Michael Grate's page

The new Archetype/multiclass system is great, don't get me wrong. I don't have a problem with it.

That said, I still enjoyed the old system that replaced class features, rather than feat slots, with different ones to suit playstyle. I think it gave a fair bit of depth and variety to each class beyond feats. That's not to say there's no in class variety now since a fair number of feats seem to more directly interact with class features (IE. choosing Monastic Weaponry for a Monk at level 1 is sort it's own archetype) but I did still enjoy the system.

Having started Pathfinder 2E recently, I thought it would be fun to convert some of my character concepts to 2E starting with the first character I made for 1E. He was a Cavalier based around the charge action and was pretty fun. However, the issue I'm running into is that as I'm reading through the rules for Animal Companions, mounts and mounted combat, I'm not sure I'm understanding everything.

It seems like there are a lot of somewhat overlapping "if;then" scenarios so I was hoping to clarify exactly how this worked and make sure I didn't miss anything.

1. Assuming I'm commanding a creature that is friendly toward me, I could use "Command an Animal" to try and get it to do something like stride. I would use an action on my turn to command it, then, if successful, it would use an action on it's turn to follow what I said. If I commanded it to do something that took more than 1 action (Gallop for example), I would have to spend the same number of actions

2. If I have an animal that isn't combat trained (mount or otherwise) and bring it into an encounter, it becomes Frightened 4 and tries to flee unless I successfully command it in which case, it remains frightened but doesn't flee. It it's attacked, it will try to flee again.

3. If I'm riding an animal and/or the creature I'm commanding is my Animal Companion, it acts on my initiative

4. If I'm riding an animal that is not my animal companion, we essentially share the 3 actions for the turn (so I command it to move as my first action and it moves for the first action, I attack for the second action and it does nothing for the second action etc.).

5. If the animal I'm commanding (mount or otherwise) is my animal companion, when I command it it gains 2 of it's own actions for the turn rather than sharing my action pool as per the minion special ability that it gains. This would mean, for example, if I used the horse's advanced maneuver, Gallop, I would use 2 actions to command it, then it would use 2 actions performing leaving me with a 3rd action to use.

6. If I'm mounted, commanding my animal companion or both, we both still share MAP because we act on the same initiative

7. If I command an animal that is my animal companion, I don't need to roll nature to do so essentially meaning I automatically succeed.

8. If I happen to be on a creature that doesn't have the mount special ability, it can't move and use it's support skill in the same turn and it can only use it's land speed if it had any other speed available.

9. Animal Companions are gained as Young Animal Companions. They level with me (so they gain proficiency as normal) and I can advance them by taking certain feats such as Loyal Warhorse if I was a Champion (possibly other ways as well).

Assuming everything above is correct, I still have a few questions:

1. How do I know an animal is combat trained? On this page it says that the Warpony and Warhorse are combat trained but I can't find any actual indication on their bestiary entries of this nor can I find anything indicating that any other animal is combat trained. Do I just assume that an animal companion is combat trained? Do I assume it isn't? If it's the latter, is there a way to do so? 1E specifically had a way to do this but I couldn't find anything for 2E.

2. When it comes to an animal companion's actions, specifically one I'm mounted on, how are our actions timed relative to each other? For example, if I use an action to command my horse to stride towards an enemy that's 15 feet away, can I use my second action to strike the enemy while my horse finishes the rest of it's stride or would I have stop before the strike and use my 3rd action to command it to do another stride? Similarly, if I command my horse to stride, does it immediately do so or could I command it, use a different action, then have it move after?

3. How would something like Tumble Through work if I'm mounted? I assume I would need to command it but would be both work on the same roll or both roll separately? I don't think it's possible for the rider to do since I'm pretty sure the only move action allowed is to dismount. Would I even be able to command the mount to do it? I believe tricks and other actions can be trained so would I have to do so first?

4. How does the lesser cover granted by the mount work? If I had to guess it would be something like, if a small and maybe medium creature tried to attack the rider, the mount would be in the way so it grants lesser cover but not against a large creature or something with significant reach but I wanted to clarify.

Maybe I missed the rule but I wasn't able to find any indication that damage was dealt if a character was thrown against a wall and if so, what the damage calculation would be.

I'm planning a potential Monk build focused on doing a Flurry followed by a grapple followed by throwing the enemy using Whirlwind Throw. However, if I found myself in a smaller room for example (having 30+feet available in every encounter seems unlikely) or I just wanted to throw them into something to force them to use a only single Stride action to get back to me, I wanted to know if doing so would cause damage and if so, what that damage would be.

Whirlwind Throw only deals damage based on how far the creature was thrown and doesn't mention if they hit something so I assume I just lose the damage in that case. I couldn't find any rules about it and the closest I did find were other feats but they were specific to using the Shove action (Improved Knockback, Powerful Shove). The base action of Shove also doesn't mention any damage calculation for a creature hitting a wall which is why I assume those feats do.

I'm building a Lizardfolk Monk. After reading through the feats available, I saw that the Monk can get Brawling Focus in order to get the Critical Specialization for all Unarmed strikes while Lizardfolk gets access to a heritage feat called Iruxi Unarmed Cunning which does the same but just for Lizardfolk natural weapons. I know I can use any unarmed attack for the purpose of Flurry of Blows but I'm wondering how this interacts with stances.

To clarify, I'm not looking to replace or change the actual attack of the stance. The main thing I'm asking is if I have to use fists specifically or if, for the purpose of getting critical specialization, I can say I'm using my claws for the stance attack.

My second question is just about Natural attacks, specifically the Tail Whip attack (though Sharp Fangs could work too). Because this attack doesn't use the hands, can I use this while my hands are full? I'd assume so because it's also an unarmed attack but because it's not a fist it doesn't follow standard free-hand rules.

I'm building a Monk and like to plan my feats. Fuse Stance is supposed to be a strong finishing feat for the Monk but I was wondering how it interacted with the secondary stance feats which require I be in their respective stance to use

For example, if I fused Tangled Forest Stance and any other (save for Crane and Mountain) and used the Lashing Branch attack, would I also gain the benefit of Tangled Forest Rake if I had the feat?

The reason I ask is because Fused Stance says to give the new stance a unique name and the requirements for the secondary stance feats all say you have to be in a particular stance to use. The unique name could either be taken as flavor (you made a thing, have fun naming it) or it could mean that because the new stance is different from the respective parts it's made up of, you aren't technically in those stances so you don't get the benefits of the secondary stance feats.

It also says you get all effects of the stances chosen. I assumed effects referred to the secondary text such as the damage resistance of Ironblood Stance though it feels ambiguous enough that it could also mean the secondary feats (that it, these secondary stance feats become part of the stance so when fused, it includes them as well). Again, I'm not sure.

Fuse Stance
You have combined two stances into a single stance all your own. When you take this feat, choose two stances you know and combine them into a single fused stance. Give your new fused stance a unique name. When you enter your fused stance, you gain all the effects of both stances, including the requirements and restrictions.

Tangled Forest Rake
Requirements: You are in Tangled Forest Stance.

Armor Trick

The Light Armor trick, Reflexive Mobility, looks interesting, especially for a ranged based build that may have gotten Combat Reflexes through bonus feat (or selected it for some reason). But I'm not sure if it works the way I think it does.

You have learned to sacrifice an opportunity to wound an opponent in order to avoid being wounded yourself. When you provoke an attack of opportunity from an opponent, you can expend one of your own potential attacks of opportunity for that round to double the bonus to your AC that you gain from the Mobility feat against that attack. This benefit applies to all attacks of opportunity that you provoke with the same action. If you are unable to take any more attacks of opportunity this turn, you cannot use this ability.

The issue I'm having is that while this feat doesn't say you have to provoke because of movement (indicating you can use it on other provokes such as attacking with a bow) but it also specifies the use of the bonus from mobility which is only a movement based provocation.

You get a +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against attacks of opportunity caused when you move out of or within a threatened area.

So can this bonus from mobility be applied to any AoO that you may provoke or does it just apply to the movement based ones that mobility covers?

I have a Charger mount. I am a level 16 cavalier in the Order of the Cockatrice and have Demanding Challenge.

I was told a while ago that Mounted Challenge does not grant the mount these bonuses (extra damage while threatening alone and dropping enemy AC against others) but I was never told why. It would seem that by RAW the mount should gain these since both are part of the challenge:

When ridden by a cavalier, chargers gain half of the bonuses and penalties granted by the cavalier's challenge class feature.

Each cavalier's challenge also includes another effect which is listed in the section describing the cavalier's order.

And Demanding Challenge is an expansion on the basic Challenge class feature gained through leveling up.

So does the mount gain these features? If not then why? Thank you for the help.

Defender/Escort mode:

Prerequisites-Must be at least character level 4

Backstory-Your group decides to take a break but still need some in flow of money, your group decides to revisit an old dungeon you’ve previously completed for fun/nostalgia, or you simply go into a dungeon that happens to be of a lower difficulty than your group is used to. When in the dungeon you find another group stuck and unable to advance so you join with them to get them through the dungeon, possibly for a reward.

Setup-First choose how many people will be in the lower level group. To determine how many members are in the other party, a 1:1 system would work the best so each individual has someone to protect If Exp. and other rewards are doled out together to keep everyone at the same level then one should roll a dice based on the amount of party members in the party:
Members in Party Dice
1-4 d-4
4-7 d-6
8-11 d-8
12-16 d-12
Anything above-Roll a d-12 plus a d-4 for every new grouping of up to 4 (for example if the party has 23 member, roll two d-4’s plus the d-12 (initial d-12, 1 d-4 for the 4 over 16 and one d-4 for the 3 over that))
Note-These are just a general suggestion and the GM may opt to add or remove members at their discretion.

The dungeon being entered should be no more than 3 levels lower in difficulty than what your characters can handle and no less than 2 levels higher in difficulty than what the other characters can handle. Though typically done in a lower level dungeon, one on par with your level or higher may be used. (Note-the level of a dungeon can either be gotten from various random dungeon generators or if homebrewed should be determined by the GM)

Making the characters-One could effectively make the characters they wish to use. Fully pre-generated characters will be the quickest but rolling for attributes or even building them from scratch will work as well.

Where they are found-The group should already be in the dungeon when you arrive. Where in the dungeon is up to the GM but should be relatively close to the entrance. Most of the time they would be unable to get passed a relatively (compared to them) tough fight or trap and may already have battle damage. To make things more realistic the GM could keep a mental note of approximately how long the player’s group takes to reach the other group and may opt to kill off one or more of the members of the lower level team and drop the exp. gain as a result. Otherwise the GM can have the other team in a waiting in a safe place or have things begin when the player group gets close enough to save the lower level group.

Who to protect-In a group protection all members of the lower group are protected by the player group collectively.
In a single protection style of play, typically the lower levels would decide who they would be most comfortable with based on the following in this order:
1. If two species have a hatred toward each other (for example Elves and Gnomes, see Commanding for further information) then they should not work together at all.
2. Alignment (the closer in alignment the more comfortable they should be together)
3. Things both have in common such as god/s worshiped (or lack thereof), species, class and major defining features (such as two people with an animal companion or two people with wings.) This category is mainly up to GM discretion and importance should be determined by them.
Protection-You must make your best effort to get the person/people whom you are to protect out to safety.

Commanding-In general the lower level members will act autonomously but if necessary, members of the player party can command the lower level party based on the following.
The closer together the party member/s is/are with the lower level/s they have to protect the easier they are to get along and the more likely they are to listen to commands. To command a lower level character, one needs to perform a diplomacy check unless of the same alignment in which case the lower level character will, in most cases, follow your orders. If not, the DC for making the diplomacy check is 5 times the number of alignment steps away from your characters alignment.
The DC for the command is reduced by 2 for each thing in common your character has with the lower level character.
If a command is given that you or one of your party members will also be performing with them or are already performing (such as assisting in an attack) then the DC is reduced by 1 per your party member. If multiple lower level members will be performing the task then the DC is reduced by 2 for each.
In the case of defining hatred (such as Elves vs Gnomes) the lower level character may still act in accordance with a command if their life is in danger. If their life would not be in danger for ignoring the command then they may listen but the command is rolled at a +20. In this case, things in common and how many player members do the command do not make a difference and the lower level party members doing the same action only reduces the DC by 1.
The character commanding must speak the same language as the one being commanded. Though almost all species learn common, if one cannot learn common and doesn’t know another language the commander does then they must be commanded by non-language based means (DC +15) unless someone else who can translate is available.
If for any reason the commander cannot speak, they may still get their message across. If one tries to issue a non-verbal command, the DC-increases by 10 and those with hatred for one another cannot be commanded and would only follow what the rest of their party does.
If successfully commanded, the lower level character will listen to most things they are told to do as long as they don’t perceive a danger in doing so (EI. the command would lead them into a trap they can see). They also have more loyalty to their own party than your character. As such, they will also not listen to a command that will endanger their own party members. They will not listen to a command that they are incapable of completing.

Finishing-Gaining exp. is dependent on whether or not the one whom you were charged with protecting survives or how many members of the group survive.
If said character/s survive the dungeon then you would gain the normal amount of exp. for the dungeon times the amount of levels the dungeon is higher than those you were in charge of protecting (for example, if the dungeon was 3 levels higher than the lower level characters then you would multiple the amount of exp. gained by 3) You may use a resurrection type of spell if able and still have the other character count as alive if done before exiting the dungeon. This will work for any method that brings a character back as they were before death.
If protecting as a group, dole the exp. to each player normally. If a lower level player dies then reduce the portion of exp. you would have gained from that character being alive from the total before doling out the exp.
If protecting solo and the character you were protecting (if only 1) died and was not revived, your character gains no exp..
If protecting solo and one of the characters you were protecting (if more than 1) died and was not revived, then find the total amount of exp. you would have normally gained, divide the amount by how many characters you protected and subtract from your total gain by the amount from those who died.
In the case of someone with an animal companion the exp. ratio should be treated as the main character is worth ¾ and the animal companion is worth ¼ if the character has a legitimate connection to the creature (for example, an Anti-paladin Seal Breaker Corps Rider would have no connection to their mount as it is an Undead Quadruped able to be summoned as needed so in this case only the rider would count for exp.). If the animal companion is still alive but the character is dead then ¼ the exp. will be awarded. If only the main character can make it out then ¾ the exp. will be awarded.
The GM may choose to award half experience in any case where the body of the dead character or creature can be brought out of the dungeon to possibly be revived later.
Splitting the wealth-This is entirely up to the GM if the lower level characters will share their wealth/items from the dungeon or through payment for the rescue.

If you have any questions or I may have made a mistake, ask/let me know and I'll answer your question or fix the issue.

What items could be bought that do damage reduction?

Currently I know about Adamantine armor but the armor my character uses is Mammoth Hide for the extra charge damage and I have the War lance and I'm not sure if they would allow me to keep the 2 handed damage while 1 handing a lance (some do, some don't, it's an issue I read about)

The Belt of Stoneskin but I'm using the stat boosting belt so I can't use that.

I also couldn't use the Stalwart feat because I'm already feat starved and I don't do total defense actions.

No one on the team can cast iron body.

I like the Juggernaut Pauldrons but those are pretty expensive and we have someone who can cast Deadly Juggernaut but the bonus isn't constant so it's not the best option.

I'm a cavalier so the rage feats won't work.

So, are there any options I missed here?

Therefore, such a character must also take more time to cast a metamagic spell (one enhanced by a metamagic feat) than he does to cast a regular spell. If the spell's normal casting time is a standard action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action for a sorcerer or bard. (This isn't the same as a 1-round casting time.) The only exception is for spells modified by the Quicken Spell metamagic feat, which can be cast as normal using the feat.

A spellcaster can apply multiple metamagic feats to a single spell. Changes to its level are cumulative. You can't apply the same metamagic feat more than once to a single spell.

So if a Bard were to cast a Persistent Hold Person then it would require a full round action using up a 4th level spell the bard can cast.

So what if I cast a Quickened Persistent Hold Person? It would use an 8th level spell the bard can cast (doable with a high enough charisma score unless I'm missing something and it simply isn't possible) but what about the action it takes to cast it? Would it go back to being a Standard action or does it become a swift action?

Exquisite Accompaniment
Shadowbard
Virtuoso Performance
I am completely confused on how or if these three spells can interact.

First, what is the difference between Exquisite Accompaniment and Shadowbard. Besides Exquisite Accompaniment expending rounds of Bardic Performance when switching performances, they both read almost the same way. Is that seemingly small difference worth two spell levels or am I missing something?

Second, can I use one or both of these to have multiple bardic performances going at once. If yes then what is the point of Virtuoso Performance and if no then what's the point of the other two spells?
This also might be an obvious answer but if either or both of these spells can allow me to make multiple performances at once, can they interact with Virtuoso Performance? I only ask because technically I'm not making the second performance, a spell entity is but this is likely a stretch.

Third, if both can make extra performances, can they stack together? They don't have the restriction that Virtuoso Performance has so would it be possible to stack them?

Forth, what happens if one uses Virtuoso Performance while doing something that allows you to avoid expending Bardic Performance rounds. If my character uses the Tuned Bowstring or Exquisite Accompaniment (I've read that the use of this spell might only be to allow you to get free performance rounds and that it doesn't allow for anything else which would make sense for a 3rd level spell).

ShadowBard
Bardic Masterpieces

So, as the question says, can the Shadowbard use a masterpiece the bard has? I want to say yes (see quotes below) but I'm not sure and wanted to clarify in case there was some official ruling on this or if I'm just wrong. (I should note, since the shadowbard specifies that it's a phantom singer, assume the Masterpiece uses the sing performance like Life Budding in Salted Earth or Vindictive Soliloquy)

When a shadowbard comes into being, it immediately begins a bardic performance of your choice—it has access to all of the bardic performances that you do.

Talented bards can learn or create masterpieces, unusual applications of the bardic performance ability requiring special training.

I made an NPC witch whose primary purpose is to buff her team from afar using the cackle, scar and fortune hex (search Stay at Home Hexer for the build).
She is basically Professor X and yes, I did make her paraplegic.
Why?

So she is constantly buffing the team but there are a few spells I like such as Infernal Healing.
The obvious issue is that she's basically immobile without magic so she can't do something like run up and cast this and other spells and because she's also frail (and for flavor) she will stay too far away for her allies to run to her. So I was wondering if there was some way to work it where she could use spells from one location as if she were in another location close enough to her allies or as if they were close enough to her.

If this is possible it would have to be something in a constant effect so she doesn't have to repeatedly cast that spell (cackle is a move action and most spells are standard actions) which would also cost spell slots. Line of sight is already taken care of so that's not a concern.

I know she can deliver touch spells through her familiar but not all of the spells will be touch spells (some might be close range for example) and it's a greensting scorpion (I wanted the boost in perception) which is both frail and having it run back and forth would take too long.
She has the Enlarge Spell metamagic feat but that doesn't help with touch spells and again, with her frailty and flavor she will be pretty far away.

One last note, this isn't a big deal if it doesn't work, it's more just a way to get a little extra out of a specialized NPC if it's possible. Thank you in advance.

The issue I'm having is with the following

You can move up to half your normal speed and use Stealth at no penalty. When moving at a speed greater than half but less than your normal speed, you take a –5 penalty.

It doesn't say what happens when moving at your full speed. So if a creature has a speed of 30. They can move up to 15ft without taking a penalty on stealth, they can move 20-25ft and take a -5 on the stealth check but what happens if they move 30ft? Do they take a -10?

The Stay at Home Hexer was a concept build by StreamOfTheSky. I was looking for a speciality build and this pretty much fit the bill. The issue now is that I really don't understand how it works.

Based on the recent buff Scar...Make sure the entire party and your familiar is scarred. Scar, Fortune, and Cackle are the workhorses of this build...

So, unless the concept is based on old information that has since been changed, my understanding is that the scar hex, because it effectively gives the witch a body part of the target(s) (in this case the team), she is also counted as being within 30ft of them for the purpose of the cackle hex.
Is that how this works? Is it legitimate within the rules? It seems fine but I wanted to confirm to make sure since a hex isn't a spell (or maybe it's a special kind of spell?)
Could it have something to do with the familiar being hexed as well (which is specifically mentioned)?

I'm working on a home-brew campaign in which the players are going to be taken to prison prior to beginning their adventure (reasoning varies as to why).

I'm want to allow the players (when they have access to whatever) to increase their ability scores through various activities.

Strength is easy with a strength check against a bench press weight (the way it would work is that you gain a point in strength by achieving a new max weight, DC increases with weight (I haven't calculated out the exact amount yet). If the player has previously done a rep set (repeated lower strength checks (again, not calculated yet) then they can lower the max weight DC by a certain amount (the numbers and rules get more in depth with this to prevent abuse of the system, see below))

After this I'm not sure of what to do.

I was thinking for Constitution it would be running with a DC check based on the forced march rules to stave off taking the nonlethal damage and fatigue for a number of rounds to gain the bonus.
The issue I have here is I can't think of a secondary system to drop the max DC like the rep set does for the strength check (it's necessary to allow those with a +0 or +1 to gain a couple of points (see below for specifics)).

For dexterity I'm not sure. Maybe pullups or something but I don't think that would be a dex check and it has the same issue as the constitution check

For Charisma the only thing I can think of is having positive interactions with people but I don't want it to be a system where you rack up stuff to gain the benefit like the exp system, I want it to be the check similar to the strength check to gain the benefit.

For intelligence it could be reading books but I foresee similar issues to charisma (maybe they can try progressively harder books or something but then this would be a skill check which I don't want). I guess there could be a testing system the prison library offers like in Shawshank Redemption though not a GDP.

And I can't think of anything for wisdom.

I want to avoid skill checks and have it be raw score checks so the players don't have excess bonuses from pumping a single skill and just doing that activity constantly (that doesn't represent the overall score just the specific skill associated with the score).
I would also like to avoid it requiring other people to complete the activity so those less charismatic characters can still get their main scores up (though if having a second character would help in another way that's fine (IE in the strength check, failing means you drop the bar on yourself and must take some damage from it until you can get the bar off (lower check to tip it off) but having a spotter would prevent this))

Any advice on this issue would be appreciated greatly.

Just to clarify the rule system I'm going with is like the strength one.
There will be a maximum DC needed to get the higher score and this will increase as the player wants to go higher (by a certain amount). If the player does some secondary training (like the rep sets for strength) they can lower the DC of the maximum (it's to make things achievable for those with average scores and require near total focus on the score for those with higher scores who want to just pump that score). This will decrease the DC by a certain amount and can only be done once per secondary DC level (IE if the max is 25 and the rep is 10 reps of 10 then they can decrease the 25 once at the DC of 10 and then once at a higher DC (this also has diminishing returns so this can't be abused (finally all exact numbers are to be determined so those aren't what I'm going to use))). I can work with variations on this but this is the overall system I'd like to use.

If you have any questions because I didn't explain something well enough or left something out just ask.
Thank you in advance.

A number of abilities as well as most things that cause bleed damage say that something immune to critical hits are immune to the effect. So how does fortification affect these types of things?

Precise Strike is the only one (that I could find) that calls out that items protecting a creature from critical hits apply here

Any creature that is immune to critical hits is also immune to a precise strike, and any item or ability that protects a creature from critical hits also protects a creature from a precise strike

But then there are:

Creatures immune to critical hits (such as plants and constructs) are immune to the bleed damage dealt by this weapon

Wounding Weapons

Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to the bleed damage dealt by this weapon.

and Quivering Palm

Creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected

How does this work exactly? Is the percent dice to ignore the extra damage still rolled in these instances or does the defender have to be naturally/magically immune for the rules above to take affect?

I notice on many weapons feats and the like that there will be in the description saying something to the effect of

If the creature is immune to precision damage (such as critical hits) then it is unaffected by this

Creatures immune to critical hits (such as plants and constructs) are immune to the bleed damage dealt by this weapon

. How does this work against a character who has fortification from some source like magic armor?

Is the percent dice rolled as it would be against a critical hit or does whatever is being attacked have to be naturally/magically immune for the quote above to apply?

I've never really build a magic user before (I began a campaign with a witch once but that got put on hold at level 1, reset and put on hold again).

I'm looking to build a spell caster who is supportive but can do damage on their own.
I'm not sure what class would be best for this (Wizard or Sorcerer) but the character will be level 13-15
The spells I know I want are the cure spells, probably heal, something protection/damage reduction based and then things like magic missile, maybe inflict spells (other damage spells if possible as well).

I'll already have a Bard and Witch on the team who can buff to varying degrees so I'd like to have a healing ability should I need it (we have a barbarian with Deathless frenzy and low AC so I think I will) but also be able to attack things (range will help since we have pretty much only melee right now. Debuffs for the enemy would be helpful to have too.

Can someone point me in the right direction, maybe give me some spells and feats to consider?

I was looking at the War Bull and as part of its 4th level advancement it gains Trample special attack.

Targets of a trample take an amount of damage equal to the trampling creature’s slam damage + 1-1/2 times its Str modifier.

but the War Bull doesn't have a slam attack, just a Gore. It also doesn't give a damage indicator (though I'm assuming that's because animal companions differ by level). So, I'm not sure how to do the Trample damage. Should it be based on the Gore attack since that's the war bull's only attack?

The bestiary horses light horse and heavy horse) both have the Docile quality which says:

Unless specifically trained for combat (see the Handle Animal skill), a horse's hooves are treated as secondary attacks.

Ok, so when Combat Trained a horses hooves become primary natural weapons, makes sense so far.

The combat trained pony and combat trained heavy horse (fiendish since that is the only version I could find) seem to agree.

The issue I have come from this thread and this thread which both say that removing the docile condition mean nothing if the creature has a bite, but they are then contradicted by the combat trained heavy horse which uses both it's hooves and bite as primary natural attacks. Is there any clarification on how this is supposed to work?

And more importantly, how does this affect an animal companion horse? Should it work in the same way when combat trained given that the both are horses, one is just wild? Or does it need to have the docile condition which then gets removed by combat training for this to work in this way? I'm in a home game and we've treated the horse as using both as primary natural weapons for the past 16 levels since it's war trained but I'd still like some clarification if we are doing this wrong.

I'm making a monk who is pushing Dex and Wisdom and basically neglecting Strength. This isn't too much of an issue but I also want to get the Jabbing Master feat which happens to require power attack as a prerequisite and Power attack has a prerequisite of 13 Strength...mine is 7.

There are a couple of things I had thought of as very last resorts (buy a strength boosting belt/other items, moving my pump stats into strength or just give up the feat) but I thought I would try other options first.

For reference, I can go with Dex or Wisdom for this. I can also get Weapon Finesse if need be (though I don't think that alone would do it and at that point I don't think I can fit any more). I'm doing a two level dip into Unarmed Fighter (CL 17, monk 15/fighter 2).

Are there any solutions to this?

I just wanted to make sure I understand how the extra damage dice should look with Jabbing style and Jabbing Master

Jabbing Style:

1st hit +0
2nd +1d6
2rd +1d6
3rd +1d6
...
(non-cumulative)

Jabbing Master

1st hit +0
2nd +2d6
3rd +4d6
4th +4d6
5th +4d6
...
(non-cumulative)

Do I have this correct?

I'm building an NPC team for an expedition my players are going to meet.

One of the members of the team will be specifically built to observe and communicate magically to the rest of their team what is going on with the enemy. Specifically when met, this NPC team will walk into their house, notice somethings have been moved around and suspect someone to have broken in. From here this character will run to the homes security center, barricade themselves in it (assuming they are able to make it there) and watch through the homes camera systems where the intruders are and where they move (if stealth is attempted). Then they communicate via magic to the rest of their team this information.

I've not really built a magic character though. Especially not one as specific as this so I need some help in getting them to move as fast as possible (no teleportation primarily because I want the chance to stop this character while also keeping it from being easy) and to use communication based magic and skills (like ghost sounds, message or the feat Bonded Mind) as many times as possible in a period of time with as great a distance as possible.

I'm considering giving them an animal companion archetyped as a Totem Guide since they get Find the Path but that still ends up being only one spell.

The level of this character will be 12-14. Any help would be appreciated here.

Can I do all of this in the same full-attack action?

Stunning fist appears to use a single attack roll but does not seem to require it's own action (contrast Scorpion Fist which states it needs its own standard action to take effect) and

Whenever you use the full-attack action and make at least one unarmed strike, you can make two additional unarmed strikes at your highest base attack bonus. These bonus attacks must be made against a dazed, flat-footed, paralyzed, staggered, stunned, or unconscious foe.

.

So, assuming I used stunning fist as the first attack of the flurry of blows and the enemy being attacked fails the save, could I then use Medusa's Wrath on that opponent during that flurry?

At 8th level, when attacking with a light or one-handed weapon, the cavalier ignores the penalty for fighting defensively or using Combat Expertise on his first melee attack roll each round. If fighting with two weapons, he ignores the penalty for the first attack with each weapon, as long as the off-hand weapon is a light weapon.

While using Two-Weapon Fighting to make melee attacks, you can forgo your first primary-hand melee attack to make a Bluff check to feint an opponent.

So does this mean that if I use Combat expertise/fight defensibly in the same round that I use Two Weapon Feint then I lose half of the benefit?

Normally if I use Combat Expertise (we'll just say at level 15) my attack roll would be three lower for all attacks that round (With TWF and Combat Expertise is would be (10/10/5/5/0/0)). With Two Weapon Feint it would be (Feint/10/5/5/0/0)

So what I want to know is if Pierce the Guard makes it look like this (feint/13/5/5/0/0) or this (feint/13/8/5/0/0).

It says Melee attack roll which I don't believe a feint check counts as but I would still like to make sure.

I am building a TWF daring challenger who tends to use feint actions so I'm going to give him Improved Two Weapon Feint.

If possible I would also like utilize the Precise strike ability Daring Challengers get to double or even triple the cavalier's challenge damage. The problem is that it can't be used with a weapon in the off-hand (unless this means I simply can't use the off-hand weapon/the bonus doesn't apply to an off-hand weapon but I doubt that)

To use this deed, a swashbuckler cannot attack with a weapon in her other hand or use a shield other than a buckler.

I have an idea which would possibly make this work but it's cheese and I'm not entirely sure if it's legal.

Step 1-I attack with a sword in each hand which would mean I could use Two Weapon Feint. From here I would either go to step two or Attack with the off-hand weapon if that's required to count for the feat to work.

Step 2-Use the two free actions of dropping a weapon and placing both hands on the one still held (or just dropping the weapon and keeping the primary hand weapon).
Dropping an item

Both are free actions. For example, a wizard wielding a quarterstaff can let go of the weapon with one hand as a free action...and grasp the weapon again with that hand as a free action...

Step 3-Attack with the single weapon in hand allowing me to utilize the Precise Strike ability (I believe the BAB used would be the -5 so if the character was level 15 I would use the BAB of 10 but please correct me if I'm wrong (if this could even work)).

Step 4-Hope I can get my weapon back from the floor.

So does this actually sound like something that could work or what?

I want to try something a little different but I'm having a lot of trouble with it.

He will be level 15 and I'm looking mainly at two few options:

1. TWF based
He gets the three TWF feats as well as Two weapon feint and Improved Two Weapon Feint. With this build he loses the benefit of Precise Strike (15 damage per attack) but feint only takes up the first attack of a full attack action rather than a move action (allowing for up to 5 attempts at damage vs 1). He will also have an easier time regaining Panache points (Dodging Panache seems useful and if I could use it I would want to utilize the second part of Precise strike)

2. Standard feint based
He takes Improved feint, probably greater feint (though giving the bonus to allies isn't a main concern here). Now he gets Precise strike but only for one (devastating) attack per round. He also doesn't have the -2 per attack issue.

Then there's Superior Feint which seems worthless in either scenario unless I'm missing something.

I'm leaning toward 1 all things considered but some advice on this would be appreciated.

I've seen a few threads asking about how Pathfinder defines wielded (one even relating to the bladed-scarf). According to the general consensus of them, it has a couple of definitions that depend on the situation but typically means that one must have the weapon "at the ready" or be in a position to make an AoO. This was further confirmed by a designer a couple of years ago.

We have a Bladed Scarf Dancer, a Magus Archetype that gets the Duelist's Canny Defense ability but only with the Bladed Scarf. Said ability says the weapon much be wielded.

My questions are if there has been any official word on the definition of wielded (like an FAQ released) and how wielded should be taken in this case (IE. if the character were hit by an arrow or someone charged them with a lance, could she use Canny Defense)?
The idea of using AoO as a defining factor for wielding seems to open up the bag of rats issue because I haven't found anyone specifying that the threat area must include the attacking enemy (unless it's meant to be implied and I'm just that bad at reading between the lines).

The scenario (at least as I have it planned currently) would be as follows:

Days between the nights will require effort that can't be avoided or put off to allow to make up for the lost sleep. They'll have to go through combat, do many perception checks and disable traps (among other things that will probably require some level of concentration). We also have an anti-paladin and Magus. I'm not sure of their spells, the anti-paladin's smites and the Magus' Arcana require sleep to replenish.

Night 1-Attack by a gang at night. It happens at random intervals in guerrilla style keeping them up for most of the night (assume 3-4 hours of somewhat restful or non-restful sleep).

Night 2-Attacks from another gang, this one using stealth to find and destroy their food supplies. Rest that night will depend on their next actions (use survival to forge for more food, try to sleep etc.) but will probably be no more than 6 hours of restful sleep at best.

Night 3-An encounter with a feral animal, too much for them to take on even together, forcing them to run away throughout the night. Very little if any sleep, probably none that is restful

Night 4-Depends on the actions of the team but by this time they will probably keep themselves awake for guarding. (I'm assuming 4-5 hours of sleep taken in shifts).

Note-This all works as it does because this quest will be initiated by an enemy who will bluff his way into their trust (none of the team has a good sense motive). This guy will have an Everwake Amulet and convince them to allow him to be night-watch. He will be introduced as lacking combat ability so taking on the enemy alone isn't an option (which is why he fails at guarding and must wake everyone else) but in reality he will be the one leading the nightly attackers to the team.

So are there any rules on how the lack of sleep affects the team. I would guess they wouldn't recover nightly HP as they would with actual rest but are there any other outcomes to this? Would they have a constant fatigued state on them? Would subsequent restless nights cause exhaustion?

A lance is a reach weapon so when unmounted the threatened area looks something like this (+=blank space, X=PC area threatened, P=player character)

+++++++
+XXXXX+
+X+++X+
+X+P+X+
+X+++X+
+XXXXX+
+++++++

Mounted combat states

For simplicity, assume that you share your mount's space during combat.

so the threatened area should look like this on a large creature:

So when your mount becomes enlarged (thus becoming huge, or is naturally huge) sould the area look like this:

++++++++++
+XXXXXXX++
+X+++++X++
+X+PPP+X++
+X+PPP+X++
+X+PPP+X++
+X+++++X++
+XXXXXXX++

RAW would say yes but the PC didn't get any bigger (then again, they don't when mounting up) so would this be correct.

Also, let's assume the PC did enlarge (so large rider, huge mount). Is the area still the same as the medium rider and huge mount threatened area (occupying the sharing the same spaces) or would it look more like this:

++++++++++
XXXXXXXXX+
X+++++++X+
X+++++++X+
X++PPP++X+
X++PPP++X+
X++PPP++X+
X+++++++X+
X+++++++X+
XXXXXXXXX+

because the Lance has now increased in size (so a reach weapon goes from 10ft to 15ft reach)

An Ioun Stone can be utilized by a creature with an INT score of at least 3 as noted here. I also want said intelligence so it has access to more feats.

I don't want to use an ability score increase and I'd prefer to have the headband slot on my mount so instead of using it on the headband of vast intelligence (or one of the other variants) I'd like to have an Ioun Stone. The problem is that its starting INT is 2.

What I want to do is use a potion of Fox's Cunning (or spell if a spell-caster is available) on my mount giving it a temporary intelligence of 6. From here I want it to use that increased intelligence to activate the stone. This way when the spell's effect wears off, the stone will already be active giving it an intelligence of 4 (alternative, my character will need a headband that increases INT so I can temporarily place that on my mount (I can wait the 24 hours if necessary) and do the same thing)

What I need to know is if this would be a workable option and if the intelligence granted by the stone works in allowing the mount to take feats outside of the normally select-able ones for an animal companion?

Belt of Physical Perfection
Headband of Mental Superiority

These and their lesser counterparts all say that the bonuses they grant are temporary for the first 24 hours. Does this mean that if they are removed the bonuses will be retained (thus they can be replaced by other items) or something else?

There are two ways to make your charge into a standard action (that I know of), the first is by being limited to a standard action and the second is once per day with the Crusader's Tabard.

I've seen a number of threads saying that the use of Vital Strike on a charge isn't possible because a charge is a special type of full round action, but what about when the charge becomes a standard action? Does this change anything?

I should note that I'm not looking for this to be a viable build, the possibility just got me curious.

I know this seems obvious but in my campaign we've never used it. Recently I've been looking at things like a net which is a basic weapon anyone can obtain or a bear trap which is a CR 1 trap. They have the ability to use a strength check to escape (DC 25 and 26 respectively).

So I'm assuming rolling a D20 is involved, but what is added? Would it be the modifier or the raw score? If it's the modifier then that seems like a little much because even a character with 30 strength would have to roll a 15 to escape a net. And the Grim Reaper would have some serious issues with a few Bear traps with Ghost touch. But other checks use the modifier plus a skill bonus.

So would the full score be used because it's a pure strength check so that is the skill bonus (sort of like putting ranks in strength) or is it the modifier that's added to the D20?

Also, I'm assuming the answer applies to all raw ability score checks, correct?

We will be fighting a high level incorporeal creature sometime soon and I need a way to damage him to the fullest extent. I've looked into a number of methods but I was wondering if there was something I missed.

Note-On our team our casters consist of a Magus and an Anti-paladin so any spell from outside of those books needs to possess the ability to be taken with us for use at a later point (a wand for example, though those do get costly and GP is a factor).

Here is what I have found:

• Ghost Touch-The standard in all of this. I don't have an issue with this but if there is something that could work the same but cost less it would help.

• Amulet of Grasping Souls-Also works but cost is still a problem and given that it takes up an item slot which will be taken by something else for an effect that I'm sure I'll need again, I'd rather get Ghost Touch

• Ghostbane Dirge-A low enough level spell where I could have it bottled but I have no idea how to have it effect the enemy (I doubt they'll drink it even if I ask nicely) and the spell is a low level spell so resistance is basically guaranteed anyway.

• Holy Weapon Balm-This seems to be what I'm looking for because it's cheap, I can craft it myself (I have ranks in craft alchemy to make poison), it takes a standard action to apply and it seems to do what I'm looking for. The drawback is that it only applies to the first successful attack. We will have to go through a whole area filled with enemies to get to this guy so it would have to be applied right before the fight but at that point we would only have a round if that to prepare. Plus he will likely have adds to help him so this is workable but iffy.

• Weapon blanch (ghost salt)-A worse version of the Holy Weapon Balm as it takes a full round to apply, doesn't add the extra damage of the balm and I can't craft it myself but it still has the same single use drawback as the balm. I just included it for completeness I suppose.

So is there anything I missed? Preferably something better or can at least improve on the above?

In my campaign we are planning to fight the [http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/grim-reaper]Grim Reaper[/url] who has the constant effect of foresight (the fight hasn't been planned in game by our characters, but we as the players know that it will be happening). We met him before and he placed dungeon rings on each of our characters. Eventually we would probably end up having to find him again and attack him to get them off so he can no longer bother us with his dirty work (plus we have a scythe user who really wants that scythe of his).

We have a general plan (again, not made in game but will be finalized in game when we get to that point, probably just before we go to fight him so assume he can't bring anyone new in). I'm a cavalier and we have an antipaladin on the team. I'm going to use my challenge and his Aura of Vengeance ability (I know it's smite good, our GM felt bad because we very rarely go up against good characters so he modified the smite ability so that he can use it on neutral and evil creatures but has to use extra smites to do so). There will likely be a round of setup (assuming we have to roll initiatives and can't keep everything in free action as would be the most beneficial). This is to get Eagles Splendor and use an Enlarge potion on myself and my mount. Then I'm going to charge in at him (I'll have on the Band of the Stalwart Warrior and I can automatically beat the DC of the fear aura for my mount with Indomitable Mount if she failed the will save so that won't be an issue). I'm going to use the power of the Cyclops Helm to automatically get a critical threat and with the Moment of Triumph special ability I have I automatically confirm the threat. Along with this I'll be attempting to disarm him with Mighty Charge to allow for the character who wants the scythe to try and steal it from him. I should be fine on this unless I roll a natural 1. Using Wheeling charge I'll be getting at least 25 ft away so he would have to take a move action to retrieve the scythe and another to reach me should the other player be unable to beat the fear aura.

(note-I realize he has a number of things he could do but I'm primarily trying to figure out how this spell even works)

Here is where the tricky part comes in. The damage that I will be dealing on this attack will be absurd. Assuming average rolls and assuming the GM of this dungeon maximizes his hp (476 total if he does) I'll be dropping him down to 71 hp with a worst case of him having 133 hp left and best case of 32. From here he shouldn't be that hard even at the worst case so he would certainly need to defend himself from our other party members while also trying to eliminate us. My best guess would be that he uses his Destruction spell followed by something else (summon minor reapers perhaps?) which is where my concern comes in.

I would seem like the obvious target to most enemies having just done over 400 damage to him but foresight likely changes this. Due to the fact that my save could only fail on a roll of 1 (Moment of Triumph bonus combine with Cloak of resistance (+5) and a fortitude save of 18 normally) and the fact that even if I fail I still wouldn't die (my HP is 236 now and will go up at least 6 points with a possibility to increase by 15 because we are doing this next level). Even if I can't knock his scythe out of his hand he would still have to crit to kill me with the 1 attack he gets. But would foresight tell him this? Would it be something like everyone who is a valid target prerolls their saves and he can choose whom to attack from there? Or would he determine that this could likely be a futile effort and instead focus solely on escape and/or defense?

I read somewhere that if someone is blinded then they lose their Dex bonus to their AC, I'm looking to first confirm if this is true.

Next, I would like to know if by extension would this apply to any situation in which a character couldn't see? Situations like deep darkness for example? I don't see why not but confirmation is nice regardless.

(note, for the questions regarding someone mounted, the rider has low-light vision but not darkvision (yet) and the mount is a Pegasus who has scent and is intelligent (also if it matters, is able to speak fully mainly because she's smarter than one of the party members))

If the character does lose their dex bonus when unable to see, are they still able to make acrobatics checks to move through a threatened square?

As the rider, if I can't see can I still make a ride check using Mounted Combat? If not would the situation change if the mount was able to see and able to speak?

Both my character and mount have the Escape Route. If my character were unable to see but my mount could, would this still function normally, would one of us lose the benefit, or would the feat stop working all together?

If someone were to have scent (mount or a PC), does this affect any of the above against either melee, ranged attacks or both?

Thanks in advance.

TL/DR-Find TL/DR to get the main question and skip the setup stuff.

Our party consists of 4 members, the important one in this case being a Magus with the Bladed Scarf Dancer archetype. He also has the Spell shield Magus Arcana. I think he has more but I don't know what they are because this is the main one he uses, plus it's the important one because he can use it to pump his AC up to 53 with it.

I'm setting up an encounter with a former member of our party. Long story short, he was a squire of my character (as per the squire feat) who betrayed us and became a vampire. So we are going to track him down and beat him until we all feel better.

It will be him, his mount (he was a cavalier like my character) and a partner. He and his new partner are both pure range based with the squire being a DPS type with many shots that accumulate damage and the partner being a single shot with a near guaranteed hit type.

Obviously having been with us for so long (14 levels for him) the squire would know a thing or two about what our strengths and weaknesses are. He and his partner will be trying to eliminate the Magus first for two reasons:
1) Emotional reasons. While the partner has no specific reason to hate the Magus, the squire hates the Magus most of all out of our party because of bad interactions between the two.

2) He's the only one of our party that he wouldn't be able to simply shoot and kill because the Magus has various skills that block attacks (like ice wall and force wall) and the shield wall arcane pool skill. Plus, both being range based builds, the Magus being able to summon a wall of wind around her is of course another problem which is where the following comes into play.

I have a plan ready but I need to know how something like a potion with the spellbane effect, the Dispel Magic effect or the Antimagic field effect (or just a full antimagic field for simplicity) would affect the Magus. Also, I'm not sure which would be more effective so use that one for this.
Assuming the potion was thrown on her (I would prefer this method because she would be lured into a vulnerable position but if it has to be a full magic field then assuming she walked into the field), what would be blocked and for how long? Would he still be able to cast spells normally, would there be an added percent failure or would all spells cast be nullified because of the potion? Would her Arcane Pool and/or Magus Arcana class skills still work or would these cease to function as they are both magic?
How long does the effect last if there is one does in the vial that is thrown? Is there a set time for something like this or does the effect remain for as long as the potion is on the Magus? Can she clean it off to reduce the time the effect lasts or is it a standard amount of time?

In my campaign, I'm the designated diplomacy guy so of course I want to be the bestest diplomacy guy I can be. Unfortunately, my GM has ruled that I can't use wondrous items or magic in the wondrous item or magic weapon/armor shops (he gave reasons, they're bs but apparently he has legal ways to drop my diplomacy rolls which are probably worst so I'll hold my complaints). I'm also strapped for feats so taking skill focus for example isn't going to be possible.

This is what I have thus far:
15 ranks in diplomacy (we are level 15 currently)

Honeyed tongue trait (+1 to diplomacy)

+3 charisma (it will be +4 next level, the build also wasn't started with pure diplomacy in mind)

Diplomacy as a class skill +3

Moment of Triumph +3 (Order of the cockatrice level 15 skill, lets me add my charisma bonus to everything including skill checks, it will be +4 next level)

I would try to sway the shop keeps mood toward me but besides having a total of -20 in doing this (-15 for base attitude, -5 for condescending drawback) my GM has given the shop keeper a huge sense motive base pretty much requiring she roll a 1 and I roll a 20 to give me a shot. That's not including random buffs he says he gives or debuffs we get (cough cough no wondrous items cough).

All in all, my GM has me by the balls right now and I'm looking for a way to loosen his grip.

Any ideas?

I'm a level 15 cavalier in the Order of the Cockatrice archetyping as an Emissary (no banner ability). At level 16 I'll be taking one more point in charisma to give me a +4 (this is important). We will also be fighting the Grim Reaper (I know because my homegame rotates GMs and one of them added the Reaper as a story pusher but we intend to kill him because reasons). The problem, he has a fear aura with a dc 36 save and my base will save is only +3 (base 5, -2 wisdom).

Here is what I have or will get to bring myself up:
Base save+3
Potion of Owls Wisdom (and friend with the spell)+2
Friend with Eagle Splendor (+2 to charisma mod, again important)
Cloak of Resistance +5
Guarding weapon +5
Moment of Triumph +6 (adds my charisma mod to everything so with the extra +2 to charisma I get an extra +6)
Luck bonus +1

total-22

I'm looking into an ioun stone, wayfinder combination as well.

After this, I have nothing and am looking for help to increase my chances at not failing (We have a plan to do an absurd burst of damage from the beginning and disarm him in the process with my Mighty Charge but failure of this save pretty much ends this).

Sadly I won't be able to take Iron Will (strapped for feats) so I'm wonder what my other options are, any ideas?

Edit: I should probably note that on the team we have an Antipaladin and a magus. They both said that there isn't anything else they can offer but just in case there is something I guess it's worth mentioning.

I recently got a mount who I'm archetyping as a charger. One of the bonuses from this is the Mounted Challenge:

When ridden by a cavalier, chargers gain half of the bonuses and penalties granted by the cavalier's challenge class feature.

I am a level 15 cavalier who is in the Order of the Cockatrice. I have Demanding Challenge (site used for direct link, description is exactly the same though) and my character is wearing Vambraces of the Tactician and has a Champion's Banner (can't find the item on PRD).

So, when challenging I gain a damage bonus of 21 (15 for levels, 2 for the Vambraces and 4 for the Banner), an extra damage boost of 6 if I'm threatening the enemy alone (not including my mount) (again, level and wondrous items), the enemy takes a -2 to their AC against others when I'm threatening them and I take a -2 to my AC when attacked by someone other than my challenge.

What does my mount take from this? The obvious ones would be the base level bonus (so 7 (15/2 rounded down) and the AC penalty against others (so -1) but what about the order bonus, wondrous item boosts and Demanding Challenge addition.

Those are all boosts to my challenge which by raw reading means my mount should get those as well but a case could be made against for each. Of course I could also argue a case for (I'm not because then this becomes a debate with myself and I'm back to square 1). So, how should this work?

Also, assuming they do work (at least the Order and demanding challenge bonuses), how are they applied? For the Order bonus, since my mount doesn't count against my damage boost, would I count against hers or does it still have to be others that end this effect?
For Demanding Challenge, would the enemy gain a -1 AC against me (half of my imposed penalty against them) (and just for clarification, would my mount gain the -2 AC I impose against the enemy in the first place?) and a cumulative -3 AC against others?

Thanks for the help and sorry wor such a long post.

1. If my mount moves through a threatened square while I'm riding it, do I provoke as well. As simple as this question sounds it's important, especially in the case of Overrun where my mount has improved overrun (doesn't provoke) but I don't.

2. I have my own action pool I can use along with my mount having a (mostly) separate action pool to utilize, so:
A) Can I attack while my mount is moving? Or more specifically, can my mount use it's double move action while I utilize a standard action (attack) somewhere in the middle (for the sake of simplicity we can assume it's at the end of my mount's first move action before beginning the second).

B) Does drawing a weapon count as a move action (because I'm not moving) or free action as part of a move (because my mount is).

C) Mounted Charging and charging while mounted are considered the same thing but are me and the mount making two different charges at the same time essentially?

3. What takes place during a flying overrun? More specifically what happens if I beat someone by 5 or more. Failure and success by 4 or less seem straight forward but success by 5 or more results in the opponent being knocked prone. Is this a trip situation where a flying opponent can't be knocked prone (like they can't be tripped) so this is ignored or is there something special that happens in this case?

4. A) How does an overrun work? I have two different sites saying two different things:
(http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat#TOC-Overrun)

This site lists it as a standard Combat Maneuver against the opponents CMD. It also says that is can be part of a charge and that to knock someone prone, you have to beat their CMD by 5 or more.

(http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#overrun)

This site says that an overrun is done using ones strength (with bonus/penalty for size difference) against an opponents Strength or Dexterity, never mentions a charge and seems to indicate that an overrun automatically knocks an opponent prone.
(This site might be outdated but I'd like to make sure)

B) Going back to my first question, if my mount is doing the overrun, who provokes?

C)If I make a mounted charge against an opponent but between us is another opponent, can my mount use its charge action to overrun (thus not getting an attack on the farther opponent) and I continue to make the charge attack against the farther opponent (assuming success)? This sounds like Charge Through but from my reading the purpose of that is to allow my mount to be able to make an attack against the farther opponent along with the Overrun (or myself if I were doing the maneuver instead).

D) If my mount has Greater Overrun and is able to knock an opponent prone during a charge, can I make an attack of opportunity despite being in the middle of my charge or does this count as the attack I would make normally at the end of my charge? If I can make a normal AOO, does the attack still get the standard charging benefits (Lance, Spirited Charge, Cavalier's Charge etc.) or would is be a regular attack?

Horseshoes of Crushing Blows
Body Wrap of Mighty Strikes
Amulet of Mighty Fists

Assume this is the start of the round and it my turn to strike and my horse is using his hoof attacks to begin (this way makes it simple so the horseshoes and bodywraps both have the chance to work).

Equipment:
Horseshoes of the Crushing Blows-+1 enhancement bonus
Flaming, frost, corrosive and keen special abilities

Body Wrap of Mighty Strikes-+4 enhancement bonus
Ghost Touch, shock and Menacing special abilities

Amulet of Mighty Fists-+3 enhancement bonus
Defending and guarding special abilities

So, the confusion is pretty how this would or even could work together.

1. Do the enhancement bonuses add? Would my horse have a +5 enhancement (I read that this is the highest that it can go on a few threads) or would it be the highest one (+4)?

2. With guarding/defending, can I only draw from the AoMF enhancement bonus or can I take from any of them since they enhance the same thing. How would this affect the overall enhancement bonus I could get?

3. Do the special abilities stack (Ie I use all of them at the same time when applicable)? If not then which do I use? Would it be the Body Wrap abilities because it has the highest enhancement bonus or can I choose any that total out to +5? If I choose and I decide to use defending and/or guarding, does this count toward the number I can use that round or can I still choose between the rest available?

Any ideas or information would be much appreciated, thanks.

In my campaign there is a lot going on story wise and the short version is that I'm getting a GM'd version of the Monstrous Companion so I can get a Pegasus but level it like an animal companion.

A question has arisen however about flying speed. The Monstrous Mount feat page (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/monstrous-mount) works pretty much the same way to what we are looking to do save for that it provides starting statistics whereas we are going off of the Pegasus bestiary page. It has two flying mounts available, the Griffin and the Hippogriff. Under both it requires the mount to reach level 7 in order to be able to hold the rider when flying and even then it only flies at half speed.

So my question is assuming the weight is kept low enough to allow flight (light encumbrance, light armor), how fast should the Pegasus be able to fly? Would it be its normal fly speed or would it be half like a griffin/hippogriff under the Monstrous Mount rules?

I'm looking to get both for a DPS based archer (I'm trying to give him more hits per round to stack with manyshot and rapid shot). However,

When making a full-attack action, the wielder of a speed weapon may make one extra attack with it. The attack uses the wielder's full base attack bonus, plus any modifiers appropriate to the situation. (This benefit is not cumulative with similar effects, such as a haste spell.)

This glass teardrop hangs on a platinum chain and can be used once per day to grant a surge of power. This surge can be used in one of two ways. As a swift action, the wearer of the amulet can make one melee or ranged attack at his highest attack bonus.

So would these stack then?

I would like some clarification on the extra doubling of the damage of the far challenge.

Furthermore, once per day, the luring cavalier may spend a use of his far challenge ability to double the potential extra damage of his ranged attack. Before making the attack roll, he can choose to spend a use of his challenge to deal twice his cavalier level in extra damage on a successful hit instead of just his cavalier level in extra damage. If the attack misses, the use of the challenge is wasted.

I'm unsure of the following:

1) What type of action is taken when using this ability? I assumed it was a swift action because using the challenge normally is a swift action.

2) When doing this, does it only apply to the first attack? Assuming it is a swift action and thus I am able to make a full attack action, does this extra damage apply only to the first shot or for all shots used that round?

I'm looking clarification on how these all work.
Note-I'm assuming I'm sundering for the purpose of this but I would guess they all work the same.

In addition, the cavalier can make a free bull rush, disarm, sunder, or trip combat maneuver if his charge attack is successful.

In addition, the cavalier can make a free bull rush, disarm, sunder, or trip combat maneuver if his charge attack is successful.

First, if my charge hits, do I do the damage and then make the sunder attempt or is the sunder attempt made in place of the damage to the enemy?

When rolling the CMB for the sunder, do I add my charge bonus and magic weapon bonus as if it is a standard attack roll?
For example:
I'm level 12 with relevant feats of spirited charge and weapon focus.
BAB-12
Strength modifier-4
Weapon focus-1
+3 War lance-3 (enhancement bonus)
Cavaliers charge bonus-4
Teammates banner bonus-2

Total standard charge attack roll: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (18) + 26 = 44

What do I add to my CMB then? I assumed it's everything there because it's made as part of the charge but I wanted to make sure.

Now, on the damage rolls, how does this work, specifically with the challenge bonus and charging bonus?
A Lance does (1d8)
Wielding it 2 handed-6
Weapon enhancment-3
Challenge-12
Threatening alone (Order of the Cockatrice)-16 total (standard+4)

Standard attack roll: 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16 and total when challenging and threatening alone: 1d8 + 25 ⇒ (6) + 25 = 31
Standard charging attack roll: 3d8 + 27 ⇒ (4, 7, 1) + 27 = 39 and when charging, challenging and threatening alone: 3d8 + 75 ⇒ (7, 7, 1) + 75 = 90

I read a thread about the challenge but it seemed to end inconclusively (see below) and objects are immune to crits but the challenge multiplier isn't actually a crit, just a damage boost.

Am I doing using the:
Normal charging challenge attack: 3d8 + 75 ⇒ (6, 7, 6) + 75 = 94 (assuming I'm threatening alone)
normal charging attack roll without the challenge: 3d8 + 27 ⇒ (1, 3, 5) + 27 = 36
basic attack roll with the challenge: 1d8 + 25 ⇒ (7) + 25 = 32
or
basic damage roll: 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Immunities

Objects are immune to nonlethal damage and to critical hits."

The thread mentioned above

If my mount is targeted and subsequently fails against one, can I roll my Handle Animal skill to attempt to regain control or would I need a specific feat (Indomitable Mount etc.) to do this or something like this?

If I am able to do this and it is my mount that I am riding, can I use my Ride check instead (similar to the Mounted Combat feat) to try and maintain control?

If these are possible, what would the DC be, the attack roll of the caster?

Let's take the War Lance as an example (because I wants it)
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/wa r-lance

It's a +3 lance that grants a +2 AC bonus for the character and mount when mounted (lost upon dismount). It also has an Aura of moderate abjuration. It costs 10,310 GP.

My question is what the +3 pertains to. When I read this I though it was an enhancement bonus but my GM thinks otherwise saying that because it grants the shield bonus that the +3 takes the place of 3 'slots' of special ability.

So for this and other specific magic weapons, how does this work?