spell.
Otherwise the oracle is getting a 7th level wizard spell as a 2nd level spell. The rest of the spells are inline, undead anatomy is a 3rd level wizard spell and undead anatomy II is a 5th level wizard spell.
I checked that this hasn't already been addressed and I can't find anything so I'm posting it here.
this feat reads as follows
Mythic Adventures wrote:
Improved Counterspell (Mythic)
Your innate understanding of magical mechanics allows you to unravel spells with pure magical energy.
Prerequisite(s): Improved Counterspell.
Benefit: When counterspelling, you can use a spell of the same school that is the same or higher spell level as the target spell.
ok, cool. However, the feat that is listed as this feat's prerequisite literally does the same thing.
Core Rules wrote:
Improved Counterspell
You are skilled at countering the spells of others using similar spells.
Benefit: When counterspelling, you may use a spell of the same school that is one or more spell levels higher than the target spell.
Normal: Without this feat, you may counter a spell only with the same spell or with a spell specifically designated as countering the target spell.
Am I missing something?
taking this feat literally grants zero benefit to the character taking is since they can already do what this feat lets them do because it's a pre-requisite......
I've been running games for a long time and I used to never use DM PCs. Sometimes the players would become attached to a particular NPC and they would adventure with the group for awhile before the NPC would justifiably chicken out on a particular adventure. At which point they would be left behind/forgotten.
In recent years though, I've noticed a stronger push from my players to desire the accompaniment of a DM PC, An NPC that is functionally another player in the group.
The struggle I've had is having the party like the character without the character taking the spotlight, gp or xp from the party.
I've done things like a magic cat, a fairy sorcerer and a love sick winter wolf. Creatures that can't really do anything with treasure but can provide limited support in the form of information. However, the players only seem to like the NPC if they are able to do something useful in combat.
Does anyone else regularly use a DM PC?
What is their purpose in the group?
As a DM I feel like I'm shooting myself in the foot every time the character does well in combat.
Even when I ask why this sort of character is wanted I just get a sort of vague answer like "they help the party know what they should be doing". But advisory type NPCs for some reason are unsatisfactory and the players try to offload the "dead weight" at the first opportunity (This is the same group btw).
I've been researching the beneficial spells Symbol of healing and Symbol of mirroring. I've been trying to determine exactly how these spells function (as per the rules) and in what ways these spells can be used in a way that is useful for a party. I had a symbol of mirroring in a high level campaign a few years back and my interpretation seemed reasonable and fair and my dm never had any issues with it's usage.
That being said, I don't know if my interpretation was actually correct.
Setup of spells based on RAW
You can cast a SoH or SoM onto a surface (in my case I chose my character's Shield) and make it permanent via permanency. The surface is then covered with a specially made cloth covering that can be removed as a move action.
"Covering or hiding the rune renders the symbol ineffective, unless a creature removes the covering, in which case the symbol works normally."
The rune is then set to trigger when the cover is removed.
"You can set special triggering limitations of your own. These can be as simple or elaborate as you desire. Special conditions for triggering a symbol can be based on a creature’s name, identity, or alignment, but otherwise must be based on observable actions or qualities. Intangibles such as level, class, HD, and hit points don’t qualify."
Now, if I assume no effort has been done to attune anyone to the symbols (and ignoring the creator atm) both a SoH and SoM will target all creatures within 60 feet of the effect. Each of these creatures then make saving throws as normal against the effect (but as with any spell you can always elect to fail your save and allow it to effect you).
Once triggered the symbol remains active for 10 min. per caster level. After which, since it has been made permanent, it's triggering condition must happen again for it to trigger again. In the case of the SoH this is less useful since it can only specifically heal/harm a given creature once per day.
What this means
I reveal a SoM created for me by an NPC, and myself and my allies gain a single duplicate. Combat starts and enemies close to within 60 feet of my character. They immediately must make a saving throw against the symbol. Those who fail benefit from it, those who make their save are able to shrug off the effect and don't need to make any additional saves unless they leave and re-enter the area.
Keep in mind that unless an enemy takes the time to pass a spellcraft check they have no reason not to attempt to resist an unknown spell effect. They might get an int check to figure out that the symbol is creating the duplicates but there's little reason to assume that it will also benefit themselves. Remember there are spells like prayer that simultaneously help allies and harm enemies.
My interpretations
SoM is mirror image + symbol of death, mirror image does not replenish it's images the way the SoM does. I therefore drew the conclusion that the symbol it's self was replenishing the images and it only affects creatures within 60 feet. If it grants you an image and you move beyond the range of the symbol that image will last 1 round per level or until it's destroyed which ever happens first. Once you move back into the area of effect you would then gain a new image. I list this as my interpretation because looking at the spell description now, it is vague on this point. My interpretation is actually weaker then what you might assume to be the case taking the RAW.
Additional thoughts
Generally, when it comes to spells and items if there is an attunement process it causes you to be ignored by harmful effects or not ignored by helpful effects. There are many examples of magic items that do not function for you until an "attunement" process is completed. It could therefore be argued that SoM and SoH ONLY affect those whom they have been attuned to. This greatly limits the power of a SoH since it means a good aligned temple couldn't just set one up in a back room somewhere allowing them to heal anyone off the street for free.
In the case of SoH it might be that it only harms individuals not attuned and only heals individuals who are attuned. Sadly, the text is ambiguous such that SoM is something that if you attune your whole party to it, will only serve to buff your enemies which really doesn't make any sense.
Does this make sense? am I missing something? is there any offical word on how these spells are supposed to function?
On a side note, my dm allowed me to attune a set of 25 specially prepared necklaces to my symbol of insanity, anyone wearing those necklaces were unaffected. It meant I didn't have to decide up front
who it wouldn't affect and it avoided complications when a helpful NPC was along.
So, I have a pyromanic gnome who is a fire elementalist wizard. His current goal is to be able to permanetly (or semi permanently) become a fire elemental. Sure he has elemental body I but its an extremely limited duration so I've been looking to create a similar effect that lasts longer.
After doing some looking I ran across the druid wildshape ability, which at higher levels allows you to transform into an elemental. Additonally, my gm is allowing methods to gain mythic tiers in his game and there is mythic wildshape which let's you take on a single form as much as you want.
The problem though is that I would have to take 4 levels in druid and spend a feat in order to get the elemental wildshape. But I really don't care about the spells or other abilities druids get, in fact I don't even care about turning into an animal. What's more my gnome would make a terrible druid with his 8 wisdom.
Another option is the brightness seeker, but I would have to spend 3 feats and take 3 levels in a class that doesn't give me any sort of casting ability and again I don't care about being able to transform into an animal.
Is there any way to get wildshape w/ being a druid or brightness seeker?
My gnome is a wizard so something that syngergizes with that would be nice. Becoming a druid or elven pilgram just feel like a lot of investment for something I can already do just to be able to do it for longer.
I have recently run into a problem with my group that I would like to try and find a peaceful solution to with regard to party treasure splits.
My gm runs a sandbox style campaign where anyone can play anything and any character you make is always a playable option. In this world I have 3 independent characters that I’ve leveled from 1st level. A 5th level wizard, an 11th level fighter and a 17th level cleric. Lately, in the group I’ve been playing my fighter but I would like to go back to playing my cleric. So, we finished up our current adventure and then players swapped characters so that we would be relatively equal in level.
We had
· My 17th level cleric (who is a necromancer type, so not a healer)
· A 11th level ranger
· A 15th level fighter
· A 17th level arcane archer
· A 14th level sorcerer
Now, the player who has the ranger, loves playing their ranger and is dangerous enough to be effective with our higher levels. This same player also has a 16th level healing cleric (complete with versatile channeling). So, said cleric was brought along.
After the fight, I was splitting the treasure as I have always split treasure, by player. It should be noted that in earlier games, the sorcerer had not balked at this distribution even though they were also playing their fighter since the sorcerer was getting everything.
As a side note, in terms of experience points, experience was being split 5 ways not 6, with the amounts explicitly being given to each player by the dm and the player could decide how that exp was being split among their characters.
The cleric/ranger player balked at having to split their treasure between their two characters instead of all characters getting an equal share. The player pointed out that the characters had no relation to one another (other than being played by the same player). They admitted they didn’t like that exp was being split 5 ways instead of 6, but was willing to concede this since they see experience points as an out of game mechanic, as there Is nothing physical in game that experience points represent.
The DM treats cohorts as characters as well, rather than using the automatic progression rules. The DM also has a tendency to kill off NPCs, pets, minions, mounts and summons in his game targeting these characters first, making it impractical at best to simply have hirelings filling the gaps in the party (bloody is a must have template for any undead I bring with me)
I understand and appreciate the argument that treasure distribution is an in game activity. I also appreciate that it wouldn’t make sense in game for the cleric and ranger to get a single share and be forced to split between the two of them.
However, I know that if treasure starts being split this way, at least two of the other players in our group will also start playing 2 characters just so they can get more treasure to gear their “main” characters. In the end I would end up getting screwed in terms of treasure since I essentially already have multiple characters via my undead, and I don’t want to take a hit to my experience just so I can keep myself and my minions geared.
I would love for my minions to get equal shares of treasure, but I know that wouldn’t fly with the group and I would be hard pressed to defend such a position and honestly I'm ok having to split my treasure among my cleric and his minions.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
I would like to be able to present a solution to the group that is fair and everyone will agree to. Something I can ideally supply a strong argument for.
