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Scott Wilhelm wrote:
Why is your Paladin helping Baba Yaga?

Because that is the main storyline of the Reign of Winter AP.


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Valandil Ancalime wrote:
I completely agree with this. I had a character take the "Step Up and Strike" feats and almost all monster immediately stopped taking 5' steps. The number of times I was allowed to use it were few and far between. It was very frustrating.

As a GM I think you need to create the situation where the player gets to use feats like this. After all, they took the feat. Giving the players a chance to use their abilities is a good idea.

But that doesn't mean you let the feat take control of all combat. Bad guys fall for it a few times, realize what is going on and depending on how smart the BG is they either stop or they weigh the risks vs reward.

Even if they know some enemies won't care. Wild Boars can see you have a spear with reach, they still charge and give AoO because that is what they do. A whole pack of goblins might timidly walk up to the edge of your threat range because they think the spear might kill them. Trolls are smart enough to know the threat is there, and dumb enough to arrogantly depend on their regeneration plus tough hide to ignore you're attack and charge anyways. Who the enemy is should be as important as what the threat is the PCs present.

It also depends on how much information the BG has about the party. If the party is exploring the lair of a lich that uses scrying magic to check up on his minions (or some minions escape an earlier fight and inform the boss) the BBG is going to know the tactics the PCs used in the dungeon. The BBG won't just give you an easy time like the previous encounters did, because he watched them and learned from their mistakes. That is if the BBG is cunning. If the BBG is a brute, play him as a brute. BBGs need to have a personality and make sure it comes through during the brief encounter the players have with it.


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Just reskin Gnomes and call it a day. Heck, allow any small race considering the diversity amongst Smurfs. Just no tails.


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Weaponized Dust of Sneezing and Choking.

Step 1: take the feat Craft Wonderous Items.
Step 2: learn Bestow Curse.
Step 3: Gather a collection of minions. Followers, hirerlings, familiars, animal companions, trained monkeys, trained goblins, animated dead, constructs, homunculus, anything that could use the Dust of Sneezing ahd Choking.
Step 4: Manufacture 'cursed Dust of Tracelessness'. aka cheap Dust of Sneezing and Choking. Make enough to give 1 or 2 to each minion.

Step 5: Profit! Each time an encounter looks tough send a minion forward and have them use their emergency dust. Bonus points if the minion is immune to the effect. Minus points if you use it against an encounter that is immune to the effect.


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RouneWolf wrote:
Is says that a magus can learn any spells from a wizard's spellbook, even if the mindblade doesn't have a spellbook wouldn't that just mean that the wizard wouldn't be able to review the magus spellbook but the magus would still be able to review and learn the wizards spells as long as the spells are on the magus spell list?

When an archetype says it replaces a class ability, you do what the archetype says. Mindblade replaces the Spell Casting ability of Magus with the one in the Mindblade archetype. The Mindblade's Spell Casting only lets you add spells when you level up, using the Bard's Spell Known chart. It doesn't mention Wizard Spellbooks at all.


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Don't leave glaring holes that will get you one shotted. Like try to make your will save not absolutely suck. And maybe don't buy down your Con without a good reason to.

If you are a one-trick pony, have a reasonable backup plan. That backup plan could be as little as a dagger and a club but at least you put in a little effort, and the rest of the PCs will get a chuckle out of the notion of your perfectly tuned monstrosity desperately trying to defend his life decisions with a club.

Other than that, lean heavy into your strengths. Have fun with the character. Follow your heart, not your head.


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Karlosuno wrote:
Meirril wrote:
Karlosuno wrote:


As you say, my character is conscient of the tadpole but as my DM says "if anyone do anything against the tadpole you will defend it as it were you". so by my own i can't do much... and actually we're in the mindflayer's facilities so our resources are pretty limited... We are a 5-6 lvl party (arcanist(me), paladin, barbarian, monk, fighter and the last i dont remember...)

I like your plan to polymorph into a jellyfich and became a separate entity from the tadpole. As i just lvld up to 6 i can learn some 3lvl spells this could come very well to make the polymorph.

Hold up. You're 6th level? The party is 6th level? And you're up against a MINDFLAYER?!?

Yeah. Ok, new plan. Get a druid, at least 5th level. Kill all of the infected players, reincarnate them. While there is a huge chance that you'll reincarnate as a different race, you won't come back with a tadpole in your head as it is an entirely new body.

Mindflayers were serious bad news in D&D. You really shouldn't be seeing even a single Mindflayer until you're party is 9th level or higher. Well, your GM is converting it to Pathfinder so it could be much weaker than I'd expect, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Yeah, i'd be a great alternative... but in "our" homebrew lore there are no diamonds to bring people back from death,so i'ts pretty impossible to do the druid stuff and so...

Yeah we are aware thet mindflayer is a little big for us. (this weekend we had a game sesion and two familiars were killed and one party member was almost one-shoted by one mindflayer). Now we have the final fight against 3 mindflayers (we assume one of those is the leader). Any tip to bypass the confusion spell or similar (like dominate person)?

Technically speaking, Druids use 1000 gp in ointments to reincarnate someone. However, its obvious that your GM just doesn't want people to be raised from the dead.

Maybe convince the GM that you can kill the tadpole by drinking enough alcohol to knock yourself unconscious ... which should be enough to kill smaller creatures that get your blood.


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I'd be interesting in books that flesh out Golorian. There are lots of areas that get a very vague treatment without really giving playable detail.

I'd prefer avoiding things that introduce new rules, spells or magic items. Also avoid new races. New monsters...do what is right for each book. I'd prefer if new material stuck to existing monsters, but if some creature got a mention fleshing it out would be expected.

Of course some new items/rules and other things would be needed, for instance trying to explain the Steampunk setting of Arkenstar without introducing anything new wouldn't work. I'd just prefer to see the focus be on describing the local politics and relationships plus the history that formed it.


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Karlosuno wrote:


As you say, my character is conscient of the tadpole but as my DM says "if anyone do anything against the tadpole you will defend it as it were you". so by my own i can't do much... and actually we're in the mindflayer's facilities so our resources are pretty limited... We are a 5-6 lvl party (arcanist(me), paladin, barbarian, monk, fighter and the last i dont remember...)

I like your plan to polymorph into a jellyfich and became a separate entity from the tadpole. As i just lvld up to 6 i can learn some 3lvl spells this could come very well to make the polymorph.

Hold up. You're 6th level? The party is 6th level? And you're up against a MINDFLAYER?!?

Yeah. Ok, new plan. Get a druid, at least 5th level. Kill all of the infected players, reincarnate them. While there is a huge chance that you'll reincarnate as a different race, you won't come back with a tadpole in your head as it is an entirely new body.

Mindflayers were serious bad news in D&D. You really shouldn't be seeing even a single Mindflayer until you're party is 9th level or higher. Well, your GM is converting it to Pathfinder so it could be much weaker than I'd expect, but I wouldn't bet on it.


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If you want to drop a cool weapon for the party, make sure it fits into the character rather than has cool abilities.

An example is I created a side-adventure in an AP where a group of wererats lured religious outcasts into the sewers by promising to guide them to a 'hidden temple'. The treasure consisted of the kind of things you'd imagine a bunch of cultists and heretics would be carrying around. There was a pile of wood, iron and silver holy symbols worth 1000gp belonging to lots of different religions. There was also a collection of priestly magic items including iconic magic weapons for 6 different religions. 2 of them were intended for the party, 4 were intended to be sold for cash or traded for favors. The ones intended for the party was a two-handed flail where the ball was a holy symbol of Groetus (giant moon face), and the other was a light mace where the head was a statue of Pharasma sitting on a throne in Judgement... which is not one of her standard aspects. The person that made it was a heratic follower of Pharasma. Even though it was a heratical item, it isn't disrespectful so the PC used it.

It isn't what the weapon does, its how much it completes the character.


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I always imagine the first time you check up on the Pit after you buy it some hobo wanders up to you and shakes your hand. The next time you visit a different hobo shuffles over to you and hands you a leaf wrapped around a few coins. There are absolutely no signs of what the Pit is being used for, but a different strange and smelly man is there waiting with a few coins in tribute each and every day.

Eventually you come back from being stranded in another dimension for 3 months. You find several hobos bowing to a guy with a patchwork cloak and a box on his head. All of them give you disapproving looks with no sign of recognition.


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Gavin McStine wrote:


@Tacticslion. Not sure why the "." but it seems to add it to my form post, anything I should know about?

Adding a "Dot" post to a thread is a convenient way to bookmark a thread you want to refer to later. At least on this site.

As I've said before in this thread, Downtime stuff generates pocket change unless you use it to buy resources to craft stuff.

The normal rules for making and selling magic items generates zero profit. It costs 50% to make an item, and you sell it to NPCs for 50% so you make nothing from normal magic item creation.

Downtime Rules lets you generate opportunities to purchase Resources. Goods can be used for any sort of item creation. Magic Resources can also be used for any endeavor where magic is involved. While it is a bit of a stretch, some GMs might buy that Labor can be used to hire people to help craft items. Influence...is the ugly step child of resources.

Using the resources your actual gold expenditure to produce a magic item is only 25% of the market price of the item. You earn 5 magic resources, you pay 250gp to get 500 gp's worth of magic resources. You use 5 magic resources to produce a 1,000gp item and you immediately sell it to get 500gp. Boom, 250gp profit.

Also...the downtime system is weird with employees. You only pay to hire Teams. You never once give them a penny after you form them. Apparently teams pay themselves and the income they generate is the profit from their activities. The same with buildings. The biggest joke of the system is a Pit will manage to generate income after you buy one. Mysteriously somebody will move in after you pay to dig a hole and somehow that pit generates income if you just check up on it occasionally. Even if you don't build a team, a Building will somehow run itself and generate income without you doing anything and without a manager. You only need managers to watch things while you are out of town.


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If your campaign uses traits, take Suprise Weapon for a free +2 to hit.

My suggestion would be using a Sledge for a weapon. With all 3 feats you're hitting for 6d6. 8d6 if you can become large sized.

Hit the beast totem line up for rage powers. Pouncing with a 6d6 melee weapon is a nightmare.

At 7th level you should decide between using a single beat stick, or two-weapon fighting. If you decide to TWF then Metamagic Rods are really cheap +4 weapons. If you decide you really love the 6d6 beatstick... there are no magical hammer kind of items that qualify to be improvised weapons. Anything that vaguely looks like a hammer has weapon stats and no penalties for using it as a weapon. You'll need gloves of improvised might.

The one thing that might make this even more outrageous would be to become a Titan Mauler. Then you could use a Large Sledge for a base 8d6 damage that becomes 12d6 if you get enlarged 1 size category.


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Ok...so...yeah.

Start as a vanilla cleric. 1 level. Change Int to 16, pick up Wis to 12 and Str to 8. Worship Sun Wukong (CN, the monkey king), take the Liberation and Trickery domains. Liberation domain lets this character basically remove 4 bad conditions a day. Also select positive energy for channeling. Healing the entire party 1d6 will help get you past the first few levels. With a high charisma, you'll have 6/day at 1st level.

Also for skills take whatever performance skills you want to improve, healing and KS: Planes. Take the Healing Touch conduit feat. Healing Touch is rather pathetic at 1st level. It actually doesn't really come into its own until 10th level and you need to pick up Skill Unlock: Healing to make this worthwhile, but after 10th level you'll mostly be using the healing touch feat instead of spells to heal people.

2nd level+ go all bard. Keep advancing Heal and KS: Planes so you can maximize the healing from Healing Touch.


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...what is this character suppose to do?

If the other character is a "party animal that does tricky combat" then this bard is responsible and pays the bills? You know, that just means he has to be good at Perform, right?

Also the other thread is amazingly lacking in details. Like this one.

Come up with a solid idea for either character and then try this again.

A few ideas just to get you started: Mr Assistant: You take the Helpful trait and then get all skills high enough that you can make a DC 10 at everything. Now you can't do anything, but you're +3 to anything anyone else tries. Honestly it would be better if you were actually good at something yourself.

The Quiet Kid: Pump up perform. Specialize in Comedy and choose it for your first Versatile Performance (for Intimidate and Bluff). Take Dazzling Display early. Use a Revolver. Take Improved Dirge of Doom asap. Smoke the right brand of cigarettes. Sing creepy songs.

Take Archaeologist archetype. Now you aren't a bard anymore. Get a whip. Don't lose your hat.


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Take Gunsmithing feat. Buy a gunsmithing kit. Get 100gp. Make 1,000gp a day in black powder. Sell powder for 500gp. 400gp/day profit.

Wait for GM to ban sales of black powder because it is ruining his game. Because it is.

More seriously, Downtime stuff is a system where you can make pocket change in gold, and a fortune in resources. Find ways to use the resources and it is worth doing. Downtime building and organizations are not worth paying for if you don't want the resources.

And if you want to get rich in Pathfinder, go adventure. That is where the real money is made.


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According to the wording of Heighten Spell you increase the effective level of the spell. And it is as difficult to prepare as a spell of that level.

The spell's effective level is set by the slot it takes to prepare/cast.

Magical Lineage says " When you apply metamagic feats to this spell that add at least 1 level to the spell, treat its actual level as 1 lower for determining the spell’s final adjusted level."

So the first thing to point out is that Heighten Spell lacks any verbiage talking about adding levels. It instead talks about an increase. This language is very different from other metamagic feats and intentional. Heighten Spell doesn't add spell levels, rather its effect is set by the assigned spell slot used.

Furthermore, Heighten Spell refers to the slot used to determine the final effect. If you reduce the slot used, Heighten Spell still refers to the slot the spell uses. So if you reduce the level of the spell slot, you also reduce the effect of the metamagic.


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Diego Rossi wrote:

The note at the end of Concentrated Fire seems to show that Cluster Bomb is still limited to the maximum damage of a standard fireball, as it hasn't the text allowing it to exceed maximum damage. Reasonable but not well written if that was the intention.

That definitely applies to Concentrated Fire. I don't feel it applies to Cluster Bomb because it is in the wrong section to apply to the previous ability.

Cluster Bomb should have a provision where it says (maximum of 5 cluster bombs), but it doesn't. That oversite gives permission for higher CL casters to get more than 10d6 of damage from a vanilla Fireball.


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By itself, Cluster Bomb lets you alter the shape (and output) of a Fireball. If you want to make a smaller fireball, you just pile up all of the 10' areas on top of each other and its becomes a full power small fireball.

If you want more area...you actually don't get more area. But you can control the shape of the fireball to go around things you want to avoid. You lose some damage, but considering you can do this without changing the level of the spell it is good for something you don't have to alter the base spell for.

The interesting thing about Cluster Bomb is that it isn't limited by caster level. So a CL 20 fireball would normally be 10d6 without metamagic to change that. But if that caster used Cluster Bomb he would get 10 2d6 areas, which could become a single 20d6 fireball because it works off of the CL and avoids the restrictions placed on the original spell. These changes from Cluster Bomb also ignore Intensify and Empowered.

Quite a few people want to combine Concentrated Fire and Cluster Bomb. There is no official ruling on this. If you are allowed to do both, it basically means you'll do 3d6 damage for every 2 caster levels, in a single 5' fireball if you stack every bit of Cluster Bomb on a single intersection. Considering that you can get an extra 3d6 from a normal fireball, doing both tricks together is way more efficient. To the point that I question the validity of allowing both tricks to stack.


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Oddest idea. Find someone that can cast decollate on you. Then find a master pickpocket to slight of hand the tadpole out of your decapitated head...

If that won't work, the series of surgery suggestions can be followed.


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Well, I think there are 2 ways to read this. It depends on if you think the Alchemist ability shifts the soul or not. Generally speaking, I believe the soul is what the Alchemist ability shifts but that is only based in circumstantial evidence from spells such as Soul Jar and Astral Projection.

If the Alchemist's soul isn't projected into the Doppelganger Simulacrum then casting Soul Jar would depend on having the Alchemists original body in the area of effect. The soul needs to be in the area of effect to go into the Jar in the first place.

If the Alchemists soul is in the Simulacrum... then that should be a problem for the Alchemist. Soul gets ripped out of the Simulacrum and placed into the Jar. The normal shenanigans occur. Then the spell duration ends and the casters soul needs to go back to his body. Not the Simulacrum, that isn't his body. Magic Jar specifies the caster's body, not some temporary container like the Doppelganger Simulacrum. And since the caster will die at this point, and not be bound to the Simulacrum, that ability won't activate and return his soul to his body. The Alchemist is just dead, assuming his real body isn't within range.


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Relevant FAQ: Items as Spells: Does using a potion, scroll, staff, or wand count as "casting a spell" for purposes of feats and special abilities like Augment Summoning, Spell Focus, an evoker's ability to do extra damage with evocation spells, bloodline abilities, and so on?
No. Unless they specifically state otherwise, feats and abilities that modify spells you cast only affect actual spellcasting, not using magic items that emulate spellcasting or work like spellcasting.

posted September 2010 | back to top

Wands are created with a spell at a caster level. The creator must be able to cast the spell. The creator selects the caster level of the wand, and it can't be greater than his own caster level. Metamagic feats can be applied to a spell completion item (like a wand).

There are no rules for applying traits, base stats or class abilities to wands. Relevant rules for creating wands with feats.

Metamagic Feats wrote:
Magic Items and Metamagic Spells: With the right item creation feat, you can store a metamagic version of a spell in a scroll, potion, or wand. Level limits for potions and wands apply to the spell’s higher spell level (after the application of the metamagic feat). A character doesn’t need the metamagic feat to activate an item storing a metamagic version of a spell.

Craft Wand literally says each wand has 50 charges when created.

Magic Item entry for wands has relevant rules for activating wands, and general rules about the spell in a wand.

Magic Item Creation is specifically relevant for the material components entries increasing the price when applicable. Also the rest of the rules on creating wands and the talk about spell completion items needing a crafter that can cast the spell in question.

Applying reagents to a wand or other magic item isn't covered anywhere. There is nothing saying you can do this. So that plants it very firmly in GMs permission land. It isn't unreasonable, but you'd need to include it as a material component to the final cost of the wand.

Also a special note: Wands are limited to 4th level and below, and metamagic feats only push those levels higher. Wands don't have class abilities, casting stats, traits, or feats. They just have a spell (possibly with metamagic feats applied), and a caster level.

The OPs proposed wand has 6 levels of metamagic applied to it, which would make it a 6th level spell, which makes it an invalid selection for a wand.


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This is very similar to running diagonal 6 spaces to avoid an attack of opportunity or running 6 spaces straight past an enemy. The straight line is 30' of movement. The diagonal movement is actually 45' of movement. In both cases the player ends up 30' away from their starting position, but one has an obvious advantage.

And the diagonal path uses up more movement. The same should apply to a jump where you effectively avoid a barrier, the same as if you decided to go around the barrier by walking.

On the other hand, I wouldn't count the arc in a long jump as movement. If someone decided to do a jump for maximum distance during their normal movement, I wouldn't try to figure out how high they moved since the player isn't trying to go up.


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Mudfoot wrote:
Meirril wrote:
The Dabbler tries to live up to its name sake.
It's a duck?

Yes, it is a duck.


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OP wants a bonus to the AC provided by a style feat. I am unaware of any items that add AC bonuses to feats. As such, it calls the premise into question. This may be a bad idea. Especially considering that you need to put 3 feats in to raise AC by 2 and you gain a lot of side benefits from the 3 feats.

Also the AC bonus from the Snapping Turtle Style gets to be applied against touch attacks if the character picks up the second feat in the chain.

Lastly the hand slot generally doesn't offer AC bonuses. This allows the bonus to stack with other AC improving items. This is mitigated by the thought that the feat is a shield bonus, and normal shields are allowed to be enchanted. However, this overlooks that Monks that would be disallowed the use of a buckler or shield and their wisdom bonus to AC are the primary class that would be interested. This is an attempt to circumvent that restriction.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend allowing it. If I did, I'd be more tempted to call it a [competence] or [insight] bonus to shield. This way it increases the shield bonus which is what OP wants, rather than calling it an Armor bonus. Also considering the dubious nature of the slot I think its more appropriate to double the cost to match AC from neck and ring slot items. My last suggestion would be to only allow the AC from the feat to be doubled, so only a +1 or +2 bonus and also allow for shield special abilities to be added, but only until the item reaches a total of +2 enhancement, though I could reconsider that and allow a total of +2/+2 or the use of a special ability that reflects the Snapping Turtle Style.


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Agénor wrote:

For what it is worth, here on Earth, most jurisdictions have provisions not to send old decrepit warlords behind bars when they are finally caught and trialled because they are by then too old and decrepit that it would be inhumane.

In the same vein, notable cases have been pleaded as not responsible when the defendant suffered irreversible damage such as a stroke in the brain, destroying higher cognitive centres, between the time of the acts he is accused of and the time of the trial.

Do you presume that a god would be concerned with a mortal's dignity? Do you think Phrasma considers the well being and the final deposition of the souls she judges?

Pharasma sends souls on to the path the souls has earned. Nothing more, nothing less. Unless another being steps in, each soul only gets indifference.


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Agénor wrote:

@Meirril, I was asking whether a character that was a rampaging baby-eater during the first part of her life then took an accidental swim in the Lethe that made her the kindest soul that ever walked [insert here the name of your world in-universe] during the second part of her life would be sent to heaven or to hell.

Does being genuinely unaware of one's own past exonerate one from responsibility regarding said past in the eyes of the powers that be?
I say the answer depends on what the powers that be are. As such, it isn't a question of the Pathfinder ruleset but pertaining to the in-universe cosmogony.

If nothing goes out of its way to grab this confused soul it will naturally be guided to the Boneyard and it will await judgement. This could be a long pause in its final journey.

After an indeterminate amount of time that soul will reach Pharasma herself and be judged. Judgement will be on criteria that has never been discussed. Vague statements about alignment have been made. I'm sure actions will speak louder than a change in mental attitude. And just because I'm sure that doesn't mean I'm right. The ultimate answer is whatever fits the GMs story best happens. Ultimate cosmological truths don't impact gameplay so its never been codified into a set of rules.

And ultimately, the petitioner's soul will experience a transformation that will render all of their past actions and personality null. Nothing lasts forever in Pathfinder, not even gods. Souls are far more mortal than you'd expect.


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A mortal summons an Outsider and bargains for a service.
The Outsider upholds their end of the bargain.
It returns to the mortal to collect its dues.
The mortal claims to be totally unaware of the contract.
The mortal is attempting to renege on the contract.

Even a Chaotic Good being would despise the mortal and wreck horrible vengeance on one that dares to deny payment on a contract. Lawful types would want to make an example of the contract breaker. Neutrals would demand payment, and maybe recompense for any inconvenience the mortal caused. Chaotics would most likely do whatever seems the most immediately satisfying.

Since the mortal is the one breaking the contract, the Outsider wouldn't be forced to return to their native plane until they wish to...


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For Reference: Ring of X-Ray Vision

You're only able to see through a few inches to feet of solid objects within that 20'. If you are able to see past 20' without looking through an opaque solid object you should be able to do so.

As an example: if you are looking at a dock littered in wooden crates and you're trying to see if any of them are hiding suspicious objects in the crates, using the X-ray vision won't prevent you from noticing the dragon attacking ships in the distance.

However, if you are using the X-ray vision to look through a wall I'd say you are limited to 20'. After all, your normal vision can't see past the wall at all. One special sense doesn't allow your non-special sense to ignore environmental effects that it normally couldn't.


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Meet new people. Talk to them about your "adventures". Invite them over for the weekend to "try new things". Prepare an elegant dinner, use mood lighting and play background music. Pour drinks. Make small talk.

As people get comfortable and unwind a bit ask them if they are "interested in Role Playing". Let them know that you have "prepared costumes" and lead then to your "Den".

If anyone makes it that far, I think they will be very confused when they see a table with a map, several books and dice lying around.


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I've been in 2 games with bards that mostly act like a buff bot and after casting 1 or 2 spells, don't have anything to do other than avoid combat. I really hate that. For our next game I'm thinking about making a bard that does things. I'm just not sure which way I want to go yet.

I've been mostly thinking about 2 different builds. One is a Desna worshiping Starknife wielding character focused on Cha with a decent amount of dex. I imagine at 1st level the character will be a front line melee type, and as the character gains levels lots of feats will get shoved into transitioning from melee to a short-ranged throwing character that still buffs the party and throws the occasional spell.

The second build I've been considering is... a really bad archer. Basically spend 2 feats to get Precise Shot and then spend every feat on being a better bard. The only reason for the bow is to take advantage of a Tuned Bowstring. I'm thinking about taking Dazzling Display so I can abuse intimidate and eventually Dirge of Doom to send a few opponents fleeing in fear.

So I'm looking for opinions on either of these builds, or your own suggestion for a pro-active bard that does things. There are a few things to keep in mind:

1) Must have Inspire Courage. I want to buff the group in combat, and have something else to do that is helpful.

2) Not just a buffer. I'm not spending actions to Aid Another. I want my actions to have a tangible effect on combat, not just provide a +4 bonus to someone else's actions. Spending 1 round to buff someone's non-critical action for 1 round is bad action economy.

3) Have a game plan for low levels. I figure the next campaign will start from level 1 and go to about 16. Even if your build is amazing at 13, I'll have to play it from 1 till your build kicks off.

4) I want to play a bard, so if I'm dipping out of bard it had better be for very good reasons. I'm not overly attached to bard spell casting, but the performance abilities are a focus.


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When you are talking about something, it really helps if provide a link to the subject so others can easily reference it.

This really is badly written. It should say when the save should be made, and by who.

If the target of the spell needs to make the save, it should be tagged (harmless), or (object). If it is made by creatures that take damage from the object...how often is the save made? The spell talks about only allowing 1 reduction each round. But to get that one reduction, does the target creature make a fortitude save for each hit, or just 1 save for each person's turn? Or just 1 save for the whole turn? Or just 1 save vs each casting of Splinter Spell Resistance?

The most 'workable' interpretation I can think of would be to have the damaged creature save for each blow, considering that the fortitude save will be easy to make so allowing multiple hits to each trigger the debuff should be fine.


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Scott Wilhelm wrote:

Just because Improvised Weapons are not crafted to be weapons does not mean they are not weapons.

"Improvised" is not a synonym of "not." But I think "weapons" almost always means "weapons."

If you accept Improvised Weapon as being a Weapon, then everything is a weapon. If everything is a weapon, then the restrictions of Magic Weapon are meaningless, because there are no non-weapon objects.

Either Improvised Weapons are not weapons, or the restrictions on things targeting weapons mean nothing. How much of Pathfinder do you intend on undermining with an ad absurdum argument?


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maouse33 wrote:

The spell does not turn the item INTO a spear. It is still a Improvised Weapon. PERIOD. It FUNCTIONS AS a such and such. Meaning it does damage as a MW such and such. It does not even change shape. It just gets a +1 to hit.

The application of "functions as" to weapon use requirements is completely counter to the idea of the spell. And counter to every other improvised weapon description which say they "FUNCTION AS" a weapon of similar size.

It is clearly not the case that they suddenly begin BEING normal weapons.

Spell says it transforms the improvised weapon into an equivalent simple or martial weapon. First line of the spell description. Nothing about 'functioning as'.

You stop treating the Refined target as an improvised weapon, and instead treat it as a fully functional weapon.

In the case that the improvised weapon was in the hands of someone using the Shikigami Style line of feats, they suddenly go from using an improvised weapon to a standard weapon. They need to ditch the refined weapon and get a new improvised weapon if they want to continue getting the bonuses from using an improvised weapon because the refined spell turns it into a normal weapon without changing its appearance.


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SilvercatMoonpaw wrote:
Meirril wrote:

Now every core race can trade their racial weapon familiarity for a free trait. 90% of characters don't use their racial familiarity anyways and the extra feat would just be better.

The same applies to Skilled. If you have min/maxers in your campaign, you'll have a party full of non-humans with all the good human traits, because those races with +2/+2/-2 stats can also give up marginal racial traits to get the good ones from human.

Doesn't that kind of indicate the traits they traded out aren't good enough?

What point are you trying to make?

People select human because they want the extra feat, not because you get +2 to any stat with no stat penalty. The extra skill point per level is popular too.

People select other races because they are interesting. Maybe you like the look, or the culture, or you just like the mix of stats and some racial ability. Maybe you just like Darkvision.

Now you're able to be a Dwarf Cleric that uses his deity's favored weapon, trade out your dwarven weapon proficiency for a bonus feat (and you're still using a dwarven weapon because that is your deity's favored weapon), and trade away Stonecraft and Greed for the extra skill point each level. Really, you're not a dwarf. You're a human with stubby legs and a beard. That still has darkvision.


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Craft Wand as your 5th level feat. If you plan on depending on spells for combat, you'll need a supply of CLW wands and its more reliable to make your own. Every 2 adventuring days you can churn out a new 1st level wand.


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Senko wrote:
To be honest I've been opposed to it since I read a fanfic where the author used it to reward the characters they liked and punish others.

Gods are an easy to insert plot device. Most stories would be better without the author using a god to get the set up they want.

Imagine if the Antagonist didn't send the hero and fiance to the Goddess' temple. Imagine if instead the Antagonist set up a few actors in public places, spread rumors, lured the fiance into a trap and the hero in a completely different direction, and pinned the blame on the fiance's family. Wouldn't the antagonist be a much stronger character and the hero would have a much better reason for revenge.

One of the major reasons its bad to have gods take action in Pathfinder is that PCs never fight gods. It is much better to have things the players will eventually face be the ones that do stuff.


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Claxon wrote:


That said, I would use divination magic to hit the lotto...

You've looked at divination magic before, right? Even high level divination sucks ass at predicting anything. The best divination magic just tells you what the thing in front of you is. Lots of magic to tell you what happened, but not a lot to give you really useful information.

Also if you want to do the whole battle of magic vs reality, check out the best offensive spells. Now compare that to strategic level weapons. It isn't really a fair compairson since Pathfinder is a game about small groups doing epic fantasy combat, not wars. Still, there is no magic that compares to the destructive potential of a nuke.


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If you don't want to look things up, try recording what the caster level of an item is when you note what the item is. You probably want to put in the market price as well for when the item gets sold.

Even lazier, just tell your players that it takes a full uninterrupted minute to identify an item for anyone that has Spellcraft and Detect Magic, and it is an automatic success. That is about equivalent to take 20 with an identify check.


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Which magic items do you think most merchants in a major city would refuse to purchase? Like even fences would sit there and say "nobody would buy that from me".

I've been thinking it would be funny to do a normal treasure list for the CR of the encounter, and then include in an extra item or two for each major NPC that falls into the category of "useful, but you can't sell this because nobody would buy it."

A rather simple idea would be to include a +3 Scimitar made from Black Iron, drips blood and audible demonic wailing happens when the blade is drawn. Oh, and the blade itself appears to be a series of deformed screaming faces that weep blood.

Looking forward to your contribution to this cursed pile of treasure!


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Restoration (not lesser or greater, normal) on more lists. It is really difficult to be considered a competent healer without access to it.

So add it to Bard, Druid and Witch.


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TiwazBlackhand wrote:


Not only is a Far Strike Monk able to Flurry with thrown weapons (only with thrown weapons actually) but they are also proficient with all thrown weapons.
Weapon Modifications wrote:
A character proficient with a specific weapon (such as a cleric’s proficiency with her deity’s favored weapon) is not automatically proficient with a modified weapon of that type.

You need to be proficient with the modified weapon before you can count it as being part of the group. Spend the 2 feats needed to make yourself proficient with a modified exotic weapon.


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This would be in the same spirit as including a Tyrannosaurus Rex into an encounter as part of a BG's equipment in lieu of 8,100gp worth of treasure because you can buy a Tyrannosarus.

Sure it is technically correct, don't be surprised when people get upset at you for doing something your allowed to.


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It is up to the GM to figure that out when they make the encounter. You have the ghost talk. Or you have the ghost act something out. Or you leave clues around. You might have NPCs that know the ghost's story. Or you just assign various knowledge checks.

You could also just Legend Lore the ghost. Bonus points for doing it while the ghost acts up. Legend Lore should give some significant clues on how to put the ghost to rest.

Ghosts aren't random encounters. You put them in a game for a reason. If the GM doesn't spend enough effort to figure things out, that isn't the player's fault. And if the players don't want to put in the effort to figure it out, that isn't the GMs fault either.


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The Roguish Chef wrote:
avr wrote:
The Roguish Chef wrote:
avr wrote:
Surprise rounds are only a standard action
you see so long as the goblin doesn't hit them they have all the time in the world, it is completely possible to do a coup de grace in a suprise round so long as the receiving party is completely oblivious
See, that's simply not true unless everyone's asleep. One standard action only.
everyone WAS asleep -.- and the only guy not asleep didn't get to act in the suprise round anyway so it didn't matter, all they gotta do is move up to the bed and stab

All right, so lets go down the list of objections step by step.

1) First, you literally can't do a coup de grace in a surprise round. Why? Because you only get a standard action in a surprise round, and performing a coup de grace is a full round action.

2) Sleeping PCs still get perception rolls. The DC increases by 10 so it isn't easy, but it is possible to detect the stealthy assassins.

3) Don't roll once for all of the goblins to stealth. Make 1 roll per goblin, because that gives RNG a chance to screw up the NPC just like it would the PCs. Or do you let the PCs make 1 stealth roll for their entire party?

4) Also don't let the goblins all go simultaneously like they were a hive mind perfectly coordinating every body. Unless this is a professionally trained squad of assassins trained to perform synchronized performance murder. Most GMs roll once for initiative because they are lazy and it doesn't make a difference in a normal encounter. This isn't a normal encounter and it could make a huge difference.

5) Actually criticals aren't really a big deal. Most characters that want criticals are using x2 weapons which just means they do the damage of 2 strikes occasionally. Or you could have someone carrying around a x4 crit weapon just for situations like this... which is a foul when the GM makes the situation happen. That sort of thing is much more acceptable when the entire clan of goblins use the same weapon.

Also criticals generally don't mean as much to rogues. Sneak attack and other sources of precision damage don't get multiplied on a crit. Most rogues barely do any damage other than precision damage. Most rogues wouldn't perform a coup de grace if it wasn't for the massive damage save. It is better for them to strike multiple times and get sneak attack damage on all of their attacks for the round instead of a guaranteed crit if they don't get the save or die.

6) As a GM you walk a fine line between entertaining and killing the party. It is called 'giving them a challenge'. Setting up an encounter where the enemy has an advantage is normal. Giving them too much of an advantage is bad. Judging that and not going over a self imposed limit is what GMs do. If you think this is massively unfair...


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Well, the way I see it you have to make using consumable items smarter than selling them for cash. And you do that by pressuring the party without overwhelming them.

Throw time constraints on the party. Make the players feel they need to accomplish things as fast as possible. Have there be some consequences for being (very) slow, and give some additional rewards for being fast.

Be efficient. Throw in consumables that are worth spending a round to use. Nobody is going to use a 2d8+3 healing item when the monster you face does 20 points a damage per swing. Give them stuff other than healing, stuff that actually makes a difference in combat.

Lead by example. Have monsters use consumables during combat. Nothing infuriates players like having treasure taken from them while they watch. Use consumables that give a noticeable effect on the combat.

Make healing consumables plentiful, cheap and not combat friendly. Lots of cure light potions and wands. Mid level they become a waste of an action during combat. If you have tons of them around, it becomes second nature to use them between combats to heal up.

Flood the market. Very common consumables in your game should have a sell value of less than the cost to make. This discourages players from selling those consumables. It also encourages them to buy them if the market price is the same as the creation cost. Make the sell value 1/2 of the creation cost and nobody should sell.


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Yeah, the whole d20 system kind of breaks down when you try to take a mob of low CR creatures and make them a threat to PCs who have 7+ class levels above their CR.

Making armies into a swarm is about the only way to reflect that individually these guys are no threat, but collectively they aren't harmless. Letting spell damage pick off individuals is unfair to the melee types.

Some ideas for missions your PCs could do to alter the course of the war:

Assassinating the commanders.
Spying on enemy plans.
Attacking supply lines and bases.
Wiping out enemy scouts.
Negotiations.
Spreading rumors among the enemy troops.
Protecting the friendly HQ during a battle.
Attacking enemy HQ during a battle.
Planting fake orders or other documents.


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Quixote wrote:


I still just can't see how it's worth more; if the GM allows the wizard to do this, they're obviously okay with the idea, which means it can be replicated, which means other characters can benefit from any potential advantage provided, which means no one has an unfair edge over anyone else.

Is it harmful if one player optimizes their character and nobody else does? Everybody could of done it, but they didn't choose to. It isn't the optimizer's fault they do everything better.

Everybody optimizes, and then they complain that there isn't a challenge in the game. Encounters are boring because monsters are too weak.

Some players are able to boost all of their stats to +6 because they craft single stat items in non-standard slots for the same price as a standard slot item. Belt of Mighty Constitution +6, Wrists of Giant Strength +6 and Gloves of Incredible Dexterity +6 have a combined price of (18k x 3) 54k. Belt of Physical Perfection +6 is 144k. By cheesing the system you've managed to get the same benefit for 90k less which by all rights should be a whole lot of levels earlier than you'd be able to do the standard way.

So who is being hurt by this? The GM and the guy that made the adventure you're running because the players are exceeding the assumptions the game are made on. Do we seriously need to create more work for ourselves to let someone feel a little more cleaver and let them out game (exploit) the system?

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