MCPooge's page

Actually, I would suggest taking a look at Occultist instead of Magus, specifically the Transmutation implement school. It’s a bit complex of a class, but you can get some really solid buffs as well as a floating +2 enhancement bonus to a physical stat. Plus, psychic spellcasting is handy!

Hello!

So I have dug around, and it seems like the Blade Adept Arcanist archetype has fallen out of popularity lately so there isn't a lot of information about its interactions with newer material.

I am wondering whether the Occultist Legacy Weapon ability can be used to temporarily grant the Black Blade enhancements.

The old FAQ about the black blade says the following:

FAQ
Magus, Black Blade: Can I use Craft Magic Arms and Armor to increase my blade's enhancement bonus?
No, nor can you use that feat to add other properties (such as flaming) to the black blade. You can use your arcane pool to temporarily add abilities to your black blade.

It doesn't say "only" your arcane pool to add abilities, but I don't know if that can be extended to say "arcane pool-like class features."

I appreciate any insight!

Hello there!

I am the GM of this particular campaign, and my party is coming up on the final fight in Book 4. I have seen all the suggestions for going Mythic, which I am going to do, but I want to spice up the fight even more.

My group has been less than impressed with this whole book, since it feels so out of place, leads are somewhat difficult to figure out (for them at least), and the difficulty takes a little bit of a step up. I want to give them a payoff worth their struggles.

So my idea is for the birthing of the Spawn (blanking on the name at the moment) to also be a big step towards Shub-Niggurath entering the world. SN will bust the Mi-go dome, flooding the tunnels and forcing the party into a 3-dimensional battle with the Dark Young (is that what's it's called?) whilst SN struggles to fully manifest around them. I want SN's tentacles to be a sort of environmental danger over the course of this fight.

Has anyone done anything even remotely similar to this? I certainly haven't, so I would love and appreciate any advice!

There are other ways to get familiars. Also there is an archetype that gives Delayed Bomb at first level.

Hello there!

So I was casting around for something interesting to do for my next character, and I stumbled across something that I'm not sure if it will work, or if anyone has any suggestions for ways to improve this idea.

The gist of the plan here is to use Implant Bombs to, well, implant a bomb into my Familiar with the Figment archetype. The game we are playing is a bit of a rebellion against tyranny sort of situation, so having an explosives specialist is not unheard of. Having a magical chicken that I can put a bomb inside, then have go exploring or even infiltrating to get at a target seems pretty useful, especially when that chicken will appear by my side the next morning, none the worse for wear (besides being at 1 HP).

I guess I don't have any specific questions. I just want to know what you think, I guess. Suggestions of other feats/items that would complement this? Reasons it may not work how I hoped? Ideas of how to ensure my chicken bomb can "die" in the square of a particular target?

I have looked around and not found an answer to this question, but it may be because the answer is simple.

Is the Delayed Bomb discovery considered a bomb modification discovery, in that it cannot stack with other discoveries (or class features as applicable) that modify bombs? I noticed that most (if not all) discoveries that fall in to this category specifically say so in their descriptions, and Delayed Bomb does not.

Thanks for your help!

First, it has an apostrophe because that is how you create a possessive.

Second, you've got a wild bunch of options there. While, yes, it is a little more intrigue-laden, that's not the only option. You can be more... straight-forward. You just will have to deal with the consequences.

Have you read the Player's Guide yet? That might help narrow things down a bit!

Why Occultist? This sounds more the realm of the Psychic, right?

Well, the warpriest exists as a more offensively-oriented version of the cleric. They can be pretty monstrous when going for combat, with swift action self-buffs and potentially a lot of quick healing... for themselves.

To be honest, I would not recommend them as a party healer.

I also would not recommend trying to prioritize damage with those stats.

But if she is adamant, give us a little more. Is she going to be using her goddess's favored weapon? If so, what is it? If not, what does she intend to use?

I'm on my phone so it's rather difficult to quote, but read the second to last sentence in the description of Legacy Weapon.

"The item must have an enhancement bonus of at least +1 (from the item itself or from Legacy Weapon) to gain a weapon special ability."

My primary question is whether the Arcane Pool bonus counts as being from the weapon itself as far as Legacy Weapon is concerned.

To clarify the example even further: I have a mundane dagger I found in a gutter. Can I use a point from my Arcane Pool to make the dagger a +1 dagger and then use a point from Legacy Weapon to make it a +1 (insert +1 quality here) dagger?

I'm sorry, I just don't think randomly saying this stuff stacks when the effects themselves imply heavily that they do NOT stack with each other is enough for me. Any sources for the claims?

I realized something I left out: what if I have a non-magical weapon? Legacy Weapon says the weapon must have a +1 bonus from either itself or from Legacy Weapon. Can the Arcane Pool enhancement count as "from the weapon itself"? Also, the Legacy Weapon Enhancement bonus is specifically called out to stack with the weapon's enhancement bonus, not with other enhancement bonuses.

Honestly, I expected the answers to be a solid "no," and to be the last thing I needed to convince myself not to VMC Magus haha.

Hello!

Just a quick question: am I able to combine the Occultist focus power Legacy Weapon with the Magus Arcane Pool weapon enhancement in any manner? I know the enhancement bonuses won't stack, but could I, for example, get a +1 from the Magus pool and then add a magical weapon quality with my Legacy Weapon ability?

Assuming the limit for each ability in question is +1 bonus.

Thanks!

I actually could see this as a Spiritualist. There's a couple ways you could go with it, and they all involve the character talking about her "imaginary" friend.

You don't need them for Rescue Character, they are just available as an option instead of taking that character to the HQ.

Also, I did not realize multiple teams able to take the same action meant we could take the action multiple times. That is good to know!

So my playgroup has had a question come up, and the guy who is running for us hasn't read far enough ahead to see if there is an answer, and my Google-fu also failed us. I would appreciate if there are any spoiler-free answers here!

Our question involves Activate Safe House. I am on my phone, so I can't really get the exact text very easily and I apologize for that. The important parts of the power include that the Safe House is active for the week only and that the rebellion gets a stacking bonus to Security checks of +1 per active Safe House, up to a maximum of +5.

The question, then, is how does that work? If we can do each action only once per week, how could we possibly get a bonus to Security checks beyond +1? Is there something later that allows us to make more safe houses per activation?

No spoilers, please. We just finished part 2 of the first book. I appreciate any insight into what we have missed, if anything!

I think the advice the OP is looking for is how to make a capable caster that can get into a fostfight and not crumple. Well. That's sort of the question for every caster below a certain level, isn't it? If that had been solved, there wouldn't be anyone playing martial S anymore, I would say.

Science has no place in a roleplaying game dependent on written rules to determine the mechanics of the world. Get outta heah!

I have a habit of finding off-the-wall builds to try, and my favorite Summoner one was probably the off-the-wall-iest, though definitely not the best build around.

I actually built my Summoner as a Dervish dance melee combatant, built my Eidolon to be the same. I actually took the Fetchling AT that made my Eidolon be my shadow, so it would detach and we would double-team our enemies, with teamwork feats. It was silly, but so much fun.

Up the CR of the encounters and level them slowly until the adventure catches up?

We envisioned it more like a foozball guy, rocking forward and backward on an invisible middle axis. It was a lot more threatening then one might think!

Thanks for the comment!

Turns out I read a little more of some of the neutral gods, adjusted my character a little bit, and went with Nethys. She has a sort of balance theme to her, with the rage/peace sort of thing, so I'm just running with that. Thanks anyway!

Hello everyone!

I was hoping I could get some assistance with a character I am building. Most of my mechanics and such are nailed down, I'm just having trouble with choosing a deity to worship that makes sense with the backstory/theme I want to play.

So, main things I have already:

- true neutral human cleric
- somewhat focused on channel energy and summoning neutral monsters
- had a loved one caught between a conflict between good and evil outsiders, so is on a crusade against the extreme aligned outsiders (LG, CG, LE, CE)
- less concerned with a balance between good and evil (that's what heroes and villains are for!) than a balance between Law and Chaos

I was going to be of Pharasma, with the Death and Healing (representing Life) domains, but I feel like the fact that I want my character to be willing to use undead to his advantage (so much easier to control than outsiders!, he thinks) kind of ruins that plan.

I considered creating a philosophy to follow, but hand picking domains for it feeled kind of... cheaty? There just isn't much in the way of gods of balance, as far as I can tell.

Anyway, I hope all of you guys and gals will be able to help me out with some good ideas. You usually do!

Oh, I almost forgot: 3PP is not an option. Thanks everyone!

Doesn't the stored Grasp dissipate when you cast another spell, though? In this case, Dimension Door?

Just to add, in case you were wondering where you saw it:

It is on the Adventure Path card for Rise of the Runelords that it describes doing this.

Gods, I must be crazy. I thought for sure they were worded completely differently. I need to stop posting on this board, because I am always wrong all the time.

Okay, I did not see the rewording on Pharasma. That was my mistake.

Sajan's power says he uses Dexterity instead of Strength, and so bonuses to Dex would add, as was already determined.

However, Lini's ability is worded differently. It doesn't say "roll a d10 instead of your Strength or Dexterity die for any check" (which would imply replacing the entire stat die including feat bonuses). I don't have it in front of me and am on my phone so I can't easily check, but I believe it says something along the lines of "roll a d10 instead of the regular die for Strength or Dexterity checks," which I would read as simply replacing the dX, not the entire stat.

Do you have a link to that ruling?

If that is true, I am becoming more and more disappointed in this game. Every question we had as we played appeared to be clearly answered in the rulebook, but there are more and more rulings that contradict very clear wording...

I don't think using Strength (the spell) on a check qualifies it for Pharasma. I think Pharasma is the spell equivalent of Gorum or Erastil, i.e. used on combat checks.

I hate to necro this thread, but I was looking at this discussion on the BGG boards (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1035377/lini-at-farmhouse) and apparently Mike said, unofficially, that Lini's power to recharge instead of discard would not help here at this location, due to the "Golden Rule" hierarchy.

I, however, think that there are some serious issues with wording in this game. The location says "If you would discard..." not "Instead of discarding..." Lini's power says "Instead of discarding..." not "After discarding..." or "If you would discard..."

I mean, it is English grammar. If action B is done "instead" of action A, action A never happens. I don't understand why the "Golden Rule" comes into play.

I am perfectly content for the ruling to stand, there are plenty of locations I can go to that are not as punishing, just as other characters won't be bothered so much by the Farmhouse. I am just trying to clarify what seems to me to be counter-intuitive and contrary to what is written.

If you can get your GM to both use Advanced Class Guide and consider the Bloodrager Dragon bloodline to count as Sorc Draconic bloodline, you can make a pretty awesome Dragon Disciple. In fact, if Paizo's release of the ACG makes it a possibility, I'm sure that will be the go to option!

The scabbard says the effect is applied when you draw the weapon, but you can't draw your fists. So there.

Building on what has been said, that does also mean that if either of those archetypes give you something at 2nd level, you do not have access to that yet. The number of levels of a particular class you have are called "class levels," and the total of all your class levels is referred to as "player level." Be sure not to mix those up when reading abilities, feats, traits, etc.

I find it funny that you say "so far seems like fighter or cavalier is the way to go," when no one has suggested fighter and pretty much everyone has said "yeah, cavalier is good but this other option might be better." You just shot down every single suggestion you got. Don't ask for advice if you don't want it. Here, I'll tell you what you want to hear so we can all feel like this thread wasn't worthless.

Oh, yeah, Cavalier would be great! But you're right, if you want to go sort-of cavalier-like without the mount, tactician fighter is your best choice! Rock on, bro!

Well, as worded, the Titan Mauler Archetype doesn't really work as intended. I would have to dig to find them, but one of the PF designers offered a couple house rule variants to make it work as intended, but they would be just that: house-rules.

Hi everyone!

So here is the deal: I've got to build a new 3rd level character, as my Alchemist may or may not have accidentally on purpose blown up the Golden Goblin with some bottles of carbauxine.

I have the concept for the character, but I am having difficulty figuring out the mechanics. The character I want to build would be a monster hunter of types. The original main image I had was of the main character of the Witcher series, a man with two swords on his back: a silver one for Fae and a steel one for men. Obviously, in the PF world, it would probably be more like a cold iron blade and a silver blade, but that's only slightly beside the point.

My idea so far is a half-elf, using a buckler and a bastard sword (or katana, haven't decided). I have considered the Rondelero Duelist or Thunderstriker Fighter Archetypes in order to make it possible to minimize penalties from switching from sword-n-board to two-handed murder, etc. I have been playing around with assorted mixtures of Ranger and Fighter levels. I wouldn't mind having an owl companion, even if it is just one (or two if the combat style feats will be handy) levels of Ranger (Falconer, of course!).

So does anyone have any tips? I am not worried about min-max optimization, so much as not being completely suck. Thanks for any advice!

Oh, if there is any information you want/need, just ask, I will be keeping a close eye on this thread in hopes of assistance!

PRD wrote:

Inappropriately Sized Weapons: A creature can't make optimum use of a weapon that isn't properly sized for it. A cumulative –2 penalty applies on attack rolls for each size category of difference between the size of its intended wielder and the size of its actual wielder. If the creature isn't proficient with the weapon, a –4 nonproficiency penalty also applies.

The measure of how much effort it takes to use a weapon (whether the weapon is designated as a light, one-handed, or two-handed weapon for a particular wielder) is altered by one step for each size category of difference between the wielder's size and the size of the creature for which the weapon was designed. For example, a Small creature would wield a Medium one-handed weapon as a two-handed weapon. If a weapon's designation would be changed to something other than light, one-handed, or two-handed by this alteration, the creature can't wield the weapon at all.

The PRD was quoted by Quantum Steve a while ago, though he bolded a different part. The part I bolded would appear to say inappropriately sized weapons do in fact change type. It should be noted the phrase in parentheses is an appositive, a type of grammatical phrase with the purpose to clarify the noun phrase directly before it.

Quantum Steve's comment about a Small sized weapon that would be two-handed in Medium size was sort of a "this is the opposite of my argument, and isn't it ridiculous?" sort of a comment, I thought.

My point, of course, being that a Small Greatsword (for example) being wielded by a Medium sized Magus would qualify for Spell Combat. I think that's what this whole discussion started being about. Or something. Whatever.

But the feats each say "while in this style you MUST deal ~ damage with Elemental Fist" which is what the OP is wondering about.

Wasum, I agree with you! Hence, I am tossing a focus on CMB out the ole window. If someone severely needs disarmed, a Truestrike Spell Combat should give me a decent chance at doing so, without having to spend the entire career stacking stupid feats.

It's not that I don't want to use it. As far as Magus goes, I consider "focusing on offensive spellcasting" to be taking the Magical Lineage trait and prioritizing Metamagic feats in order to wreck face with Shocking Grasp.

I think I will probably dip into the Lore Warden Fighter to achieve what I am trying to achieve.

There is a whole lot of very helpful information here, and I will try to address things as best I can.

1) It is beginning to look like I can't salvage my damage if I focus on CMB shenanigans as a Magus.

2) Spire Defender AT is not available as I am not an elf and my GM is not inclined to break racial archetype rules, especially since there is just no RP value to my character having that.

3) It's not necessarily that I want Sneak Attack, it was just an option to maybe help my damage not lag because I am not as focused on offensive spellcasting.

I may just see where the campaign takes us and let the game shape my character as I go.

Hi!

So I just started a new PF game, and I am having some problems planning out my character. I usually like to plan ahead, so if there are certain feats or multi classing I intend to go into, I can properly role play my character towards those things.

So far, I am a level 1 Kitsune Bladebound Magus. My first feat is Weapon Finesse, and my traits are Rich Parents and Magical Knack (Magus). I chose Magical Knack with the intention of eventually taking Rogue levels and effectively being the Rogueish character for our group. My plan, also, was to get Whip Proficiency at 3rd level, and be a Disarming character (you know, Spell Combat + 15ft Disarm + Mage Hand away their weapon shenanigans).

The feat, traits, and intention to use a whip and disarm things is remaining, regardless. However, it turns out we have a committed Rogue type character in the party as well. I fully intend to be a thief by "profession" and be a charming (read: Diplomacy/Bluff) scoundrel, but otherwise, cannot decide what to do. I have so many ideas, but I am hesitant to stick to any one of them. Maybe someone here would have some insight that could help me decide?

My thoughts so far are:
- Still taking Rogue levels to get some Sneak Attack dice since I'm not focusing on Shocking Grasp for damage.
- Focus on Shocking Grasp or other spells for damage without the minmax efficiency of the Magical Lineage trait, making use of Magical Knack to sneak some Sorceror levels in.
- Take a couple Fighter levels for the extra feats and BAB.
- I am absolutely not interested in Dervish Dance or really anything without reach. The whip must stay!

One feat I would really like to find room for is the Kitsune feat Realistic Likeness. I feel like that could be extremely useful, as our campaign will be centered(ish) on Riddleport.

Anyway, I appreciate any insight or advice I can get, and thanks for your time!

I don't wish to complicate things, but I have a follow up to this discussion.

What if the following happens?

1) Cast Frostbite
2) Step into range (or we can pretend he has a whip and started within range).
3) Free weapon attack (ala Spellstrike). This attack misses.

Next round

4) Spell combat full round action!
5) Regular attack hits, discharging Frostbite.
6) Cast Shocking Grasp.
7) Free weapon attack in place of free touch attack.

Is that a correct sequence of events?