Thank you for the replies; I know I've run into "because included here, implied excluded elsewhere" arguments before and I wanted to be sure I was referencing the right place!
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I've been grinding my way through the ruleset lately, getting ready for eventually playing a game in P2E. I hit a weird bit of muddiness related to the Swashbuckler that I want to double-check before I make any final decisions for myself. Opportune Riposte (which I keep trying to write as "Opportune Parry and Riposte because 1st Edition) can generate a strike action as a reaction on the opponent's turn. I've recently wondered if it was subject to the Multiple Attack Penalty and hit something that has confused me slightly. Opportune Riposte does not talk about the MAP in its own entry, but the most comparable effect being Attack of Opportunity does have a specific clause in the entry for dealing with the off-turn attack. Based on that, my first thought was that Riposte would be subject to MAP. HOWEVER - the MAP entry itself states that "The multiple attack penalty applies only during your turn, so you don’t have to keep track of it if you can perform an Attack of Opportunity or a similar reaction that lets you make a Strike on someone else’s turn." Based on that line, I think I should assume that the Riposte does not interact with Multiple Attack Penalty, regardless of the reminder text in AoO. Is my reading correct that MAP does not apply to the Riposte? Should there be a reminder/clarification in the Riposte entry similar to what AoO gets, or is the MAP entry clear enough?
Just a note, the Mind's Eye is harder to spot than what people here are suggesting. Even if you don't roll for Stealth on this thing... It's naturally invisible (+20)
Which means that if you aren't trying to keep it hidden and the opposition can't detect invisibility, you are looking at a DC 36 check. There's room for interpretation as to what you can do with a standard action "direction," so you if the GM allows the player to actively seek hiding with the sensor you can end up with a REALLY high DC. IMO, verbal contract with the player is the better approach for this.
Had a nasty combat Sunday, nearly a TPK. High variation combat happens in a party of glass cannons, though! Where we are at! Spoiler:
The Silver Ravens have successfully thwarted the Ruby Massacre (a hair under-leveled afterwords, due to not participating in the Dance of the Damned!), and the city is now in open rebellion! The first reprisal from Thrune didn't totally surprise them, but the effectiveness of a rebuilt Tombus Regegious (Vigilante 13) put them on edge - the kid gloves were very clearly off! Word came via fairy dragon that there was an unseasonable blizzard outside, and that doghouses had been brought out all across the city...
The party set out to a concentration of the doghouses, at the Records Hall. They easily rolled over the rolled encounter with an Inquisitor troop and liberated the imprisoned civilians, then the bloodrager said "we should totally issue our own proclamations, the first being that anyone caught doghousing anyone will receive twice as bad in return!" With that, the party took a moment to disarm the door to the record hall and venture in, finding another inquisitor troop preparing to face them. They were unaware of the invisible stalkers waiting in the alcoves. Three of the ravens jumped into the hall, the Half-Orc Rogue preparing to go around while the Barbarian/Ninja Halfling vanished and the Bloodrager charged the Inquisitors head-on. The bard turns invisible and begins performing at the head of the hall to buff the party. Out from the side door steps Tiarise Izoni, who leads with a successful slumber hex on the Bloodrager. By the time her turn comes around again, the only visible standing target is the rogue battling an invisible stalker in an alcove. Name: Hakar
Details:
Tiarise leads with a Phantasmal Killer on the only visible target, the poor Rogue. He fails both saves, and is scared to death on the spot. Name: Ruh
Details:
The halfling has kicked the bloodrager awake at this point, and both of them barrel into the inquisitor mob dealing horrendous damage. Tiarise picks Ruh out for a Fort save against Flesh to Stone, and he rolls a natural 1. The bloodrager manages to clean out the rest of the encounter, but MAN did that look like a TPK about to happen. The party has retreated and recovered, but it's only going to get tougher from here...
As maligned as it is, Wrath of the Righteous' Book 5 (Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth) presents a number of solutions for making mazes more fun. It definitely helped out - having mazes the size of entire planes and high level players made for unique problems. For your instance, I'd determine how much of the hedge maze you want players to focus on. If it is a bigger portion of the adventure, I'd only worry about mapping out encounter areas (making them look maze-like enough to fit in the overall theme) and then using skill checks to work your way through the maze. It cuts down on the 'dead table time' that mazes have a tendency to create.
Hmm... Given this advice, and a bit of time to think, how does this look? Mythic Path: Guardian
After tier 5 I really could run with anything available - nothing stood out to me in particular. Again, anything obvious that I'm overlooking? I tend to miss the glaring things.
Something interesting happened in my Saturday game - our GM sprung Mythic on my group! Normally, I am well prepared for the paths that my characters take, but this particular twist caught me off guard, and I have no idea where to go from here. Two things that make the decisions a little bit harder for me to pick:
The character is a somewhat bog-standard Intimidate-Samurai build, with a few nods to necessity for the campaign's politicking. (Pardon the copy-paste from my working document, I'm short on time) Order of the Cockatrice
Other Feats: Hurtful, Cornugon Smash, Chain Challenge, Antagonize, Weapon Specialization (Katana), Skill Focus (Intimidate), Toughness? This build has been sufficiently powerful for the campaign and team I am with so far, so I am not so worried about that element (unless I missed something glaring). So, my challenge I would like assistance is with this: I need to best match the build, and I need to avoid Champion if at all possible. I don't know how far this will take the mythic Tiers, so I may as well have a plan for all ten! Thanks in advance.
You see, this is where I'm having issues with actually making the change. I'm seeing both potential readings (having been playing in too many different games and dealing with time-stamp rules and other nonsense) and do have at least one point to make with this. First thing's first. Here's the feature in question. Emphasis is mine. Feathered Companion:
Feathered Companion (Ex): At 1st level, a falconer earns the trust and companionship of a bird of prey. The bird can be of any type of large hunting or scavenging bird (even a vulture).
This ability functions like the druid animal companion ability (which is part of the nature bond class feature), but the falconer must take the bird animal companion, and that companion has only half the normal hit points. And here's a parsed exact text from the Chronicle sheet, emphasis again mine: Chronicle Sheet Text:
Axe Beak Companion: As long as you have Chronicle sheets for all three parts of the Quest for Perfection campaign arc, you may take an axe beak as a loyal mount or companion; the Chronicle sheets need not be consecutive or in order, but all three must be present in the same character's records. If you possess a class feature which permits you to take an animal companion or a mount that progresses as an animal companion, you may add the axe beak to your list of legal and available companions. My reading of this is as follows. The Falconer archetype has a class feature that gives them access to an animal companion that progresses as such. It also creates a restriction as to the choice of animal companion - the character's only legal choice for animal companion is the "Bird." The Chronicle sheet, in turn, states that it is an addition to "...your list of legal and available companions." As such, is it reasonable to believe that this specific note renders the axe beak both AVAILABLE and LEGAL. Now, in a home game, this wouldn't be a worry. I would say that the Feathered Companion feature would even preclude me from taking the Giant Vulture companion (Bestiary 3), or other obviously bird-of-prey type companions, on the grounds that they are not a "Bird." But that is an argument for the general rules forums and not the Pathfinder Society General forums.
Thanks for the input, folks. After reading it over and talking with one of the local organizers/store owners, we've decided that it should be safe to use the reward with the archetype until there is a more official ruling on the situation. It was actually not an argument until I mentioned that "Bird" has a specific definition in the rules rather than being a general type or subtype. That said, the archetype is clearly designed around the Bird entry for druid animal companions, and the exchange causes some interesting side effect with the features. Particularly Swooping Charge. Especially swooping charge. ...I wonder how expensive it is to have consistent access to flight items/spells by 6th level for an animal companion?
Just this evening, I finished the Quest for Perfection arc with my Ranger. Lovely arc, very cool reward. However, my Ranger is a Falconer... Reward Spoiler:
Because it states that the Axe Beak is added to the list of Animal Companion options, does this trump the class feature restriction of the Archetype? I had no idea I was going to get access to this boon, and would really love to be able to use it!
There is a note in the Pathfinder Society FAQ that the Ranger does not have an expanded Animal Companion list. So, unfortunately, it looks like the Druid's Core Book list is what you have to chose from, which has one (very appropriate) animal choice. |