I'm running a solo game for a person (And he's likewise running a solo game for me).
Baron Blacksteel, if you are reading this, I respectfully ask you to refrain from continuing to read it.
the long story:
Baron Blacksteel is a 6th level wizard who has recently acquired a usable castle, which is fine, he's put appropriate work into getting it. Likewise he's building up a force of minions so that he can later on go toe to toe with a Duke. This is all fine.
He has a penchant for buying scrolls of spells way above his level, so that he can have "nuke" options when he encounters things above his CR instead of running away from it. (Polar Ray saw a lot of use)
As part of a random quest (He openly asked for a random quest so that he could get enough xp to ping) he went on a vampire hunt. I expected him to Polar Ray his way through it, but he pulls out a scroll that I let him buy four sessions ago, Geas, and not the lesser form, the proper one that allows no save. Using some other spells to get the vampire (Invisible) to reveal their position, he casts Geas with the command “Unquestionably and unconditionally serve me with absolute loyalty” before the fight gets underway. The vamp doesn't get a save, I spend ten minutes looking for a rule that casting from a scroll would have a casting time other than standard action, too far away to interrupt with an AoO. I decide the vamp gets at least a spellcraft check to recognize it (they fail) and is unable to cover their ears to block it.
Baron Blacksteel now has a pet vampire, and not just a spawn. I'd like the boards thoughts on the situation in general, but I have two key questions:
A: How much wiggle room would the vampire have with a command of “Unquestionably and unconditionally serve me with absolute loyalty” ?
B: Is it kosher to hit him with his own trick, and have one of the wizards foes teleport in, and Scroll Geas him in two rounds?
tl;dr:
I have a player that managed to land a proper Geas on a Vampire, binding them into reluctant but loyal service. They did this using a loophole in the scroll casting time rules.
A: How much wiggle room would the vampire have with a command of “Unquestionably and unconditionally serve me with absolute loyalty” ?
B: Is it kosher to hit him with his own trick, and have one of the wizards foes teleport in, and Scroll Geas him in two rounds?
The summoning rules state that you have to summon a creature into an enviroment that can support them.
Consider The Octopus: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/octopus
It's listed as an Aquatic creature, lacks Amphibious, but has a land movement speed (20 ft.)
I was in a game where the GM allowed me to summon on on the deck of a sailing ship to grapple some boarders, but thinking back I'm not sure if it's a legal place to summon an octopus too. The GM was convinced by the fact they have a land speed, but their lack of Amphibious makes me unsure.
I sure -hope- I can, those grapple checks were amazing.
I was working out a town using this rules, but when I went to look up the stats for a Brothel, it's listed as giving discounts to other things, but appears to lack an entry of it's own? Did it show up in a book and not make it to the SRD?
Which knowledge skill do you use, and what would the DC be?
The example that I'm worried about right now is cold iron in unexpected locations, like the cold iron spigots on a public fountain. (The local government really hates fey.)
My first thought was Arcana, but it seems like craft skills would be more suitable.
The base race is a custom one that I've yet to show around these forums, so if you see something that does not look like a vampire thing, that's where it's coming from. I've taken the liberty of bolding the things I thought were most relevant to the CR, but I may be mis-evaluating.
Bloodwing, Pisx Vampire, 4th level Ranger CR ?? PF
This small, black winged pisx was felled by a vampire while outside the hive, and has been kept as an easily controlled, but powerful servant.
Size/Type: Small Undead (Augmented Fey)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Hit Dice: 4d10+4 (30 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares). Glide 40 ft (8 squares, 2 vertical)
Armor Class: 25 AC, touch 16, flatfooted 19 (+4 dex, +1 size, +3 studded leather armor, +1 dodge, +6 natural),
Base Attack: +4, (CMB +7, CMD: 20)
Melee: Bite +7 (1d4+3) with Energy Drain (Two Negative Levels)
Space/Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.
Special Qualities: Pisx Traits, Undead Traits, Darkvision 60, Vampire Weaknesses, gaseous form, shadowless, and spider climb
Class Features Favored Enemy (Undead), Track, Wild Empathy, Favored Terrain (Forest), Two-weapon Combat, Endurance, Animal Companion (Snake, Constrictor)
Defensive: Channel Resistance +4, DR 10/Magic, Silver, and Cold Iron. Resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10. Fast Healing 5
Attacks: Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Create Spawn, Dominate, Energy Drain, Touch of Fatigue 2/day,
Saves: Fort -- Ref +8 Will +4* (only +2 vs. mind-affecting)
Abilities: Str 16 Dex 19, Con --, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 12
Skills: Climb +13, Acrobatics +11 (21 to jump, may always take ten to jump), Knowledge(Nature) +7, Perception +8, Stealth +11, Survival +8
Feats: Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack, Iron Will, Toughness, Two-Weapon Fighting
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or family (vampire plus 2–8 spawn)
Treasure: Half standard
Advancement: By character class
I was looking at the rules for the Gunsmith feat, and I realized that this is one of the few places where players can craft at a profit.
It allows you to both bypass the normal craft check, and more worrisomely, "You can craft bullets, pellets, and black powder for a cost in raw materials equal to 10% of the price."
Now, standard bullets are about 1 GP. so this feat lets a gunslinger spend only 1 SP on his normal ammo. But if he turns around and sells that, he'll get about 5 SP for the bullets that he put a single silver into. No craft check needed, just spend a few days and you can pump out over a thousand GP for yourself.
This can somewhat throw the wealth curve at level one.
I've been pondering some oddball builds, probably for use on an NPC, but maybe a PC if I ever get the shot during a campaign that it'll make sense in.
The Witch gets a hex they can take at level 1, Nails: that gives them a pair of claw attacks.
SRD said wrote:
Nails (Ex): The witch’s nails are long and sharp, and count as natural weapons that deal 1d3 points of damage (1d2 for a Small witch). These attacks are secondary attacks. If trimmed, the witch’s nails regrow to their normal size in 1d4 days. Source: Ultimate Magic
The barbarian can pick up a rage power, at 2nd level, Beast Totem (Lesser), that also gives you a pair of claw attacks:
SRD said wrote:
Beast Totem, Lesser (Su): While raging, the barbarian gains two claw attacks. These attacks are considered primary attacks and are made at the barbarian’s full base attack bonus. The claws deal 1d6 points of slashing damage (1d4 if Small) plus the barbarian’s Strength modifier.
Now, If I multiclass and take both, is there some rule for letting them stack? I see a couple options:
A: The rules are mean, no benefit and it just wastes a rage power choice.
B: The Claws are secondary by default, but while raging they up to primaries, and don't take the -5 penalty, (or even the -2 penalty, as you now qualify for the Multiattack monster feat), for the duration of the rage.
C: Not stated anywhere specific that it does, but I can see the argument that the second one emulates the Improved Natural Attack Feat, and increases your damage die type.
D: The nails hex never actually said they were claws, so hilariously the two stack such that you actually have four natural attacks for your full attack action, two rage claws as primary, and two nail attacks as secondary.
On a related matter, would the same ruling also apply to a half Orc with the Toothy alt-trait and the Animal Fury rage power, which grants a bite attack in a similar manner to Beast Totem (Lesser).
I was looking at the rules for Bleeding Attack and couldn't figure out the max timer on it.
PFsrd said wrote:
Bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or through the application of any spell that cures hit point damage (even if the bleed is ability damage).
So clearly a heal spell or first aid kit can stop it, but other than that it would appear to just go on infinately, for the rest of the targets life. That seems like it's an omission, no time-based deactivation.
Otherwise you can stab a farmer, and then absolutely nothing can save him after you skip away singing a song. Trolls have it even worse, as their EX regeneration doesn't count as a spell, meaning they're stuck with the bleeding until the end of their potentially very long days...
I was looking between the Item Creation rules and some of the wonderous items, and I found something I can't figure out.
The Handstraps of Roofjumping are listed as having a base price of 1,500 GP, in exchange for a +1 competance bonus to Acrobatics, and a +1 to reflex saves against falling off a ledge.
Now, I was trying to confirm this by the Table for magic item prices, and I can't get the math to work in agreement. The skill bonus is a fairly simple 100 Gp times half again, for being extra to the save bonus. That save bonus would normally be 2000 GP, but that assumes it affects all three stats.
If I third the cost on the save, it comes to a total of 666 +150, or only
800 GP and change (16 GP).
That's almost half the base price, and I haven't even included the situational nature of that save bonus. Have I missed something that increases the cost here? Yet if I don't third the save bonus, that implies every cloak of resistance is massively under-costed for what it does.
