Mulet's page

How will a chase scene work with something that fast, though?

Good point. I'll give it a sore leg, or slow.

I get mocked for plot holes like this. (fun mocking tho)

Rapier: use dex to damage (Fencing Grace @level 3)

By level 12 a Swashbuckler can easily do 1d4+3enhancement +7 dex +12 precise +2 Weapon Spec +2 Gr. Weapon Spec. +2 Weapon Training +8 Power Attack = 1d4+36

A level 12 Fighter trying to do the same thing (poor choice?) would have:
1d4+3enhancement+7Dex+2WS +2Gr. WS + 4 Weapon Training +8 Power Attack = 1d4+26

Thank you for doing the math! Penash and hero points do add a bit more grunt. He also rests frequently.

The Swashbuckler's player is very competent, and spent hours reading online about his build before spending money on Hero Lab to efficiently build and run it. He sometimes turns up dressed as his character, and purchased a bottle of Rum last week, that has the same name as his character (Calico Jack). So he's the most passionate player at the table.

Trying to explain that he wrecks face because he puts in more work than anyone else, to the others is like patting a cat backwards with a wet hand. They don't like it.

This PC also thrives on adversity. I thought permanent blindness was too much last session (Nymph), but he told me not be chicken out. So I can mess with him as much as I like, and he'll thank me for it. As long as it's by the book, no fudging rolls.

If I cripple him for a while, it will give him a challenge. The other players can step up in battle. Then as a team they can restore his sword, now aware it's his Achilles heel.

This is all sounding super dramatic, the party cares far more about the pizza being late, or my NPC's accents drifting.

Anyway, the rules I can use are:

- Rusting monsters encounter (or rusting grasp)(Rust Girallon)
- Use charm person to request the sword.
- Steal + Improved Steal Combat Maneuvers (Advanced Player's Guide)
- Heat Metal, so he drops it.
- Polymorph Any Object Spell, to turn it into a fish.

Wow, what a great response! Here's the ideas you guys have come up with:

- Mock battle the players abort after I crush one of them, fudging numbers to prevent a one shot kill.
- Use an example creature in a "cut scene" to demonstrate it's wicked power
- Use the terror effect to force the party to flee
- Let them die, they need to fear the DM.
- Have it summon something else, like a Storm giant that is visually fearsome.
- Make the encounter humerous, to humiliate the party instead.
- Use a cut scene to intercede and distract it
- Have the monster dismiss the party as simply too weak.
- Have it ignore the first round of combat, tanking damage to threaten them.
- Use a flashback to have the party awaken at wipe at an earlier location

I can flip this situation into a pretty cool encounter, that mimics Dragon Ball Z style enemies when they first turn up.

1) Erlking is presented with a DM owned party, that it obliterates as a show of power.

2) Erlking laughs at the weakling PC party, inviting them to a first round of combat, tanking damage.

3) Erlking is not visually scary, but can summon things that are. So it wastes a second turn on summoning a storm giant, which is scary.

4) On turn 3, Erlking can demonstrate wicked speed and smack a PC in the face knocking them to less than 10hp in one go.

5) If Party has not decided to leave by now, then I just run the combat and see if they can survive. If they do flee, then I get to run my chase scene!

My party is in the Fey, and started a blood feud with the Centaurs that live there. The Centaur's have asked for the help of an Erlking (CR18) against my APL9 party.

They are MEANT to run away, and have a chase scene where they escape it. Currently they are saying:

"We can take it".

I need them to FEAR it, and choose to run. And I have 5 minutes to fix this at the start of the session, or it's a party wipe.

(Note: I know Centaurs are not meant to be Fey, I changed them because they originate in Greek mythology. Just like Nymphs and Satyrs.)

The party is complaining the Swashbuckler is OP, so I want to take his sword away. This will ruin the Swashbuckler, making the party realize he's fragility.

What are three ways I can steal his sword within the game rules?

They are currently in the Fey. They've also eaten food of the fey, screwed some fey and promised their first born. At this point I can throw the book at the swashbuckler.

(I'll give the sword back. After a few encounters of course)

So the party killed a Fey being, in the first world.

It will re-spawn after a while. Where? How? What does it look like?

I've run this as it being asleep, and made of golden light until it solidifies into the fey creature. This was at the Fey's house, and the party was there. So they killed it mid-respawn.

Any material on this I can draw from?

So I've got a swashbuckler in a game where I run the crit hit and crit fumble cards.

First, these cards are excellent. Highly recommended.

The swashbuckler has a wicked crit range, and spends his Panache like every combat will be his last. So he mills the deck.

Is it within, or against the rules to award crit cards for non natural 20 critical hits?

It costs the Earth, but a shadowform belt is more or less what you're after.

Oh dear lawd, my question was answered within seconds. Praise avr!

Scroll of Ethereal Jaunt.

I did not consider Ethereal for an equitable effect. Brilliant.

What CR are you going for?

I would try to find some sort of extreme spell resistance item and I think there's an amulet of mindblank or something like that.

CR12-16

Note that it'll turn off the other item you want for her.

Affecting other items is totally cool, as it is a flaw that the party can notice, and leverage to their advantage.

I've recently run a failed boss, it was a neutral enemy that simply had a different point of view to the another neutral antagonist.

Needless to say, it didn't work. The party leader just decided it was evil and needed slaying. This felt hollow, as the party did not have a strong opinion of him either way. I've elicited stronger emotions out of the party with glass bottles.

So I want to build something they can hate, and smash with delight.

I've currently trying to understand what makes Joffrey Baratheon and Delores Umbridge so reviled and translate it into Pathfinder.

But it's probably simpler. Like maybe cursing the pirates hat or taking their gold.

What can I do to make my boss hated?

Note: I do NOT mean hated in the meta, as in a boss that cheats for nothing but 20's, uses plot armour to escape death or one-shots a PC for 9999 damage at the DM's discretion, instead of by the rules. This kind of boss sucks ass.

I have an NPC I wish to use as a boss against the party. I want her to have absolute magical immunity. I'm a sith DM, so mean COMPLETE magical immunity without any caveats.

To kill her, the party should resort to weapons.

Bonus: It can be turned on and off as an immediate action.

I have a human NPC I wish to use a boss. I want her to be able to become incorporeal at will for a round or ten.

What item/s can do this?

Bonus: If it could be activated as an immediate action, that would be amazing.

They're complete useless garbage that slows the game, screws the story and leaves players ignorant and helpless.

Say I've got a party entering a big dwarven city. I can either risk withholding valuable information about where to find the king, or pre-write a bunch of fluff about pretty stone architecture.

On the spot, if asked about symbols or history, I just need to make something up. What's the point, when I could pre-write this properly and hand it over via dialog or a prop (note)?

Important stuff, like the age of a dungeon is either useless or crucial to the success of the party.

WITHHOLDING INFORMATION SUCKS ASS

I assume you have looked at the Pathfinder Wiki entry.

http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/First_World

I did, it's pretty barebones. I'm looking for population and their races, shops, features, geography.

Basically as detailed as Sandpoint from Rise of the Runelords would be glorious. All I've got it "Denziens at the feet of the Imbrex"

Who lives in Anophaeus? Is it just gnomes? Are there Satyr groups? Can I get a fairy mead at the floating tavern? Is the lantern King the ruler here?

Anyway, I'll just write up my own stuff, and correct it against the upcoming November module when it's out.

Yay for information!

Boo for not out yet!

Thank you for a detailed answer!

In the first world is the city of Anophaeus, held constant in this changing plane by the will of the Imbrex.

I'm sending my adventurers there, because it's awesome.

Are there modules or information I can use? There's sweet FA near as I can tell on this wondrous place.

What is the party make-up?

Use terrain and combat situations that encourage inventive tactics.

Terrain is something I've neglected to use! I can use that to encourage ranged and spellwork!

Sorry, finished writing late,

Here is something though.

Bardic Colleges

Absalom, Oppara, Westcrown, and Egorian all have major bardic colleges which teach specific styles and techniques.

Oppara in Taldor has several. two renowned bardic schools, the Kitharodian Academy and the Rhapsodic College, the Lion Blades, secret service types, are recruited from all of them, or the best of them, not sure which.

White Grotto is the premier bardic college in Absalom where the students learn the art of using magic to enhance all forms of entertainment.

Hope this is some help. All this and more came from Golarian Wicki, Oppara colleges are in some of the online stories.

F*#& yeah! With these specific names, I can find all the information I need!

And that picture of a Varisian fighting off goblins looks EXACTLY like how I imagine the Edema Ruh. I'll use aspects of Varisian culture to fill that niche nicely.

:)

Bards also have access to colleges, opera houses, and the like. Some of them aren't even undercover fronts for criminal and government syndicates.

Do you know of any specific ones? I'm not focusing on the criminal aspect, just the organisational part. I want to draw from the world of Golorion, before I make something new myself.

2 players have a few years experience, 2 are new. They all started at level 5, and this Tuesday is session 3.

Lead by example is a good one. I'll seek out enemies with game rules I want the n00bs to use themselves.

So the Theives have a guild, resplendant with modules and maps.

Do the bards have an equivelent?

On a similar note, the book series "The Name of the Wind" has groups of traveling Bards, that perform as a group. Most people think they are like gypsies, theiving and dirty, but the Ruh really just get a bad rap.

Is there something similar in Golorion for this too?

At my table (I'm the DM), I've got two players who are new to pathfinder.

What's some good ways to help them get to know, and use their classes?

I was thinking some metagame challenges.

1) Cast three spells this session, and you get a hero point.

2) Use a new combat move (bullrush, withdraw etc...) and you'll get bonus XP.

3) Use a class ability at the perfect time, and your weapon will get +1

My party has cleverly figured out how to get an enemy to lead them to a duergar settlement beneath the earth.

Easy solution, party is killed/chased off by occupants of said city.

Fun solution, party figures out how to get in, go shopping and even do a few side quests for the locals.

What are some modules involving forbidden cities I can draw inspiration from?

Party:

Human: Swashbuckler/Sourcerer: CN
Dwarf: Monk : LG
Half-Elf: Cleric: LG
Elve: Ranger: NG

Just don't use a railroad plot that inherently involves a punishment that smart roleplay and a little luck couldn't avoid.

That's a good point, I do NOT want to enter into a Party vs DM type encounter. It sucks ass to have the universe against you. Turning something they value, like the ship, into a vulnerability they must protect, gives the antagonist a focal point. A way to reveal themselves in a way the party will react to.

Your base plan is nice, but who are their characters?

Every building I create, has a table with at least one NPC. It goes something like this:

--------------------------

The Adventurer's Inn

Tavern (Moderate quality, large size)

Jaxxon Stone

26 M Humane, Magus (L19)

"Based off the character Kvothe from the Name of the Wind, he is an intelligent, sharp tongued man who is in hiding. He is an excellent source of history on Hermea, but his occasional jibes may provoke aggressive players into a combat they have little hope of winning. He will hand out a whooping, good ale and assistence in equal parts."

Speaks with a gruff, tired voice.

--------------------------

18 months ago, to become a better DM, I ran an arena. Using hero lab, I made close to 20 character sheets with backstories, of different classes, and fought them against each other in a tornament.

I often use these characters, along with recurring characters from older campaigns as townsfolk, traders and off hand if an innocous bit of roleplay needs a bit more depth.

However you've pointed out a fault. "Why are they here?" is not covered. They are like disparate parts sitting alongside each other, and this becomes obvious when they are questioned. I'll add this to their base descriptor table.

Haha!

The fault is a complete and utter lack of motivation. Instead of a big fat open world, it should be structured more like a tree. One railroad branch, that splits again and again.

I need a lot of hooks, of multiple themes. Many will be missed, or be un-interesting. Good themes are:

1) Loot

2) Leadership/owndership of a town

3) Protect a likable NPC

4) Harm a bastard of an NPC

5) Provide a sexy themed NPC/s

6) Provide 'Work'. Each of the temples needs to be visited, so have a set of jobs with rewards. Archeoligist wants a dragonlance, Alchemist was a vein of fossilized flayleaf etc...

7) Give a massive reward, and take it back. The party has their own ship now, left over from the initial session. Show them it, fixed and ready to sail. Then have someone steal the bloody thing from right under their noses. (They even have a converted enemy aboard they like)

I'll remove all the freedom, turning the campaign into a corridor. while in the corridor, I'll throw hook after hook after hook. When they catch one, I'll build on it.

Then I'll re-introduce the freedom branch by branch. Each time, they must make a decision, which branch to take.

I've also begun writing up two Props I will hand out. The first is the initial invitiation letter, which will clearly detail the fever sweeping the island, and the promise of treasure and riches. The reason why they are here.

Second, I'll write up a "Hermea Gazzette" newspaper. This will advertise the local shops, and locations they can visit later (Desert, mountains and forest).

Good good. I also should read some existing modules by Paizo. Any suggestions?

Here's what I think my problem is:

The story is far too open, and the players are used to linear campaigns.So when in this world, they can't find a starting point, as every NPC has a lot to say, but nothing simple and direct.

Furthermore, they are adventurers. They won't do anything without the lure of treasure. But no-body knows of the 3 problems with the island, one must *explore* to find out about any of the story arcs. It's easier to stay in the Tavern and pick fights with the town gaurds!

Start by discussing expectations with your players.

They were expecting an open world, where they have acess to almost all rulebooks, if they wanted to have complex characters. They were also expecting a highly digitized campaign (Projector showing maps, Digital character sheets, and assorted software tools), as this speeds up gameplay.

As for quest structure, beyond "Open" with a Fey based antagonist/s, not much was actually defined. Hmm.

Create your world, your enemies, and your backstory and let the characters and NPCs create your story as they interact.

I've got this. It's layed out like this

NORTH - Ice Dungeon

WEST - Forest 'Dungeon' EAST - Fire dungeon
CENTER - City

DOWN - Dungeon

OUTSIDE AREA - Introduction Area, goes to city. (Ship)
OUTSIDE AREA - Final Dungeon, story resolution.

Moving between these primary areas caused random encounters. Staying in one area more than a day, causes a different set of random encounters.

Players must learn of the four dungeons, defeat them and then advance ot the final area, now accessable. Here they defeat the final dungeon, and are rewarded with gear and gold. A bonus session is to be played after this, where they get to use their rewards.

The Story:

Mengekere the great golden Dragon of Hermea, has invited the party to come to his legendary island to solve a mysterious problem. Hermea is a Utopia of scientific and Magical discovery, and is the personal project of Mengekere.

There is a fever, where the inhabitants are no longer working hard at their jobs. They are getting drunk, having fun and spending their time on song and dance instead of their professions.

How to Resolve 1:
Hermes, an Ipotane demi-god trickster, has lived on this island for thousands of years, and considers it a free place. Mengekere showed several hundred years ago, to start his experiment and destroyed much of the natural wild beauty of it in the process. Offended, he began undoing Mengekeres hard work, in subtle and massive ways.

Hermes has created planar breaches into the First World, causing life and Fey to spill into the city, making the people whimsical. Order has spilt into the First World, making the people thoughful and practical.

When the inhabitants of the First world figure this out, they will destroy Hermea utterly, the simplest and most thorough way to close the breach.

How to Resolve 2:
Deep under the earth of Hermea, the fey magics have brought life and imbued the metals and gemstones with great power as the magic has settled deep into the earth.

Evil Dueargar exploring near the surface of the UnderDark discovered this several years ago, and built a settlement beneath Opus. Greedy for more of these wonderful fey imbued ores and gems, they have ventured near to the surface, but have not yet discovered the city.

If the Dueargar are allowed to continue, they will overrun Hermea and destroy the inhabitants along with Mengkere, greedy for the wonders above. They must be stopped.

How to Resolve 3:
There are signs around that Hermea is not what it seems. Artwork older than the 150 years Hermea has existed for, ancient ruins. Uncovering this mystery may destroy Hermea.

This is not the first Opus Mengekere has built. It is not even the third, there have been between 4 and 7. Hermea is meant to be a Utopia of discovery, and human enlightement. But every so often the short lived humans do something to destroy it. Once an undead plague caused by a newly discovered branch of magic, once helpful constructs had a blood thirsty bug in their runes.

When Hermea fails, Mengekere destroys it, buries it and leaves for 100 years. When nature reclaims the island, he begins anew. Mengekere is doing his best, and will not give up. Every new Hermea is better and safer than the previous one.

Does the end justify the means? Can Mengekere treat humanity as we treat a colony of ants? Should Mengekere be stopped or helped?

-------

The party can win the campaign by solving either of these three problems. If they discover more than one, they can solve them. An arc that is uninteresting, will be downplayed.

Hey,

I've written a 6-8 week campaign, and run the first week of it. The party found loads of plotholes, found the main quest hook to be 'meh' and had trouble progressing.

Where should I post in these forums to get my campaign torn to shreds to that I can run something much better?

(All the faults with the campaign are mine, not the players.)

per the CRB:

Rods are scepter-like devices that have unique magical powers and do not usually have charges. Anyone can use a rod.

Physical Description: Rods weigh approximately 5 pounds. They range from 2 feet to 3 feet long and are usually made of iron or some other metal. (Many, as noted in their descriptions, can function as light maces or clubs due to their hardy construction.) These sturdy items have AC 9, 10 hit points, hardness 10, and a break DC of 27.

Is this what you are asking for?

That's a good start.

I had another look though the PRD, and found a page in Ultimate Equipment about Rods in general. What I didn't know is, Metamagic are just one category of rods! There are no visual descriptors for the Metamagic ones (lame) but quite detailed ones for all the other rods.

I'll read it over and then 3D print some of my own design then.

1) Talk to him about it

2) Give him a recurring NPC he can taunt instead of the party, and use his chaos as part of your story.

3) Kill the character

4) Kick him out.

And don't fuss too much over that mini. Pathfinder does not even support rotation, so bottlecaps will do.

Even though mini's are awesome.

Here a few things you can do to hurt the party:

1) Ray of Evervation, Negative levels are truly devastating.

2) Dominate Person, and have the party in-fight for Heisenorc's amusement

3) Build an encounter designed to party wipe, but have them awake in chains and shackles elsewhere afterwards. It must look authentic, as though they were meant to beat it.

4) Equip Heisenorc and Jessorc with Contingency spells. Stage a preliminary fight, they win at a matching APL where the Bosses teleport out. This robs the party, and makes them hate your boss for being a dirty coward. Then have another fight next session, at a higher level where they finish them.

5) Build Heisenorc with one objective: Smash their gear off their bodies. Improved sunder, an Earthbreaker based weapon, and huge strength. Have Jessorc in the background firing bolts at their now soft bodies.

6) Allow them to discover that these are not orcs, but half orcs that fell in with a bad lot. Heisenorc is just trying to raise money to look after his family after he dies, and Jessorc only wanted to sling some Flayleaf and go to concerts and it all got out of control. Make the party empathise with them and provide a non-combat solution.

The Rogue is 45t away, so I'd round down yes? That puts it beyond your second set of working out, to be at 24 to pin-point.

The rogue has a perception of 12, which results in the Rogue having a 45% to spot the Bard.

Invisibility sure does suffer when one does a lot of fancy stuff! Thank you for helping me out.

As per Paizo art, campaign descriptions or other official material?

I imagine them as wands, exactly like what Harry Potter calls his wand.

I wish to 3D print props for my party, I'm the DM.

So I've got an invisible bard eluding a Rogue that is trying to kill him. The Bard must roll stealth to move about, but he is trying to put some distance between he and the Rogue.

The roll for stealth is:
+20 for Invisibility
+5 from skill ranks
-5 for moving the full 30ft instead of just 15ft

The bard however will summon Monsters next turn. What penalties to stealth does this bring?

The bard will then perform, inspire Courage. What penalties does this bring?

And all it would take for the sorcerer to stay ahead would be a metamagic rod of echoing.

The drawback of an arcanist is the limited number of spells she can prepare compared to the wizard, and less spells/day compared to the sorcerer.

Wizard can prepare 3 different spells of spell-level 4, the Arcanist needs to have an exploit and spend arcane pool to switch from the prepared spell.

Another drawback of arcanist vs wizard is the same drawback for sorcerer vs wizard on the odd levels starting at 3 and ending at 18, namely being 1 spell level behind.

Drawback of arcanist vs sorcerer is the need to have a spellbook and less spells/day base.

All in all it manages to combine those two classes quite well without making the other two obsolete.

I went back and compared my versions of Enora and Ezren.

Lack of preparable spells per day completely counters the advantage of slots. At 8th level, I can cast 1 level 4 spell 3 times. Awesome if I know I'm fighting plants and want heightened fireballs, horrible if I face 3 encounters that push my slots to exhaustion, and the DM is throwing a mix of challenges at my party.

It's a Glass cannon that would do best in settings where I am able to scry/investigate what is coming up next. I can't wait to play with it against an alchemist.

Just because he charges the illusion does not mean he rugby-tackles it. He just uses the momentum of his run for his swing.

There is neither a RAW nor a "common sense" reason for him to fall over.

That's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. I've mistaken simple rules in the past.

He reached the illusion right at the end of the charge.

One barbarian PC charge attacks a Silent Image.

The silent image is a mimic of the Bard who cast it. The bard cast it while concealed, and had it advance into the open.

The Barbarian saw it, and has not interacted with it. So the barbarian charge attacks it, thinking it is a squishy Bard. DC17 to realize that it is not, but here is the real question:

Does the Barbarian fall over according to the rules?

I love you.

I've got a Sourcerer, Wizard and an Arcanist. The Arcanist merges the slots and the spellbook of each into a mega-class with no drawbacks I can see. You could argue about the fewer feats for Arcanists, but they get just as many Exploits as the Wizard gets bonus feats.

Although the total spells they get per day are a little different:
(INT20 or CHA20, L8), it's not enough to put the Arcanist at any disadvantage. All it would take to catch up to the Sorcerer on Spell slots would be a metamagic rod of echoing.

CLASS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Arcanist 6 5 5 3
Sorcerer 8 7 6 4
Wizard 6 4 4 3

Where do I find the pre-generated sheets for Enora, Reiko etc..?

Eldritch heritage ... your animal companion could have a familiar... that familiar could be more intelligent than the hunter and the animal companion ....^^

Wot.

I could set up a trippple character. A microparty. Good thing I'm the DM, because that would slow down the game something fierce.

I'm trying to build a good Arcanist to throw against my party and am a little miffed in how to construct the class. If there is a pre-built sheet for Enora (Iconic) I'd love to see it.

With intelligence I get more prepared spells. With charisma, I get more innate spells. Can I archtype an Arcanist into Wildblooded in order to access the Sage bloodline and then have only one primary stat?

What else is good for an Arcanist?

So with a level 8 Druid, I get an animal Companion, that can increase intelligence up to 3 whereupon I can up the INT to 3 and start getting silly with access to the regular feats.

What are the restrictions on this?

For example, I could have a Velociraptor with Amateur Swashbuckler, and get 2 Panache to parry attacks (very powerful).

Or I could make a T-Rex/Lion an Ametaur gunslinger that can dodge being shot at twice with 2 grit, and add Gunsmithing on top of that.

Even better, what stops me from giving that velociraptor leadership and getting 6th level cohort? And what if the raptor's cohort dislikes the druid?

I could even give a bear full plate, and a heavy shield getting the AC up to 29.

This is all wonderfully silly, and I imagine it's up to the DM to mitigate some of the weirder ones. But in this case, I am the DM and unless I'm very much mistaken, I can use this to create some very entertaining sessions/encounters.

Wild Shape is simple indeed it seems. The individual forms are just roleplay fodder and what matters is the actual changes. There is a handful of ability modifiers, and the inability to talk and size change.

The Druid is still a Humanoid, and instead of swords and bows, there are claws and bites.

Over on the Wolflair forums, Alientude put in the effort to make some .user files for HeroLab which work very well and demonstrate this brilliantly.

(Check and uncheck it on and off, and see what changes)

If this was like Animorphs, where you get a "Spell book of Creatures" you have touched, then this would make more sense.

I'm building every class in HeroLab and running them all in a Tournament to better understand Pathfinder (and be a better DM) and the Druid has me confused.

Wildshape III at level 8 lets me take on the form of any Diminunative-Huge animal 3 times a day for up to 8 hours each time. I am also restricted to a mixed bag of abilities like darkvision, scent, web and more.

Um, this is insane. There are three Bestiaries packed full of animals, plus plants, elementals and Magical beasts plus campaign based creatures. The only restriction is that the Druid "Know of" a particular critter, which is an opening for PCs to argue with the DM over dinosaurs or Mastadons.

How the heck do experienced druids players deal with this? Do you spend months studying the books, then build tables for several favourites? Is there a tool online somewhere that would let me refine search creatures?

I'd need to attend university for 2 years full time, and get an Advanced Diploma in Pathfinder to make the optimal decision for each combat!

I would make it a KN arcana check, when the wizard uses the spell. He is identifying the spell, or the general effects. Bolt of energy shoots out like an arrow, whizzing around other combatants to strike someone. Sounds like a magic missile. Ball of energy shoots out, 30 ft away, it explodes in electrical energy. Looked like a fireball, but not quite. Metamagiced perhaps?

Either way, the little stick of wood is clearly magical AFTER a spell is cast out of it. Right size/shape for a wand. Of what does not usually matter.

Spellcraft would be for the wizard who is looking to dismantle the spell energies, maybe to dispell, maybe to counterspell, or maybe some other reason.

The Barbarian simply wants to know the pecking order of what to smash. So by this reconing, he'd know that's a wand, not a soup spoon and swing his earth breaker at that.

Then pound in any armor he is wearing, then crush the sword the guy is wielding.

//This barbarian is all about smashing items, even if it is a bit dumb in this example.

If I use Divine bond at level 8 (+2), I can turn my mundane sword into a +2 sword for 80 rounds.

At any round after that, I can then use defending on the start of my turn, dropping my sword to a +1, but getting +1 AC.

On the turn following that, does my Sword return to +2? Or is that bonus consumed? And my +1 AC on that turn is also gone, yes?