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Three questions regarding the Marshal Path Ability Flexible Confidence.

Confidence (Su) (3rd-tier Marshal Path Ability)
You can draw upon a deep reserve of confidence in times of need. You can call on confidence three times per day to use the surge mythic ability without expending one use of mythic power. You can select this ability up to three times. Each additional time you select it, you gain three additional uses of confidence per day.

Flexible Confidence (Ex) (3rd-tier Marshal Path Ability)
Your resolve is more useful that others'. You can expend the uses of your confidence ability as uses of mythic power for the purposes of your marshal path abilities.

Additional Order (Ex) (1st-tier Marshal Path Ability)
You learn an additional marshal's order ability. You can select this ability twice.

Q1) Does Flexible Confidence allow me to use a 'confidence point' to power my initial Marshal's Order (Advance, Decisive Strike, or Rally)?

Q2) Can I use the 'confidence point' to power the Marshal's Order chosen with the Marshal Path Ability Additional Order?

Q3) Can I use the 'confidence point' to power a Universal Path Ability? In other words, does the "marshal path ability" in Flexible Confidence refer to those path abilities on the marshal list or any path ability taken by the marshal?

Thanks in advance!


There are many times when knowing whether or not a spell's effect is successful is pivotal. I'll propose a few scenarios:

1) A cleric casts command on a baddy. Does the cleric know whether or not the baddy made his save (thus taking him out of battle for one round)? If the baddy failed the save then the cleric can instruct his fellow adventurers to focus their efforts elsewhere.

2) A sorcerer casts fireball on a group. Does she know which, if any, made the save for half damage? To complicate things - the baddies may have Resist or Prot Fire up so a visual is NOT always accurate :) But obviously if the sorcerer KNOWS that two baddies failed the save but are still unharmed then there is some other defense in place.

3) A witch subjects Evil Eye on a baddy. Whether or not the save is made the target succumbs to the effect for one round, but does the witch know whether it will last longer than one round?

4) A wizard casts charm person on a baddy. The baddy makes his spellcraft check to identify the spell and makes his save but makes a bluff check to feign 'charmed'. Does the wizard automatically know that the spell didn't work or can he be bluffed into believing it worked?

Just wondering what the thoughts are out there and how you handle these?


Obviously, it'd be great for any character to know how near death the opposition is. If the baddie is still fresh and invigorated then you may need to use some beef (higher level spell, power attack, better buff). On the flip side, if the character knows the baddie is near death, then those extra resources can be reserved for later (wizard may delay, no need for power attack, hold off on the buff, etc).

So my question is:
Is there RAW defining the PC's knowledge of how many hit points a baddie has remaining?

We have developed a chart that provides rough percentages for any observer:

100% = Full
90 - 99% = Bruised
75 - 90% = Hurt
50 - 75% = Injured
25 - 50% = Wounded
1 - 25% = Maimed

Just curious how others implement this knowledge?


Fell free to skip down to the TLDR.

The boring background:
I am currently running a group of five (20 point buy) through Carrion Crown. We are nearly finished with Wake of the Watcher (Book 4) and will begin WotR at Carrion Crown's completion (my guess is Septemberish). The PC's are level 10 and have been challenged by many of the encounters, especially the Big Bads. We've had two PC deaths, and several dropped PC's so all things seem to be going well. Of course, from all indications, they haven't hit that level 12 threshold where things really get out of control, but we'll see.

I also have a lot of inexperienced gamers at the table:
Barbarian - my 15 year-old daughter who doesn't care to learn the mechanics so much as 'get' the storyline and kill some baddies
Earth Mage - First intro to any D&D system, but dug in and peruses optimization and character build threads to ensure his choices aren't bad, but not necessarily cheesy optimal either.
Life Oracle - First intro to 3.5/Pathfinder and only occasional online reading.
Cleric of Iomedae/Holy Vindicator - First intro to 3.5/Pathfinder but has really learned the Core Book and mechanics and is very savvy with the rules, though his playstyle is very RP based.
Urban Ranger - Very experienced player with 20+ years of various RP settings. His sitting at the table improves all other players.

4 of the 5 will return for the WotR campaign - my daughter will sit out as she's about to get her driver's license and playing games at home on a Friday/Saturday night with a group of 40 year-olds is not necessarily deemed 'cool' :)

We may or may not recruit a 5th.

As a future GM of WotR, I've been keeping up with these threads, in hopes, to learn ways to limit the PC's power. It appears that the 0.5 level per tier assumption is off and it's more like 1 level. I've seen some options to reduce Mythic escalation, but even that seems to not be working all that well - maybe other options?

The nitty gritty:
Obviously, my group is looking forward to using the Mythic rules with WotR. Fortunately, per my request, none of the players have done any research or even cracked the book open yet so what I present them with will be entirely new. I am hoping to implement a reduction in powers gained that will keep the campaign suitably challenging. What I'm specifically looking for is what exactly turns Mythic from fun to broken?

Here are some options I've learned/found that can be used to tone down the power rise of the Mythic PC's. There may be more.

A) Mythic Power
Reduce Power Pool for each PC? By how much?
Reduce amount of Power gained each day?
Reduce amount of Power usable per encounter (per person or party as a whole)?
Increase Power cost of certain abilities? Which ones? (Looking at you Recuperation)

B) Tier abilities
Reduce Stat increases? Remove all or just lower to 1?
Reduce amount of Mythic feats gained?
Weaken some/all base Mythic abilities? Which ones? (Again, Recuperation - looking at you)

C) Path abilites
Remove additional HP's?
Reduce number of Path Abilities gained?

TLDR
To demonstrate I'm not simply asking..."Hey, tell me how to fix my PC's, please!", below is my proposed progression for Mythic PC's for my campaign:

15 point buy

Mythic Abilities
a) 1 Mythic Feat at odd tiers (same as book)
b) 1 Stat Point increase at even tiers (2 per book)
c) 4 Mythic Power at 1st tier...gain 1 Power at each additional tier (I provide 13 Power Pool, book provides 23)
d) Recover Power each day = d(1/2 surge level)...for example, 1st tier can surge for 1d6, so you recover 1d3 Power each day. When your surge becomes d10 at 7th tier, you recover d5 Power per day. (Recover ALL per book)
e) Path Abilities are now 1st, 3rd, and 7th (1st, 3rd, and 6th per book)
f) Gain 1 Path Ability at odd tiers (Gain 1 Ability every tier per book)
g) Gain HP's as per Path (same as book)

Does this seem a significant enough reduction to keep PC's in check? Any input is appreciated.


I'm looking for confirmation regarding the specifics to creating an Amulet of Mighty Fists +2.

AMULET OF MIGHTY FISTS
Aura faint evocation; CL 5th
Slot neck; Price 4,000 gp (+1), 16,000 gp (+2), 36,000 gp (+3), 64,000 (+4), 100,000 gp (+5); Weight —
DESCRIPTION
This amulet grants an enhancement bonus of +1 to +5 on attack and damage rolls with unarmed attacks and natural weapons.

Alternatively, this amulet can grant melee weapon special abilities, so long as they can be applied to unarmed attacks. See Table: Melee Weapon Special Abilities for a list of abilities. Special abilities count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses. An amulet of mighty fists cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +5. An amulet of mighty fists does not need to have a +1 enhancement bonus to grant a melee weapon special ability.

CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, greater magic fang, creator's caster level must be at least three times the amulet's bonus, plus any requirements of the melee weapon special abilities; Cost 2,000 gp (+1), 8,000 gp (+2), 18,000 gp (+3), 32,000 (+4), 50,000 (+5)

Base DC = 10 (5 + 5 caster level)
1) Requires Craft Wondrous Item
2) Greater Magic Fang or additional +5 to DC
3) 6th level caster or additional +5 to DC
4) All requirements for melee weapon special property

#4 is not applicable?

So the DC is either 10, 15, or 20 depending on whether or not the caster:
1) has access to Greater Magic Fang
2) is a 6th level caster

Seems simple enough.

Same process but with an Amulet of Mighty Fists +1 Flaming.

Flaming: Upon command, a flaming weapon is sheathed in fire that deals an extra 1d6 points of fire damage on a successful hit. The fire does not harm the wielder. The effect remains until another command is given.

Moderate evocation; CL 10th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor and flame blade, flame strike, or fireball; Price +1 bonus.

Base DC = 15 (5 + 10 caster level per Flaming)
1) Requires Craft Wondrous
2) Greater Magic Fang or additional +5 to DC
3) 3rd or 6th level caster? 3rd because it's only a +1 enhancement bonus or 6th because it's a total of +2 bonus? My guess is based on the enhancement bonus, so 3rd level caster.
4) All requirements of melee weapon special property:
a) Craft Arms and Armor (is this really required for crafting a wondrous item?)
b) Flame blade, Flame Strike or Fireball or additional +5 to DC

So the DC is either 15, 20, or 25 depending on whether or not the caster AND assumes the caster is 3rd level AND has Craft Arms and Armor:
1) has access to Greater Magic Fang
2) has access to Flame Blade, Flame Strike, or Fireball

My primary questions are:
1) Is Greater Magic Fang required if adding Flaming? My guess is yes.
2) Is Craft Arms and Armor required if adding a weapon special property? My guess is yes.

Thanks in advance.