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Mysterious Stranger wrote:

If you are using mythic rules, you should be comparing a mythic swift action to a mythic standard action instead of a normal standard action.

Can you give some examples?

Casting a mythic spell could be much more powerful than a mythic swift action. Take an intensified empowered augmented mythic fireball cast by a 20th level caster with spell dilation and elemental bond. The spell would cover a 55 foot radius, dealing 25d10 *1.5 points of damage and ignore fire resistance and immunity. That is still only a 6th level spell.

The point is that anytime you are using mythic rules things are on a different power level. The standard action does not even need to be an actual mythic power, just using mythic abilities on a standard action can raise the power to obscene levels.

Bloodline Development is not a feat, it is a Arcainist Exploit. You cannot take the same exploit more than one. That also applies to feats as well unless the feat specifies it can be taken more than one. Usually, the only time you can take a feat is when it is something like weapon focus that only applies to a single weapon or something similar. Even then they do not stack.

If you are using mythic rules, you should be comparing a mythic swift action to a mythic standard action instead of a normal standard action. The problem is not the exchanging of a standard action for a swift action; it is exchanging a standard action for any mythic action. Just about every mythic action is more powerful than a standard action.

The changes are made to the target of the hex, not to the cold itself. The fact that another creature in the area does not gain the entangled condition supports my point. Why does the ice from Winter Grasp form around the target of the hex, but not around the creatures next to him. If the hex affected the source of the cold damage, it should have the same effect on all the creatures in the area. The hex makes the target more vulnerable to cold; it does not change the nature or effect of the cold itself.

You don’t need to touch the ice to be damaged by the cold. That makes the ice an indirect source of the damage. The fact that the creature flying over the ice is entangled means the entangle is not the result of the ice forming around the character. The same thing applies to a character walking on the ice.

The description of the hex states “The shaman causes one creature within 30 feet to become more susceptible to the sapping power of cold for 1 minute”. That makes it clear that the power of the hex is focused on the target of the hex, not on the source of the cold. The hex is creating a kind of vulnerability to cold in the target, not changing how the source of the cold acts.

Rime spell on the other does alter how the source of the cold affects the target. So, a Rime Winter Grasp would prevent the target from moving. But while Beckoning Chill causes a similar effect, it is not the same thing.

Thinking on this further the entangled condition from the hex will only prevent movement if the source of cold already does so. The target of the hex is the creature not the source of cold damage. Therefor the source of cold is not directly affected by the spell. The hex also caused the entangled condition from taking damage from cold, not contact with ice. A creature flying through a Winter Grasp will gain the entangled condition if they are under the effect of the hex even without touching the ground. That makes it clear that the ice on the ground is not actually directly entangling the target. If that is the case the rule about anchoring bonds do not apply.

Winter Grasp works well with the hex but to I still think Frost Bite has the best effect. A wand of Frost Bite is only 750 gold. Since the spell has no save and the only level dependent variable is the damage the wand will remain useful even at 20th level.

I am not sure the entangled condition would result in the inability to move. This seems to be more of the fact the cold slows them down rather than they are held by ice. If there are no bonds, then they cannot be anchored.

I doubt there a second level Shaman is going to be able to afford a lesser elemental rod. That is 3x the recommended wealth for a second level character. Even at 3rd level it takes your entire WBL leaving you no other equipment including armor or weapons. This is not going to be feasible until probably 7th level or higher.

Frostbite looks like a good spell to use this with. It only deals non-lethal damage, but it is cold damage so should work. It is only a first level spell but offers no save and gives the target the fatigued condition. Buy a wand of frostbite and spam it out like crazy. This allows you to add the fatigued condition even if the target is not in water. Hex your target and keep poking them with a stick for a minute.

Frost bite does 1d6 +1 per level damage with no maximum. This combination will allow those 1st level spells to be useful even at high levels.

It is Polar Midnight making the combination devastating. Using the hex is a standard action so this combination will take 2 rounds and only target a single creature. The target of the hex also gets a saving throw to avoid the effect of the hex. There are a lot better combinations then Beckoning Chill to use with Polar Midnight. Entangle is a first level shaman spell and affects all creatures within a 40-ft. radius. That would take the same amount of time and can affect all creatures within the area of the Polar Midnight.

Spending two rounds to add an entangle effect to a single target of a spell is not that devastating.

On a 15 point buy you could get a 16 STR (after racial), 13 DEX, 12 CON 10 INT, 10 WIS, 14 CHA. As a human paladin he gets 3 feats. Take Shield Focus, Shield Brace and Power Attack. For equipment he gets full plate, a darkwood heavy shield and a masterwork Guisarme. The 13 DEX allows him to pick up combat reflexes to gain an extra AoO. This also gives him 3 skill points per level and can take his favored class bonus to bump that to 4.

The 12 CON is not as bad as it seems because as a paladin he can heal as a swift action in combat. Divine Grace means his Fort save is still higher than normal.

The 16 STR may seem a little low, but keep in mind the rest of the party is also going to be on the same point buy. It can also be boosted with magic. Bulls Strength is on the Paladin’s spell list.

Bard would be my choice. Gnomes make incredible bards. They are more suited for bard than wizard. Summoner would be another class to consider. Personally, I would drop the wizard and go with summoner and bard. Bards get lots of illusion spells so can handle the illusionist concept.

The Undine is also a cleric. Clerics get proficiency in their deities favored weapon. While the entry in the bestiary does not list the deity or favored weapon it is still a class feature of the cleric and is the most likely explanation for the Undine using it. The Vivisectionist Cleric (7th level human cleric) has a spiked chain listed as its weapon and the listed bonus shows it is proficient with the spiked chain. The character does not have exotic weapon listed as a feat, so clearly it gains that from the favored weapon class feature of a cleric.

I would go with a standard STR based paladin for this. If this type of character is something the player has never done keep the build simple and functional from the start. Don’t use a complicated build that does not come online until high level. The bladed brush tripping paladin does not really come online until around 9th level.

Also keep in mind that the 15-point buy is going to make a lot of builds out of reach. As a paladin you want to boost your main combat stat as high as you can, you also need a good CHA. All characters need at least some CON. You cannot dump STR, or your damage is garbage and encumbrance becomes an issue. Dumping INT on a low skill character means you have almost no skills. Dumping WIS lowers your will save and perception rolls.

I would recommend a STR based paladin with power attack, shield focus, and shield brace. Use a polearm with reach. Antagonize was recommended and would allow some tanking. Many GM’s hate the feat and may ban it so check with you GM about it.

As was pointed out in an earlier post there is a difference between a turn and a round. A round is a a six second time frame. Each round can have many turns. A turn is the segment of the round that a particular creature acts in. Each creature has their own turn. The rules are state you can only take one swift action per turn, but there is no restriction on taking more than one swift action in a round. Using a readied action can allow you to act when it is another character turn. That other character's turn could be latter in the same round or before your turn in the next round.

As to the way a readied action works, I have already stated that as a GM I would not allow the anytime anyone does anything. If the player is still pushing it, he is in violation of rule 0. My response may be a bit harsh, but this is preventing the game from being brought to a halt by an argument.

As a GM I require the character readying an action to state a specific condition for the trigger. As the GM that is my right, if you want to do it differently in you game that is your business.

The GM is the judge of what a legitimate triggering condition is. Personally, I would not accept anyone doing anything as a triggering condition. I would let the player know that I don’t like that trigger and give him a chance to change it. If he pushes the issue, I would rule that someone breathed after the paladin readied the action but before his turn ended so he loses the readied action. Mind you this would be after the player had been told no.

Being injured would be a legitimate trigger, but if that does not happen until the next round the paladin loses all other actions for that round. A better way to achieve that would be to memorize the spell Hero's Defiance. This is actually a great 1st level paladin spell.

There are several things about readied actions that seem to be ignored. First of all, the readied action has to take place after your turn is over. Since the readied action interrupts the triggering action the triggering action cannot be your turn ending. If it is it is still your turn and the rule of only one swift action is still in effect. This means that the triggering action has to take place after your turn end. Since the triggering action is not happening in your turn it cannot be something that your character does. Technically you could use an immediate action as the triggering action, but that would prevent you from using a swift action until after your next turn, which would prevent you from performing the readied action. RAW talking is a free action and cannot be done when it is not your turn. As silly as that rule is this is one time, I would actually enforce it.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if the readied action occurs in the next round, you lose all other actions for that round. Since the triggering action is not under your control there is a very good possibility you are going to lose your next turn to perform the readied action. In this case you have traded away your entire turn for a swift action.

If you want to use smite evil in the same round as lay on hands use the readied action for lay on hands is not the way to do it. A better tactic would be to use a reach weapon or otherwise gain an AoO on the person attacking you. Use your swift action for lay on hands and use ready for smite evil with the triggering action of you attacking. When you make the AoO the readied smite evil will be triggered and you will get the smite evil on it.

I would not call a black blade a vanity item. While it’s enchantment bonus or properties may be exceeded by a normal magic item it has several properties that can make it more powerful than a normal magic weapon.

Unbreakable means that while the black blade has at least 1 point in its arcane pool it is immune to be sundered.

Black Blade strike is an untipped bonus so stacks with the enchantment bonus to damage. This allows the damage bonus to exceed the +5 limitation. At 17th level the magus can be getting a +7 bonus to damage.

Energy attunement allows all the damage the magus deals to be converted to the chosen energy type. This can allow the magus to bypass DR of creatures and even target vulnerabilities. For example, a magus fighting a pit fiend could convert the damage to electricity bypassing the need for a silver and good weapon. If the magus is fighting something with the fire or cold subtype, they could convert the damage to the opposite and deal an extra 50% damage. Converting the damage to force allows you to do full damage vs an incorporeal creature. How many available at low to mid-level can match this?

At 9th level the magus can teleport the blade to him from up to a mile away. This makes it very difficult for the black blade to be lost or stolen.

How many 9th level characters have a +3 unbreakable weapon that is nearly impossible to lose that can deal full damage to almost any creature.

The black blade is also fully aware of its surrounding so can give the magus an extra perception roll to notice things he might miss.

At 1st level, a magus can expend 1 point from his arcane pool as a swift action to grant any weapon he is holding a +1 enhancement bonus for 1 minute. For every four levels beyond 1st, the weapon gains another +1 enhancement bonus, to a maximum of +5 at 17th level. These bonuses can be added to the weapon, stacking with existing weapon enhancement to a maximum of +5. Multiple uses of this ability do not stack with themselves.

The only alteration the bladebound archetype makes to the magus arcane pool is the amount of points in it. The archetype does not change what the arcane pool can or cannot do. The blackblade does have its own pool that can be used to power specific powers of the blade. So, the magus can use its arcane pool to boost the enchantment bonus of the blackblade to a maximum of +5.

The rope dart is going to be very difficult to pull off for this character. As it is an exotic weapon it will require a feat to gain proficiency with it. As a ranged weapon you cannot flank or feint with it. You can take the feat ranged feint to allow you to feint, but you still cannot flank. Feinting is normally a standard action which means you cannot attack in the same round you feint. Improved Feint reduces that to a move action, but requires combat expertise and a 13 INT. Even then feint only loses their DEX bonus vs your next attack. This means you need 4 feats and will still only get one attack when feinting. At 5th level you are a feat short, so the build does not come online until 7th level.

Rope dart is also a one-handed weapon not a light weapon. That means that the penalties for two weapon fighting are -4 on both weapons not -2. Normally you cannot get multiple attacks with a thrown weapon, but I could see allowing it.

Daggers work much better. Take weapon finesse and quick draw feats and either power attack or piranha strike as your third feat.

One thing to keep in mind is that by playing a support character you are allowing the direct damage characters to really shine. By boosting their abilities and controlling the battlefield you are enabling them to do what they do best instead of competing with them. You are also taking a necessary role than not everyone likes allowing them to focus on the things they like to do. If you played a direct damage dealer you would end up in direct competition to them and probably diminishing their enjoyment of the game.

In your first post you asked how for advice on snapping you out of the mindset. The most important thing for doing that is to realize it is a mindset you are having issues with. Look for the best ways to boost the party and let others worry about dealing damage. Don’t rely on just a few things to boost the party, instead look for new and creative way to become even better at it. Direct damage dealers can see the growth of their character by the HP they do in combat. Support characters have a harder time measuring character growth.

The original post was asking about ways to be able to smite evil and lay on hands at the same time. A better way to declare his smite evil before combat even begins. Obviously this does not work if the party is surprised or otherwise attacked with no warning, but it can be done in a lot of situations.

Smite evil requires the paladin to choose a target within sight. The need to call out the powers of good to aid him makes it kind of obvious what he is doing, but nothing prevents him from doing so out of combat. The fact that the smite remains in effect is dead or the paladin rests means it can be done before the paladin attacks. Smite evil is a limited resource so most of the time it is used against a really tough opponent not their minions. Declaring a smite evil is probably going to start combat but by that time it is already in effect.

The paladin can also use lay on hand on both himself and an ally in the same turn. It is only if he wants to use it twice on himself that it becomes a problem.

The following section is copied from the rules.

Ready

The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun. Readying is a standard action. It does not provoke an attack of opportunity (though the action that you ready might do so).

The bolded part makes it clear that the readied action does not take place on your turn. Since your turn has already finished you are not performing more than one swift action in the same turn. The same thing applies to standard actions. The fact that if you take your readied action in the next round causes you to lose the rest of your actions for that round reinforces this.

The one thing I would say is that the triggering condition cannot be based solely on a game term. It has to be something the character (not the player) can perceive and understand. So, the end of my turn would not be a valid triggering condition.

The basis for claiming that native outsiders get proficiency in simple and martial weapons is a post on a D&D 3.5 publication. While Pathfinder was built to be backwards compatible it is a standalone game. Any Pathfinder official sources take precedence over any D&D 3.5 source. As Belafon pointed out the ARG (a pathfinder rule book) clearly states that 0 HD race do not get the weapon and armor proficiency of their type. If a GM wants to go by the D&D rules, they are free to do so as a house rule.

The outsider type also grants 1d10 HD, BAB equal to total HD (full BAB), Two good Saves, and 6 skill points per HD. Do native outsiders also get those?

Planetouched is a term used in D&D and is not used anywhere in the actual Pathfinder rules.

You use a standard action to break your turn into two turns. The second turn can only consist of a swift, move, standard or free action. This is why your initiative changes with a readied action. You still cannot do more in that round than you normally could if you did not use a readied action. Using a standard action to ready an action limits what can be done in the first turn.

The bolded section from the description of Swift Actions seems relevant.

A swift action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort than a free action. You can perform one swift action per turn without affecting your ability to perform other actions. In that regard, a swift action is like a free action. You can, however, perform only one single swift action per turn, regardless of what other actions you take. You can take a swift action anytime you would normally be allowed to take a free action. Swift actions usually involve spellcasting, activating a feat, or the activation of magic items.

That seems to imply that the rule about only a single swift action is not as absolute as it seems. If you can never perform more than one swift action in a turn it would not have mentioned without affecting your ability to perform other actions. The only way that sentence makes sense is if you can actually use another type of action to perform a swift action.

The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun. Readying is a standard action. It does not provoke an attack of opportunity (though the action that you ready might do so).

Since a readied action takes place after your turn is over the rule of only being able to perform a single swift action in your turn is not being violated. Technically the two swift actions happen on different turns. This does prevent you for performing any other actions after you the swift action. You can of course perform other actions before you ready the swift action.

What reading an action allows you to do is to essentially break up your turn into two different turns. This is the only way it can work, because other than an immediate action you cannot perform any actions when it is not your turn.

Deathless Initiate requires 3 feats because you have to meet the prerequisite for Die Hard and cannot be gained until at least 6th level if you have a bonus feat available. This means you have either be a fighter or dip a level for the bonus feat or wait till 7th level.

Ferocious Resolve only requires one feat and other than that does not give up anything.

Orc Atavism means you take a penalty on one mental stat and give up a +2 bonus to intimidation. It also may prevent you from taking other alternative racial traits. Technically you also give up Orc Blood, but all you really lose is the ability to count as human. You still count as both an Orc and a Half Orc for any effects relating to race.

Both Ferocious Resolve and orc Atavism allows you to pick up Ferocious Action. Deathless Initiate does not grant you the ferocity ability so does not qualify for Ferocious Action. Deathless Initiate is part of a chain so has further abilities you can pick up. If those are part of your build or those abilities complement your build it might be a good choice. If not the cost and waiting for it to come online make it a less than ideal choice.

If you build is feat starved and you can afford to the penalty to a mental stat Orc Atavism seems a fairly decent choice. Keep in mind that most martial classes have very low skill points so dumping INT often means you have almost no skills. Dumping WIS means a penalty Will saves and Perception as well as other WIS based skills. If you are not playing a paladin or other CHA based class dumping CHA does not have as much effect as the other two mental stats. So, a ranger taking Orc Atavism is probably a good choice, it would not be for a paladin. A half orc paladin with ferocity is actually a very good build. A half orc paladin with fey foundling and ferocious resolve is very tough to take down.

I have to congratulate Tottemas for finding a RAW method for allowing a swift action to be performed as a standard action. Not only does this allow lay on hands as a standard action on yourself it opens up a lot using a lot of other swift actions as a standard action. You could even use the finishing declaring a smite evil a the triggering action to allow you to perform a move action after both the smite evil and lay on hands have been completed.

RAW there is nothing that prevents this.

In some cases you don’t need to make an actual appraisal roll. Even normal full plate is incredibly expensive and it is unlikely that any NPC below 5th level is going to be able to afford it. Even field plate is probably too expensive for a low-level NPC to afford. This is something that a 3rd level adventurer should be aware of. If they are wearing less expensive armor like banded and splint mail, then it becomes more of a challenge.

The OP specified they opponents where humanoids, so that means they are probably non-human. In that case a knowledge local roll might be appropriate.

Since I posted in two different decades (2010's and 2020's) that counts as two decades.

:)

Not sure you really need the hermit archetype for anything. A standard oracle seem like it would work well enough. Most of what you want is more of a roleplaying thing than anything to do with game mechanics.

Since you want a fighter type taking the battle mystery seems like it would work. You already get all the cure spells so that will cover most of the healer aspect. You might want to take a few condition removal spells as well.

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

The quality of their gear is also another indication that can be used.

That’s a good idea. I guess you could get a rough idea of that with an appraise check. But it’s either 1 full round action to determine the most expensive item or 1 standard per item they have, which is time consuming

That is assuming you are trying to figure out the actual value. Some things should be a little more obvious. The guy in polished full plate that fits him well is probably fairly high level. The guy in ill-fitting patched up studded leather is probably not. The guy in the fitted studded leather in good repair is probably not low level.

The shapechanger subtype in this case gives no benefits. The only it gives it proficiency with its natural weapons, simple weapons and those weapons and armor mentioned in the description. Since it grants no natural attacks and there is no description mentioning any weapons and armor it gains nothing. The Vigilante already has proficiency in simple weapons. But the vigilante is affected by effects that target shapechanger subtype. This makes having the subtype more of a disadvantage then an advantage. I suspect that this was deliberate as a way to balance the ability.

The first difference is that malleable Flesh does not totally alter your appearance. Some of the vigilante’s ascetics appear in all forms which cuts the bonus to disguise from +10 to +5. Malleable Flesh also reduces the vigilante’s seamless disguise bonus from +20 to +10. That means the vigilante with malleable flesh actually has less of a bonus than the standard vigilante to appear as his alternate identity. This gives the vigilante with malleable flesh ha a +5 bonus to appear as something different than one of their identities and a +15 to appear as their other identity. They give up some of the bonus to be able to appear in many different forms. Assumed form on the other hand grants the full benefit from disguise person. So, in reality it is actually better at disguising yourself the malleable flesh.

Another difference is that malleable flesh gives you the compression ability at 1st level and the ability to pass through narrow opening or small cracks at 12t level. These abilities are available to the character at any time and do not require that they be in a different form.

At 15th level Assumed form functions as alter self so it gives you the size bonus to your ability scores and the racial abilities of the form. At this level you do actually gain the natural attacks of the form you assume.

So, while these abilities seem similar, they are actually quite different. Malleable Flesh gives you more than just the ability to disguise yourself but has some drawbacks. Assumed form starts off weaker, but in a lot of ways is much stronger especially once you reach 15th level.

I can see the knowledge local, but not the profession Soldier. Often most of the humanoid troops will be warriors not fighters, and as such will not have armor training. But if they are all decked out in expensive heavy armor that is in itself and indication, they are probably not going to be affected by the sleep spell. The quality of their gear is also another indication that can be used.

Does the character have to be a cleric? As Claxon mentioned an oracle may be a better fit for the concept. A cleric always serves the deity, but an oracle does not even have to worship or even support the deity granting them power.

You could have a cleric that serves his deity, but disdains all others. This is actually not that uncommon and nearly any deity could fit for that type of character.

Treantmonk used to have a set of Guides. One was Treantmonk’s guide to Pathfinder Wizards: Being a God. The links I had for it are very old and no longer work but reading that would probably help.

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Are you asking how far away the party without a light source can see the light from the lantern, or are you asking how far away the party without the light source can see the party with the lantern? Those are two separate issues. They will be able to see the lantern from quite a distance away assuming that nothing blocks the light. In order to identify the character in the party with the lantern they will need to be a lot closer.

What spurred the discussion was an archer hiding in the darkness in the woods wanted to know if he could see a party riding down the road at night with a few lanterns well enough to shoot one of them. We've always just allowed it, but someone asked if there should be a penalty of some sort.

from what we could tell by the "rules" that since he was in a dark area, he couldn't see them at all, but that didn't make any sense to us, hence the question.

What type of lantern did the other party have? A bullseye lantern projects a cone of light, where a hooded lantern has a radius. If they were using a bullseye lantern in the front of the party the party itself would likely not be in the area of illumination. If they were using a hooded lantern, they probable were in the area of illumination.

In reality a character in an illuminated area can be seen by a person in darkness, but the character in the illuminated will have trouble seeing the person in darkness. This may not be stated in the rules, but it is common sense, and a reasonable GM will allow it. If the GM does not allow it, they are probably the type that argues that a dead creature can take actions because the book does not state they cannot.

If the party is in the area of illumination the way I would handle it would be to have the archer make a perception roll to spot a visible target with penalties for range. Use that roll to determine how far away the party is when he can see one of the characters well enough to attack with his bow.

Are you asking how far away the party without a light source can see the light from the lantern, or are you asking how far away the party without the light source can see the party with the lantern? Those are two separate issues. They will be able to see the lantern from quite a distance away assuming that nothing blocks the light. In order to identify the character in the party with the lantern they will need to be a lot closer.

Daring Teamwork replaces bonus feats and the swashbucklers 1st, 7th, and 15th level deeds and alters panache.

The alteration to panache only applies to the swashbuckler’s ability to regain panache from reducing a foe to 0 HP. The alteration does not specify any conditions to the fore reducing the HP to 0. Therefore anytime an ally reduces a foe to 0 HP the guided blade regains panache. How the ally reduces the foe to 0 HP does not matter. They do not need to be using a light or one-handed piercing melee weapon, or any weapon at all. A wizard using a magic missile or even a fireball would qualify.

As Melkiador states the guided blade is still able to regain panache from his own critical hits.

I think your interoperation is incorrect. What that sentence is saying is that it is not considered an unattended item. The means that spells or effects that only work on unattended items do not work on it while it is dancing.

The weapon is also capable of doing a lot more than spiritual weapon. The weapon can be used to make combat maneuvers or over combat options.

The ability can also be activated before combat. I remember a character in an AD&D campaign I played in years ago managed to find two dancing weapons. He was often able to activate both before combat and wade in making a huge number of attacks per round in the first two rounds.

It can attack in the round it is activated. So, the character gets his full number of attacks in the first round, and twice his number of attacks for 3 rounds. Since activating the ability is a standard action it also allows the character to move before activating it. So, you can get something similar to pounce in the first round. This is something that a full BAB class will get more benefit from. The benefits also increase with the level of the character.

You did not read the next sentence.

If you undergo complete bed rest for an entire day and night, you recover twice your character level in hit points.

There is no requirement that a creature undergoing complete bed rest has to be sleeping. Plants and oozes often completely still for long periods of time. A plant or ooze that remains completely motionless would be able to heal from bed rest.

Revelations are class features. Class features are based on the level of the class unless otherwise specified.

This type of an encounter does not have to be just about giving the party a major challenge. This type of encounter is great for bleeding of resources before the big encounter. Assuming the party does not get a chance to rest and regain spells every spell they use is one less they have available for the tougher encounter later.

An 8th level Skald with the Linnorm Death Curse, Tarn would be a particularly nasty encounter. Have the Skald take the spell Clarion Call and his ragesong can affect an entire army. Each minion the characters kill mean they have to make a saving throw or lose the ability to be healed or heal naturally. Since a 1 always fails on a save, if the party kills enough minions they will be affected by the curse. The wizard is actually more at risk from this than a martial.

Give the Skald Major Image to allow him to create illusionary troops and the party will be forced to burn even more resources. Mix the illusionary troop with the real troops to give the party a nasty surprise and confuse the numbers.

Invisibility Sphere could allow a small group of minions to get very close to the party without them realizing it. The skald cast it on the leader of the squad and uses Clarion Call to affect the squad and the other troops. The Wizard might have a hard time getting that fireball off when he is being attacked by a bunch of berserkers.

It is on the list but is a 3rd level spell.

At best you may get a general idea of what the action or triggering action is. You can probably figure out if the person is preparing to attack with a weapon, or cast a spell, but beyond that you will not get much detail.

For example, let’s say I prepare to attack if a specific character approaches a specific object or creature. You will not be able to figure out which character I am preparing to attack.

How much information you can gain is going to be up to the discretion of the GM.

What it comes down to is that clerics already have a lot of ways to harm undead. Besides channeling energy and spontaneously converting heal spells they are a medium BAB class that can wear medium armor. They also have good Fort and Will saves so can resist many of the special attacks of undead creatures. They really don’t need disrupt undead.

Sorcerer’s and Wizards on the other hand have less ways to deal with undead, especially incorporeal undead. Most offensive arcane magic only deals half damage to incorporeal undead, and they if they make their save it is cut in half again. Most force spells do significantly less damage than other spells.

If it helps the way Hero Designer, does it is to add what a 1st level sorcerer gets. So, no increase on BAB, FORT or REF saves, but a +2 on Will saves and d6 extra for HP.

That assumes that your foe knows what the readied action and the trigger is. Just because you declare what the trigger and action are does not mean your opponents know that information.

It also depends on what the objective of the readied action is. If you are trying to prevent another target from being attacked and due to your actions, the protected target is not attacked you have accomplished your objective.

Overrun

As a standard action, taken during your move or as part of a charge, you can attempt to overrun your target, moving through its square. You can only overrun an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved Overrun feat, or a similar ability, initiating an overrun provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your overrun attempt fails, you stop in the space directly in front of the opponent, or the nearest open space in front of the creature if there are other creatures occupying that space.

The rules for overrun state it can be made as part of a charge. So, the charging character would make an overrun check, which would provoke an AoO if the character charging does not have improved overrun. If the charging character makes the check, he is able to move past you and continue the charge. If the overrun fails, the charging character stops in front of character C.