Of course, you could just suggest that someone cast Read Aura next. True, this spell takes longer to cast at one minute, but once heightened it can distinguish individual auras on multiple items each time it is cast, which makes it more useful than Detect Magic at higher levels (which can only give you a general sense of where they exist and what the strongest individual school is).
Furthermore, if you take Read Aura as a cantrip, and are trained in Arcana, you can get innate (essentially permanent) Detect Magic via the feat Arcane Sense without taking up another cantrip, if you happen to need that extra cantrip more than the general or skill feat.
That should greatly reduce the time needed to figure out what items your loot goblins should be focusing on grabbing each encounter.
The following is my update to the actual crafting rules. As this is rather lengthy, I am going to attempt to subdivide this into sections based on what is being accomplished in an effort to reduce information overload with one giant post.
Mundane Crafting:
Non-magical items are crafted using a base price that disregards any expensive components, assuming that those components are readily available. However crafting methods and materials which are particularly complex or simple to work with modifies this base price by double or half, respectively. Extremely difficult materials and methods may increase this modifier to tripple the normal cost for purposes of crafting. Modifiers for materials and methods are assesed separately and stack with each other. The actual cost to craft an item is half of that item's base price.
A character may craft non-magical items at a rate of 50gp per day by mudane means. If crafted using any supernatural effect such as a fabricate or creation spell, the rules of that effect determines the time it takes to craft such an item.
Magical Crafting:
Magical items are crafted using a base price that disregards any expensive mundane components, assuming that those components are readily available. A character may imbue these items at a rate of 1000gp per 2 caster levels per day (minimum 1000gp per day).
A character must have an appropriate environment in which to craft. A normal day of crafting consists of 8 hours of labor. A character may attempt to craft items at an accelerated rate, allowing them to perform 8 hours of work in a 4 hour period, but doing so imposes a -5 penalty to all crafting checks.
A character may work longer than 8 hours in one day, but doing so risks becoming fatigued. Treat this as a forced march, using hours spent crafting as hours spent marching. A fatigued or exhausted character applies double the penalty to their strength and dexterity scores to their craft checks as well.
Crafting Multiple Items at Once:
A character may split their time crafting items in any way they choose, but must do so in 4 hour increments for magical items other than potions and scrolls, and 2 hour increments for potions, scrolls, and non-magical items. If attempting to craft items at an accelerated rate these increments may be reduced to 2 hours for magical items other than potions and scrolls, and 1 hour for potions, scrolls, and non-magical items. Dividing up time spent crafting reduces the amount of progress that can be made during each period proportionally.
A character may choose to work on more than one item at a time, effectively switching between working on each item. However, doing so is inefficient and increases the cost of crafting. When switching from one incomplete item to another item, the cost of resuming work on the first item increases by 10% of the progress that could be made in one day of crafting that item. This represents the time and resources lost by switching tasks mid-construction. This increase does not apply when switching between multiple identical items.
Salvaging and Repairing Magic Items:
In the case of charged or single use items, characters may salvage any undamaged mundane components. In addition, if the character wishes to reconstruct the itemprogress from which the materials were salvaged, each crafting session completed before a number of days have passed equal to the original item's caster level has its cost reduced by 10% while still providing the same amount of progress, due to lingering magical qualities. This reduction also applies to the cost per charge if a character is attempting to recharge an item.
Destroyed magic items may also be salvaged to reconstruct the original item, but this process is more difficult as the mundane components must be carefuly repaired to avoid further marring any lingering magical auras. Re-crafting the mundane components of a destroyed magical item costs 50% as much as the original components, but takes just as long as crafting the original item. Furthermore, all craft checks made in this time have their DC increased by 5, and if any craft check made in that time fails by 5 or more any lingering auras of the original item are destroyed, negating any reduction in the cost of imbuing it again.
As a special exemption, the fabricate spell may be used to reconstruct mundane components of destroyed magical items without ruining the lingering magical qualities of that item, but doing so requires material components equal to 50% of the cost of crafting the original components. When used in this way the spell takes 10 minutes per 10 cubic feet of material to cast and the caster must make a craft check equal to the original DC to craft that item +5, or suffer the same results for failure.
Crafting Checks:
A character must make a craft check for every time increment they spend working on an item, regardless of how little time they spend, instead of once per item crafted. Failing this check by four or less means that no progress was made on that item. Failing it by 5 or more means that all progress made and materials used that period are destroyed, while failing the check by 10 or more indicates that the item itself was damaged, destroying one half of the progress and materials used thus far and requiring that the character replace all lost materials.
Excepting when a character is attempting to reconstruct a magical item (addressed above), repairing a non-magical item or mundane component costs 50% as much as the original item and takes only half the time, with no increase in the craft DC.
I have often been aggravated with the inflexibility and unrealistic nature of item creation in DND and continuing onto PF. I am a crafter in real life and find some of the crafting times, as well as the sheer number of feats, unnecessarily burdensome.
As such, I present here for your perusal my updated and hopefully streamlined version of magic (and mundane) item creation. This will be posted in multiple parts with spoiler tabs for ease of reading.
I am wanting to make a character that can create "elemental" creatures by animating objects. However, even if you consider the signature abilities of the various elementals to be 1CP traits, this means that I can never animate a small or medium object with all of these traits (all elementals have at least 2 signature traits, some up to 4).
As such, I'm wanting advice on a possible house rule that might allow the use of extra caster levels to increase the available CP for these animated creatures. I charted things out, and it appears to me that the bonuses these creatures get from size (Atk/Dmg/HD/etc.) account for about 3/4 of their overall power, if not possibly more once you enter the area of constructs of Huge size and larger, but I realize that the adaptability of the CP traits can also be quite potent.
Animated Object Breakdown (total net bonuses by size):
Given this breakdown, would you consider it reasonable to permit a CP point buy-esque system in which a character may buy a single extra CP for 1 effective CL, with each additional CP costing one more than the previous? This extra CL cost would not increase the size, HD or other related properties of the animated object, but would allow an animated object of any size to potentially exceed the current posted limit of CP if the caster has the CLs to spare. Or would this be too weak/powerful?
Total Cost for Additional CP:
CP / CL
1 == 1
2 == 3
3 == 6
4 = 10
5 = 15
Ultimately, I want this to represent the potency of these extra abilities, especially relative to the cost of animating smaller objects, but I don't want it so expensive that it can never be practically used. Any insight would be appreciated.
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Combine Monk of the Four Winds with Drunken Hero and it can actually be decent if you give them just a few things: feat Deep Drinker, Drinking Horn of Bottomless Valor (24k), Hand of Glory (8k), and three Rings of Ki Mastery (10k each, one on each hand and one on the hand of glory). This is expensive, at a total market cost of 62k, but can be afforded by 10th level if the character focuses exclusively on this build (probably not a good idea, IMO, unless your DM favors the +3 standard action option, below). The monk must prepare by storing 2 Ki in each ring, but after this using Slow Time only requires 3 points of Ki (instead of 6).
First cycle (after using slow time to gain 3 standard actions): Drink (a standard action) twice to regain 4 Ki and use a move action to execute the swift action required to use slow time again for 3 Ki. Net gain 1 Ki and 2 or 3 more standard actions (depending on how you read the Slow Time ability, not actually sure here).
Second cycle: Drink to regain 2 more Ki, then (assuming only net gain of 2 standard actions**) any standard action you want for a net gain of 3 Ki, or 5 Ki if you chose to drink again.
**If you assume net gain of 3 standard actions, insert another use of Slow Time, rinse and repeat. This is the broken option, but it could be interpreted this way as the wording "gain three standard actions during his turn instead of just one" is not the same as "lose one standard action then gain three", though I could see arguments for both. Regardless, this would be handled in our group as a one-of.
Nevertheless, regaining 3 to 5 Ki in a round can be pretty useful for a monk, especially if they have also mixed in the Qiggong archetype, seeing as they would have been restricted to only regaining 2 Ki and being stuck with a move action if they only had the Drunken Master archetype (the only archetype that can efficiently "restock" their Ki points throughout the day).
Note that while Slow Time is a supernatural ability it's use is not restricted by it's own wording (as it is a swift action which can be executed as a move action under that clause, and Supernatural abilities are not otherwise mentioned within the restrictions of this ability)
I never mentioned cold iron armor in any of my posts.
But that is exactly what this post is about: adding innately antimagical qualities to cold iron. So it doesn't really matter if you mentioned it or not if you are in this thread.
That said, the OP wasn't saying that cold iron would make magic impossible, or even cancel it out completely, just make it more difficult to use in certain scenarios (most specifically for casters jailed in a cold iron cell and for casters who were attempting to target opponents wearing cold iron armor).
Most of the following posts were simply elaborating upon the ramifications of such an alteration to the properties of cold iron, especially with respect to the added difficulty of even enchanting such items and what additional benefit cold iron weapons might provide.
If you were not ready to discuss these topics, that is understandable, but this is not the thread for you.
Actually, I kina like this concept. As is everyone either wants mitral or adamantine equipment, but no one bothers with cold iron unless they are going to be up against a bunch of fey.
That said, I'd adjust what you've proposed to the following:
Cold iron prison DC and to cast = 25 + spell level. (They might get off that can trip, but not a polymorph). This can possibly be increased by increasing the sheer amount of cold iron used in, say, the foundation to siphon off any magical energies.
Cold iron armor has no decrease in AC, but gains an SR equal to it's AC bonus + 10 and doubles its arcane spell failure chance and gains a divine spell failure chance equal to it's normal arcane spell failure.
This means that cold iron full plate will be boss against lvl 1 casters (SR 19 vs 1d20 + CL1, only a 15% chance of success), but even with a +5 enhancement will be of limited use against higher level casters (SR 24 vs 1d20 + CL20, only a 15% chance of failure).
Enchanting cold iron already costs an additional 2k, which means that it is rather undesirable at early levels since it already costs double, but this gives it more desirability and flavor over all.
Of course, if you wanted to add in the Spell Resistance armor qualities, that could be slightly problematic. I'd have to rule that the SR provided by those qualities is simply increased by the armor's AC bonus.
OK, so it's a long post, but I'm gonna spoiler the majority of it.
This is a system I came across a while back. It seems to work well, though the WBL slash can be adjusted. Essentially every character gains inherent bonuses with the equipment they wield and their stats, but they don't actually count as magical (despite not stacking with the aforementioned). I've used this system before and it seems to work really well.
Internalized Magic System:
Decrease GP to50% when using this system.
Optional: Give each character the option of a free Super Genius Games Archetype without requiring them to trade out one of the starting packages. Decrease GP rewards to 10% if using this option.
Items only give special qualities, not +n enhancements under this system.
Starting at level 3 you may choose 1 heroic distinction you qualify for at each level. Please note Training Bonuses to not stack with Enhancement Bonuses, but do not affect DR or other abilities which require magic to bypass.
Defensive Training: The character receives a +1 training bonus to the effective armor bonus of any armor or shield worn.
Improved Defensive Training: The character receives a +2 training bonus to the effective armor bonus of any armor or shield worn. A character must be at least 6th level and have the Defensive Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Greater Defensive Training: The character receives a +3 training bonus to the effective armor bonus of any armor or shield worn.. A character must be at least 9th level and have the Improved Defensive Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Penultimate Defensive Training: The character receives a +4 training bonus to the effective armor bonus of any armor or shield worn.. A character must be at least 12th level and have the Greater Defensive Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Perfect Defensive Training: The character receives a +5 training bonus to the effective armor bonus of any armor or shield worn. A character must be at least 15th level and have the Penultimate Defensive Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Offensive Training: The character receives a +1 training bonus to attacks and damage with a single type of weapon.
Improved Offensive Training: The character receives a +2 training bonus to attacks and damage with a single type of weapon. A character must be at least 6th level and have the Offensive Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Greater Offensive Training: The character receives a +3 training bonus to attacks and damage with a single type of weapon. A character must be at least 9th level and have the Offensive Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Penultimate Offensive Training: The character receives a +4 training bonus to attacks and damage with a single type of weapon. A character must be at least 12th level and have the Greater Offensive Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Perfect Offensive Training: The character receives a +5 training bonus to attacks and damage with a single type of weapon. A character must be at least 15th level and have the Penultimate Offensive Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Lucky: The character receives a +1 resistance bonus to their Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower saves.
Blessed: The character receives a +3 resistance bonus to their Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower saves. A character must be at least 7th level and have the Lucky distinction before selecting this distinction.
Exalted: The character receives a +5 resistance bonus to their Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower saves. A character must be at least 13th level and have the Lucky distinction before selecting this distinction.
Hardened: The character's natural armor bonus improves by +1. A character must be at least 6th level before selecting this distinction.
Grizzled: The character's natural armor bonus improves by +3. A character must be at least 10th level and have the Hardened distinction before selecting this distinction.
Iron Skinned: The character's natural armor bonus improves by +5. A character must be at least 14th level and have the Grizzled distinction before selecting this distinction.
Strong: The character receives a +2 training bonus to strength. A character must be at least 5th level before selecting this distinction.
Dextrous: The character receives a +2 training bonus to dexterity. A character must be at least 5th level before selecting this distinction.
Hearty: The character receives a +2 training bonus to constitution. A character must be at least 5th level before selecting this distinction.
Intelligent: The character receives a +2 training bonus to intelligence. A character must be at least 5th level before selecting this distinction.
Wise: The character receives a +2 training bonus to wisdom. A character must be at least 5th level before selecting this distinction.
Charismatic: The character receives a +2 training bonus to charisma. A character must be at least 5th level before selecting this distinction.
Mighty: +4 Training bonus to strength. A character must be at least 10th level and have the Strong distinction before selecting this distinction.
Adroit: +4 Training bonus to dexterity. A character must be at least 10th level and have the Dextrous distinction before selecting this distinction.
Unyielding: +4 Training bonus to constitution. A character must be at least 10th level and have the Hearty distinction before selecting this distinction.
Inspired: +4 Training bonus to intelligence. A character must be at least 10th level and have the Intelligent distinction before selecting this distinction.
Attuned: +4 Training bonus to wisdom. A character must be at least 10th level and have the Wise distinction before selecting this distinction.
Majestic: +4 Training bonus to charisma. A character must be at least 10th level and have the Charismatic distinction before selecting this distinction.
Herculean: +6 Training bonus to strength. A character must be at least 15th level and have the Mighty distinction before selecting this distinction.
Alacritous: +6 Training bonus to dexterity. A character must be at least 15th level and have the Adroit distinction before selecting this distinction.
Titanic: +6 Training bonus to constitution. A character must be at least 15th level and have the Unyielding distinction before selecting this distinction.
Brilliant: +6 Training bonus to intelligence. A character must be at least 15th level and have the Inspired distinction before selecting this distinction.
Enlightened: +6 Training bonus to wisdom. A character must be at least 15th level and have the Attuned distinction before selecting this distinction.
Awe Inspiring: +6 Training bonus to charisma. A character must be at least 15th level and have the Majestic distinction before selecting this distinction.
Magical Training: The character receives a +1 training bonus to attacks and caster level checks when casting a spell. In addition any spell that does hitpoint damage gains a +1 training bonus to the first damage die rolled.
Improved Magical Training: The character receives a +2 training bonus to attacks and caster level checks when casting a spell. In addition any spell that does hitpoint damage gains a +2 training bonus to the first damage die rolled. A character must be at least 6th level and have the Magical Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Greater Magical Training: The character receives a +3 training bonus to attacks and caster level checks when casting a spell. In addition any spell that does hitpoint damage gains a +3 training bonus to the first damage die rolled. A character must be at least 9th level and have the Magical Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Penultimate Magical Training: The character receives a +4 training bonus to attacks and caster level checks when casting a spell. In addition any spell that does hitpoint damage gains a +4 training bonus to the first damage die rolled. A character must be at least 12th level and have the Greater Magical Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
Perfect Magical Training: The character receives a +5 training bonus to attacks and caster level checks when casting a spell. In addition any spell that does hitpoint damage gains a +5 training bonus to the first damage die rolled. A character must be at least 15th level and have the Penultimate Magical Training distinction before selecting this distinction.
It slightly favors fully defensive builds and TWF, but seeing as they are considered under par compared with fully offensive single weapon builds, I think it's still reasonable. And it gives you a description for the boosts that can be used in game without saying "I have a +3 bonus to my saves". Instead the character is "blessed", which some groups prefer in order to prevent meta-conversation in game. ("+6 IQ; how do you figure that?")
In this system you can still get a +1 weapon to bypass DR magic (though you don't need it to get the flaming special quality) and I personally allow up to +2 armor, shield and stat enhancements in my campaigns, but the primary benefit of these items becomes reduced compared to other magic item options.
For instance, it becomes much more likely that players will be willing to take up that sentient spell storing sword than simply falling back on their +2 weapon enhancement (which doesn't exist unless you go epic).
Some special abilities and pricings will need adjustment, tho, as a defending longsword without an enhancement bonus doesn't do the player much good (I allow them to trade out their innate bonus instead) and a headband of aerial agility (ultimate equipment) will never grant above a +2 stat boost, but may still grant the other effects.
For the latter situation all you have to do is reverse engineer the price difference for the stat boost and reduce the cost by that much, but it can still be a pain.
That said, I think this is a really well-written system and at least merits consideration.
Master Artifice - craft rod, craft staff, forge ring
In order to make an item of any given type they still have to meet the prerequisites for the "sub-feat" which covers that item (CL 7, 9, or 11 for rings, rods, or staffs, respectively using Master Artifice) but otherwise they may select the feat as soon as they would be able to select any feat available through that list.
This system also has the added benefit of grouping items by how they function (limited use items, worn/carried items, and powerful unlimited/rechargeable items). It also presents a much smaller feat tax to crafters.
And note that craft construct was deliberately left out. It just feels that much different since it is a magic item which doesn't need activation & can essentially function as another character under your control.
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I hate to do this, but I think the devs need to look at this one.
When empowering a spell such as scorching ray or magic missile, is the number of rays or missiles considered a "variable numeric effect" of that spell?
I think you all know where I stand on this, but I encourage you to FAQ this either way as otherwise wolfen and a few others will attempt to exploit this.
I've had several oddballs, but my favorite was a 3.5 half dragon doppleganger with multiple personalities who took the chameleon prestige class from races of destiny. He could literally look like anyone and mimic any class or class combination he wished.
He also wielded his father's fangs (an amythyst dragon) as specially paired legacy weapons which awoke with his mother's consciousness. (Long story about his mother being murdered by other doppelgangers & being carried back by his father in his teeth.)
Ultimately, this character became a centerpiece for a whole array of other characters I went on to play, including a pair of twins which were a celestial half-fiend (CG telepath/metamind) and a fiendish half-celestial (LE telepath/thrallherd) pitted against each other, and a warforged (NN druid/master of many forms) who was so addicted to the rush of being alive he almost never took his natural form.
What about storing your body in a secure pocket plane under a gentle repose spell and traveling the planes via astral projection?
Alternately, consider a mini campaign as a petitioner who was favored enough to have been granted their memories of their past life. This may allow you to undergo trials which could determine what kind of outsider you may become. Your DM may even allow you to retain your class levels and personality the entire way through, in exchange for racial HD.
Then, not only would you become immortal, but you would get some pretty kick-butt abilities to boot, and if you wanted to continue helping out in the material plane all you would need to do is place yourself on the "I welcome being summoned" registry. & remember, even if you "die" as a summoned creature, you'll still be safe in the comfort of your own plane.
I gave up a 4th lvl spell to get the Masterpiece of the 4 Winds (Control Weather 10min/lvl), which I mainly used defensively (Windstorm winds prevent normal ranged attacks, and I was using chain kukri by DM approval).
The asterisks indicate which spells I used to buff for fights, though I would use Mislead preferentially to Greater Invisibility and stay near my image using Bluff to make them think I was still attacking from the same positon while moving randomly relative to the illusion (bonus miss chance to the unwise ;} ).
I also had an amulet which allowed me to use Versatile Performance for 10rnds per day and wands of Divine Power, Bull's Strength, and Spell Immunity (Dispel Magic and various divinations so I could maintain Invisibility).
My bonuses fell out like this:
Atk: +11 BAB, +9 Str (18 Str, +6 belt, +4 Bull's Strength), +1 Weapon Focus, +3 Competence (Inspire Courage), +2 Morale (Good Hope), +1 Allegro (essentially Haste), +4 enhacement (Versatile Weapon, overrode my +1 weapon enhancement, but gave the ability to bypass most other DRs), +2 Invisibility, +5 Luck (Divine Power), -2 TWF
Total Atk bonus: +36/+36/+36/+31/+26
Dmg: 1d6 kukri (Strongarm Bracers and a sizing weapon), +9 Str (see above), +1 Dirty Fighting, +4 Arcane Strike, +3 Competence (Inspire Courage), +4 enhancement (Versatile Weapon), +2 morale (Good Hope), +5 luck (Divine Power), +1d6 Sonic (Discordant Voice), +1d6 untyped (Savage Display), +Shocking Burst (+1d6 electric, +1d10 on a crit, 2 points of Bladethirst), +1 bleed (2 points of Bladethirst, stacking)
Total Dmg: 4d6, +28, +1 Bleed, +1d10 on crit
-Note that I used my amulet of Versatile Performance or the spell Shadowbard to stack Inspire Courage and Bladethirst.
The bonuses I gave to my allies were:
Discordant Voice: +1d6 Sonic dmg
Competence: +3 atk/dmg
Morale: +2 atk/dmg, +3 saves
Allegro: +1 atk/dmg, +1 AC/Ref, +30 ft movement, extra attack when making a full attack
Arcane Concordance: +1 DC to all spells, Empower all spells (we had a lot of spell-based dmg dealers, I just wasn't one of them)
Total ally bonuses: +6 atk/dmg, +1AC, +3 Fort/Will, +4 Ref, +1d6 sonic dmg, +1 DCs, the extra attacks, greater mobility, and free benefit of the Empower Spell feat
I can easily see this character having even better atk/dmg potential as a Dawnflower Dervish at the small penalty of fewer bonuses to his allies.
Edit: I also got the +1 AC from Allegro, as well as the 20% miss chance from Blink and 50% miss chance from Greater Invisibility/Mislead (60% total), and my mobile tactics with Mislead (moving randomly in relation to my perceived image in 5-ft steps) actually increased my miss chance against most creatures with a successful Bluff check on each attack I made or recieved (~85% miss chance when grounded, ~95% miss chance when flying with Cloak of Flying, before Blink or Invisibility).
Also note that I was using Eternal Wands form the Magic Item Compendium for the 2/day uses and higher caster lvls, and that our group has house ruled in 4th lvl eternal wands (Divine Power) as CL 16 items that cost the same as a regular 4th lvl wand (eternal wands usually cost a touch less than their normal equivalent).
Cooperative crafting is a viable option to allow a character to be considered a "creator" or a given suit of construct armor without even needing a single feat (or even meeting spell requirements, for that matter), though finding someone to work that out with could still be a quest in itself, and you would still need to have something to offer the crafting process (skill checks, spellcasting, etc.).
Mithral armor would certainly be one of the best options available to an arcane caster trying to use construct armor, but also cosider using a simple 3PP solution, the twilight armor special ability from the Magic Item Compendium. Reduces arcane spell failure by 10% in and of itself with no feat tax (though it does make your construct sparkle like the night sky, might want to look into that). I think there might also be a spell that temporarily reduces ASF as well, but I'm not too sure on that one.
The last issue I seem to recall was one concerning the size of your construct. Personally, I'd house rule that as long as the construct is at least the same size as the character wearing it, it shouldn't mater, at least not until the construct is disabled, at which point the character might be stuck (hehe). But if we are really trying to avoid house ruling here, just beef him up with more HD. A construct is primarily priced based on CR, which increases at a rate of 3/4 HD (plus extras) if I recall correctly, so adding a few HD shouldn't increase the cost too dramatically. Besides, the bonus HP by size doesn't scale for any of the constructs, so it's not like you won't be able to "catch up" HP-wise.
I'd go ninja 4 (or 5 if you really like Sneak Attack) then straight fighter (two weapon warrior archetype from APG). Pick up Critical Focus, Bleeding Critical, and Sneaking Precision, and use your Ninja Tricks to get Rogue Talent (Finesse Rogue [Weapon Finesse]) and Combat Trick (any combat feat you need for the build).
You will only be one point below a fighter's full BAB, but that pretty much goes away with one of your archetype abilities. I built a character like this who wielded 2 whips with the Whip Mastery feat tree. His base dmg capped at about 60 DPR (all attacks weighted for hit ratio at lvl 20), but his real strength was the bleed dmg.
He also took Shatter Defenses and Blinding Critical, so not being able to flank rogues made no matter, he's just intimidate them, hit them to make them flat-footed, then SA him, blinding them with the 2nd SA and inflicting stacking bleed with later SA's.
Just make sure that you are optimizing your Dex and any armor around that, as it affects both your to-hit and AC. And remember, this build isn't about large amounts of dmg per hit, it's about getting multiple hits in for the SA and Bleed (not that you can't get some direct dmg).
The main bar to epic lvl gaming in DND/PF is that the differences in different stats can become very unbalancing.
Saves and spell DC's are the biggest issue, especially the disparity of good vs. bad saves. Take out the key ability modifier for any spell DC/save bonus to normalize things and you see that save DC's for a full caster increase at a rate of 1/2 lvls. Good saves match this and give a +2 on top of it, but bad saves only advance at a rate of 1/3 lvls. by 20th lvl, when using a die roll of 10, the spell DC's outpace a bad saves by 3. Advance this trend to 30th (using hightened spells) and they outpace by 5.
Take out hightened spells and the good saves, which were previously outpacing spell DC's by a flat 2 across all lvls are now advancing to outpace spell DC's by 7. and these trends get worse with higher lvls, which is why most people don't play much past 20th, if that.
Under this no-hightened system, bad saves actually start catching up and by lvl 30 the disparity between a bad save and spell DC's is reduced to 1, but now in favor of the save vs the spell.
This trend is further complicated by touch AC and spellcaster's touch spells also, given that there are only so many things that affect touch AC (Dex, Dodge, and Deflection) which cap out, unlike the spellcaster's BAB under this system.
I think what most people do to deal with this is simply not to play at epic lvls, and those that do try not to venture too far into that realm.
Another tactic, however, is to cap bonuses, replacing them with better stats for multiclassing characters (thus a lvl 20 wiz with a +10 BAB could increase that by advancing as a fighter, up to +20 by replacing the worse stat for the better one with each lvl). This works best if you only allow advancement up to the lvls listed for each class, after which you have to multiclass.
A third tactic is to allow the stats to continue advancing at a static rate for all characters in lvls past 20 (usually 1/2 for all stats).
What I think I'd favor, however, is an amalgamation of the two, where if the character continues a single class past lvl 20, the stats increase by 1/2 lvls for that class past that point, regardless of what the progression was before 21st lvl. However, if a character multiclassed, after 20th lvl he may opt to replace the regular progression for any stat for a previously taken class with that of the new class, if it is better, in addition to the 1/2 advancment. All other stats maintain the flat progression.
This at least allows characters to progress without loosing benefit or becoming (any more) unbalanced, and allows the multiclass sorc/fighter to have the same stats at any given epic lvl, regardless of the order taken.
(sorc15>fighter15 might have a BAB from 13 [sorc 15/fighter 5] to 17 [fighter 15/sorc 5] at lvl 20, which could result in diff BAB at lvl 30 if only the static +1/2 were observed)
Fourth solution: Allow him to use sunder to damage the creature's natural weapons. The damage is dealt to the creature normally but prevents him from using that natural weapon. Additional damage may not be dealt to the creature by using feats such as Greater Sunder (which would only have transferred excess damage to the creature in any case). Only a character with Greater Sunder may attempt this.
This does not necessarily cut the affected natural weapon or limb off, just damages it enough to be ineffective as a weapon (treat as a broken weapon, saved from complete destruction by the reflexes of the creature). If all natural weapons are destroyed in this manner treat attacks as unarmed strikes dealing nonlethal damage as a creature one size smaller than normal for that creature as the it flails ineffectively with it's limbs. As an optional rule, if all limbs used for walking are sundered in this manner, reduce the creature's speed by 10 ft and it can not run or charge.
This way the investment is not lost and the maneuver becomes slightly more useful.
I think it is important that just getting Crane Style and Crane Wing takes 5 lvls if you don't have the Master of Many Styles archetype (though this archetype does ,with a human's bonus feat, have the potential to get these feats by lvl 2 and the entire chain by lvl 3)
Most fighters will only have to wait one lvl before they get another attack, but in the meantime they can still use two weapon fighting to bypass the Crane Wing feat's block of a single attack. Any Monk with Flurry of Blows could also bypass this defense.
As for the rules lawyering, there was an article somewhere that covered the fact that the rules were intended to both simulate reality and allow some fantastical abilites on top of that, however imperfectly they meet these requirements. Which also means that the developers intended for players to use what is commonly referred to as "common sense," as uncommon as that trait might be.
To Hyla: I believe that the article in question specifically named the method you are using to adjudicate the rules as something along the lines of Rules As I Interpret Them And You Can't Prove Me Wrong, Neyah! (RAIITAYCPMWN)
And just note that if you are going to apply "your Strength modifier, as normal" to your natural attacks you are also making a judgement call as to what is normal.
Normal for what? A melee attack? A rule that only affects attacks with weapons?
It seems that by your own logic you have just defined natural attacks as attacks with natural weapons.
And if that is not enough, what about the sub-section about "'Armed' Unarmed Attacks" in the "Unarmed Attacks" section (CRB p182).
If they are considered armed attacks, what are they "armed" with? Natural weapons? Wouldn't that make it a weapon attack?
Just saying that you should be wary of trying to rules layer too much, especially when it flies in the face of common sense and logic. There will always be someone who can poke holes in it. It might just take a bit to encounter that person.
While it is true that disarm will not work against natural attacks, that is what Sunder and Grapple are for (if you break their hand or tie it behind their back, it's not really a weapon anymore, is it?).
But against those creatures which use weapons, most of them are not as effective without them, and if they move to pick it up that's a free attack (trip or grapple anyone?).
As for Dirty Trick, it is indeed versatile. Having your choice of blinded, dazzled, deafened, entangled, shaken, or sickened is attractive, but it only lasts one round, can be removed with a move action, and takes a standard action of your own.
With Greater Dirty Trick the durration is extended to 1d4 rounds +1/5 by which your CMB roll beats their CMB, but can still be removed with a standard action. Furthermore, unless you take the Quick Dirty Trick feat you essentially loose your attacks for that round since you have to take a standard action to use this maneuver. And both these feats have Improved Dirty Trick as a prerequisite.
That said, if you don't mind the 3 feat investment, this is actually relatively powerful. Blinding an opponent for even one round gives you massive bonuses against him. Even if he takes the standard action to remove the condition (which any character would unless they has some other way of overcoming this), that limits him to just a move action and kills his action economy, after which you can repeat the process.
So, if you really want to control the field, I would invest 6 feats, 3 into Whip Mastery (for the virtual Imp. Disarm/Trip/Grapple) and 3 into Dirty Trick, and also go with the TWF tree and TW Warrior and get a ton of attacks every round you can use to perform these combat maneuvers.
Of course another way to do this would be to take Critical Focus, a couple of the Critical feats, and a good crit range weapon or Sneaking precision (if you have sneak attack). You will need to get your sneak attack in at least twice in a round for the latter though, but there are several ways to do this from flanking, to the Feint tree, and even the Dazzling Display/Shatter Defenses feat combination.
The good crit range weapon is easier to get, though, and will let you deal more damage, but rules out the Whip Mastery options. Still you could always take the Imp. Trip/Disarm/Sunder feats.
In this case I'd select Sunder over either of the others, as that chain relies on Power Attack which will allow you to deal more damage, is not negated by movement type or weapon selection, and will allow you to make even more effective use of the Critical feats for applying conditions.
Try trading off the performance for a little bit of in game non-combat PVP competition. Just think about it as each players solo piece for that concert. Then you can apply all the +2s from aid another to stack onto the highest roll and pull out a truly rocking performance. :)
I actually had friend whose character who would enter competitions with other bards for this very same effect. Both bards made more money off of it, but the "winner" got a slight bonus to his winnings for that concert (10% extra I think).
Dancing Lights and Pyrotechnics will probably be your best and lowest level special effect spells, but I really don't know about making "electric" versions of your instruments. Maybe arcane versions instead with an amplification and distortion spell of some sort. It might even be focused into a Shout spell a couple of times per day at the cost of losing or hindering the amplification benefit for the rest of the day if all charges are spent.
Hm. Maybe a masterwork instrument that gives a +2 bonus to your Perform skill, can be heard at 3x the normal distance easily, and has 2 charges of Shout. For each charge spent the bonus to Perform decreases by 1 and the range at which it can be heard decreases by the normal range of the instruments sound. Could be interesting.
11 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the FAQ.
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I've tried to stay out of the debate here but this has been going on too long.
Both sides have good arguments but seem to be based on different premises. One (anti-RAGELANCEPOUNCE) requires the rule set to be viewed as permissive only, the other (pro-RAGELANCEPOUNCE) requires the rule set to be viewed as exclusive only.
Problem is that the rule set switches between these perspectives too often for either view to be taken as a hard-and-fast guideline, so can't we just say that this is going to be a houseruling issue until official errata is released and just go home?
I'm getting tired of this line of pedantic debate. And yes, both sides of this debate are guilty of being pedantic.
And to maybe hasten the issue resolution, I'm going to hit the FAQ button and suggest that everyone else do the same. Maybe with enough requests the developers will address this issue and put all our minds to ease.
IE: Does Pounce apply to iterative attacks? Does Pounce qualify as a "bonus" for a PC on a charging mount? Can Pounce be used with manufactured weapons?
Ooh, I like blue_the_wolf's suggestion. You could accomplish this through an artifact which casts an improved version of Animate Image on anyone who uses it, preserving the actual body of the user against harm and creating an effigy of the character which they could use to adventure. All you'd really have to do is add in a fixing station every so often so your players don't always have to backtrack to the entrance.
Actually that should work quite well as, if memory serves, it is sometimes just as hard to go backwards in the Tomb of Horrors, so this adds the pressure of having to decide if it might not be a better choice to just keep going forward. It also rewards the players even more for working together and keeping each other alive and limits the treasure penalty. You might even notice that characters would become more willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the party, at least if it seems like the best way of getting them all through (their "body" included).
The best part: You wouldn't even have to necessarily tell your players what's going on. You could just let them at it and when one of them dies reveal that the body is just a construct. Then they'd just have to piece together all the stations, and voila, they feel like they just figured out the whole dungeon! Until they notice the Con penalty, that is. ;}
As much as I love the groundhog day method, it seems not to penalize characters at all, or in other cases too much (if all the characters restart the entire adventuring day every time one of them dies, it can get frustrating).
Another way to do this is to give each character an amulet or other item. When a gem of a certain value is placed into the amulet/whatever item it becomes capable of casting a contingent raise dead effect that also moves them back to their last safe (ie: not falling into a pit of doom) position.
This prevents having to restart sessions repeatedly every time a character dies (which is frustrating), and still allows the characters to continue playing. Just maybe add in one such gem every couple of rooms, as needed.
If the player gets too frustrated with their character dying all the time you can always have them take off the amulet and commit suicide just as their new character is encountered by the party, the new character getting the old amulet. Heck, if I'd suffered dying 20 times just to enter a room with another character who had made it though the same challenges (presumably) unscathed, I'd probably go bonkers and kill myself too, so why not?
I actually have a successful lvl 4 bard in a campaign I'm currently playing. He isn't much of a melee powerhouse (though he has an 18 str), but is slated to get some feats which will help improve his standing in that department.
Right now his main thing is buffs and battlefield control, which is pretty much the only thing his spells will ever focus on, and he has managed to slow down even some overpowered bosses long enough for our party to deal with using spells like hideous laughter and grease (which is flammable, a trait our pyro mage makes useful even if it halves the duration). He does have Arcane Strike though, and makes good use of it whenever enemies are too close.
Later on he is going to get Discordant Voice, giving everyone +1d6 onic dmg, and is going to go the Dazzling Display/Shatter Defenses route and take some Combat Performance feats to allow him to perform the Intimidate as a free action and deal another 1d6 (weapon type) dmg, which as far as I can tell should multiply on a crit. (The actual feats are Savage Display, Performance Combatant, Master Combat Performer, and Heroic Display.) Granted, that is a big feat load, and this is a 20th lvl build, but in combination with Lingering Performance I can pretty much use Inspire Courage all day to give everyone the +4 at, dmg, and saves.
As for the music issue, his main Performance is Oratory, which he uses during combat so he can wield two weapons or a weapon & shield as necessary. No instrument required. He actually "performs" by shouting out encouragements to his allies, insults to his enemies, and by giving battle orders. (His background is a traveling bard who came to love watching the gladiatorial fights and wants to become one himself.)
The Bard spell list gives a ton of buffing, debuffing, and tactical spells (not to mention the magic items he can use), and he can make good use of the Dirge of Doom ability by combining the auto-shaken effect with his Intimidate skill and effectively gaining a bubble of "you're too scared to get to me" against melee fighters if things get too hot. And by the time my build is finished he will be dual wielding rapiers dealing 1d6 weapon +1d6 savage +1d6 sonic +5 arcane +4 competence +5 str dmg per hit (17-32, avg 24.5, slightly less on the off-hand but not accounting for a magic weapon) with 4 attacks using TWF (granted the last one is essentially a dud). That puts him behind the party monk, for sure, but it's good enough to step into melee with and help out. And everybody benefits from Discordant Voice and Inspire Courage.
The way I would likely rule things is that when using a garote you may use it as a damaging weapon, as listed above by ProfPotts, or you may use it as a choking weapon. However, since suffocating a person requires getting a hold of them, this is how I would play the latter:
A) You must succeed at a grapple check to hold onto your opponent.
B) Each consecutive round you maintain your grapple after the first you begin strangling your opponent. Your opponent must make a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid going unconscious. This DC increases by one for each previous success.
C) If you maintain the grapple for another round after your opponent is unconscious, they start dying (-1hp).
D) If you maintain the grapple for another round after your opponent is dying, they suffocate.
E) If at any point your opponent escapes the grapple, the process resets and you must obtain an new grapple.
And for Rogues:
F) If you have the sneak attack class feature and you instead obtain a pin on you opponent (note that this makes them flat-footed), you may add the number of your sneak attack dice (note, the actual number of dice, not the number you would roll with them) to the initial DC of your opponents Constitution Check to avoid unconsciousness.
G) If your opponent escapes the pin, but not the grapple, you do not apply this bonus to your opponent's Constitution DC to avoid unconsciousness until the pin is reestablished. However, the cumulative increases to the DC from rounds spent grappled still apply.
I added in bullets F & G due to the fact that how you place the garrote over the throat will affect how well the maneuver functions, and rogues are'nt technically known for having a good CMB, given their BAB, but this ability to increase the DC offsets that oversight.
Note that Pinned is a more severe version of grappled, so rounds spent attempting to pin a grappled opponent still count towards maintaining that grapple, even if you do not succeed. Your opponent is still grappled and still has to make the Constitution DC or pass out. This also works in reverse for a pinned opponent who escapes the pin. They have just lessened their penalties, but are still grappled.
Also realize that as soon as your opponent is unconscious they are also helpless, so a smart strangler would likely use the garrote or another weapon to deal a coup-de-gras instead of waiting another round.
Effectively what this does is remove the delay on suffocation from having air in their lungs (which is irrelevant in a blood choke) by requiring you to grapple them with the weapon. And it gives the sneak attacking anatomist a small* bonus.
This spell generates a bank of fog, similar to a fog cloud, except that its vapors are yellowish green and poisonous. These vapors automatically kill any living creature with 3 or fewer HD (no save). A living creature with 4 to 6 HD is slain unless it succeeds on a Fortitude save (in which case it takes 1d4 points of Constitution damage on your turn each round while in the cloud).
A living creature with 6 or more HD takes 1d4 points of Constitution damage on your turn each round while in the cloud (a successful Fortitude save halves this damage). Holding one's breath doesn't help, but creatures immune to poison are unaffected by the spell.
Unlike a fog cloud, the cloudkill moves away from you at 10 feet per round, rolling along the surface of the ground.
Figure out the cloud's new spread each round based on its new point of origin, which is 10 feet farther away from the point of origin where you cast the spell.
Because the vapors are heavier than air, they sink to the lowest level of the land, even pouring down den or sinkhole openings. It cannot penetrate liquids, nor can it be cast underwater.
Emphasis mine.
But the way I read this is that the origin itself moves along the surface of the ground, whatever that surface might be. This would imply that the origin moves down the near side of the pit and back up the far side at the rate of 10 ft per round. If nothing else, this would slow the advance of the cloud, and due to the fact that the vapors sink might (depending on the depth of the pit) largely neutralize the cloud for a bit.
As for columns, I would say that the origin could not be the center of the column, but would have to adhere to the surface of the column, either climbing over or more likely around it. If the column is small enough, the origin could conceivably wrap around the entire base of the column, but would otherwise have to skirt to one side or the other, impacting the spread as appropriate.
This clearly prevents the effect from moving through walls, though it could still move through cracks in the wall or over/under/around a wall if such a path were present. I would assume the caster could make this decision.
Otherwise, if the origin were to be capable of moving through solid objects, such as the example of the wall posted by mdt above, cloudkill would be insanely powerful due to the fact that it no longer relies on line of sight and can be used to cut swaths through castles and dungeons.
Just taking the Musket master reduces the full round load time to a standard action, which is good, but at 3rd level you effectively reduce it again to a move action. Take Secret Stash or spend gold on alchemical paper cartridges reduces it again to a free action, which is great cause you get a full attack. Even without the alchemical cartridges, you can take a weapon with 2 barrels to get a second attack.
And all that with just 3 levels and one feat or some gold! Add in the feats necessary for the Snap Shot tree and you get a threat range of 15ft with your firearm.
Now, If you want some DPS, take a detour to go Monk of the Sacred Mountain (4lvls) for Bastion Stance, and now you can carry a Double Hackbut (2d12) without having to spend a full round to set up a cart or having to use anything to brace against. Add in one spell, Gravity Bow, to increase the effective size of your weapon by one and you are doing 4d12/hit (calculated using Combat Manager and PCGen). Finally take the Signature Deed (Dead Shot) feat, and if you ever just need to drop someone, your average damage will be ~74+Dex against a Touch AC of 16 with a range of 50 ft and a 15% crit chance (hello Massive Damage)! (Remember, if ANY of your attack rolls are a treat, you just confirm once, and nothing says it just applies to the extra damage from that attack.)
In other words, Musket master, built right, is a god!
-Eldritch Inheritors are intrepid souls who tap into the power of their blood. As much born as made, these characters realize that there is no such thing as a “pure” race and use that knowledge to their advantage while others would often deny such widespread interbreeding.
-By focusing and developing this link to their ancestry they become able to perform outstanding supernatural deeds akin to a Sorcerer’s bloodline. Unlike their philosophical cousins, however, an Inheritor eschews true magic to pursue these abilities which, while limiting their scope and absolute power even further, grants them access to an even more reliable source of power.
-HD: d8
-Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcane) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
-Skill Points: 2+Int
Eldritch Inheritor
Lvl-Special Ability
1---Cantrips, Eldritch Inheritance, Eldritch Pool
2---Eldritch Spell (1st), Arcane Armor Training
3---Eldritch Inheritance
4---Eldritch Feat, Deceive Item
5---Eldritch Inheritance
6---Eldritch Spell (2nd) , Arcane Armor Mastery
7---Eldritch Inheritance
8---Eldritch Feat, Resilience 1
9---Eldritch Inheritance
10--Eldritch Spell (3rd)
11--Eldritch Inheritance
12--Eldritch Feat, Imbue Item
13--Eldritch Inheritance, Resilience 2
14--Eldritch Spell (4th)
15--Eldritch Inheritance
16--Eldritch Feat
17--Eldritch Inheritance
18--Eldritch Spell (5th), Resilience 5
19--Eldritch Inheritance
20--Eldritch Feat, Eldritch Mastery
*BAB is average and Will is the only good save. The format kept coming out funny if I added these blocks in. Sorry.
-Proficiencies: Eldritch Inheritors are proficient with all simple weapons. They are proficient with light armor, but not with shields.
-Armor does not interfere with an Inheritor’s ability to use abilities granted by Eldritch Inheritance. However, arcane spell failure does affect an Inheritor’s ability to use spell-like abilities granted by the Eldritch Spells class ability.
-Cantrips: Eldritch Inheritors gain a number of cantrips selected from the Sorcerer/Wizard spell list equal to their Charisma modifier. These cantrips are spell-like abilities subject to arcane failure and may be used at will so long as the Inheritor has at least one point left in their Eldritch Pool. Using these abilities provokes attacks of opportunity just like using a spell, though the Inheritor may choose to cast defensively.
-These spell-like abilities may be counted as their respective spells for the purpose of accessing feats and prestige classes.
Eldritch Pool: an Eldritch Inheritor has a pool of eldritch power which he uses to fuel his spell-like abilities granted by their Eldritch Spell class ability. This pool is equal to the Inheritor’s class level + his Charisma modifier.
-Eldritch Inheritance: An Eldritch Inheritor gains the ability to tap into the power of their bloodlines granting them a variety of supernatural abilities. In order to do so, however, is reliant on the Inheritor’s ability to draw out the power of their blood requiring a high Charisma. A 1st level power requires a Charisma of 11 or higher to access, and each subsequent power granted by a bloodline (as determined by the level at which a Sorcerer would gain access to it) requires a cumulative +2 Charisma score. The only exception to this rule is the power granted by Eldritch Mastery, which allows the Inheritor to stretch beyond the normal limits of their abilities.
-At 1st level this ability functions as the feat Eldritch Heritage from Ultimate Magic, giving the Eldritch Inheritor access to the 1st level power of a Sorcerer bloodline they do not possess but uses the Inheritor’s class level as their effective Sorcerer level instead of their character level -2. Unlike the feat, this ability also gives the Inheritor access to that bloodline’s bloodline arcana and bonus class skill. The inheritor must still meet the conditions for using the bloodline arcana (through means such as spells, spell-like abilities, items, or racial or class traits or abilities) or that benefit is effectively lost. The Inheritor does not have to meet the prerequisites for this feat.
-At 3rd level this ability may instead function as the feat Improved Eldritch Heritage from Ultimate Magic, but only grants the 3rd level bloodline power of a bloodline the Inheritor has already chosen. At 9th level this ability may instead grant access to a 9th level bloodline powers instead. The Inheritor does not have to possess the 3rd level bloodline power before selecting the 9th level bloodline power, but does have to possess the 1st level bloodline power before selecting either of these powers for a given bloodline. The Inheritor does not have to meet any other prerequisites for this feat.
-At 15th level this ability may instead function as the feat Greater Eldritch Heritage from Ultimate Magic, granting the Inheritor access to the 15th level bloodline power of any bloodline to which he has access to at least 2 other bloodline powers. The Inheritor does not have to meet any other prerequisites for this feat.
-Unlike a Sorcerer, an Inheritor has improved access to those powers granted by their bloodline. Those powers with limited uses per day at least partially dependent upon a Sorcerer’s Charisma modifier may be accessed without daily limit by an Inheritor. Furthermore, those powers with limited uses per day not dependent upon a Sorcerer’s Charisma may be accessed an additional number of times per day equal to the Inheritor’s Charisma modifier.
In addition to this improved access, Eldritch Inheritors may gain additional benefits for choosing bloodlines whose bloodline powers function similarly as follows:
-Claws: If the Inheritor chooses more than one bloodline which grants claws, the Inheritor only gains one set of claws, but the base damage increases by one die step to a maximum of 1d10. Thus a set of claws that would normally deal 1d4 damage instead deals 1d6, one that normally deals 1d6 damage instead deals 1d8, and one that normally deals 1d8 deals 1d10. This also applies to any secondary damage, but only one type of secondary damage can be used in any given attack. For example, a 11th level Inheritor with the Draconic Bloodline (black dragon) and the Abyssal Bloodline would have to choose between dealing acid damage or fire damage with each attack, but could switch between damage types for each attack made with their claws in a round.
-Rays: If the Inheritor chooses more than one bloodline which grants a ray attack as a standard action, they may choose to make a single ray attack as part of their full attack, substituting one of their attacks and using that attacks bonuses. For each additional bloodline the Inheritor selects which grants a ray attack they may make an additional ray attack as part of their full attack, up to their normal limit of attacks.
-Eldritch Spell: An Eldritch Inheritor may select a spell from a bloodline he has selected and may use this spell as a spell-like ability. 1st and 2nd level abilities cost 1 point from the Inheritor’s Eldritch Pool to use, while 3rd and 4th level abilities cost 2 points, and 5th level abilities cost 3points.
-At 2nd level, the spell selected may only be of 1st level. At 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter the Inheritor may select an additional spell of up to one level higher from any bloodline they have access to, up to 5th level. Whenever an Inheritor gains a new Eldritch Inheritance or Eldritch Spell they may choose to change a previously selected bloodline spell for any other bloodline spell of equal or lesser level from any bloodline they possess.
-These abilities use the Inheritor’s class level for the purposes of level-dependent effects and the Inheritor’s Charisma modifier to determine save DCs. These abilities are subject to arcane spell failure and provoke attacks of opportunity just like casting a spell, though the character may choose to cast defensively. The Inheritor must have a Charisma score of 10 + the level of spell ability in order to use that ability.
-These spell-like abilities may be counted as their respective spells for the purpose of accessing feats and prestige classes.
Eldritch Feat: An Eldritch Inheritor may select a bloodline feat from any bloodline he has access to at 4th level and an additional bloodline feat every 4 levels thereafter. These feats cannot be changed if a character gains access to a new bloodline, though access to a new bloodline does grant access to that bloodline’s feats for purposes of future selection.
-Arcane Armor Training: At 2nd level an Eldritch Inheritor learns to draw on the power of his blood and reduces the need for wasteful movement when casting a spell. This functions as the feat of the same name in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rule Book and allows the Inheritor to reduce arcane spell failure by 10% for his spell-like abilities granted by the Cantrips and Eldritch Spells class abilities.
-Unlike the feat, this is a constant effect that does not require the use of a swift action to activate, but only works for the spell-like abilities granted by the Eldritch Inheritor class.
-Deceive Item: At 4th level an Eldritch Inheritor is able to use his inheritance to tap into magic more easily. An Inheritor gains an insight bonus to use magic devices equal to ½ his Inheritor level.
-Arcane Armor Mastery: At 6th level an Eldritch Inheritor learns to tap into his magical inheritance even more fully. An Inheritor may now reduce his arcane spell failure for spell-like abilities granted by the Cantrips and Eldritch Spells class features by 20%, and may reduce arcane spell failure for all other classes by 10%.
-This is a constant effect that replaces Arcane Armor Training and otherwise functions as the feat of the same name in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rule Book.
-Resilience: At 8th level an Eldritch Inheritor gains a small amount of control over his body in addition to his blood. For a number of minutes per day equal to 1 + his Charisma modifier the Inheritor gains fast healing 1. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be used in 1 minute increments.
This ability improves at 13th level to fast healing 2, and again at 18th level to fast healing 5.
-Imbue Item: At 12th level an Eldritch Inheritor can use the power of his blood to create magical items, even if he does not know the spells required to make an item (although he must still know the appropriate item creation feat). He can substitute a Use Magic Device check (DC 15 + spell level for arcane spells or 25 + spell level for divine spells) in place of a required spell he doesn’t know or can’t cast.
-If the check succeeds, the Inheritor can create the item as though he had cast the required spell. If it fails, he cannot complete the item. He does not expend the GP costs for making the item; his progress is simply arrested. He cannot retry the Use Magic Device check for that spell until he gains a new level.
-Eldritch Mastery: At 20th level an Eldritch Inheritor draws out the full potential of one of his bloodlines granting him access to the 20th level ability of any one bloodline for which he has access to at least 3 powers.
-If he does not have access to at least 3 powers for any one bloodline he possesses, he may choose any power he does not know up to the 15th level power granted by any one bloodline for which he has access to at least 2 powers.
-If he does not have access to at least 2 powers for any one bloodline he possesses, he may choose any power he does not know up to the 9th level power granted by any one bloodline for which he has access to at least 1 power.
-The Inheritor does not have to meet the Charisma score requirement for this power.
