Midnight Phil's page

I must be missing something, but could someone explain what the point of the Ironclad Reactions feat is? You can take a free 5-foot step if you're struck by an attack of opportunity. But that's the thing: you've already been struck. So what are you avoiding? It's not as though the opponent is likely to have another attack handy immediately thereafter; the context specifies an attack of opportunity, not a full attack. What's the advantage here that I'm not picking up on? It seems like a lot, even the best of circumstances, to ask a player to take a feat that relies on them taking damage.

Can the benefits of the Shield Gauntlet Attack feat be applied to a pair of gauntlets simultaneously? Here's the text I'm focused on.

Shield Gauntlet Style
"When using this style, if you begin your turn wearing a gauntlet or spiked gauntlet on your *off hand*..."

Shield Gauntlet Attack
"While using Shield Gauntlet Style, you can calculate the damage of *your gauntlet* or spiked gauntlet using the sacred weapon damage value of a warpriest with a level 4 less than your base attack bonus."

I had originally thought the "Attack" feat could theoretically allow you to apply the damage bonus to a gauntlet on each hand, and then you could employ two-weapon fighting. However, with the specification of "off hand" in the "Style" feat and the use of the singular in the "Attack" feat, I'm wondering if this is all restricted to only one hand. That would be a bummer, but I thought I'd see how others read this all the same.

So, what does Hurricane Fist actually do?

Hey, quick question on Riving Strike: if I understand correctly, effects that last one round resolve before the character's following initiative. So Riving Strike wouldn't be useful for a single character (barring a quickened spell cast on the same turn or something), and would really only come up as something of a teamwork effect (one character uses Riving Strike, another character capitalizes on it before the first character's next turn). Am I interpreting that correctly?

Would it be possible to hear a little bit more about the "Guarding Knowledge" spell and the "Knowledgeable Spellcaster" feat? Those've both piqued my curiosity. Thanks so much!

Hey Skeld, is there anything in this book that might appeal to Warlock Vigilantes? Magic items, feats, talents?

Any item can be created at any caster level equal to or high than the minimum to cast the spell. So that cloak COULD have a caster level of 20.

Doing so changes the cost. For example, a potion of Cure Light Wounds at caster level 1 costs 50gp (base price) while at caster level 2 it costs 100gp, and at caster level 5 it costs 250gp.

If you make your cloak, you decide the caster level. If you find a cloak (presumably caster level 5), you could further enchant it yourself, or pay someone to do it, up to a higher caster level by paying the cost difference.

Ah. I knew about choosing a higher CL at the original time of creation, but I didn't catch that it could be further enchanted like that thereafter (I mean, I knew about it for weapons and armor, but not wondrous items). Thanks, that's useful. I don't suppose there's also a feat, spell, or ability for enacting such an enhancement on the fly, or temporarily?

Is there a way to increase the caster level of a magic item, either temporarily or permanently?

I was looking at the Shawl of Shadowy Disguise from Blood of Shadows, which states, "While worn, the wearer can hide her appearance as if with a penumbral disguise spell." The spell Penumbral Disguise reads, "You mask your features with shadowy illumination, gaining a competence bonus equal to your caster level on Disguise checks and Stealth checks attempted while in normal light, dim light, or darkness."

Now, I gather that the primary point of the cloak is the spell's OTHER benefit (obscuring your features when not in bright or normal light), and not the skill bonuses I listed above. But so far as I can tell, those bonuses would still be applied, albeit at a relatively low bonus since the cloak's caster level is only 5. So, that got me wondering if there was a way to pump up the cloak's CL.

Thoughts? Even if I've read the cloak's rules incorrectly I'd still be interested in learning whether a magic item's CL can be increased after creation.

"New feats, including some inspired by the Ten Magic Warriors of Mwangi legend that allow characters to bond with ritual masks to hide their names and identities and enhance their spells' power."

I wonder if this'll synergize well with the upcoming Vigilante class' Warlock archetype.

Midnight Phil wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

Midnight Phil wrote:

Hey Mark, do you care to weigh in on the comments in this thread about the current/upcoming state of the Vigilante class? Supposedly the different specializations will be split off into archetypes?

Basically, it's what Jason said at Dragoncon: The playtest version was too scattershot and fragmented, so now many vigilante talents are available for all, and the only split in the initial class is stalker vs avenger, each of which has some unique talents. Archetypes come with their own unique talents and special abilities, and there's more than just zealot and warlock in the archetypes section.

I don't suppose you can also spill the beans on whether the magic-themed archetypes still have talent-based spellcasting? O:)

The beauty of archetypes is you can just give something spellcasting and take away other things without creating a horribly byzantine set of class charts.

Intriguing... (pun intended) Looking forward to reading the full version. :) Thanks Mark!

Midnight Phil wrote:

Hey Mark, do you care to weigh in on the comments in this thread about the current/upcoming state of the Vigilante class? Supposedly the different specializations will be split off into archetypes?

Basically, it's what Jason said at Dragoncon: The playtest version was too scattershot and fragmented, so now many vigilante talents are available for all, and the only split in the initial class is stalker vs avenger, each of which has some unique talents. Archetypes come with their own unique talents and special abilities, and there's more than just zealot and warlock in the archetypes section.

I don't suppose you can also spill the beans on whether the magic-themed archetypes still have talent-based spellcasting? O:)

Midnight Phil wrote:

Hey Mark, do you care to weigh in on the comments in this thread about the current/upcoming state of the Vigilante class? Supposedly the different specializations will be split off into archetypes?

Basically, it's what Jason said at Dragoncon: The playtest version was too scattershot and fragmented, so now many vigilante talents are available for all, and the only split in the initial class is stalker vs avenger, each of which has some unique talents. Archetypes come with their own unique talents and special abilities, and there's more than just zealot and warlock in the archetypes section.

Ah, thanks for clearing that up! I'd only heard second-hand about Jason's comments, and wasn't having any luck tracking them down myself. I'm sure there's someplace obvious I should've looked. ^_^;

Hey Mark, do you care to weigh in on the comments in this thread about the current/upcoming state of the Vigilante class? Supposedly the different specializations will be split off into archetypes?

Insain Dragoon wrote:

Apparently according so some random podcast or something the Vigilante class itself is going to combine the Rogue and Fighter variants into the base class then make the Wizard and Cleric variants into actual archetypes.

Iirc, it that information was said by Jason at a con. Also, I am sooooo thankful that they are doing that. Sounds much better than the playtest.

Does anyone have a link to this podcast/con comment? I'd love to check that out. I really dig the potential and flavor of the Vigilante class and I like a lot of the talents I saw for the Warlock, but like others here I had a lot of reservations about the playtest. I'm very curious about the final product (I maaaaaaaay be playing a city-based game after this comes out).

Anything in here that looks potential useful for the upcoming Vigilante class? That seems like a pretty urban character concept.

Quick couple of thoughts on the Warlock:

- Requiring 8 hours of rest to regain spells makes it very difficult to maintain two identities. It's an issue of time. I was playing around with a build because my GM will eventually be running a city-based campaign, and I love the idea of this class. But I'll have a heck of a time managing the "Bruce Wayne by day, Batman by night" sort of flavor if I have to rest for 8 unbroken hours. The playtest has already offered a mix of spontaneous and prepared casting as a boon; perhaps removing the resting period would sweeten this particular specialization further?

- Making spells into a tiered progression of talents intrigues me because of how different it is, but it doesn't seem like the sort of thing one dabbles in. Because you have to take the spell talents in order and because many low-level spells will eventually become obsolete, it's hard to mix n' match it with other talents. It seems to be the sort of thing you either commit to or avoid 100%. This seems to be a bit contrary to the idea of a talent pool.

Hi Mark! Kinetic Fist says, "This extra damage ignores spell resistance and does not apply any modifiers to your kinetic blast’s damage, such as your Constitution modifier."

1) Does this include a composite blast's extra dice (like from Plasma) and/or bonus damage (like from Aetheric Blast)?

2) How would you feel about a character being able to accept additional burn in order to apply damage modifiers?

3) How would you feel about an archetype that specializes in Kinetic Fist and unarmed combat in general?

To followup and elaborate, I'm basically hoping there'll be some wiggle room to tinker with this. I'd like to be able to customize and flavor my Dragonball Z unarmed fighter with a variety of blast-punch options. ;)

Hi Mark! Kinetic Fist says, "This extra damage ignores spell resistance and does not apply any modifiers to your kinetic blast’s damage, such as your Constitution modifier."

1) Does this include a composite blast's extra dice (like from Plasma) and/or bonus damage (like from Aetheric Blast)?

2) How would you feel about a character being able to accept additional burn in order to apply damage modifiers?

3) How would you feel about an archetype that specializes in Kinetic Fist and unarmed combat in general?

Philip Pickard wrote:

A couple of questions regarding the Eldritch Scion archetype:

1) Do you have to spend a point from the Eldritch Pool to enter a mystic state, and then another point per use of bloodrage ability? Or do you spend a point, enter the mystic state, and for the duration of the state have free access to bloodrage abilities?

2) How does "Abyssal Bloodrage" (Abyssal bloodline, level 12 ability) work, since you don't gain the benefits of bloodrage? Does it not function at all because you're not bloodraging, or do you gain only the modifying benefits of the ability (+2 Str, -4 AC)?

1 - Correct, one to enter mystical focus and one to activate an ability.

2 - You'd only gain the minimum bonus/AC penalty since the mystical focus is considered being in bloodrage without actually bloodraging.

Hrm, if that's the case, that seems awfully expensive, point-wise. I'm not sure it's worth it. I interpreted the text as restating the mechanic; that is, I took "see below" to mean a more in-depth explanation rather than a listing of related rules.

A couple of questions regarding the Eldritch Scion archetype:

1) Do you have to spend a point from the Eldritch Pool to enter a mystic state, and then another point per use of bloodrage ability? Or do you spend a point, enter the mystic state, and for the duration of the state have free access to bloodrage abilities?

2) How does "Abyssal Bloodrage" (Abyssal bloodline, level 12 ability) work, since you don't gain the benefits of bloodrage? Does it not function at all because you're not bloodraging, or do you gain only the modifying benefits of the ability (+2 Str, -4 AC)?

Okay, that was weird, did my post just 'eat' someone else post?

Heh, no; I actually deleted my post after re-reading the entry; I came to the same conclusion you did. Apparently the post stuck around long enough to be responded to.

I must say, though, that it seems an odd decision. After skimming the weapon special ability entries, it seems that the vast majority of them specify a wielder. I wonder if that was an intentional aspect of this spell, as there aren't a lot of options left by that ruling. I might house rule to allow them to be wielded so that players have more options (but only for that purpose; they couldn't make attacks of opportunity and whatnot).

The fireball spell's description doesn't mention a saving throw either.

I am curious about the "(special, see below)" part, though. I think it refers to the special abilities you can get from magic weapons used a foci: if those abilities get a save, then targets of the spell get those saves against the extra abilities.

Link to the wreath of blades spell.

Right, the qualifier is what got me too. I feel like such notes are recalled in the description, and I didn't see that here.

The spell details for "Wreath of Blades" (Ultimate Combat, pg 249) states "Saving Throw: Reflex half (special, see below)," but the description doesn't make any mention of a saving throw. The damage the spell deals (1d4/2 caster levels) is only described as being given to a target adjacent to the caster. I assume that this is where the Reflex save would come in, but the description makes no note of it. I can't find any FAQ or errata on this. Is there any saving throw associated with this spell?