Meirril's page

Going into the Skulls & Shackles AP. I don't know anything beyond the Player's guide for the AP. Plan is to be a straight bard that starts front line and become more of a second ranker as we level up. Stats are 20 point buy, and 2 background skill points per level. Two traits.

Race: Human (Varisian)
Str 8 (-2) Dex 13 (3) Con 12 (+2) Int 12 (+2) Wis 8 (-2) Cha 18+2 (17)
Trait: Tattooed Mystic (mostly for Starknife proficiency)
Train: Barroom Talespinner: +1 trait bonus to Diplomacy and Perform(Comedy) (campaign trait)
Feats: Divine Fighting Technique: Desna's Shooting Star, Flagbearer.

skills: perform: comedy, perform: oratory, diplomacy, ks: geography(BG), history(BG), local, linguistics, profession: sailor, stealth, UMD.

(BG) designates a skill paid for as a Background Skill.
Spending the Preferred Class Bonus on picking up an extra 0 level spell.

0 level: prestidigitation, light, summon instrument, message, mage hand.
1st: CLW, Tears to Wine.

advancement choices (preferred class bonus will go to an extra spell every level)
2nd: Comedy for Versatile Performance
3rd: Weapon Focus: Starknife
5th: Dazzling Display
6th: Oratory for Versatile Performance. Retrain ranks in Diplomacy to perform: dance.
7th: Signature Skill: Intimidate
9th: Disheartening Display
10th: trade Versatile Performance for Advanced Divine Fighting Technique.

So quick explanation of tactics: Melee bard with starknife in one hand, buckler and flag in the 'empty' hand. Beginning at 5th level the character will specialize in using Dazzling Display to demoralize enemies, using perform instead of intimidate. Starting at 9th level Dirge of Doom will increase the fear effect by 1 step.

I didn't think of anything after 10th level, and I expect the AP to run to 16th level.

So, anything to improve this? Alternatives?

The Dabbler tries to live up to its name sake. Dabblers have varied and diverse interests, they can even become single subject experts. There is always a risk that a Dabbler will lose interest in their specialty and change their focus to other areas...

Dabbler have D8 hit points per level. A Dabbler may be any alignment. Dabbler have a starting wealth of 4d6x10.

All skills are considered a class skill for Dabbler. Dabbler receive 6+int bonus skill points per level.

Dabbler are 3/4 BAB progression characters. Dabbler have a good Fortitude save, and poor Will and Reflex.

Dabbler are proficient in all simple weapons, light armor, and all shields except for Tower Shields.

Class Abilities: Extra Feat. At each level the Dabbler gets 1 bonus feat.

Fickle Interest: Each time the Dabbler levels up the Dabbler may select a feat to exchange for a new feat. The Dabbler may not select a feat that is a prerequisite for another feat to exchange.

Spell Casting: Dabblers cast spells as a divine caster. Dabblers may use the holy symbol of their chosen deity or a diary the Dabbler writes as a divine focus. Dabblers receive no spells or casting ability when they level up. Rather they must spend a feat on "Dabbler's Casting" to cast spells. Dabblers are spontaneous casters. A Dabbler may choose between Int, Wis and Cha to base their casting ability on. This choice is made at 1st level and may be changed each time the Dabbler increases his Dabbler level.

"Dabbler's Casting" is a feat that only Dabblers may take. This feat may be selected multiple times. Each time this feat is selected, the Dabbler chooses a 1st level spell from the Cleric, Wizard, Witch, Psychic, Druid or Shaman spell list. They gain knowledge of that spell and the ability to cast 1 time a day plus any bonus casting from primary casting stat selected.

If the Dabbler selects this feat again, they gain knowledge of another first level spell from the approved spell lists and can cast 1 additional spell of that level per day.

Every time the dabbler selects 3 spell of the same level, he may choose to spend future feats to select spells 1 level higher. The Dabbler gains the ability to cast 1 spell of the new level plus bonus spells as appropriate for the chosen primary casting stat. All feats spent on lower level spells are considered prerequisites for the higher level spells. The dabbler is allowed to exchange 2 spells each time he levels, forgetting each spell and replacing them with spells of the same level.

Example: Ted has spend 4 feats to learn 4 1st level spells. He selected his 18 Charisma to be his casting stat. He can cast 4 spells + 1 bonus due to his 18 charisma. He also has 3 feats spent to learn 3 2nd level spells which allows him to cast 3+1 2nd level spells. He also has 2 feats spent on 3rd level spells which allows him to cast 2+1 3rd level spells. The next time he selects Dabbler's Casting he may choose a 1st, 2nd or 3rd level feat. He may not choose a 4th level spell until he has selected 3 or more 3rd level spells.

Martial Dabbling: Dabblers may select this feat which gives +1 BAB. Dabblers may take this feat any time their BAB is lower than their total level.

Dabbler Weapon Training(feat): Prerequisite: Martial Weapon Proficiency. The dabbler becomes proficient with all martial weapons.

Dabbler's Obsession: Dabblers make take feats that have a class ability that is usable a limited a day as a prerequisite. For the purpose of that feat, the Dabbler is treated as if he was a member of the class (choose 1 if there are multiple classes that qualify) that has the ability equal to his Dabbler level. The dabbler gains zero uses of that ability plus any granted by feats. The Dabbler is allowed to select feats that grant more use of such class abilities multiple times and the ability to use the class ability additional times per day stack.

Example: Ted is a 12th level Dabbler and spends a feat to pick up Extra Lay On Hands. Ted is now able to Lay On Hands as a 12 level Paladin (6d6), but only 2 times per day. Ted also receives no mercies because he doesn't have that class feature, just Lay On Hands. If Ted wishes for more uses of Lay on Hands he can select Extra Lay On Hands multiple times.

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Anyways, this is just a rough idea that I kind of dreamed about last night...
I hope someone likes it.

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.

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!

A little tongue and cheek archetype for the Witch, inspired by the popular book and video game series the Witcher.

"The Witchers are a backwoods cult of men who have an unhealthy love/hate relationship with witches. They feel it is their 'sacred duty' to bridge the gap between witches and the rest of society. They do this by attempting to mediate between witches (and other female spell casters. Or any woman that happens to live away from society really), and the common folk.

The main every day activity of a Witcher is to resolve problems the common folk usually attribute to Witches. This has gone from finding kidnapped babies, solving livestock mutilations, and removing warts to a legitimately respectable profession of hunting monsters and supernatural terrors.

Most Witchers work in small groups consisting of only Witchers (and female casters who choose to associate with them), though the occasional Witcher Apprentice has been known to take up with more traditional adventurers."

Witchers must be male. Witchers may take female students, but those students can not select the Witcher archetype.

Class Skills: Witchers remove the skill Fly, and add KS(Religion) and Survival.
Skill Points: Witchers receive 4+Int mod skill points.

Weapons and Armor: Witchers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor and medium armor. They still suffer from Arcane Spell Failure when casting.

Weak Caster: Witchers are not as proficient as normal witches at casting spells. Witchers receive 1 less spell per spell level per day from spell levels 1-9.

Memorized Spells: Witchers learn the same number of spells as a sorcerer of their level, using the Sorcerer Spells Known chart, selected from the Witch spell list. This replaces Witches Familiar class ability.

Clumsy Caster: Witchers cast spells slower. Spells cast as a Swift action are instead cast as a move action. Spells cast as a move or standard action are instead cast as a Full Round action. Spells that take a Full Round or longer are cast at the listed time cost.

Witcher Fighting Style: Witchers are a 3/4 BAB class, and receive Weapon Focus(Longsword) for free at 1st level.

Witcher Alchemy: Alchemy is a class skill for Witchers, and they are given 1 additional skill point per level that must be assigned to Alchemy.

Witcher Brewing: Each day the Witcher is able to craft 50gp (market value) x Int bonus in Alchemical items or Potions per day. These items are crafted with no gold expenditure and considered to be the Witcher's full days worth of crafting effort, even though the actual crafting time only takes 1 hour. The Witcher is not able to do any magical or mundane crafting or perform downtime jobs on the same day he uses Witcher Brewing. Any items created via Witcher Brewing can only be used by the creator as they require magical energy from the crafter to function. These items have no value to anyone other than the person who crafted them.

This replaces Patron Spells.

Signs: At 1st level the Witcher must select a Sign from the list presented below. This replaces the Witches first level Hex. Any time the Witcher gains a new hex, the witcher may select a Sign instead.

This alters the Hex class ability.

Signs: Signs are like Hexes, with two exceptions. Witchers are able to invest spell slots to use a more powerful sign. Signs also can't be used as frequently as most hexes. When a sign is used the Witcher can't use the same sign again for 1d4 rounds. One spell slot may be used to boost a sign when activated. The total level of the spell may be split between different bonuses. DC = 10 + Int Bonus + 1/2 Witcher level. Any feats that apply to hexes also apply to Signs.

Aard(SU): A quick blast of unfocused Force energy. As part of a standard or full round action the witcher may make a free combat maneuver to Bull Rush, Trip, Sunder, Escape a Grapple, Overrun, Reposition or Feign without triggering an attack of opportunity. The witcher may spend 2 levels of a spell slot to make the attack against all opponents within 5'. The Witcher may receive a +2 bonus to this combat maneuver for each additional spell level spent. (example: If the Witcher uses Aard and powers it with a 3rd level spell he can either affect everyone around him with a combat manuver with +2 BAB, or he can affect one person with +6 BAB)
Axii(SU): As a standard action Axii causes one target within 30' make a will save or become dazed until this ability is usable again (the same 1d4 rounds rolled to determine how long it takes for Axii to reset). For 1 spell level this can be changed to the same effect as Charm Person for the duration. For 2 spell levels the effect becomes Stunned and the target receives a save each round to end the effect. For 2 spell levels an additional target can be added. For 2 levels this becomes a swift action.
Igni(SU): As a standard action, performs as the spell Burning Fist cast at level 1. Spending 1 spell level allows the Axii sign to perform at the Witcher caster level. Additional spell levels allow the witcher to apply any metamagic to the Burning Hands with the normal metamagic cost applied to the spell slot. The witcher need not know the metamagic used, but the damage from Axii must remain purely fire.
Quen(SU): As a swift action gain DR 5/- this round. If a spell slot is spent on this ability gain 5 temporary hp per level of the slot that last for 10 minutes and a +2 circumstance bonus to save vs spells, SLAs and SUs that don't cause hit point damage. The circumstance bonus lasts until the temporary hp from Quen are removed.
Yrden(SU): As a standard action the Witcher creates a 5' radius area of difficult terrain. Any creatures in that area lose the benefits of the ethereal ability. The Yrden sign has a duration of 1 round per witcher level. For 1 spell level the radius may be increased by 5'(may be selected multiple times). For 3 spell levels any creatures in the area of effect when it is created must will save or be under the effects of Slow (as per the spell). For 1 spell level the duration may be doubled (only once).

Hexes: The following Hexes may not be selected by Witchers: Coven, Flight, Poison Touch, Prehensile Hair, Verdant Familiar.

The following Hex may be selected by Witchers:

Witching(SU): A Witcher may perform an hour long ritual that requires the cooperation of a female magic user (any female that casts spells, Spell like abilities, or SU ability). During the ritual if the female chose to attack they gain a surprise round and a +4 bonus to hit, and the witcher takes a -4 penalty to save in the surprise round. At the end of the ritual the witcher and one female caster that participated in the ritual receive a +1 moral bonus to the next [Con bonus] checks (d20 rolls, minimum 1) they make. Double the number of checks if the female caster is either a Witch or an Outsider. Triple the bonus if it is a Witch with the coven hex, or a Hag.

This was intended to be a lot more of a joke, but I think it actually came out a bit more serious. With d6 hp I think this archetype is destine to die in melee combat, but who knows? Anyone want to add something to the list of hexes? I omitted bombs and hexes that give melee attacks on purpose. Though if you wanted to give a hex that gives the Witcher 2 bombs like an alchemist per day, and then another hex to gain an alchemist discovery that affects bombs...that would be ok? I just didn't feel like writing it up.

I left in most of the hexes because...evil witcher could maybe do that? Heck, this is a 9th level caster technically so eventually the Witcher would be able to do some incredible stuff. I didn't give the Witcher any abilities to mitigate their arcane armor penalties because I'd imagine low level witchers select signs and use their spell slots to power them up. At high levels the Witchers could either spend feats and/or gold to overcome arcane spell failure.

Well, not really a contest. More of present your best ideas kind of thing. I'll provide 2 examples and see what others come up with. I expect to see a lot of old ideas dusted off and trotted out, and I'm hopeful for some new ones to show up.

Lets face it, Pathfinder's idea of an economy is a mess. Class abilities and feats can make a mess of the 'balanced' system the rules present where you aren't suppose to generate a profit with player ability. After all, this is a game about heroic adventuring, not economic dominance! So, of course there are going to be loopholes and exploits.

To me the quintessential exploit is a 1st level Gunslinger. Or more specifically, any character with the Gunsmithing feat. Each day you can make 1,000 gp worth of basic Ammunition for only 100 gp. Sold for half price that generates 400 gp in profit. Not bad for a 1st level character! (But seriously, what town uses 1,000 gp worth of ammunition ever day?!?)

Required Investment: 1st level character, 1 feat, 100gp = 400gp/day profit. Super efficient!

My second and last example will be a 7th level druid. How will this druid break the economy? By giving up his trusty animal companion and turning his back on the gods. He will take up Druidic Herbalism. While this does require a serious investment into Wisdom, there really are no other costs involved. The druid doesn't need any other feats, doesn't need to alter spell selection, doesn't need a certain archetype, doesn't need certain items or circumstances other than a merchant that will pay full price for concoctions like they were potions. Also the merchant will pay full price for potions created beyond the minimum level they can be cast at.

Lets sham together a 7th level Druid's wisdom modifier. Lets say you start at 20 wis at 1st level. +1 at 4th level. Spells that can be cast per day are:
1st: 4+2 2nd: 3+1 3rd: 2+1 4th 1+1 with the bonus spells from 21 wis.

The herbalist can create concoctions at 1 per minute for 'free' up to his wis modifier per day. 'free' is assumed to mean only the gold cost of creating a potion. That means 5 free potions...plus 2 if the druid casts Owl's Wisdom on himself. That leaves 3 2nd level spells, 3 3rd and 2 4th. Of course the druid can't make 4th level potions but the druid could prepare 2 3rd level spells in his 4th level slots.

Lets say the druid and GM agree the merchant will pay full price for concoctions that give benefits for being prepared at a higher level. So our druid makes 5 Cure Poison concoctions at 7th level strength each day. Then he makes 2 Barkskin potions at 7th level strength too.

25gp x 3rd level spell x 7th caster level = 525gp per Neutralize Poison
25gp x 2nd level spell x 7th caster level = 350gp per Bark Skin

(525gpx5) + (350gpx2) = 3,325gp per day in 'free' potions.

But wait, there is more! If the druid can get ahold of a +6 headband of wisdom he can make 3 more potions per day for free, and won't need to waste a 2nd level spell on boosting his own wisdom. He will also gain 1 2nd, 3rd and 4th level spell from the improved wisdom. That means 7 3rd level concoctions, and 1 2nd level concoction for 'free'.

That also leaves 4 2nd level spells and 6 1st level spells unaccounted for. Seems like a shame not to make more concoctions, right? Druidic Herbalists of 7th level can also make concoctions at half the cost of a potion, which means they can make and sell those potions for half of the profit from the free potions. For our example lets say the GM limits our druid to selling Cure Light Wounds concoctions of 5th level potency for his 1st level spells.

4 x 350gp x .5 for the Barkskin potions = 700gp
6 x .5 x (25gp x 1 x 5) for the 1d8+5 CLW potions = 375gp

Totalled up that is 4200gp for 8 Neutralize Poison potions (for free), 700 gp for 4 half profit Barkskin potions, and 375gp for half profit CLW potions. So 5,275gp per day from a 7th level caster. Raising the caster level will dramatically raise the profits since all of the 2nd level and higher potions are based on caster level for their profits, and more 3rd+ spell slots will result in half-price 3rd level potions being produced, for 1/2 x 3rd x CL x 25gp profits for those extra spells.

Also, eventually Wishes could be used to raise wisdom, as well as extra stat bumps from leveling.

Anyways, not bad for a 7th level that needs no strange circumstances to make a profit.

So, what have you got?

So recently I've been playing in a Strange Aeons AP run. Our party is 9th level and we hit a location that is full of traps. One room we encountered was full of paintings. Three of the paintings had magical traps that reset every 24 hours. One cast Summon Monster VIII, one cast Otto's Irresistible Dance, and the last cast Bestow Curse. The paintings themselves had unsettling subjects, but not so distasteful that you'd want to burn them on sight. They are probably masterworks.

The traps are paintings. Paintings not permanently attached to the walls. These are magical traps that adventurers can take to a merchant and sell. Two of them are 8th level spells! Bestow Curse is a 3rd level spell.

The formula for determining the cost of creating resetting magical traps (instead of one use traps) is 500gp x caster level x spell level plus material cost x 100. Fortunately none of these spells has an expensive material component.

Bestow Curse: 500gp x 5 x 3 = 7500gp is fine to give as treasure to a 9th level party.

8th level traps: 500gp x 15 x 8 = 60,000 gp is way, way too much to be handing to a 9th level party!

These are the costs to create the traps. Cost is usually the value players receive from merchants when selling items. Market Price is usually double the cost to produce things that can't be made with Craft skill alone.

I strongly suggest you don't make traps portable because some Merchants should be interested in buying such items!

The creator also needs a fairly quiet, comfortable, and well-lit place in which to work. Any place suitable for preparing spells is suitable for making items. Creating an item requires 8 hours of work per 1,000 gp in the item’s base price (or fraction thereof), with a minimum of at least 8 hours. Potions and scrolls are an exception to this rule; they can take as little as 2 hours to create (if their base price is 250 gp or less). Scrolls and potions whose base price is more than 250 gp, but less than 1,000 gp, take 8 hours to create, just like any other magic item. The character must spend the gold at the beginning of the construction process. Regardless of the time needed for construction, a caster can create no more than one magic item per day. This process can be accelerated to 4 hours of work per 1,000 gp in the item’s base price (or fraction thereof) by increasing the DC to create the item by 5.

So in our current campaign we have a wizard and a druid trying to craft multiple items in a day. The Wizard wants to craft 4 first level scrolls. The druid is a Druidic Herbalist that has lots of special rules for crafting potions. Specifically:

A druid can create a number of free herbal concoctions per day equal to her Wisdom modifier.

Additionally, at 4th level, when the druid creates additional concoctions, she need pay only half the normal cost to create them.

Additionally, at 7th level, a druid can create any herbal concoction in 1 minute.

The druid in question has a 21 wis so has 5 uses of the create free concoctions ability which works like Brew Potion with an additional limitation. Everything implies that the Druidic Herbalist can make not just their wis mod in free potions, but more potions each day. If the one magic item per day in the crafting rules was the hard limit, why doesn't the Druidic Herbalism stuff say explicitly that you can craft more than one?

Is there anything to fix this disconnect in the rules that I'm not aware of? Especially considering that Druidic Herbalism only gives the ability to make free potions, not to create more items per day?

So Druidic Herbalism says you can make potions (and elixiers) of spells you can cast.

Secret of Magical Discipline says you can cast a spell off any spell list once a day, per feat you spend on this ability. But you need to dip 1 level of Loremaster to get the secret class feature.

What I was thinking is I might be able to use Channel the Gift to make multiple potions from other spell lists...but after re-reading Secret of Magical Discipline I think it takes a use even if I channel the gift to make it "free". So I could only make 1 potion or elixier that isn't on the druid list per use of the feat.

Can anyone think of a way to get more uses of Secret of Magical Discipline without spending more feats on it? Is it worth the 1 level dip? Is it worth going deeper into Loremaster? I can't imagine going further into Loremaster will be a good choice. The druid in question has a 12 int.

Building a Drunken Master/Qinggong Monk for a new game. By the list hereQinggong Monk replaces "slow fall (4th), high jump (5th), wholeness of body (7th), diamond body (11th), abundant step (12th), diamond soul (13th), quivering palm (15th), timeless body (17th), tongue of the sun and moon (17th), empty body (19th), and perfect self (20th)." for ki powers from their list.

The qinggong list of powers introduces new powers at 8th level, and 10th level. If you go strictly by the list above then it makes no sense for their to be 2 lists since it isn't possible to add more powers between 7th level and 11th level. Unless there is a feat to do so? I'm not aware of any such feat.

But another possibility does occur to me. If you look at the Monk class table, at level 8 and 10 Slow Fall gains improvements. Does the Qinggong Monk trade those out for additional ki powers, or do you just ignore them because you traded out Slow Fall at 4th level? If the Qinggong Monk does gain additional powers then the new powers at 8th and 10th suddenly do make sense.

I've been looking at the various Item Mastery feats and I've been thinking about making a martial character that takes Vision Mastery and Flight Mastery at low levels to give them an edge.

To make room for the feats, I was thinking of a Strength based Polearm type. That way he can try to hover over opponents and kill them without allowing reprisal attacks thanks to reach. Other than Power Attack and Combat Reflexes I can't think of any must have feats, though I'd like to pick up the two Mastery feats as soon as possible.

The main idea with the dips is to get the fortitude necessary to use the feat mastery ASAP, and maybe retrain away some of the dips later.

So I was thinking Human for race, to get 2 feats at first level on any class.

1st: Paladin, because Fort+Will save.
2nd: Fighter, because this lets us retrain a 1st level feat to Vision Mastery and then use the bonus feat to pick up the feat we just dropped.
3rd: Brawler, because Fort+Ref and Martial Flexibility 4/day. Pick up Flight Mastery as 3rd level feat.
4+: could continue dipping classes to get more uses of Flight Mastery. Unfortunately the Martial Classes remaining only have Fort+Ref or Ref only for good saves. This would require 2 more levels to get to +10 Fort, and only 1 more level to get the max of +12 fort for 3 uses of flight per day as a 6th level character.

And the higher level you get the less impressive 3 uses of fly becomes. The ideal should be to get some other more permanent means of flight while you retrain class levels away from your dips into a single class and eventually retrain away the Flight Mastery and maybe the Vision Mastery. Vision Mastery might stick around because its worth a feat to be able to cast See Invisible for a martial. You'll be able to UMD a wand eventually but not sure its worth all that effort. Especially since it isn't a class skill, and you have no reason to invest in Int.

Long run I think I favor Fighter for a reach character, but it would be just as easy to go Paladin as well, though that dilutes the stats. Brawler is possible too, but the class is more focused on light weapons.

Feel free to suggest alternative classes, or alternative orders. Stat arrays, even change the weapon focus and race. Just try ti make sure this melee flies at 3rd level.

Describe the last 3 characters you've played. Start with currently played. If it isn't Pathfinder, name the system. Starting level to ending level/point total. Also how long you've played the character.

Currently Playing: 9th level Ysoki Envoy/Ace Pilot named 'Fluffy'. (Starfinder). Game is ongoing for about a year now. Played 1-9th. Character is a pack-minded airhead who is obsessed with piloting and ships.

'Gatz' 16th level Fighter, no archetype. Iron Gods AP went on for about 2 years. Played 1-16th. Good natured, wishy-washy personality. Left his home town to find a girlfriend. Never tried to find one actually. Fancied himself a bit of a merchant, but honestly wasn't. Archer build, but also the front line tank. Ended the campaign wearing powered armor but still used a normal-ish looking bow. Oh, and an Adamantine Chainsaw.

'The Wizard Zam', 17th level Wizard (Universalist). Kingmaker AP about 2 years. Played 1-17th. Arrogant and Spiteful man who left Brevoy heartbroken after being betrayed by his fiance. Decided to gain revenge by living better and shoving it in her husband's face. Grew to become the Labor Minister (spymaster) of the Kingdom, and one of the leading business owners in the capital. (Did I ever mention that downtime rules are broken?). Had plans for a reincarnation machine, but didn't finish them before the campaign ended. Has 2 wives and a mistress. Was turned down by 3 party members and his own cohort!

Nobody sane does this. But people make up rumors where the really crazy violent enemy drinks the blood of his victims. What if my character listened to way too many of these stories and starting with his first murder rampage he stared to actually do that?

Any class features, achetypes, feats, spells and magic items that would help with this sort of thing? No Dhampyre things please. Way too cliche and easy.

Simple question, If a Druid makes a herbal concoction for "free" does he use a copy of the spell? Are you limited to the number of times you can cast per day? Do you even need to memorize the spells for the free concoctions?

So lets say I want to make a character to use Healer's Hands and Signature Skill to do healing. Can anyone think of different ways to perform the full round Heal skill check at range?

So I've been playing around with the idea of abusing Shikigami Style plus its 2 other style feats, Catch Off Guard, Suprise Weapon for a free +2 to hit.

Then I started looking through different items that qualify as Improvised Weapons and I found Sledge. This counts as an Earth Breaker. The d20PFSRD counts that as exotic, but Nethys says it is Martial and Nethys is official so...anyways I still want to think about this.

If the class you have doesn't give you proficiency with the weapon equivalent to the improvised weapon you are using, do you take a penalty for non-proficiency on top of the improvised weapon penalty? Even odder, can you treat actual weapons as improvised because you'd have a bunch of benefits from just getting something that performs close to that weapon rather than the actual weapon?

Do you allow improvised weapons to be enchanted? If someone has an improvised weapon crafted out of a special material...does it stop being improvised?

Also, is there a 3rd feat that has Shikigami Style as a prerequisite? I could only find 2.

So I had this really strange idea for abusing Kinetic Fist. It works off of either unarmed or natural attacks, so focus on using race and eventually Polymorph Other to gain natural attacks and make it a Strength based Kineticist.

So basically pick any race that gets Claws. Lizardfolk seem to be made for this. You start off with 3 natural attacks! You just have to deal with that not talking to things for a whole level...well. Think of it as a role playing experience. Maybe convince one of the other players to speak Lizardmen so you can talk to somebody.

Unfortunately you'll be taking burn until you reach 5th level if you plan on doing Full Round Attacks, but taking some burn against the big bad guys should be fine.

Generally I'm thinking about doing some healing with this build so either water or aether. Tending towards Aether so you can pick up TK flight later.

Oh, and for Polymorph Other I was thinking about saving up 1,200gp to get it cast as a service. I figure any metropolis would be able to provide a suitable caster. The target creature would be a Girallon. This gives our reptilian Kineticist +6 str, -2 dex, +2 con, +6 natural armor, 40' base speed, 40' climb speed, 60' darkvision, low light vision, scent, rend, 1 bite and 4 claw attacks, large size with a 10' reach, a humanoid body and the ability to still speak. Certainly there are other Magical Beasts that gain a lot more abilities, but for a permanent form this one is convenient. Saving up the 1,200gp for this transformation should be possible by 3rd or 4th level? The main concern would be finding a NPC that can cast the spell.

So what other feats and abilities would support a brawling Kineticist?

Simple question. A Garoyle is a Monstrous Humanoid. I don't see any polymorph spells that let you become a Monstrous Humanoid. Now Alter Self does allow you to become Humanoid, so you could argue that works? But if you do they its a gargoyle that doesn't fly...

Greater Polymorph can't do it. You can only select animal, humanoid, elemental, plant and dragon. So...why is Gargoyle so widely used if it isn't a valid selection? Or is it? Anyone got a good answer?

So, looking to abuse Battering Blaster at 18th level to basically 1 shot the BBG without making the entire character suck before he reaches the end. Asking if anyone has suggestions on how to improve this build:

Sorcerer, Orc Bloodline, Human.

20 pt buy for stats. str 7 dex 12 con 10 int 14 wis 10 cha 20.

Traits: Accelerated Drinker, Outlander (Lore Seeker) +1 CL Snowball, Dispel Magic, Battering Blast.

1st: Spell focus (evocation), Varissian Tattoo (evocation), Blood Havoc
2nd:
3rd: Fearless, Intensify Spell
4th: (first 2nd level spell: cat's grace)
5th: Spell Specialization: Snowball
6th: get Fireball, switch Spell Spec to Fireball
7th: Widen Spell(blood), Extra Traits: Magic Lineage: Fireball, Wayang Spellhunter: Fireball, (pick up fly for 2nd 3rd level spell)
8th:
9th: Empower Spell, strength of Beasts (blood) (finally pick up Battering Blast)
10th:
11th:Craft Wonderous Item
12th: retrain Extra Traits to Maxamize Spell, retrain Craft:WI to Extra Traits: Same as before, but change to Battering Blast. Can wait to do this till 15th level. Anytime after we're done crafting.
13th: Quicken Spell, Toughness (blood)
14th: change Spell Spec. to Battering Blast (could do this at 12th)
15th: Spell Perfection: Battering Blast, Blood Intensity (I think this can be done?)

Once you can Craft Wonderous Items need to make 1 Orange Prism Ioun Stone (+1 CL, 30,000gp), 1 cracked Orange Prism Ioun Stone (Guidence, 1,000gp), 1 Strand of Prayer Beads: Just the Karma Bead (+4 CL for 10 min, 20,000gp). Of course we're also interested in a headband to boost charisma, and a belt to boost dex, plus anything that might raise our chance to hit with Battering Blast...not that I can think of anything.

The cracked stone lets us sneak a zero level divine spell on to our spells known. That should allow us to use the strand of Prayer Beads. At 15 when we pick up Spell Perfection this should give us +8 CL constantly and another +4 CL for 10 min each day.

So any suggestions to further push CL or boost the chance to hit with ranged touch spells? This character depends on Snowball and Burning Hands below 6th, and then graduates to fireball till about 12th level when he starts using Battering Blast for 3rd level spells. At 15th level he'll start throwing 2 Battering Blasts per round eating through his 3rd and 4th level spell slots. Quickened Intensified B.B. is 8th level with a 3rd level slot. Intensified Maximized Empowered is a 9th level spell cast with a 4th level slot (and a full round action).

I want to get a second opinion on this. If you are under the effects of Mind Blank, and you become invisible for whatever reason what does it take to see you?

Consider the different situations: Casters under the effect of see invisible, and true seeing. Creatures that have EX True Seeing (constant), magic items that provide tremor sense, creatures with tremor sense, anything else you want to consider.

I'm thinking glitter dust and non-magical detection is the only things that will work.

So this is an ability stacking question. Slashing Grace, Unchained Rogue's Finesse, and the Swordlord all give an ability to use Dex instead of Str to determine weapon damage. Two of them are class abilities, and 1 is a feat. Normally abilities from different sources stack, but these are all substitution abilities, right? None of them outright say you add dex mod to damage, right?

So...does anyone think you get dex mod to damage more than once? If you do think so, would 2 different class abilities stack? In other words, would a Unchained Rogue 3, Swordlord 1 with Slashing Grace get dex mod to damage x1, x2 or x3? Please give reasons for your answer!

Seperate question: Do class abilities that essentially give the same flat bonus (without introducing a type) stack?

This is the thought. Lets assume there is a Gunslinger in the party. With someone else around that can craft cheap ammo and basic Firearms at a reasonable price, what about a caster that uses Firearms instead of magic missile? (as in, I don't know what to do so lets shoot it and wait till a spell becomes obvious).

Ground Rules: If the caster is dumping all of their stats and abilities into using a gun then we should of made a gun slinger instead. The gun is suppose to be a non-resource eating mechanic to save spells, not a way to burn more spells. Casting a few long duration or just really useful buffs is fine, but lets not lose sight of the goal which is using bullets instead of spells when we want to kill time. Extra bonus if someone can come up with a way to deliver touch spells via gun.

I'm kind of feeling that Gun Bard might be a thing. Gun Wizard might be interesting. Pistol Cleric? You have to consider that using guns is going to eat at least one feat. Cleric can be feat starved? Lets not cripple a caster by spending all of their feats on Guns.

Oh! One more ground rule: Lets assume the character doesn't start using guns at level 1. Maybe kick it down to level 5 so they can actually afford a pistol or musket and not feel like the 1gp per shot is killing them?

Anyways, lets see if this half baked idea turns into anything good.

Every Paladin like build has a Code of Conduct. Strict rules that need to be followed or the Paladin loses its powers. This isn't the behavior of a "just this once" chaotic being. This isn't the behavior of a neutral "but he didn't mean to break the rule" being. This is the behavior of someone that considers the guiding principles of their life to be a foundation of everything they believe in. This *is* the source of what a Paladin, or Paladin-like person should be.

All of these beings should be inflexible when it comes to their central beliefs. The whole reason each part of the code is given an order is to eliminate the kind of moral ambiguity that Neutrality and Chaos naturally gravitate towards.

If you had a Neutral paladin they would want all of the Code to be held equal in value so they could quibble that they upheld more of the code by acting the way they want to rather than holding one part of the code above others and sacrificing what they really want to do when it fall in line with 90% of their beliefs.

Chaotic Paladins...does a code really even matter? So long as it upholds even one portion of the code shouldn't that be good enough of an excuse? Even if they violate the code, would they feel that someone else needs to validate their atonement? Can't they just forgive themselves? Isn't that what is truly important to a Chaotic being?

Seriously, a Code should be something that matters to a Lawful being, but it shouldn't be a source of strength and a weakness to the other alignments.

Let Paladins be any Lawful alignment, and give them a special exception to worship any deity, even those that do not normally allow Lawful worshipers.

And get rid of Detect Evil. Change it to Detect Anathema, and create an Anathema list for alignments that Paladins who don't follow a deity get.

So, player picked up Arcane Sight with permanency. He's wandering around with a party that has a lot of magic items. He wanders into areas that often have faint enchantments on the entire building.

The question comes up, how much info and how fast should he get it? Lets present a few situations that can be tricky.

The easy one: Invisible spell caster menaces the party. For some reason, the player hasn't invested in See Invisible (yet, he will). How much info should the player get? And how fast?

Second scenario: Party opens a door into a room covered in a magic trap. Dose the Player get to notice the new magic aura before anyone can walk in? How obvious is stuff like this? Does this trump trap detection?

Third scenario: Player searches a room for loot. Does the magic aura of items he failed to make a perception check to find still show up? Like there is a magic coin buried in a pile of bones inside of a ruin that has a same school magic aura on the entire ruin (both weak transmutation). Should our player just become aware of hidden magic items because he has Aura Sight and spends 3 rounds searching a room? (and the hidden items aren't behind things that block detection)

Fourth Scenario: Something carrying a magic weapon sneaks up to the party. Does the magic aura give them away? This seems totally against the spirit of the game and the spell.

I've done some searching in this forum and I've seen a post from 2011. Something that was not addressed is bothering me quite a bit.

http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9n8m

dated August 10th, 2010 says you can create a pearl of power (CL 17 item) as long as you can cast spells of the appropriate level.

However, this conflicts directly with the definition of Caster Level presented in the Advanced Player's Guide under Magic Item Descriptions.

"Caster Level (CL): An item's caster level indicates its relative power. It also determines the item's saving throw bonus, as well as range or other level-dependent aspects of the item's powers (if variable). It also determines the level that must be contended with should the item come under the effect of a dispel magic spell or similar situation.

The creator's caster level must be as high as the item's caster level (and additional requirements may effectively put a higher minimum on the creator's level)." (copied from PRD, no errata for this)

Released same year as the FAQ answer. Appears to be printed in December? Which one takes precedence?

I'm interested because the player wants to create meta magic rods as a CL 10 caster. If he was allowed to create the lesser rods, what would the CL be? Would he inflict a Prerequisite penalty because he doesn't meet the CL? If it is allowed, then wouldn't the CL remain 17 and the end DC for making a lesser meta magic rod of maximize only be a DC 22?