Lord Munkar's page

Plague zombies are always appropriate. They search out their own targets and they self perpetuate.

Nomads must be nomadic for a reason. Find out why they are nomadic and see what you can do there.

Are they following a herd of something? Destroy the herd.
Are they going from well to well? Figure out their destination and drain/foul the wells before the get there. (I know with create water this doesn't seem reasonable but if the nomads are simply well hoping then it's reasonable that they have limited create waters)
Are they following trade routes? Destroy their trade goods.

You get the idea.

Is it thematically appropriate? (That should be the over-arching question, methinks.)

This dragon is over 1500 years old with a high intelligence and wisdom. I think it should have learned a trick or two when fighting adventurers who are after its horde.

Can a huge creature, lets say a dragon, get full cover from a wall which is 10' high if it is prone?

It's a new moon so that's not providing any light. The ground is snow covered though so any star light would seem brighter than usual.

They are basically in an arctic setting. I don't want to treat it as a sunrod or torch because one of the party members is an archer and that would nerf him severely. The same goes for the party mage. The rogue on the other hand will love this.

I agree that it should be treated as dim light. I just want to come up with a fair distance for encounters.

Now the setting of a camp fire will change this greatly. Then they would have good visibility in the area of the camp fire (I usually say about 40ft for the standard campfire, more if they make it bigger), and then blind past that (going from light to dark can really mess with you.)

I like this idea a lot. Warmth will cost them both vision and will be a beacon for all the creatures in the area.

How far can a human see in a low light setting?

I assume it's doubled for those races with low light vision but I can't find the section where it gives us a guideline for distance.

The scenario is the party is outside on a moonless night with lots of stars and nothing else obscuring sight.

Thanks in advance.

Disbelieve.

Oh, and pray...

Thank you James.

I was DMing four PCs. One dandy elf sorcerer, one human finesse fighter, one human druid and one half-orc barbarian. In the middle of the forest they were attacked by a dire bear. The bear took down the barbarian pretty quick but he stabilized a round or two into the negatives. The druid (and the party’s only source of healing) had cast a regenerate on himself early in the fight. The spell healed him 1 hit point a round for 15 rounds, if I remember correctly. He liked this spell. It saved his life a couple time previously when he was dropped into the negatives but never had to make a stabilize check due to the magical healing.

Anyway, the barbarian was down and the bear hits the druid and drops him into the negatives. The bear then five foot steps into the square that the druid was standing and attacks the fighter. The fighter and sorcerer manage to kill it later in that same round, at which point it falls down onto the prone druid! The druid was alive but in the negatives. He had a couple rounds of regeneration left. Unfortunately he was underneath 8000lbs of bear. Add insult to injury, the only PC strong enough to move the bear carcass was the barbarian and he was unconscious and a fair distance away. The finesse fighter and the dandy sorcerer had no way to bring the barbarian back up in time to save the druid who was suffocating and being crushed (oh so slowly because of the regenerate). We stopped the session there to give the PCs some time to think of solutions but, due to real life issues, were never able to continue to play.

This one probable PC death would have most likely caused a TPK since the whole party failed to prepare properly to go into the forest and after eating all their rations were counting on the druid’s survival skills to keep them fed and on track. Chances are they would have starved to death looking for a way out of the forest…

Personally, I would like to see the monk being better at seeing through illusions. Maybe instead of the slow fall progression give a bonus on illusion saves which eventually culminates in True Seeing.

Thank you nidho.

I think part of my problem was that I thought that pinning someone only lasted one round and you had to pin him again each round thereafter. It seems though that once you have him pinned you just need to maintain your grapple to keep him pinned. With that said you can have him pinned and tie him up at the same time.

Excellent...

Folks,

The RAW do allow the grappled to make a full attack action, assuming they can do so with only one hand. Since flurry does not require two hands to perform, a monk could flurry.

Grappling is not always the best idea. Grappling a monk is one such example. I think folks need to remember that the grappled condition is not as severe as it once was. You are no longer draped all over the target. It is more like you got a hold on them, typically an arm (hence the restriction). The pinned condition is more of your greco-roman wrestling hold.

Hope that clears it up..

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Thanks for the clarification. A follow up question is, can a pinned character perform a full attack action? RAW I would say yes as it is a type of grapple but by Mr. Bulmahn's explanation it seems that they would not be able to since it is more of the greco-roman wrestling hold.

Do I have this right:

for the purposes of this example X always fails his escape check so I won't worry about talking about what he does.

Round 1: A grapples X
Round 2: A Pins X (with the +5 circumstance bonus)
Round 3: A uses his move action to draw his manacles/rope, and tries to tie up X suffering a -9 penalty (A gets his +5 circumstance bonus but takes a -10 penalty for grappling his opponent and another -4 for not having his hands free).

A follow up question, does A have to pin X at all? What does it add to the situation beyond a possible failed check and another chance for B to escape?

Also, if A has X pinned, can B tie X up without entering the grapple? RAW no but I don't see any way of getting away from that -10 penalty since to tie someone up (who is actively fighting against it) you need to be in a grapple with them and you can't pin them and tie them at the same time (except with the greater grapple feat)and multiple grapplers can't perform different actions because all the extra bodies have to aid the first.

So do I have this right?

Initiative A, X, B, Y, C, Z

A casts a spell and does damage
X standard action, grapples A
B standard action, grapples X
Y full round action attacks A
C standard action, grapples X (giving B a +2 for aiding another)
Z standard action, grapples A (giving X a +2 for aiding another)

Bottom of the round synopsis:
A is grappled by X and Z (-4 dex, -2 AC, -2 attacks or CMB for non-grapple related stuff)
X is grappling A and grappled by B and C (-4 dex, -2 AC, -2 attacks or CMB for non-grapple related stuff)
B is grappling X (-4 dex, -2 AC, -2 attacks or CMB for non-grapple related stuff)
C is grappling X by aiding B (-4 dex, -2 AC, -2 attacks or CMB for non-grapple related stuff)
Z is grappling A by aiding X (-4 dex, -2 AC, -2 attacks or CMB for non-grapple related stuff)

Top of round 2:
A standard action to break the X’s and Z’s grapple (checks versus X’s CMD and fails)
X chooses to maintain the grapple on A (+5 circumstance, +2 from the aid other). Succeeds and damages A
B standard action, maintains grapple (+5 circumstance, +2 aid other). Succeeds and pins X
Y full round action, attacks A
C standard action, maintains grapple (aid other B).
Z attacks A

Bottom of the round synopsis
A is grappled by X and looking pretty hurt (-4 dex, -2 AC, -2 attacks or CMB for non-grapple related stuff)
X is grappling A and in pinned by B and C (-4 dex, -4 AC, -2 attacks or CMB for non-grapple related stuff)
B is grappled and is pinning X (-4 dex, -2 AC, -2 attacks or CMB for non-grapple related stuff)
C is grappled and is aiding B

Top of round 3
A casts a spell and fails the check *fizzle*
X looses the grapple on A since he can’t maintain it. Standard action Tries to break B’s pin. Fails
B standard action, maintains pin on X (+5 circumstance bonus, +2 aid other)
Y attacks A
C attacks Z
Z attacks A

Bottom of the round synopsis
A is hurting but free
X is pinned by C
C is grappled and is pinning X

Some clarification on the monk's unarmed damage is needed.

My monk is considering taking a few levels in sorcerer (dragon bloodline). This gives him the claws ability but that doesn't seem to give him any bonuses when he's doing his unarmed strikes.

That doesn't make much sense to me. I would think that a monk with claws would deal more damage.