MostlyNope42's page

Our group has gotten VERY familiar with the death and dying rules. Thus far we have not lost anyone, mostly due to not having a blood lusting DM and having multiple folk that can "heal", but many times have come close. Most of us do not play "optimized characters" or as we are coming to call them now... the minimum requirement characters... so at times things just feel, arbitrary. Beginning to wonder why even have stats for characters when the needed course has been planned out in "the balance".

The listed example items made of special materials seem to indicate that a special material does not change the level of the item, it is still based only on the quality of the item, as noted on page 190. The material does seem to change the item's rarity to the rarity of the material, though. (See Adamantine Battleaxe on page 356, which is a 7th-level Master-Quality Uncommon item.)

Confusion comes from following...

(Source, Page 190)
Expert Quality Weapons and Armor (Not Heavy Armor) 2nd Level

(Source, Page 355)
Cold Iron, Requirement expert or better.
Silver, Requirement expert or better.

(Source , Page 349)
3rd level treasure table.

Cold iron warhammer
Silver Dagger

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(Source, Page 351)
Also, according to table 9th Level treasure

Adamantine battleaxe.

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What is correct, the entry or the table? Table seems to think it is most important according to page 348.

(Source, Page 356)
Does show 2nd Level for the hammer and dagger, as well as 7th level for the axe.

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Now enter confusion stage access trapdoor spring-box, all hail our future Goblin Paladin Saviors!

Wouldn't stack, the spell is causing a creature to magically age by one category. They revert to normal when the duration ends. If the duration was permanent I would agree that it stacked.

Spell stacking/not stacking rules are in the magic section of the CRB or online source. Would be bad if things like Haste stacked, I was made faster, now I am faster still!

As pointed out... The interesting question is, at venerable what happens? There is no age past that, but they are not ageless or immortal.

If you do not release the grapple, you must continue to make a check each round, as a standard action, to maintain the hold.

Always read this as, Do you want to keep grappling? Yes?

Reasoning behind this is the language is consistent with AOE spell saves and other things that cause a constant state. Example.

Any creature that succeeds on its save but remains in the cloud must continue to save each round on your turn

Both sentences use the "must continue to" do X structure and this happens first.

On your turn I bet you expect them to save, not at the very end of your turn when you are all done doing more things to them.

This implies an order to things, this is also what makes Greater Grapple... well... Great.

Without Grab or similar that allows you to engage in a grapple as a free action.... Grappling is a Standard Action.

It also normally takes a Standard Action to maintain against a target, not all targets... there are exceptions.

Without Greater Grapple or something similar moving the action type this means you can maintain against one opponent. Greater Grapple could let you maintain two grapples, provided you could somehow get into two.

So without something modifying the mechanics, grappling is one vs one. The rules even state that multiple things in a grapple is an "Aid Another" action that adds +2 to whatever checks.

So for clarity.

• An Octopus can HOLD as many targets as it has limbs with the Grab ability, this is done at -20 to the CMB check.
  
• Those limbs are no longer viable for attacks but can continue to HOLD the targets they hit for "free" by continuing to make the -20 CMB check.
  
• It can only GRAPPLE with a single target at a time.
  
• The targets of the Octopus could all choose to Grapple the Octopus however, though only one of them is actually Grappled, the others are assisting.

There is no "Schrodinger's Grapple" scenario. The act of grappling changes what you can do with all roads pointing to one of two decisions.

[1.]I wish to MAINTAIN.
[2.]I wish to END.

Grappling is normally a standard action so unless you have grab or something similar you do not perform full round actions while attempting or maintaining the grapple. As the "defender" you still can take full round actions since you do not need to maintain the grapple.

If you want option 1, first order of business is that grapple check. Then you do whatever actions, or not, maybe you failed.

If you want option 2, they are released at the start of your turn or sooner if you so wish.

Grapple changes what options you have available to you.

To your questions...
1. No
*However, with Greater Grapple you can do this but they would just both be actions for you.

2. Same as 1

They are grappled until you decide they are not (free action) or you fail/decide not to maintain. If you are not going to maintain then they are free at the beginning of your turn. If you release them using the free action option, they are out of the grapple at that time.

Attacking is an option in grappling and requires a CMD check, once you do this you are still grappling them (provided you win). You cannot full attack without releasing the grapple.

Bringing this back to the simplest terms....

• You can take a 5 ft step and perform an action. (cast a spell)
  
• You can move X ft (land, fly, swim, burrow, climb) and perform an action. (cast a spell) But can no longer take a 5 ft step.

The question here really just boils down to:

• If a movement doesn't consume some of your listed (land, fly, swim, burrow, climb) speed, can you still take a 5 ft step?

Something to point out.

It has been repeatedly stated that using a wand is not the same as you casting the spell. If source of movement is in the thought process this makes it super muddy since the wand is basically casting whatever at your request.

Ah I gotcha thank you sir. The second you've gained the grappled condition you can't take any more attacks that round also even if you have two or three remaining correct?

Correct

Want to put emphasis on that you can only place the target in an adjacent square at the end of your movement.

There is also a FAQ thread request regarding the placement of Blade Barrier and similar. Does it go thru the middle of a square, or along the borders of the square?

That Thread

Matters particularly to your question since you cannot actually stand IN the blade barrier but take damage only when passing thru it. Unlike Wall of Fire, Blade Barrier is essentially 2D.

Regardless of the FAQ though, and how cool it would probably look, and there is some fun thematic elements here to be sure... At some point you and the subject of the grapple are by definition on opposite sides of a (in this case) damaging wall. Something to think about.

Correct, though they still do not overlap. Vine Strike is a spell effect (SR applies to it) while Thorn Body is not.

As per the grab ability it is a -20 to your CMB to grapple without gaining the status yourself. This is what allows for you to initiate against multiple targets.

Once you have the grappled condition it is really only between you and a single opponent. (or opponents if people are assisting)

.. also... depending on how big your octopus is. You can only use grab on creatures your size or smaller.

they both protrude from the body though?

So do all your limbs. :-)

Seriously though...
These stack fine since they are (as other stated) doing different things and don't overlap. One is based off them doing something to you, the other is you doing something to them.

... think, magic fang and barkskin, one is offence the other defense.

Looking forward to the FAQ (please people who read this, FAQ button!)

I would be surprised (as would the other DM's I play with) if it came to pass that it truly is ANY movement stops the five foot step. That would introduce quite a lot of tracking overhead into the round as well as "new" (depending on where you are on this) shenanigans. Reposition just got a whole lot more fun...

Also if Bladed Dash, and similar spells that are not specifically teleportation, counts as movement it would be nice to have that as a ruling as well.

Seems to be a hot topic...

I gave this answer in another post similar to this one. I feel that only movement that counts against your actual measured movement for that round matters for allowing a 5FS (5 foot step).

My reasoning...

you can’t take a 5-foot step in the same round that you move any distance

Since 5FS availability is keyed to you not moving any distance in your current round it makes little sense for it to apply to things/people/events that move you in ways that do not use your available movement. Having it nullified by any movement sets up very easy ways to destroy access to 5FS and also bring up situations where the 5FS would have been invalid that round.

Examples:

You get bull rushed any distance... you can still full attack, move, etc... should still be ok to 5FS.

Lets say you have 10ft of move. Casting "Bladed Dash" to "move" 30ft and resolve the spell attack along the way well exceeds what you could have done... but.... you can still move normally before or after this spell... should still be ok to 5FS.

Your Wizard friend casts Dimension Door and moves you and a few others to your opponent, the Wizard can no longer act as per the spell but now nobody else can 5FS?.. but can still otherwise act normally? Sounds odd..

Reverse of previous, you all 5FS to the wizard who gets all of you out of combat range with Dimension Door... did all of you take an illegal step?

I am with _Ozy_ on this, only your personal actual movement dictates access to the 5FS (5 foot step).

Reasoning as follows if anyone cares...

you can’t take a 5-foot step in the same round that you move any distance

Since 5FS availability is keyed to you not moving any distance in your current round it makes little sense for it to apply to things/people/events that move you in ways that do not use your available movement. Having it nullified by any movement sets up very easy ways to destroy access to 5FS and also bring up situations where the 5FS would have been invalid that round.

Examples:

You get bull rushed any distance... you can still full attack, move, etc... should still be 5FS ok.

Lets say you have 10ft of move. Casting "Bladed Dash" to "move" 30ft and resolve the spell attack well exceeds what you could have done... but.... you can still move before or after this spell.

Your Wizard friend casts Dimension Door and moves you and a few others to your opponent, the Wizard can no longer act as per the spell but now nobody else can 5FS?.. but can still act normally?

Reverse of previous, you all 5FS to the wizard who gets all of you out of combat range with Dimension Door... did all of you take an illegal step?

You both need to have the base requirements to craft said item type for the feat to work.

This isn't a physics game... most of what happens isn't possible... that is where the fun be :-).

In this case remind them they are going from 0 to ~37mph in basically no time... Same for when they stop.. picture the Roadrunner from the cartoons. Physics says, um... dead.

I have been running a weekly game now for 11 years

-- Impressive.

Yeah, sounds like you need a break. Pick up the dice and roll on the other side of the screen for a bit.

We cycle DM's in the group I play with, helps. Dunno if this is an option for yours or not.

I'd go for Antipaladin or another class/archetype that you would only be able to play on an evil campaign. Evil campaigns don't happen so often so I'd go for a concept that I would never be able to explore on an average campaign.

I agree with this recommendation. If you use an option that is available to anyone then, well, it is your actions that are evil. You just have to change one thing on the sheet... your alignment... so that is just so... diet-evil. But if you pick something that you have to be evil for... well, that is commitment! And lets face it, who wants to be the lesser evil?

This came up on our Slumbering Tsar campaign. Here's the lowdown.

During a fight in a large barrow mound three characters got affected by insanity. One of the three characters fell into a deep chasm immediately after being affected and is dead and unrecoverable by the party. The two that survived are being restrained by the others as they seek a cure. Problem is, insanity is rather hard to cure. No one has the ability to cure them.

So they discover there is a being that dwells at the crossroads of Tsar that grants wishes, but has a tendency to twist them to the detriment of the wisher. So they visit this being and make the following wish to heal their friends and get their lost companion back.

"We wish for the full restoration and return to us of our companions X, Y, and Z with all of their possessions and gear with them, completely healed and restored to their normal minds and spirits unfettered by curse, magic, or wound."

As you can see, they tried to be pretty thorough. How would you twist this wish?

If they know they are going to have a wish twisted... assuming this is the case here given the structuring.

Do nothing; Initially.

Just smile and tell them they got what they wanted. Plenty of adventure hooks and ideas can be spun off this structure and it will keep the group guessing.... what exactly did this cost?

This thread is why I'm glad I'm highly intelligent.

Wish 1: I wish this wish and every wish I make afterwards from my perspective turns out 100 percent exactly how I want them to turn out, even if I do not specify every detail.

Wish 2: I wish your helpful powers were transfered to me.

Wish 3: Oh wait, I don't have to make wishes anymore, because I have wish as a spell-like ability, with no material cost. I'm effectively a god now.

This is why unlimited wishes should never happen.

In agreement with others that wish one forces your perceptions/reality to be altered to comply with the outcome of the wish, probably leading to you becoming a mad, drooling, mind locked being... from others perspective.

Still does not violate that you get exactly what you want... 100%... even if you didn't specify the details because you wanted absolute outcome control... from your perspective... a perspective is a changeable thing.

The truly mad don't know they are... and your happy now.

I would vote no, but yes this is a bit muddy.

As far as I am familiar with them, sneak attack dice are not counted as "bonus" as they are not affected by a critical and usually clearly state that.

I feel that fireball statement portion was a rather poorly structured way of getting around another issue. That the application of the attack dice are also dependent on the spell successfully doing damage.

Now if someone came back and said "but these dice do get multiplied on a crit in this instance" ... well.. then all is fair game me thinks.

Our party was in a situation where we were facing down a mounted combatant. To level the field a bit we hit the mount with blindness/deafness to keep it from running amok as the rider likely would have saved. After that we had to look up what happens but couldn't find anything outside the blindness effect.

So, question is... Aside from the blindness negatives to the mount does anything else happen? Does the mount get harder to control? Does the rider take any penalties?