Natch's page

Ok, so if this is the case, would this be possible:

1. Direct animal companion to attack (free action)
2. Direct other random animal to attack (move action)
3. Direct mount to attack, and assume that I'm already adjacent to the enemy (standard action as move action)
4. Full attack (free action with ride check)

would that be correct?

The free action ride check is to allow your attacks, not to actually make them. You could direct your animal companion as a free and one other as a move, but you'd still need a standard to make any attacks of your own. If you want to full attack, you need a full-round action, which means you can only give commands to your animal companion in that round (though if you gave previous commands to attack/defend/etc, the other animals will continue to carry out the same actions until commanded otherwise).

A really good example of a Besmaran antipaladin would probably be Black Bart Roberts as portrayed in Assassin's Creed IV.

Like most alignment things, I'd say this depends on motives. If making money is just a sideline, and the overall goal of the business is to gather important information to fight crime and save babies, then that's right about LN. If the extra cash is reinvested in the community (not just token throwing-of-gold-at-beggars, but legitimate philanthropy), I could even see an argument for a good character partaking in it. On the other hand, if said money is being used to buy shiny things for you and your friends, or if the information gathered is more for personal use than any greater benefit, then slipping into LE is appropriate.

Of course, like most alignment things, the whole scenario kinda falls to pieces when dealing with players who might have different OOC motives than their characters or be dishonest about the motivations of the characters themselves.

Stephen Radney-MacFarland wrote:

We listen to all customer feedback we get, no matter the source and no matter the tone. While I know you do not agree with the change, I would please just ask that you don't assume that we are not listening to all the feedback we get. Thank you.

Speaking of sources and tone, with all the anger going on here have you guys gotten any bricks with "UN-NERF CRANE NOW" thrown through your windows yet?

Maybe those chicken 'crane' wings someone sent them the other day were poisoned? People always forget that the Paizo Dev class has a good Fort save.

I figured I'd offer my own suggestion on a simple fix. The feat (Crane Wing) stays exactly as is, but you add the following text to the end: "This feat can only be used to deflect attacks from creatures of your size or smaller. If you have a ki pool, you may expend one ki point to use this feat against a creature one size category larger than yourself." Something like that.

If you wanted to go a little bit further, you could make it require Combat Reflexes and use up an attack of opportunity. Thoughts?

EDIT: I meant "as is" as in the way it is in Ultimate Combat, not after the errata.

While I disagree with a lot of other things Erick has said here, I would totally get behind a fix like this. It keeps the deflection aspect (which, to me, is vastly more meaningful to the feat chain than the AoOs later on) while stopping wing-ers from dominating melee entirely. Fighters would still be able to use it and be masters of the 1v1 sword duel, but monks would actually get a leg up on them later on (one that couldn't be so easily co-opted by a dip into MoMS).

I had a conversation with my GM just last night about this feat (the old version) being slightly overpowered. Our conclusion was to expand the "not if flatfooted" caveat to "not if denied Dex", thus allowing it to be shut down by a host more conditions and maneuvers while still being effective against big dumb smashy monsters. Reducing it to an AC bonus, though? Half the point of the feat for me was that it could block the things that make AC irrelevant, like nat 20s and true strike. A defensive fighter can get their AC sky-high already, and an extra +4 isn't going to make any difference at all past a certain point.

Take Gravewalker Witch and Juju Oracle.

...

A) Sadly you need to wait a level to get Animate dead from witch.

You realize the witch side of the theurge will never get animate dead? Gravewalker's spells are replacing patron spells, and thus are granted based on class level, not character level.

I agree with everyone saying Oracle, but I'd go Occult over any other mystery. Revelations aren't great (definitely go dual-cursed), and you won't be able to pull necromancy shenanigans quite like Juju could, but if you make it to the capstone, you ascend to ghostdom and become a ridiculous force of unstoppable destruction. It's the only capstone I'd be willing to build an entire character towards, because it's just so damn flavorful and awesome.

While I love the Razmiran/False Priest archetype for sorcerers, something that always bugged me is the fact that everyone seems to use scrolls and wands as the source of divine spells for False Channel. It's convenient and they're easy to acquire, but it completely kills the flavor; you're not going to convince anyone that you've got divine powers when every spell you cast is preceded by fishing around in your haversack for the right magic item and telling everyone to look away and cover their ears.

Rather than play a comically inept phony priest, I went looking for alternatives to scrolls. Turns out, it was another sorcerer archetype that had the answer: spell tattoos don't require storage, are silent to activate, and the activation method (touching the tattoo) can easily be disguised by dramatic posing as you revel in your divine might. Sadly, the archetypes themselves won't stack, but the crafting feat is easily acquired and the Razmiran Priest's UMD bonus means you can easily make use of divine scrolls to meet the crafting requirements.

With the thematics solved, I'm now wondering what sort of sorcerer build would work best with this theme. Tattoos are somewhat slot-limited (you can fit 11 on a humanoid), so I'd need to pick the most useful/impressive divine spells to have 'on me' at all times. Bloodline is fairly unrestricted, though I'm leaning towards Rakshasa (making it even harder to distinguish my arcane casting from divine) or Arcane (everyone loves a familiar, and with the transfer tattoo spell it could serve as storage for additional tattoos). Further, once False Channel is acquired at level 9, there's not much stopping me from multiclassing out or going for a prestige class. Tattooed Mystic and the Razmiran Priest PRC are the obvious contenders, while Pathfinder Savant gives great bonuses towards magic item use.

So, any advice? How do I make this build into the best pretender priest it can be?

(Game of Shadows spoilers)

I, too, support making debuffs the focus of Studied Strike instead of damage. Have it grant full BAB against one target while active, with the 1/2 level bonus going to CMB specifically. Instead of free action precision damage on a hit, make it free action no-provoke maneuvers after a hit, maybe expanding to more than one attack at higher levels.

Holmes wasn't going around shanking guys or cutting off heads with his monologue-fight skills, he was blinding and deafening and sickening and silencing them. The final fight of the second movie consisted of a dirty trick blind, a grapple, and a reposition; no damage involved.

They're from Bestiary 4. Link.

Learn to love necrocrafts. Got a bunch of worthless bandit corpses on your hands? Hit your HD cap and want to animate something new? Just gather up all your spares and stitch them into something new! Less hit dice, but a whole list of special abilities to pick from! Make something really situational like an all-around vision burrower, then recycle it into new necrocrafts when it's no longer wanted!

Also, don't forget the various spare-parts undead. You could potentially pull two isitoqs and a beheaded out of any given corpse, and still have the bulk left over for necrocrafting. (You'll definitely need False Focus or Blood Money to cut costs, mind.)

Sir Roguesworth of Ooemdee, a level 10 Rogue, happens upon a scroll of Animate Dead after busting up some necromancer clerics. They were pretty crap necromancers, so the scroll is of the minimum CL (5), but Roguesworth could use a new butler, so he goes ahead and makes the DC 25 UMD check and raises up to 10 HD of undead, with a theoretical cap of 20 HD. So far, so good.

Now Roguesworth digs up another scroll, same as the first. He's been trying to get into Casty the Sorceress' pants for a while, and gifts her the scroll as a token of affection. Casty's level 10 as well, and thus can already cast animate dead on her own steam; she's got a closet full of 40 HD of skeletons. But she figures, hey, why waste a spell slot, and goes ahead and uses the scroll. What happens? Given that Roguesworth can raise and control undead with no caster level, it would seem weird if Casty couldn't, but how do the spell and scroll limitations interact? Can she control 40 HD on her own steam, and another 20 HD through the scroll, or does her personal cap cut the scroll off and force her to let skellies out of the closet?

Continuing on, Roguesworth digs up a third scroll (these necromancers were hoarders, too). This one is slightly better, CL 6 instead of 5, and was made by a wizard necromancer instead of a cleric. Roguesworth shrugs and attempts to raise additional skeletons. Now, the new casting can raise up to 12 HD of undead at once, and with the new scroll's CL, Roguesworth would have a cap of 24 HD. But at the time he raised the first batch of undead, he had an effective CL of 5. Do the two totals merge (24 HD overall) or stack (24 + 20 = 44)? Does the scrolls being of different types have any effect on their interaction, as with Mystic Theurges getting separate caps from divine and arcane castings of the spell?

I'm running a Wave shaman right now, and the switch to druid spells would be great for her given that they forgot to check whether damaging water-descriptor spells actually existed on the cleric list.

That said, I'd much rather see the class stick to cleric/oracle or witch for its spellcasting. When they announced an oracle/witch hybrid, I got excited because that's a hybrid I wanted to see, not because 'Shaman' interested me as a name. Class flavor is really subjective; I've seen and played plenty of non-barbaric barbarians, non-monkish monks, and non-studious wizards. I don't quite get the argument that the shaman needs a bunch of spirit-related spells, any more than the sorcerer needs all the blood-related spells. Just because they draw power from spirits doesn't mean they have to be all about ghosts and Mother Willow.

Given their parent classes, I'd be much quicker to envision the shaman as disconnected from their power source. Oracles wake up one morning with divine power bursting out of their pores. Witch patrons are inexplicable forces with no clear identity that form contracts through animals. Wouldn't it make sense, therefore, for the shaman's spirits to be impersonal and fickle, rather than something they pray to for guidance or converse with for advice?

Aside from the Shaman being very verstaile, they are simultaneously Spontaneous & Non-Spontaneous as a caster.

Spirit Magic: A Shaman can spontaneously cast a limited number of spells per day beyond those she prepared ahead of time. She has one spell slot per day of each spell level she can cast, not including orisons. She can choose these spells from the list of spells granted by her spirits (Spirit and Wandering Spirit)...

Yes, you can spontaneously cast your spirit magic spells. Which is to say, two spells ever, one of which is locked in at first level, and both of which are drawn from a less-than-impressive selection. Functionally, it's almost identical to clerics and their domain spell slots; the difference being that you can switch spirits day-to-day, but also that there are far less spirits than there are domains.

Making the Shaman a full-time spontaneous caster is a bad idea. Because not only what was mentioned before but, because then you have to fix Spirit Magic, get rid of the Familiar, take out in each Spirit Section what the Familiar gets (IE Stone gives the Familiar DR 5/Adamantine at 1st level).

I don't see why spontaneous casting demands removing the familiar. Replace the witch-style "commune with familiar each morning to prepare spells" with "commune with familiar each morning to refresh spell slots". Same familiar-dependent flavor, but on a spontaneous caster chassis.

So I'm sure everyone knows the basic rules for polymorphing and armor. Druid wild-shapes, armor melds, druid sad. However, there seems to be a consensus that the wild-shaped druid can still put on barding after transforming, though usually with some help from other party members.

Now consider the armored coat. It's the only armor that can be donned and doffed quickly enough to be reasonable in a battle. Further, I can't find anything that would prohibit armored coat barding from being purchased for a mount, or in this case a druid wild-shaped into a dire tiger to model for the armorer (ignore for the moment the whole metal issue).

The druid and friends get ambushed, and the druid decides he wants to be a kitty now. He pulls the tiger-coat out of his trusty bag of holding as a move action, tosses it on the ground as a free, then wild-shapes as a standard. On the next round, tiger-druid picks up the coat as a move action (in his teeth, I guess? I can't find any prohibition for animals picking things up, anyhow), then spends another move action to put it on.

Now, I'm not sure shaped druids in barding was ever RAI, but it seems to work RAW, and the image of a dire tiger running around in an armored longcoat is too beautiful for me not to consider it. So my question is, am I missing something? Is there some reason this wouldn't work?

And yet, a ring of Force Shield still counts as a Shield for this same purpose...

The ring of force shield takes away monk bonuses not because it gives a shield bonus, but because you have to physically wield the mini-wall-of-force that it creates. A shield spell, on the other hand, floats freely around the target, and thus doesn't impede monkish defenses. As the synthesist's eido-suit is magically projected around them, it would follow the latter example, and do nothing to stop monk AC usage.

Yes, you do receive the extra hit points for all of your levels, even the ones before you increased the stat.

First the base price is half the sell price so it's 100 days for the mirror of life.

You seem to be mixing up some terms here. The base price of the item is the sale price.

Magic supplies for items are always half of the base price in gp. For many items, the market price equals the base price.

The cost of magic supplies is equal to half the base price, or 45% with hedge magician; again, the base price isn't actually changed.

Second if you look at the part you quoted it says

Magic Item Creation Rules wrote:

Creating an item requires 8 hours of work per 1,000 gp in the item's base price (or fraction thereof), with a minimum of at least 8 hours.

that seems to indicate that a fraction of the cost means a fraction of the price or does that mean something else?

That part is referring to items with a base price that isn't a multiple of 1000. For example, if an item was worth 500 gp, which is 1/2 of 1000, you would still have to spend the minimum crafting time of eight hours. An item worth 1500 gp would take sixteen hours, eight for the 1000 and another eight for the fraction thereof (500).

I'm curious, would option A be at all advantageous for you over just another dagger attack? I don't see anything particularly significant.

The main factor is that the alchemist's tentacle comes with the grab ability, allowing a free-action grapple with +4 bonus if it connects. The thought I have is to start off with a dirty trick maneuver to inflict either blinded or entangled, then follow up with the tentacle attack and subsequent grapple, with the enemy suffering CMD or CMB penalties, respectively.

Hello, the TWF penalty applies to ALL attack rolls that turn, of which combat maneuvers are included. Using a tentacle instead of an arm for a maneuver doesn't really benefit or matter...other than flavor, so no additional penalty or bonus.

If, as part of TWF, you actually make an attack action, where you're just trying to strike something with your tentacle and then with a held weapon in a different hand, then the tentacle becomes a secondary natural attack, with a -5 attack penalty.

I think you may have misunderstood me. The tentacle isn't being used for the initial maneuver; that one's being made just like any regular fighter would. The tentacle replaces the off-hand attack, but with the primary attack also replaced by a weaponless maneuver, no held weapon is actually used during the attack sequence, thus my confusion over how the tentacle attack would be typed.

As I understand it, no. Hedge Magician reduces the cost to make the item, changing the fraction of the base price that you have to pay, but it doesn't change the base price itself, which is what determines time expenditure.

Creating an item requires 8 hours of work per 1,000 gp in the item's base price (or fraction thereof), with a minimum of at least 8 hours.

In the example you used, the 100000 you would have paid is reduced to 95000, but the base price of the item is still 200000, and that's the number you use to determine time expended. It would take you 200 days, assuming no other modifiers, but you'd pay 5000 less in expenses.

Okay, so I'm planning out a maneuver-based alchemist/fighter, and I'm having some trouble understanding how ye old Tentacle discovery will interact with the Quick maneuver feats and Two-Weapon Fighting.

On your turn, you can perform a single [whichever] combat maneuver in place of one of your melee attacks. You must choose the melee attack with the highest base attack bonus to make the [maneuver].

Now, my first question is, when using these feats in combination with Two-Weapon Fighting (assume daggers are the weapons being used), would the penalty from the attack being replaced apply to the quick maneuver?

Carrying on, the Tentacle discovery, per loads and loads of arguments on the subject, can only be used to attack by replacing an existing attack. So, say that the character in question is full-attacking with a +5 BAB (feat prereqs being ignored for simplicity). He has two attacks, primary and off-hand, at +3/+3. The primary attack is replaced by a Quick maneuver, as per that feat, leaving him with the off-hand attack. Now, he wants to replace that attack with the tentacle.

Is the tentacle attack:
a) an off-hand attack, thus taking the TWF penalty, as per the attack it replaced?
b) a primary natural attack, since no weapon has actually been used thus far?
c) a secondary natural attack, since there was a weapon attack preceding, even though it got replaced?
d) not possible, due to some rule I missed or misread?

77,000 gp is the crafting price for a 3 stat +6 item. So two of them grant +3 to all skills. That is EVEN with the IOUN stones skill bonus, with the exceptions we both pointed out: the IOUN stone method costs 108,000, the stat method costs 154,000. The stat method gives you three skills at rank CL.

Oh, you're talking crafting prices instead of purchase prices. I get that now. Still, there's no reason to get all the bonuses on a single item, you've got plenty of slots and that just drives up the price. Also, I don't think there's any build that needs +6 to ALL stats. Most builds try to stay focused on one or two stats, so boosting three is generally plenty. And while the ioun pile can match a +3 to a skill, they can only do that for three stats at a time.

But one has to keep in mind that getting three extra Feats is also nice. Say you are a rogue and want options, or are missing the end of an entire combat tree (1 feat)? There ya go!

Thing is, the feats on offer just aren't very good. Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, and Improved Unarmed Strike all lead into feat trees, but if you waited long enough to save up a hundred thousand gold, you've long since passed the point where you'd pick them up if you needed them. There are no high-level feats on offer, nor any with fancy prerequisites that would make them hard to access.

Now, the PROPER method of pricing an IOUN STONE would include it's resonance ability. Or at least that is how I would price them.

No offense, but it seems like the only scenario where they become remotely OP is when you've powergamed them to hell and back. It's pretty obvious that the intent behind resonance powers was not to have someone craft nearly a thousand ioun stones in order to have multiples of every single possible power. The random power table allows for a degree of randomness when digging an ioun stone out of a mound of treasure, giving great powers to some and lame powers to others. Taking advantage of the crafting rules to hoard all the great powers defeats the purpose of random power selection entirely.

Let me have you look at it from the other side:

I buy three items with +6 stats (or one item with three stats). I have spent 77,000 gp., another 77,000 and I have spent 154,000 and have only started to do what the ioun stones let me do (namely I have gotten stats, damage buffs, saves, and skill mods, but not a single additional spell, ability, or detection). Do you really want to throw in the boots and take up ANOTHER item slot and 49,000? (granted, boots with 3/week would only cost 7000 instead)

So for 1.5x what this costs I can get a lot less... Obviously you can get one or two things way cheaper. But the net effect is worth way more than 108,000 gp.

Firstly, three +6 items comes out to 108000 gp total. I'm not sure where you got those other numbers. And keep in mind, the only three-stone wayfinder listed is another 136000 by itself.

Secondly, those three items grant far greater bonuses than the ioun stones do. An Int item keeps three skills at max ranks, effectively giving you 3 skill points per level, plus a +3 to five skills. Dex gives +3 to AC, one save, seven skills, ranged or finessed attack, and initiative. Add in whatever your casting stat is, or Strength for a fighter, and you've got a pile of bonuses the stones can't begin to match, especially keeping in mind that only three can be active at a time.

As for the stones' unique bonuses, they just aren't that impressive. The spell selection is mostly laughable, a bunch of low-level spells with restricted castings that take a full round to retrieve and slot in before you can cast them. Some of the unique abilities are worth having, but with only three slots, keeping them active means denying yourself any other bonuses. As for the detections... I'm really not sure how a compass that points at tieflings or aboleth would be useful outside of very specific plots.

Let's go down the list of what you get for 108,000 gp:

+2 to any stat/skill/all saves enhancement/competence/resistance bonuses don't stack, and all those are much cheaper to get on wondrous items anyway
+2 any stat/skill/all saves, +2 Natural Armor amulet of natural armor +2, 8000 gp
3 favored enemies admittedly nice, but a bane enchantment is a better deal
Channel energy 3x more a day +6 Charisma does that, 36000 gp
lay hands 3x more a day and this, too
3 extra ki +6 Wisdom or Charisma, depending on class
5 + combat feats, 3 rogue talents (if rogue) if you have any need of these feats, you'd have gotten them long before 12th level, and wouldn't have spent a feat on craft wondrous item
Crafting feat (potions) same
water breathing bottle of air, 7250 gp
endure elements comfort's cloak, 15600 with many extras
6 extra hp per die while healing (? might only be 2) cure spells only, and equivalent to a couple extra charges off a wand
3 extra languages potions of tongues, 750 gp each
tons of detection abilities
weaksauce SR weaksauce, as you say
several weaker at will powers, sending (other wayfinders), mirror image, invisibility, etc. spells.
3 teleports per week (designated at creation of stone - so if you want to set up places you frequent... there you go) boots of teleportation, 49000 gp, 3 teleports per day

Not one thing you've listed is worth 108000 gp, and most can be had much cheaper elsewhere.

Now, on to finding that one magical ioun stone that has the resonant power(s) you want...

cracked (25% resonance) for 200 GP, generalizing means 100 gp (half of 200 gp craft cost) per try. You need to craft 4 per chart roll under 90, so 360. This is only 36,000 gp to get the result you want.

Going with cracked stones does make it greatly cheaper, yeah, though at the cost of the spiffy primary power. Even then, though, there's really nothing on the list that can't be gotten somewhere else for cheaper.

The resonant powers aren't really the point of getting a wayfinder. Primarily, they're a 500 gp insurance policy to ensure that your 20000 gp magic flying rock isn't blown up by a stray fireball. The resonant powers make for a decent bonus, on occasion, but they just aren't impressive enough to justify huge cash expenditures.

Within each wayfinder is a fine lattice of wires that serve to channel the power of ioun stones, allowing the owner of a wayfinder to benefit from a stone's power without the attendant risk of having a valuable item orbiting around her head. In addition, the magic worked into the wayfinder amplifies the power of the ioun stone, usually (about 75% of the time) unlocking new abilities in addition to the stone's normal power. Unfortunately, the energy required is such that the magical properties of the wayfinder itself are diverted to power the ioun stone, temporarily negating the wayfinder's normal abilities. The mechanism of using a wayfinder to boost the power of an ioun stone is usually called augmenting, channeling, enhancing, or resonating.

...

Method 2, The Random Roll: Each combination of an ioun stone and a wayfinder requires a roll on a table to see what resonant power it gains. This methods allows for a lot of variety but requires bookkeeping to track each unique stone's augmented power, and also makes it difficult for the PCs to predict what any particular combination may be. See the table on page 53.

No, I am stating that the amplification comes from the power of the wayfinder, not the stone. A stone is a stone is a stone. A WF that amplifies stones (75% of them do) will amplify any stone placed in it. It will either have the effect listed in section 1 per the stone type OR if using the random rolling method (method 2) always grant the same power no matter which stone is amplified.

No, you don't roll every time you put a stone in. You roll ONE 75% chance to see if you have an amplifying WayFinder.

That's incorrect.

Resonant Powers: Only 25% of cracked or flawed ioun stones have resonant powers (see Wayfinders and Ioun Stones) compared to the 75% chance for typical ioun stones; only 10% of scorched ioun stones have resonant powers.

Alternately, you could just get some other Rogue Talents (selectable once each) at first level. So you can be doing bleeding crits, fast stealth, and ledgewalking all at first level... still OP since it is basically FREE to craft.

I think you're wildly underestimating how expensive crafting for specific resonant powers would be.

Say you want one specific power off of the list of 100 results. The cheapest ioun stone you can get, outside of the powerless dull grays, is the clear spindle, for 4000 gp each. Crafting them yourself reduces that to 2000 (though, do note, you can't craft ioun stones until 12th level per the requirements).

Now, only 75% of ioun stones have resonant powers in the first place. In order to get 100 resonant ioun stones, you'll have to craft 134 of them and sort out the dead ones. 134 * 2000 = 268000 gp to get one of every resonant power. That also means you're spending the better part of a year working on this collection.

At 268000 gp, you have now crafted one of every single resonant stone. There is not a single resonant power that even remotely justifies that price. You have, at best, a single extra feat, while others in your party are fully decked out with top-tier equipment.

... and be able to use "COMBAT TRICK" rogue talent more than once? The semantics of this are interesting: if I have a Wayfinder that grants this, I can't RE-TAKE the Combat Trick Rogue Talent because I have already selected it. If I have selected it already, I get a second Combat Trick by getting a resonating Ioun Stone/WF...

In theory I would be able to put my IS/WF down for 10 minutes when I level and take the Combat Trick, then pick up the IS/WF and get a second CT.

There's really no reason why that would work. The ioun resonance allows you to gain the benefit of a talent "as if [you] had selected it". Using it for a talent you already have would give you the same benefit as if you had selected that talent a second time, which is no benefit, because you can't select individual talents more than once.

You dont have to wield the wand of shield to use it?? Well, that seems strange, but cool.

You have to wield the wand to cast the spell initially, but then you can just stow it away and the spell keeps going for its minute/level duration. The way a ring of force shield works, you have to have one hand wielding the wall-of-force-shield at all times to keep the bonus.

Since I am a magus, I already have tht spell in my spell list, and one of my magus arcana gives a shield bonus to, which is also +4

Unfortunately, shield bonuses don't stack with each other. It's probably good to have both, though, since you can cast shield from the wand if you're expecting a fight, but still have the arcana as a backup in case something catches you unprepared.

So is it posssible if i have an armor class should of this ...

AC=
armor= 4+3( enhancement and chain shirt)
shield= 2 ( ring of force field, when activated)
natural armor=2 (amulet of natural armor )
Deflection= 3 (ring of protection )
dex bonus=1
Default=10
10+4+3+2+2+3+1=25 !+. Is this possible? (( for me)

If you can afford all those things, then sure. Though like Darkflame said, a wand of shield is a much better way to get a shield bonus than the ring of force shield. A +4 bonus instead of +2, and you don't have to wield it, so you keep both hands free.

I don't get how this can be (ex) and ONLY work for touch attacks >.<

It seems reasonable that your arms could become super-stretchy due to fancy weird biology, but that this would make them unsuitable to weapon fighting. Slapping someone in the chest with your flailing rubbery hand is no problem, but trying to hold a sword effectively with your joints all out of place would be awkward.

Just a nitpick, you're right about classes but you can take multiple archetypes of the same class, as long as they don't change the same class features:

Alternate Class Features wrote:

A character can take more than one archetype and garner additional alternate class features, but none of the alternate class features can replace or alter the same class feature from the core class as another alternate class feature. For example, a paladin could not be both a hospitaler and an undead scourge since they both modify the smite evil class feature and both replace the aura of justice class feature. A paladin could, however, be both an undead scourge and a warrior of the holy light, since none of their new class features replace the same core class feature.

Multiple archetypes at once is equivalent to gestalt, not multiclassing. You can take two (or more) at once, but you can't take 5 levels in a class and then decide at level 6 to take an archetype you didn't have before.

Ok, but it says on the rings that you need to be caster level five, u can even check on the website.

The caster level is a property of the magic item, not a requirement to use it. From the PRD...

Caster Level (CL): The next item in a notational entry gives the caster level of the item, indicating its relative power. The caster level determines the item's saving throw bonus, as well as range or other level-dependent aspects of the powers of the item (if variable). It also determines the level that must be contended with should the item come under the effect of a dispel magic spell or similar situation.

Again, there is no caster level requirement for a character to use magic items, only to craft them, and even that can be bypassed with the right feat.

Can a Witch take a level of Witch with a _different Patron_, to gain access to that Patron's spells?

Yes, it'd cost a caster level, but I'm getting mighty sick of undead.

...no? You can't even multiclass between archetypes, let alone into the exact same class.

And not moving is covered in Pathfinder, in the I linked above. If not moving made them inactive, why would it be a modifier in the chart?

Invisible creature is... Perception
In combat or speaking –20
Moving at half speed –5
Moving at full speed –10
Running or charging –20
Not moving +20
Using Stealth Stealth check +20
Some distance away +1 per 10 feet
Behind an obstacle (door) +5
Behind an obstacle (stone wall) +15

So, in that case, the DC to notice an invisible creature which hasn't moved in the last six seconds would be 40, dropping to 20 if it moves less than half speed, 15 at half speed, and 10 at full speed, correct?

No active is what triggers the perception check.

If the Observer gets within 30 feet of an active invisible creature, they get a DC 20 perception check to notice an invisible creature is nearby. If they get a 40 Perception check, they can even pin point it.

If the thing isn't "Active", as in an invisible object, they aren't doing anything (Sound, smell, etc...) that would trigger the perception check.

In the 3.5 article that wraithstrike linked earlier, "active creature" is defined as "has moved (that is, gone from one place on the battlefield to another) during its last turn". Pathfinder may lack exact rules like those, but there's at least one existing interpretation that differs from what you're describing.

Can you clarify whether the guy is crafting the armor himself, or buying it? If the latter, it's perfectly fine, assuming he spent the appropriate amount of money. If the former, it would take most of his feats, but is still possible. 28 AC isn't too out of the ordinary for a tank at level 5.

It seems like the utilitarian's alignment would depend entirely on what the circumstances of their cause and their fight were. If the guy considered the establishment to be against the greater good, he'd fight against it, and he'd probably wind up chaotic. If he saw it as beneficial and fought to uphold it, he'd end up lawful. He'd almost certainly be neutral on the good-evil axis, preferring to do good deeds but willing to do evil in service to the Greater Good.

I'd say the utilitarian viewpoint would almost be defined by not caring about their alignment, or more specifically, not caring what the mysterious objective alignment spirits thought about their actions. Doing whatever one feels needs doing in support of the greater good of the many, and not caring whether they call you a saint or a devil for it.

Yes.

Article in question

Note that here is spot DC to "notice" and another one to "locate".

Ah, thanks.

I do note that they define active as "having moved within the last turn", and provide higher DCs for when that's not the case. Seems like something Pathfinder forgot to bring over.

Based on that omission, it seems like you could argue equally well that the DC 20 to notice invisible creatures doesn't apply to someone who hasn't moved recently. However, lacking any alternate DCs, the invisible man would then be completely impossible to notice or locate outside of a DC 40. I'm not honestly sure which is the less reasonable of the two.

My reasoning does not matter. I am just telling you what the 3.5 and Pathfinder rules say. Like I said, there is an article on this made by the 3.5 developers. Personally I dont like the DC 20 to notice rule.

It is a DC 0 to nice something you can see, and it is a DC 20 to notice(not locate) an invisible creature within 30 feet.

Could you possibly point me to the article you've mentioned, if it exists online? I'd like to read what they defined as "active" versus "passive" invisible creatures for the purposes of noticing them, since the word has to have some reason for being there.

The DC to "notice" a creature, and the DC to "locate" a creature are not the same. The flat DC 20 is just to nice someone within 30 feet. The actual stealth modifier is to pinpoint the square the creature is in.

If you wish to pinpoint the square of the invisible creature the DC is 40(assuming they are not stealthing. That is because of the +20 modifier for pinpointing the creature. Remember, then you make a perception check to locate an invisible creature it is to find the square, not to notice them. That is why noticing them is only a flat 20, but to find the square they are in is much more difficult.

I don't quite understand your reasoning here. In the case of a visible creature, the DCs to notice and to locate would be equal, or rather, it would be a DC 0 check to pinpoint someone you can clearly see. Adding invisibility into the mix means that you'd have to rely on senses other than sight, which necessitates the scaling modifiers.

The flat DC 20 is to notice an "active invisible creature", which I take to mean one not trying to remain quiet or still by making Stealth rolls. If a flat DC 20 was all that was ever necessary to notice invisible characters, invisibility would actually become a detriment to mid- or high-level characters, as it would somehow be easier to notice an invisible stealthy man than a simply stealthy one.

I'm not saying this is 100% RAW, but the way I always saw it, the DC 20 Perception was to notice something that was invisible, but not trying to hide. Say a pixie got into the room and was just buzzing around invisibly, it'd be a DC 20 to notice it. If the pixie then tried to use stealth, the DC to notice it becomes 20 plus the stealth roll.

Essentially, the DC 20 "notice active invisible creature" would be an opposed check against a Stealth roll of 0 (because the creature made no attempt to hide). Any actual effort at stealth increases the DC to notice it. Even on a nat 1, trying to hide can't be less effective than not hiding, unless you've got negative Dexterity mods and no ranks, in which case you are objectively a clumsy oaf.

Natch wrote:

Not exactly. Holding a charge postpones the discharge of the spell, which is itself the final step in the casting of the spell. Basically, when you hold a charge on a touch spell, you're pausing halfway through until you can find a target. The "instantaneous" duration only comes into play when you finish the casting by touching something.

OK, perhaps I mis-stated something. Chill touch does not "discharge" the held spell on a successful touch. You don't have to re-cast it, it gives a certain "lasting" number of touches. I guess my question would then be - is Chill Touch one of the spells considered to be explained under the "instantaneous and lasting" part of SR, or not?

Ah, okay. My mistake. Anyway, Chill Touch does seem to be a corner case, but it seems as though, for the multiple touches to be a possibility, the duration should be until discharged rather than instantaneous. The only other way multiple touch attacks would be a possibility is if the spell was meant to allow multiple free action touch attacks on the round you cast the spell, but that seems pretty powerful for a first level spell.

But then I read (p 565): "Spells that have instantaneous durations but lasting results aren’t subject to spell resistance unless the resistant

creature is exposed to the spell the instant it is cast."

So how does that play with Held Charges from say "Chill Touch"? This tends to tell me that SR critters DON'T get a SR roll against Held Charge spells if they are not present for the casting. Is this correct?

Not exactly. Holding a charge postpones the discharge of the spell, which is itself the final step in the casting of the spell. Basically, when you hold a charge on a touch spell, you're pausing halfway through until you can find a target. The "instantaneous" duration only comes into play when you finish the casting by touching something.

Instead of stacking both bloodlines, can i just remove those powers and just keep the intel to charisma thing? And can i crossblood in the same level?

How Crossblooded works is that it gives you both arcana, then every time you would get a bloodline power you choose which of the two for that level you want. So yes, you can easily take just the arcana from Sage and everything else from Draconic. And yes, it can be done with only a single level in sorcerer.