Nadalis's page

Oh yeah, and we still talk about my d20 that is still in my friend's neighbor's garden after I tossed it over the fence when I rolled 1 four times in a row.

I used to have the luxury of playing once a week. That was long long ago. Since then some of us have settled down and had kids, some of us have moved to far off places. About 12 years ago we decided that we would get together for a week every summer for an epic gaming session. Our first year we had 8 of us up in a cabin in the mountains. Some have dropped off and we have invited more, some stay, some not so much. We have added at least one new (to the group) player each year. This year saw 19 of us converge on a house for our yearly. On guy been the main DM running the overarching story, but we also have five other guys that run players and trade off DMing. Since this has been my only gaming for the past 12 years, I try as much as possible to give it as much of an "epic feel" as possible. We always have "death shots" as part of the week. Some years you shoot horrible strong rum, some years we buy a bunch of random mini bottles and you shoot whatever you pick from the brown bag. The DMs always plan a big major bad guy battle with lots of excitement and drama to end the week. Because it is a major battle to wrap up the week, we try and use up all the alcohol. So in addition to dying to earn a death shot, we also decided the first one to roll a 1 to autofail a save, killing blow on the bad guy earned a death shot, and a few other things like that.

A number of years ago I was the sole arcane caster. We had one scroll of greater teleport that was designed to get the entire party to the hideout of the big bad evil guy. I was playing an 11th level conjuration specialist. The DC to cast off the scroll is Caster level +1. Minimum level for Greater Teleport was 13 as we just figured I would just roll well or try it again. Moment of truth with everyone gathered around the table watching... 1. Everyone laughs, and then the head DM speaks up and tells me to roll a DC 5 wisdom check to avoid a scroll mishap with a 1 always failing... 1. The DM tells me to roll d100... 100. The DM's all look at each other shrug convened in the other room for a bit and came back in. They totally rolled with it and came up with a good plan that worked for everyone and still made sense. I tip my hat to them. I find epic fail nights and epic fail moments make better stories and memories than the nights when half your attacks are criticals.

Yes I agree, "except for the significant differences." I don't see how any of the differences would preclude the ability from working in conjunction with (but not being a prerequisite for) dimensional agility.

Sean K Reynolds (developer) with regards to "Shift" stated
It works exactly like the dimension door spell.
Except you can do it at 1st level.
And it's a swift action.
And it doesn't provoke AOOs.
And you can use it a bunch of times per day.
So that's pretty badass.
Not being able to take an action afterward is a minor drawback by comparison.

So, I read that to mean: if you qualify for the pre-requisite, meaning you are 7th level and can cast dimension door you can take dimensional agility and have it apply to "Shift" since it works "exactly" the same.

Thanks Axebeard, I agree and I guess our group will continue to play with the shift + dimensional agility until we find it a problem. When I created my most recent character I created with escape from grappling in mind. On a related note, I liked the idea of making grappling more serious to casters but I feel that the DCs to cast a verbal (only) spell or even a silent verbal spell are a bit tough.

What is the difference between casting dimensional door and doing something that allows you to use a dimensional door. I feel that if shift has the same limitation as dimensional door with regards to disorienting you and thereby ending your turn and then dimensional agility removes that disorientation "Teleportation does not faze you," it makes pretty good sense that dimensional agility removes the disorientation from both shift and dimension door.

So,
Shift is a supernatural ability that allows the caster to bend time and space "as if using dimension door" but with more limitations than the actual spell (distance, sight, and passengers which make sense since it is a 1st level ability) and still disorients the caster.

And,
Abundant Step is a supernatural ability that also allows the monk to bend time and space "as if using the spell dimension door" with only the limitation of passengers and it turns into a move action.

and you guys think that dimensional agility only applies to the actual spell "dimension door" and the supernatural ability "abundant step," but not the supernatural ability "shift." I feel that the descriptions of what is supposed to be happening in the supernatural abilities of abundant step and shift that it is silly to include one and not the other.

I started playing a teleportation specialist which is now 7th level. I have used the shift ability once. I have a really hard time seeing how the shift + dimensional agility feat could be too overpowered to not read it as RAI or even RAW.

Can someone explain why dimensional agility won't work with the Teleportation school special ability. I understand that dimensional agility states "when casting dimension door" but the teleportation school mentions that you "teleport as if using dimension door." I feel the ability doesn't ans shouldn't state that you "cast dimension door" because it is an ability. Since your action acts like dimension door would it certainly qualify for the dimensional agility ability. I find it a little silly for us to expect a literal reading and expecting us to only use the teleportation school ability to qualify only if it read:

Shift (Su): At 1st level, you can teleport to a nearby space by casting dimension door. This movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You must be able to see the space that you are moving into. You cannot take other creatures with you when you use this ability (except for familiars). You can move 5 feet for every two wizard levels you possess (minimum 5 feet). You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.

So, we had a reunion of our yearly game last week, and converted to Pathfinder from 3.5. I found most all the changes to be imporvements, but I am a bit mized on the concentration idea. I love that is it tied to your primary casting stat, and no longer a skill. Melees don't need to max a skill swing their weapon so now casters don't need to a max a skill to cast etc etc.

But in playing I found concentration to be a bit underwhelming. I have played 3.5 for a while so I come from that background. Established storyline with some established characters. I missed the game last year, so I got to start with a 14th level character this year. I created my druid 3.5 style with modifications taking into account advice from the forums.

I've played long enough to know that you always have to have a backup plan, and or an escape plan. As a divine caster, always prepare freedom of movement. When I memorized my 6th level spells still, silent Freedom of Movement took up a slot thinking i'd use it as my get out of jail card should I need it in a jam. Boy was I wrong. We encountered a Purple Worm, and I just happen to be the first one swallowed. I tried my still silent FOM: Fail. I question the DM, (something I'm good at but shouldn't) and quickly learn the new rules for casting while grappled. There ain't no way in nine layers of hell, I ever make that concentration check 10+ CMB + spell level. I also quickly learn that It is almost pointless for me to memorize it silent, whatever.

The other party memebers that were not privy to this rules discussion learned later as we fought an ancient red dragon CMB of 43 which makes the concentration check 57 for dimension door or freedom of movement and 58 for teleport. None of the casters had concentration checks anywhere close to 37 or 38 making the normal caster escape methods impossible.

Are we missing something or does grapple trump concentration pretty bad now?