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So I'm working on building a Kineticist and I have a couple questions I've been pondering.

A: Is there a way for a Kineticist to acquire simple blasts outside of the one gained at first level for free and the ones gained through Expanded Element at 7th and 15th level?

B: Can a Kineticist carry power stored using Internal Buffer over to the next day?

C: Am I the only one who thinks that while Gather Power is important to the class in terms of keeping it functioning and throwing Blasts all day, its visual and auditory effects make it a class feature that puts an enormous bullseye on the character that will result in most intelligent opponents immediately trying to ice the character?

In the Technology Guide, the stat block for Force Fields says that it consumes 1 charge/minute, but the text box says that it consumes 1 charge/round. Ummmm, question mark?

Just read over the Revised Advanced Class Guide Playtest. So, beyond not wanting to just stand there being silly, is there anything stopping a Skald from burning their actions every turn in order to rage cycle, turning any once per rage rage powers (being granted to all martials in the party) into once per round rage powers?

Sure, at lower levels the Skald would be burning a standard action every turn to do it, and mid levels, their move action, but in a party of all martials, properly built, this could get reasonably nasty.

Also, it appears that Skalds can take Totem rage powers as long as they don't take a standard action or rounds of rage to activate. Pouncing martial party anyone?

So, with the new Iron Gods AP coming out soon, one of the big questions that's been rattling around in my head that is likely to occur to a group of players is:

"Alright! We killed the technology-using robots! What can we strip/salvage off of them?"

My original thought was just for pieces of various skymetals used in a bot's construction, but with the release of Numeria: Land of Fallen Stars, which revealed some of the technology that the robots in it have (see spoiler below), will the AP cover rules for recovering pieces of tech off of defeated robots or similar opponents? I ask because it would feel like cheating the players out of some of the game if the above question was always answered with "Aw shucks, the robot's mainframe got fried and ruined all its technology, and somehow denatured all the metal used to make it. Darn."

So, I've been wondering about this for a while now, can one use a "Swift Action" ability as a move or standard action?

A specific example would be a Paladin wanting to use smite evil, (swift action) lay on hands himself, (swift action, change to move) and take the total defense action (standard) in the same round.

Similarly, could a Paladin lay on hands himself twice in a round, using his swift and standard actions? Afterall, using that specific ability on himself is a swift action, but using it on another is a standard, so are they interchangeable when the paladin uses it on himself?

Could the same paladin use lay on hands on himself, smite evil, and cast a quickened spell? (5th level or higher take Extra Traits feat for the Magical Lineage trait choosing, let's say, CLW and then getting to 14th level. A bit featy but totally doable.)

Yes, all of my examples involve a paladin, but that's just because paladins have that unique takes-two-different-action-types-depending-on-circumstances lay on hands ability. I'm curious about if swift actions can be traded out for other actions for any class. I know that one can't do it with quickened spells no matter what is said here, but I still wanna know about what people think about other swift actions getting used as move or standard actions instead.

Is there any way in the rules for a spellcaster to build an intelligent construct?

I have a player who's building a character for my upcoming S&S game. He wants to build a swimmy (APG alternate racial trait that I can't remember the name of) Elf Barbarian (Sea Reaver archetype) thing. I have no problem with this. The issue I'm running into is that he seems to want to dual wield a trident and net. I've looked over the net's rules and it seems to me that they're only even sort of viable up to a certain level, like 7th-ish. After that, if you throw it, chances are whatever you hit with it is going to either going to escape artist out with ease, or, much more likely, cut or burst its way out, leaving you with minus a net. I've looked into the Net feat chain in the UC, and it seems like it becomes usable only once you hit 7th level (6th for a fighter) once you gain the ability to trip and disarm with the net without having to throw it. Since the game starts at 1st level, does this concept even seem viable? And how can one make nets in general viable?

My main concern is that the player is one who seems to build ideas and concepts he seems passionate about, until he actually plays them and decides it was a stupid idea and wants to change the entire character to the oft repeated chorus of "I'm useless." I plan on talking to him about it, maybe suggest a fighter would be better?

Also, Net Adept gives the ability to use a net as a one-handed melee reach weapon, how does this work out when you have no other Net chain feets to back it up, when the net does no damage, and you can't throw it with one hand? (Since the Net and Trident feat gives you that ability.)

So, one of my difficulties with running adventure paths is maps for areas that the PC's are going to run into and explore. I want them to be as close to the maps in the books, while not burning an excessive amount of my time or money in the process. (I pick up most all of the flip-mats and tiles that I think will be useful, but that only goes so far.) A long time ago I was going to run a Kingmaker game (Which sadly never got off the ground.) and I drew out fairly detailed maps of a couple of the areas, complete with color, which was great....except that it took me about 6-8 hours of concentrated work per map, something I'd rather not repeat. I will if I have to, but I really don't wanna.

I just got back from Kinkos and was going to simply scan the maps from the AP and blow them up to directly turn them into maps. I thought it was a good idea, until they told me that I'd need a signed release form from the copyright holders to do such. And after looking at the form, it looks like I'd need to get a new one for every single map I wanted to print out. The alternative was that I could copy and blow it up bit by bit until I've got a patchwork map over several pages, which my math tells me would cost around $20 per map, give or take several mistakes (which I'd have to pay for) due to it being an insanely inexact process.

I am very open to suggestions at this point. What methods have y'all GM's used in the past for your adventure path games?

So, I will soon be running a Skull and Shackles game, and I'm curious about what kind of changes should be made to the AP to account for a party of 7-8 PC's. Any and all suggestions, specific and general are welcome.

Thanks. :)

I've been trying to construct a Dread Necromancer in my spare time for a 3.5 game that may go past epic level. So I've been trying to look into making new spells using the Animate Dead Seed. The problem I'm having is that the Seed was designed around the Animate Dead in 3.0 (I know, duh!) but from what I can tell, the spell got drastically changed between 3.0 and 3.5. (Lower spell level and more undead HD.) I checked the 3.5 Epic update but it doesn't even touch the seeds and I'm having difficulty finding anything online for it.

Help?

My question about Animate Dead is this: What determines the HD of the undead you create? Is it based on the HD of the creature whose body you're using for the purpose, or do you simply choose how many HD you want it to have, limited only by your Caster Level and the value of the onyx?

Lesser question: What would be the best way to acquire onyx gems? All I can think of is to hit up all the magic component and jewelry shops. Any better suggestions?

Could a Monk 1/Rogue 1 deal nonlethal sneak attack with an unarmed attack?

According to RAW I wanna say no, because sneak attack says that if you can deal lethal damage with the weapon then you have to deal lethal sneak attack damage. But seems a bit silly that you can nonlethal SA with an unarmed strike if you're not "proficient" with it, (sucking an attack of opportunity as well) but you lose the ability to do so as soon as you can make it lethal.

Thoughts?

So, most of the people in the group I game with say that when something deals variable bleed damage, you roll the dice once and then continue to take that rolled number of damage every round thereafter. i.e 2d6 damage rolls a 3, you take 3 damage every round without further rolling.

I disagree. I'm pretty sure that since the wording is that you take the 'Listed amount of damage' every round. i.e if you get hit with a 2d6 bleed effect, you take 2d6 points of damage every round.

But the GM and at least one other player keep arguing that if you get cut, you're not going to spontaneously start bleeding out faster or slower every 6 seconds.

So, I figured I'd pose the question to the brilliant minds of the Paizo forums: Do you roll once and keep taking that set damage, or do you have to roll variable bleed damage every round?

The name says it all.

I ask because there's been a constant discussion discussion about it in our Jade Regent game. We have a Ratfolk Synthesist who the GM is convinced is broken, but that the player insists is not. We just hit 2nd level, and it keeps being brought up that he has 3 attacks, (Claw +3, Claw +3, Tentacle -2) 32 HP, 18 AC, and Evasion. None of his saves are above +4. I would like to say that I have flat refused to form an opinion about it, partially because I wanna turn the question over to y'all.

Other members of the party:
Ratfolk rogue.
Half-Orc Paladin.
Tiefling Two weapon fighter.
Tengu Cleric.

What're your thoughts on the matter?

What is the effect on the caravan of a character who can cast *Create Water?* The Player's guide talks about *Create Food And Water* and that banquet spell, but is silent on the topic of *Create Water.* I wanna know y'all's thoughts.

And remember, this is a player speaking, so please, no spoilers. Thanks!

So, I'm curious about all y'all's opinions on characters that come into a campaign at lower levels as middle-aged or older. I recently made a curiosity build using 15 points and ended up with a middle-age human Evocation-Specialist Wizard 4 with a 22 Int. Sure, his Str and Con were both 6, and his Dex was a 12, but hey, so long as this guy doesn't get hit or have to make a non-will saving throw, he can blow up most encounters of his CR.

So, what's your take on a player building a pre-aged char? Would you allow it? Should it be controlled? Or should they just be allowed to play around with it because the penalties after a while FAR outweigh the benefits?

So, a long time ago, I saw a thread about a similar topic and I wanted to know what people thought of a certain twist that occurred to me.

Scenario: BBEG is standing across the room from the party, party is standing around yelling insults while the BBEG monologues and sends back insults.

The previous thread was about what should happen mechanically if the mage were to, in the middle of the BBEG's spiel, cast a spell at the BBEG. It sounded to me that the main consensus was that initiative should be rolled and it goes off on his turn. (I think, I could be wrong.)

My twist is this: What if the mage fired what a friend of mine calls a 'Shotgun Spell,' a Stilled Silent Quickened Magic Missile.

Should initiative still be rolled before it goes off, dispite the spell not giving much indication of being cast at all besides a cluster of missiles abruptly appearing and flying unerringly into the BBEG while the wizard just kinda stands there twiddling his thumbs and looking innocent, or should the spell go off as a surprise round-ish effect and then roll initiative?

So, the question here is: Do Animal Companions gain full hit points for their first hit die and roll the rest? Or do they roll all of them?

Also, would playing in a game where PC's are given max hit points for their hit dice make one's Animal Companion have max hit points? I wanna say no, just because a 1st level PC with a pet possessing 16+ hit points seems kinda wonky to me.

Thoughts?

So, I was making an item for my DM just to figure out the cost of it and I couldn't figure out if the table on page 550 of the Core was for market cost or for construction cost. So, I looked at the item that it was based on, Ring of Invisibility (The item I was making was basically the same, but 3/day.) to maybe get an idea, and I found that the numbers on said ring don't actually seem to add up to its cost 20,000 to buy, or 10,000 to make.

A Ring of Inviso is Invisibility at will as per the spell with a CL of 3. It's Use-Activated, so that means crafting it = Spell Level x CL x 2000. Then there's a little footnote that talks about the duration of the spell in question, as Invisibility is 1 minute/level, it doubles the cost, so the math =

(SL) 2 x (CL) 3 x 2000 = 12000
12000 x 2 = 24000

Ummmmmmm, what?

Shouldn't the cost of making an item that exists in the book cost the same as constructing the exact same item using the system they provide?

(I'm rereading the footnote and finding that it only mentions continuous effects for the multiplier, but that still leaves the ROI at 12,000.)

I thought it was a bit wonky, so I did it again with a Ring of Freedom of Movement. Freedom Ring's effect is continuous which falls under the same cost as Use-Activated for construction purposes, but FOM is 10 minutes/level and so only increases the cost of construction by x1.5. A Freedom Ring costs 40,000 to purchase (or 20,000 to make) in the book, but constructing one with the process is...

(SL) 4 x (CL) 7 x 2000 = 56000
56000 x 1.5 = 84000

O.O

(I'm rereading the footnote and finding that it only mentions continuous effects for the multiplier, but that still leaves the ROI at 12,000, and doesn't change the math on the Freedom Ring.)

So, I have two questions:
1. What does the table on page 550 indicate, cost to buy or cost to make?
2. Is this system flawed and silly, or am I simply an incompetent and reading it improperly?

So, I'm thinking of running the next adventure path to come out after Jade Regent. Trouble is, I don't know anything about it. Is there any way to learn about upcoming AP's or am I simply doomed to be patient and wait a few months until it comes out?

So, the question of this thread is: What happens if you have the Cleaving Finish feat and you drop the first enemy you hit while using the Cleave feat? Do you get to Cleaving Finish into the next adjacent enemy, and then finish your original Cleave into him?

RAW last time I looked says you would, (But I haven't reread CF in a while, so I'm not 100%.) however, how would that look in game to an observer? Also, I have a DM who disagrees with this outlook. (He also thinks Pathfinder Cleave is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than 3.5 because "That's what a Cleave is.") He says that you would CF into the adjacent target, and then Cleave into the next target after that, losing it if there are no more adjacent targets after the first.

Thoughts?

So, the question of this thread is "Who controls your Animal Companion or your Familiar?"

Most people that I know would just say "Oh, well, the player does, of course." But that feels kind of like a cop out to me, especially since these creatures have their own intelligence scores that start at 3+ giving them a measure of individual sentient thought, thus meaning that they should be free to make their own choices and have their own fears, likes/dislikes, quirks, interests, and opinions, albeit ones that keep them as BFFs to the Druid/Ranger/Wizard/Sorcerererer/Witch/Whateveritis that they're bound to. Though, just because it's bound to you, doesn't necessarily mean it's going to follow you around saying "Yes, Master. You're quite right, Master. You always know best Master." while drooling a lot. There are times (Especially with high level sorcererers who aren't necessarily the brightest of blokes) when their critter could express an opinion differing from its master's which might even be a better idea than the one the master had.

My personal thought is that the player should control the actions of an Familiar/Companion while in combat, since it allows for better strategizing and employment of the critter, (Though the DM should take over if they try to make it do something suicidal for no really good reason.) while having the DM play them when they're just sitting around the campfire or running around town looking for things, because it's entertaining when you have to restrain your wolf from running into the butcher's shop cause it smells dinner.

Thoughts?

So, I recently picked up the deck of PF Condition cards and was a bit confused by the Confused condition. It says...

You are mentally befuddled.

You treat all creatures as neither allies nor enemies.

If you are attacked, you attack that creature until it is dead. At the beginning of your turn, roll d% to determine your action:
01-25: Act normally.
26-50: Babble incoherently.
51-75: Deal 1d8 points of damage + Str mod. to self with item in hand.
76-100: Attack nearest creature.

So...if you're attacked, does the need to attack the creature that attacked you override the need to roll d% if it hasn't died since it attacked you last? (Quite likely, as you haven't yet gotten to your action so you can't strangle it til its little head pops like a ripe melon like itshouldfordaringtoattackyouinthefirstplaceI'mnotinsaneI'mreallynot!!!!)

So, fairly recently, I read a thread about Ninjas and how they're so awesome and stuff. I don't have an Ultimate Combat yet, so I can't vouch for that, but most everyone on the thread was in total agreement that the Rogue was underpowered in comparison to most (if not all) of the other base classes in the Core. I'm kinda curious as to the specifics of the Rogue's underpoweredness that everyone is talking about.