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Does an armor enhancement bonus stack with a natural armor enhancement bonus? We all think it should, we just want the rules to back us up

Obviously, enhancement bonuses to armor don't stack with other armor enhancement bonuses.

FOR:
IF the enhancement bonuses are added to the bonus they modify BEFORE they are added into AC, then it will be treated as a single armor bonus and a single natural armor bonus.
-One train of logic is that these are each different types of bonuses.
-Core states that armor and shield enhancement bonuses stack, so precedence states that natural armor should as well

AGAINST:
IF the enhancement bonuses are added DURING/AFTER the values are added to AC, then there are technically multiple enhancement bonuses being added.
-Core also lists off other modifiers for AC as enhancement, deflection, natural, dodge, and size. It does not distinguish between armor enhancement and natural armor enhancement
-Core explicitly states that armor enhancement bonuses stack with shield enhancement bonuses (see equipment section). Because it is not explicitly stated that armor and natural armor enhancements stack, they do not

Can someone provide a rule that provides more clarity here?

The cost to add additional abilities to an item is the same as if the item was not magical, less the value of the original item. Thus, a +1 longsword can be made into a +2 vorpal longsword, with the cost to create it being equal to that of a +2 vorpal sword minus the cost of a +1 longsword.

If the item is one that occupies a specific place on a character's body, the cost of adding any additional ability to that item increases by 50%. For example, if a character adds the power to confer invisibility to her ring of protection +2, the cost of adding this ability is the same as for creating a ring of invisibility multiplied by 1.5.

So let's say I add a cloak of resistance +1 to my muleback cords. That should be as follows (If I'm understanding this correctly):

Muleback: 1000gp
Cloak +1: 1000+500
Total: 2500

Now what would the cost be if I wanted to increase the cloak bonus above to a +2? Would it be the 3k for a +1 to +2 cloak? Or the difference between a muleback+cloak +1 (2500gp) and a muleback+cloak +2 (7000gp)? Would this change if I added muleback to the cloak +1 instead?

First off, I'm not sure if this should be in the rules forums or the advice forums. In the Shaman Nature spirit, there is the hex Erosion Curse:

The shaman summons the powers of nature to erode a construct or an object within 30 feet. This erosion deals 1d6 points of damage per 2 shaman levels, ignoring hardness and damage reduction. If used against a construct or an object in another creature's possession, the construct or the creature possessing the object can attempt a Reflex saving throw to halve the damage. Once an object or a construct is damaged by this erosion, it cannot be the target of this hex again for 24 hours.

If an enemy has ridiculous AC due to magic armor, would it be possible to erode say, the undershirt of the armor? Is that considered part of the armor? What penalty would the target take, if any? Would this be entirely up to GM discretion?

What about if a target's socks or bootlaces disappeared?

Could one use this to cause a part of the ceiling to cave in on a target, or a sliver of a nearby structure to fall, such as the overhang of a roof or a panel of wall? Could it be used to damage a 5-ft square on the ground to make it difficult terrain? Fell a tree?

Does the target have to be in sight? I presume so, that you wouldn't be able to target the hinges on the other side of a door, or the deadbolt/lock itself to disable it

Would it work through the Crystal sight of the stone spirit?

I apologize for resurrecting a dead thread, here is the official answer:

Improved Familiars: There are various ways for characters other than arcane spellcasters to gain familiars at this point, and some of those options even grant Improved Familiar as a bonus feat, but technically each Improved Familiar option requires a certain arcane spellcaster level to take it. Does that mean that non-arcane characters with Improved Familiar have a dead feature? How does it work? If it does work, can I take an Improved Familiar as some kind of variant familiar or a temporary familiar like the occultist’s soulbound puppet?

The Improved Familiar description was written back when only arcane spellcasters could have familiars, and it wasn’t sufficiently future-proofed. To that end, you can always substitute your effective wizard level for the purpose of determining your familiar’s abilities for “arcane spellcaster level” to determine the available improved familiars for your character. In general, you can take Improved Familiars for class-granted variant familiars like a shaman’s spirit animal, with a few exceptions: First, temporary familiars like the occultist’s soulbound puppet can’t become Improved Familiars from the Improved Familiar feat, and those class features don’t qualify you to take the Improved Familiar feat. Second, tumor familiars, as lumps of flesh in the shape of animals, can’t become Improved Familiars. In other cases, treat Improved Familiar as if it was an archetype to see if it stacks with other familiar options: since the two things it alters from a regular familiar are that it removes the ability to speak with animals of its kind and it prevents changing the creature type for non-animals, you couldn’t make a familiar that changes the creature type of non-animals or alters or removes speak with animals of its kind an Improved Familiar.

I've seen threads on the standard monk vow and telepathy and how they are compatible (though I can't find an official ruling on it), is the same true for the MoTSM's vow of silence?

At 17th level, a monk of the sacred mountain becomes as impassive as stone, making a vow of silence in exchange for greater abilities. The monk gains a +2 insight bonus to AC and CMD and a +4 bonus on Sense Motive, Stealth, and Perception checks. The monk does not lose the capacity for speech, but if he ever speaks, he loses this feature for 24 hours. This ability replaces tongue of the sun and the moon.

Beast rider does specifically open up the option for the GM to approve other mounts

You could also take a look at the Beast Rider archetype, you'd lose heavy armor proficiency and Expert Trainer though, and you wouldn't be able to ride a gecko until lvl4, as it starts as small: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary/animalCompanions.html#giant-gec ko-companions

I'm playing a monk of the empty hand who specializes in throwing improvised weapons, and I'm about to hit lvl5, where I would get Ki Weapons, which states:

At 5th level, a monk of the empty hand may spend 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action to deal damage equal to his unarmed strike damage with an improvised weapon for 1 round. At 11th level, the monk may spend ki to grant an enhancement bonus or magical weapon abilities to an improvised weapon for 1 round, at the rate of 1 point of ki per +1 bonus or its equivalent. The monk may not spend more than 3 points of ki at one time for this purpose. For example, a monk can spend 2 points of ki to give his improvised weapon a +1 enhancement bonus and the ki focus quality, or just the flaming burst quality. At 15th level, the limit increases to 5 ki per round. The monk may use this ability to add magical weapon qualities to improvised weapons that could not normally have such a quality, such as adding the disruption quality to a slashing weapon, or the vorpal quality to a bludgeoning weapon. This ability replaces purity of body and diamond body.

Do I need to spend a ki point for each improvised weapon in a turn? Or do I spend 1 ki point for the round?

Even setting aside the fact that Improved Critical never stacks with other crit range increases

Slightly off topic, but there is at least one instance where Improved Critical stacks--The Inspired Blade Swashbuckler's 20th level ability

this combination would never come up because there is no such thing as 'Improved Critical (Improvised Weapons)'. You can only take Improved Critical with an actual weapon that you have proficiency with.

I've recently created a MoTEH, and James Jacobs has answered quite a few questions on the matter. Here is my research. This addresses the weapon focus aspect as well, so there is a way where you could have 'Improved critical (specific improvised weapon)'. Whether you'd want to or not is a different story

I apologize for the confusion, I was looking for clarification on points 1-5 and the new question was number 6, as SlimGauge described, thanks for the help!

I apologize for the bump, I could really use clarification here

I'm in the midst of creating a Monk of the Empty hand, and am having a slight bit of confusion. I've found numerous MoTEH threads, and I think I understand it, but there is one topic I've not seen addressed: Thrown weapons with MoTEH.

First, I'd like to clarify my findings for if I'm understanding these correctly:

1) Do MoTEH take a penalty for fighting with Improvised weapons?

According to James Jacobs in his AMA thread, they do not:

LoreKeeper wrote:

Dear James Jacobs:

True or false? Monks of the empty hand take a -4 penalty to attacks when wielding improvised weapons.

The monk of the empty hand treats improvised weapons as if she were proficient in them, and can wield normal weapons as improvised weapons. This effectively has the same end effect as the Catch Off-Guard feat, but isn't a feat and thus doesn't use up a feat slot since it's a variant class ability. Thus, they do not take a nonproficient penalty when using improvised weapons. The text is not as clear as it could have been, I guess, but hopefully common sense can step in to bolster that if someone doesn't read this post?

(We COULD have simply said, "The monk of the empty hand gains "Catch Off-Guard" as a bonus feat, I guess, but that would have lost the flavor bit about how they often wield normal weapons as improvised weapons.)

However, he does go on to say that the MoTEH does not gain Catch off-guard or throw anything as bonus feats for the purposes of acquiring other feats:

If the monk wants the feats themselves (perhaps to qualify for other feats, or because the monk wants the extra stuff those feats grant), they'd have to get the feats normally, yes.

2) Do the MoTEH damage equivalencies map to non-weapons?

Again, no, they act like normal improvised weapons:

KleptoWithADDMotEH wrote:

I apologize if this has been answered already... but I was wondering if you could clarify, a monk of the empty hand... if they pick up a random item (from a quill to a mug etc)... do you treat it as an improvised weapon? or do you break it down to the three listed items? OR are those three weapon equivalents only for a monk of the empty hand that chooses to pick up an actual weapon?

Those three weapon equivalents are for weapons only. Non weapons like quills and mugs are treated as normal improvised weapons.

3) Does the MoTEH benefit from any properties of a weapon that is now considered improvised?

I'm seeing a no on this one too, both magical and standard weapon properties (such as reach):

MisterSlanky wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

Nope. If you use a weapon as an improvised weapon, you're not using it as it was intended to be used. You thus don't gain any of the trip, reach, disarm, whatever type benefits granted by the weapon.

While the monk of the empty hand is versatile in what he can use as weapons... he's NOT very versatile in the TYPES of weapons he uses. His combat maneuver tricks come from feats and class abilities, not the weapons he gets to use.

Going a step further with this, what about magic weapons? What happens if a monk of the empty hand wants to use a +2 two-handed sword as an improvised weapon. Does it provide its bonuses? Is it even considered "magical" for beating DR. What if said weapon were a bow rather than a melee weapon, would things change?

No bonuses. In the hands of a monk of the empty hand, a +4 keen vorpal longsword is no different than a broken scimitar.

4) Can Weapon focus help a MoTEH at all?

Not really:

LoreKeeper wrote:

My apologies for bothering again, but back to the monk of the empty hand: Is there a way for him to benefit from weapon focus for his improvised weapon attacks? I suspect "Weapon Focus (improvised)" does not count. But if the monk took Martial Weapon Proficiency (quarterstaff), then Weapon Focus (quarterstaff); would his attacks with two-handed weapons (which function as an improvised quarterstaff) benefit from the Weapon Focus (quarterstaff) feat?

...by extension, can the monk take Martial Weapon Proficiency (quarterstaff) at level 1 and become a monk of the empty hand and a weapon adept (quarterstaff)?

Nope; Weapon Focus specifically requires a weapon to focus on. "Improvised weapon" is a HUGE category of weapons... an analogy would be taking Weapon Focus (slashing weapons). Best you could do, I suppose, would be to pick the type of improvised weapon you'd be using most often and take the Weapon Focus in that feat—say, Weapon Focus (broken bottle) or Weapon Focus (folding chair).

If the monk took Weapon Focus in an actual weapon, he'd only gain the bonuses when using THAT weapon, not a weapon that emulates the weapon.

Unless, of course, you have a generous GM.

5) Does a MoTEH weapon proficiencies preclude having other proficiencies? i.e. Can a MoTEH never learn to use other weapons? It seems absurd, some threads have come to that conclusion. Based on the following post, though it addresses a different topic, lends itself to yes, they can learn other weapons:

LoreKeeper wrote:

A new book (the awesome campaign setting!) a new question: does the monk of the empty hand benefit as beautifully from Dervish Dance as I imagine it? In other words, can an empty hand monk flurry a scimitar and use Dexterity for attack and damage? Naturally the scimitar is reduced to a 20/x2 weapon, rather than 18-20/x2. A side question: how does the "piercing" aspect of the Dervish Dance interact with the monk of the empty hand? (I assume that the feat is a more-specific override of the general rule that the archetype provides.)

The monk of the empty hand can only benefit from Dervish Dance if he is proficient with the scimitar, and uses the scimitar as a scimitar, NOT as an improvised weapon. If the monk of the empty hand uses a scimitar as an improvised weapon using his class ability, it's no longer being used as a scimitar, and thus he gains no benefit at all from Dervish Dance whatsoever. So the piercing aspect doesn't interact at all with the monk of the empty hand.

The only way to gain the benefits of Dervish Dance is to use a scimitar as a scimitar. Which the monk of the empty hand can only do by NOT using his empty hand improvised weapon abilities.

6) Now, for the unanswered question(s): Can a MoTEH flurry of blows with thrown improvised weapons? Based on the answer to 1), yes? Would it be the range increment 10ft and do damage as the improvised weapon? AKA if I throw a short sword as an improvised weapon in a flurry, will it do 1d6 damage? Can I use the lvl5 power to amplify the damage of said thrown improvised weapon?

Thanks to any who took the time to read all of this and for any comments on if I'm interpreting these correctly

I apologize for the confusion, in our group we call them critical fails. What I meant was rolling a natural 1 on a trip attempt, which y'all have answered rather unanimously, thank you

Ascalaphus, additional thanks for pointing out that resource.

Wonderful, thanks y'all!

So even with 10ft natural reach, I can only accurately throw a spear 20ft? Or an improvised weapon I could only throw it as far as I could reach accurately? Or does the range of the thrown weapon start at the end of my natural reach?

Howdy, y'all

Playing around with an idea for a flying blade fighter, and I'm curious if tripping the enemies is a reasonable focus for the AoO's.

I've seen multiple threads about if it is possible to trip with a non-trip weapon, and have not seen an official ruling, so I'm leaving that segment up to my GM unless someone has a truly official ruling.

My question here is if you critically fail on a trip attempt, but your total is within 10 of your target's CMD, do you fall prone?

Howdy y'all, I've got a GM who is allowing me to play a Trox Brawler (large creature, strength based). I'm looking to pick up some sort of ranged weapon just to have, so I was just going to grab some Javelins or Spears...but it doesn't make sense to me that I can reach ten feet and only throw a spear an additional ten feet. Are there rules anywhere about modifying thrown weapon ranges based on size? Thanks in advance

Duh, I should have seen that.

So let's say I take a new companion my first three levels.
1st lv: normal feats
2nd lv: outflank for myself and companion 1
3rd lv: I share my teamwork feats with companion 2, and then use the bonus to share with companion 3.

Final result:
Me: Outflank+other teamwork
C1: Outflank
C2: Outflank+other teamwork
C3: Outflank+other teamwork

As Precise Companion and teamwork feats are two separate abilities, this is a legal scenario, isn't it?

Level two of hunter states:

"Precise Companion (Ex): At 2nd level, a hunter chooses either Precise Shot or Outflank as a bonus feat. She does not need to meet the prerequisites for this feat. If she chooses Outflank, she automatically grants this feat to her animal companion as well."

If the Packmaster chooses Outflank, is that granted to a single animal companion or all of them?

Thanks!

In other words, all of this is a completely bogus idea outside the realm of this particular GM's game, which I'm not at all surprised at. Thanks for the info!

I am currently participating in a LV8/MT2 campaign where my dwarf's primary attack is jumping forty feet into the air and body slamming onto a spiked tower shield on my opponents, courtesy of the aerial assault/mythic paragon combo at first tier. My questions on this thread are primarily to verify that I am using my character correctly.

First, does titanic armor count as being one size larger for slam damage?

I know tower shields cannot be used to shield bash, but is a slam with a spiked tower shield legal? More specifically, when I charge and jump into the air, can I land on a spiked tower shield on top of someone and do a nice chunk of damage?

Presuming that these both are true, how much damage would I be doing? My GM has ruled that I am considered incredibly dense for the purpose of falling damage, hence...
3d6 (normal medium creature)
4d6 (density=more damage, per GM)
6d6 (titanic increase)
8d6 (when enlarged by titanic)
+appropriately sized damage for spikes
+2d6 (rhino hide enchantment)

Also, are there rules somewhere for getting hit by a cannonball in terms of getting knocked down? I charged a 20ft tall creature and hit it in the head/chest area, how would I knock them prone with that? Would it be bullrush, trip, or something else? Would I have to intentionally try to knock them down or can momentum do that?

Thanks in advance!

Hey y'all, I'm wondering how one should go about requesting additions to the PRD, specifically some of the tables in the back of the bestiaries. Thanks!

Last year I attended the GenCon convention in Indianapolis, where there was a decent sized PFS group there. There was a software on some laptops there that provided a very easy and balanced way to make characters. Is that software reserved for official Paizo events or is it available to the casual gamer?

Another Beast rider question-At 7th level, it says to apply this template:

"Size Large; Ability Scores Str +2, Dex –2, Con +2. Increase the damage of each of the mount's natural attacks by one die size."

But the 7th level enhancement of the ankylosaurus, for example, is this:

"Size Large; AC +2 natural armor; Attack tail (2d6); Ability Scores Str +8, Dex –2, Con +4; Special Qualities stun."

Which one is the appropriate template?

In the Ultimate Combat book, the cavalier archetype Beast Rider is giving me some trouble. It says that the animal must be large enough for the beast rider to ride upon (large or huge for a medium creature), but all the animals listed for fourth level are medium creatures with not enough strength to carry any medium creature. The combination I was hoping for was a Vishkanya (bestiary 3) riding an ankylosaurus (bestiary 1), of which the section on beast riders permits. Am I supposed to take the actual creature size for the monster listed in the bestiary, or use the animal companion section made for it? If the former is correct, what does it mean about effective druid levels? What would I be gaining at 7th level then? Here is a link to the problem page: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/classArchetypes/cavalier. html