MorganS's page

We're starting a new campaign today, so I thought it'd be fun to try out the new "sarissa" weapon (15' reach in a cone, i.e. 3 squares) with an invulnerable rager. We're all very experienced, so I could go with a DPR build, but I want this guy to be a tank / enabler for the other players, not a solo killing machine.

* I want reach weapons and AoO's to be the theme for the lower levels.
* We use Paizo books only, but we're very strict other than that.
* We've agreed that to drop and quick draw a weapon is legal after taking an AoO.
* I'm aware that carrying a sarissa indoors or underground will be pretty much impossible (it's ridiculously long), but the Quick Draw / AoO weapon swap tactic will let me switch from Bardiche to Greatsword too.

So here's my build plan through level 10:

Human - Quick Draw
1b1 - Combat Reflexes, Raging Vitality
2b2 - Power Attack
3b3 - Superstition
4b4 - STR, Reckless Abandon
5b5 - Lesser Beast Totem
6b6 - Witch Hunter
7b7 - Beast Totem
8b8 - STR, Unexpected Strike
9b9 - Bolstered Resilience
10b10 - Greater Beast Totem

This is my first barbarian, so I'm not sure where the balance lies in terms offensive vs defensive feats. Does this build strike a good balance between DPR and defense? Would it be more fun to pick up some intimidation abilities instead of Witch Hunter, Reckless Abandon, and Bolstered Resiliance???

You can't take a 5-foot step in the same round that you move any distance, so does that mean you can't use a Quick Runner's Shirt if you took a 5-foot step at the start of your turn?

I'm just a little fuzzy on whether an alarm spell can alert someone inside a rope trick.

The "rope" of a rope trick is at most 30 feet long and it ends inside the rope trick. So on the one hand you must be within 30 feet. On the other hand, a rope trick is in an extradimensional space, which most would consider farther away than a mile... but some dimensions "overlap" the prime material. But then again, spells effect can't cross the rope trick's "window", but that could be seen as having the radius of the alert area not crossing the window.

I'm inclined to think you can't be alerted inside a rope trick, but RAW it just isn't clear, and RAI I have no idea ;-)

Fabricate: You convert material of ONE SORT [i.e. any sort] into a product that is of the SAME MATERIAL.

Clearly, "diamond dust" qualifies as ONE SORT of diamond material, albeit perhaps a product, and clearly a 25,000gp diamond is of the SAME MATERIAL (diamond). So why shouldn't this work?

FWIW - I read some similar posts related to this, but none on this topic in particular, and having just read them all over I thought this warranted it's own post because my take on Fabricate is that it does NOT say that it converts NON-products into products. It's NOT specific about the source, so therefore it SHOULD be possible to convert diamond dust and/or lesser diamonds into a bigger diamond, i.e. for a wish spell.

I just noticed the odd material components for Gaseous Form, and I think it's awesome!

Has it always been S, M/DF? M/DF is short hand for wizards only, so for a wizard to cast this spell, they have to hold a piece of gauze in one hand, gesture with the other hand, and the only reasonable source for a "wisp of smoke" would be a pipe stuck in their mouth. Which explains:

The "Philter of Love" wondrous item from the APG has no save info one way or the other.

Does this mean no save is allowed, or does this mean the save should calculated based on the highest level spell in the requirements? I.e. should the be save: none, or save: DC 17 will (permanency is a 5th level spell)?

If no save is allowed, the price seems a bit low, no?

How much should a single use item cost that completely protects the user from charm effects for a few hours, and what would the creation requirements be? I can't seem to find anything like this in the PRD?
What I really want is specific immunity from the "Philter of Love", but I can't figure out where to start on an anti-charm item like this.

FWIW, I'm asking because I have a narcissistic human female sorcerer in Kingmaker, who would rather be reincarted as a young bugbear than become "all gross and wrinkly". Magic Jar just might let her delay that decision, if the body doesn't age during the spell's duration.

The Fey Bloodline PRD entry says:

Fleeting Glance (Sp): At 9th level, you can turn invisible for a number of rounds per day equal to your sorcerer level. This ability functions as greater invisibility. These rounds need not be consecutive.

This is arguably weaker than Greater Invisibility which sorcerers can already cast at 8th level, because it affects the sorcerer only; it is far weaker than the 8th level illusionist ability, Invisibility Field, because it is a standard action to activate (and deactivate); and this previous thread implies that it should be a swift action.

Should Fleeting Glance be a swift action, and if so, is an errata coming?

The Suggestion Spell has verbal and material components. Since sorcerers get Eschew Materials at first level, they only have the verbal component to deal with. Since Verbal Components are the spoken incantation, it seems that wording for the suggested course of action would have to be separate from the verbal component (otherwise how could a wand of suggestion operate), but there is nothing in the spell to restrict how the wording must be delivered - except that the language must be understood.

So if a sorcerer uses Silent Spell to avoid having to speak the incantation "in a strong voice", what restrictions are there on how the course of action is delivered?

Allowing the caster to pass a slip of paper to the victim would seem out of bounds, but how about whispered messages, the message spell, telepathy, and sign language (assuming it's understood)? Along the same lines, what if someone notices (spellcraft) a "suggestion" spell being cast on their buddy, but doesn't have a counter-spell ready. Could they scream in their buddy's ear to prevent the suggested course of action from being understood?

I have an idea that involves an intelligent construct swarm, and I'm wondering how to calculate the CR in this case, because it seems to me that adding swarm traits to construct traits could be particularly nasty.

This is just an idea I'm toying with, so I didn't want to clutter the rules forum with it. The idea is a set of intelligent silverware whose "special purpose" is to feed guests. If you touch the silverware, you are compelled to eat (ego save). If you oppose the purpose (by not eating) you become its "enemy" and the silverware attacks as a medium swarm (CR ?).

I can't find a rule that says all armor must have an arcane spell failure chance, but then again, there is no base armor with 0% Arcane Spell Failure. The lightest armor in the core rules is Padded Armor which provides +1 AC and has 5% Arcane Spell Failure.

Is this specifically intended to make wizards deal with spell failure if they want to take advantage of their armor slot? Or is it just because having armor with +0 AC bonus and 0% Arcane Spell Failure typically makes no sense, i.e. none is listed to avoid confusion.

Here is an example to help make the question clearer, but this is just an example: Can an item like Masterwork Silk Armor be crafted? It would an "armor slot" item that provides +0 AC and has 0% Arcane Spell Failure, and it could be used to create +1 Silk Armor of Spell Resistance.

The description of the thredonic metamagic feat says,

"Benefit: This feat only works on mind-affecting spells. A threnodic spell affects undead creatures (even mindless undead) as if they weren’t immune to mind-affecting effects, but has no effect on living creatures."

Since hold monster affects one living creature, would a threnodic hold monster affect nothing?

It's the "but has no effect on living creatures" that makes the hold monster case fuzzy, because it implies that the "living creature" restriction on the original spell is also altered.

Maybe looking at this in template terms would help. It seems that a "thredonic hold dragon" spell would affect an undead dragon, thus common sense says a "thredonic hold monster" should affect undead.

The homunculus that will be my familiar has to be created by me (or for me). Can I create with extra or different abilities? Can abilities be added to it with the "craft construct" feat?

I'm wondering if this idea might somehow unbalance things. I can't see how it could, but I thought the Terry Pratchett "Thaum" reference was funny enough to share.

The Thaumatarium

A thaumatarium is a room designed to help wizards conduct magical research and is usually located in a wizards tower.

From the center of the room, a thaumatarium looks like an evenly illuminated room with colorfully patterned walls that hide visual distractions such as doors, windows, and direct light sources.  These colors and patterns are carefully calibrated to improve magical
energy measurements.

A thaum is a measuring unit to quantify magic. It equals the amount of mystical energy required to conjure up one small white pigeon, or three normal-sized billiard balls.  A thaumaturge can use a standard thaumatarium to measure differences in magical energy as small as 10 millithaums.

Using a thaumatarium provides a +2 circumstantial bonus on all types of spellcraft checks.   Creating a thamatarium requires spellcraft 15, Craft(painting) 15. and 500 gp in painting supplies.

Suggestions?