Olaf the Holy's page

I wrote this up on reddit at someone's request. It is what it says on the tin. I've listed the medium damage values, even when derived from a small race, for comparison purposes.

It is very probably incomplete - I don't delude myself that I know everything there is to be known, and besides, the search function on d20pfsrd isn't all that reliable. I wouldn't mind being pointed in the direction of other sources, although I'm more interested in things outside of wildshape and synthesism.

There's been no consideration made for PFS in this, and so a whole bunch of it is probably illegal.

Now, onto the list.
Racial
-Changeling - Claws 1d4, ?primary?.
-Kitsune - Bite 1d4, ?primary?. Functions in natural form only.
-Lizardfolk - Bite 1d3, Primary.
-Lizardfolk - Claws 1d4, Primary.
-Tengu - Bite 1d3, ?primary?.

Alternative Racial Traits
-Catfolk(Cat's claws) - Claws 1d4, primary. Replaces natural hunter.
-Goblin(Hard head, big teeth) - Bite 1d6, primary. Replaces skilled.
-Half-Orc(Toothy) - Bite 1d4, primary. Replaces Orc ferocity.
-Kobold(Dragonmaw) - Bite 1d4, primary. +1d6 elemental damage 1/d, replaces armor.
-Tengu(Claw attacks) - Claws 1d3, primary. Also counts as having Improved Unarmed Strike for prerequisites.
-Tiefling(Maw or Claw) - Claws 1d4 or bite 1d6, primary.

Feats
-Aspect of the Beast - Claws 1d3, Primary. Requires Wild Shape, Lycanthropy, or Natural Weapons combat style.
-Metallic Wings - Wings 1d3 Secondary. Aasimar Feat, requires 3 other feats and ECL 11.
-Razortusk - Bite 1d4, secondary. Half-orc feat, primary if used stand-alone.
-Sharpclaw - Claws 1d6, primary. Ratfolk feat.
-Sharptooth - Bite 1d4, primary. Ratfolk feat.
-Tail Terror - Tail slap 1d4, secondary. Kobold feat.

Traits
-Mother's Teeth - Bite 1d2, secondary, Lamashtu religion trait.
-Tusked - Bite 1d4 (If used as part of a full attack action, the bite attack is made at your full base attack bonus –5), Orc & Half-orc racial trait.

Class Features
-Alchemist Discovery(Tentacle) - Tentacle 1d4, may or may not be used as part of a full attack depending on interpretation.
-Feral Gnasher Goblin Barbarian 1(Savage Bite) - Bite 1d6, Primary.
-Oracle Curse(Wolfscarred) - Bite 1d4, ?Primary? (Damage increases over time, gives 20% verbal component failure)
-White Haired Witch 1(White Hair) - Hair 1d4, primary. (Damage is int-based in lieu of strength.)
-Witch Hex(Nails) - Nails 1d3, Secondary.

Gear
-Cloak of the Manta Rey - Tail Spine/?Slap? 1d6, ?primary?, 7200gp, May or may not require you to be underwater depending on interpretation.
-Demon Armor - Claws 1d10, ?primary?, 52260gp. (Holy s##!snacks. A little vaguely worded, so check with your DM. 'a normal melee attack' might mean that you need to take a standard action with one claw to make the Contagion dc 14 happen. Who knows.)
-Demon Talon - 1 claw 1d6, ?primary?, 20000gp. (Slotless, you'll need two to have two claw attacks.)
-Dread Wing armor enhancement - Wings 1d6, Secondary, +5 bonus value. (cuts your Armor bonus to AC in half while deployed, can only be applied to hellknight or full plate armor.)
-Grasp of Droskar - 1 gauntlet 1d3, secondary, 12300gp. (An interesting alternative to the Necrograft arm, if you thought that one was worth bothering with. It is indeed considered a secondary natural attack, even though it's an adamantite +1 gauntlet.)
-Helm of the Mammoth Lord - Gore 1d6, ?Primary?, 8500gp. Probably combines with a full attack.
-Fleshwarped Scorpion's Tail - sting 1d4, ?primary?, 18505gp. (Slotless, damage size is based on the scorpion it is derived from, not the wielder. Comes with +1 enhancement bonus, and can cast Poison DC 15 on target hit 3/d)
-Necrograft Arm - 1 Slam 1d4, seconday, 12000gp. (Slotless, you'll need two. Carry necrograft penalties. Considered primary if attacking without other attacks)
-Pelt of the Beast - Bite 1d6, ?primary?, 15600gp.
-Ratfolk Tailblade - Manifactured 1d3, secondary, 11gp. 'can apply feats or effects appropriate to natural attacks to tail attacks made with a tailblade'. That's deliciously vague enough that your Amulet of Mighty fists should probably apply here.
-Ring of Rat Fangs - Bite 1d4, primary, 5000gp.
-Talons of Leng - Claws 1d4, primary, 67000gp. (+3 enhancement bonus included, crits cause dc 20 willpower vs. permanent Insanity)
-Wyvern's Cloak - Sting 1d6, ?primary?, 78600gp. (Also casts Poison dc 16 on hit.)

Right. That's interesting, of course, but not half as interesting as is figuring out what to do with it all. Is it useful, or just a waste of time?

Having multiple attacks lends itself well to classes and characters with large damage bonuses. I think it would, for example, be an interesting alternative to the classic TWF rogue.

Catfolk Wizard (Conjuration: Teleportation school) 1/U-Rogue 8 with a +1 Amulet of Mighty Fists, a Ring of Rat Fangs and a Helm of the Mammoth Lord, compares okay to a standard Halfling U-Rogue 8/wizard(teleporation) 1 with two +1 vicious shortswords, for example.

The weapon-user will have three open item slots, but its attack routine is -1/-1/-6/-6, relative to the catfolk's +0/+0/+0/+0. They've both spent roughly the same amount of gold on it, too, with the shortsword costing 16620gp, and the gear for the natural attacker coming in at 175000.

Aside from rogues, I believe that paladins especially could benefit from picking up a few natural attacks. They'll be secondary, because paladins usually wield weapons, but even at -5, that's one to three extra chances to land your smite damage in a full attack.

This is where those go.

2d20 ⇒ (2, 13) = 15

1d4 ⇒ 1

2d6 ⇒ (6, 5) = 11
1d3 ⇒ 1

The current way of calculating the CR of a skeletal champion produces broken results, and so I turn to you guys to help me peg the right CR adjustment for it.

I personally think it should be a +1 template.

What do the rest of you think?

Does the Battle Scout Ranger archetype gain increases to his first favored enemy bonus at levels 5, 10 and 15?

Relevant text:

"This ability replaces the ranger’s second favored enemy."

"This ability replaces the ranger’s third favored enemy."

"This ability replaces the ranger’s fourth favored enemy."

No further explanation included.

Just wanted to doublecheck that I'm reading this thing right.

Once per day as an immediate action, the wearer of warding armor can activate it to end all active challenge, judgment, and smite abilities affecting her. This does not prevent opponents from selecting her as a target for these abilities in the future. As a swift action, the wearer can expend one of her own challenge, judgment, or smite abilities to refresh the armor's ability to end these attacks.

Thing is, enemies aren't affected by judgement effects - the inquisitor is. So all the Warding special ability does is end any judgements you use on yourself, right?

In the title.

You must have 1 hand free when using spell combat. This, however, is not a restriction present in the text of spellstrike.

Thus, it seems to me that you could cast a touch spell, switch to a two-handed grip as a free action, perhaps make a move action or a 5-ft. step, and then use a free action to deliver the free attack from your spell.

Ignoring the ineffectiveness of this tactic in comparison to full-attacks, is there anything keeping me from doing that?

I'm making a Human Inquisitor of Asmodeus for a Serpent's Skull campaign. I've read up on the guide, but it doesn't seem all that complete, and so I turn to the boards for help pointing out the tricks of the trade that I've probably missed.

I've gone 14+2/14/14/12/15/7 for stats, with the theory that I don't really need to be 100% optimised

Traits: Boarded in Cheliax(Serpent's Skull campaign trait, +200gp and a +2 bonus on knowledge(geography) checks pertaining to the Mwangi region), Armor Expert(I'm considering maybe going for Fate's Favored instead)

As for feats, that one stumps me. I want my main weapon to be a two-hander, and I'm considering going for Power Attack->Cornugon Smash->Hurtful, to take advantage of the intimidate-focused stuff that inquisitors get.

That said, I don't qualify for any of those at first level, so I need something else to do instead. I was considering Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot, to get some switch hitting rolling, but I'm very open to ideas here.

And if anything I've said thus far strikes you as odd or extremely suboptimal, I'd love it if you point it out for me.

It occurs to me that the variant multiclass rules could be a cool way to give well-known monsters surprising new tricks, without all the hassle involved in giving them actual class levels, or even the somewhat lesser hassle that comes with adding Simple Class Templates.

Changing out feats is easy to do on the fly though - we do it all the time when we GM.

Can any of you think of interesting combinations to spruce up old monsters? This is mostly a mid-to-high level tool, of course.

I'll start:

Succubus devotee of Lamashtu, Cleric VMC.

New Feats
1 - Agile Maneuvers
3 - Decoy of the Trickery domain 5/d
5 - Iron Will
7 - Channel Negative Energy 1d6 (Madness variant channeling) 8/d, DC 19
Dropping Combat Reflexes & Weapon Finesse

It's not a big change, but enough to catch a well-read PC a little off guard, I think.

Storm Giant Paladin

New Feats
1 - Power Attack (And Code, Aura of Good)
3 - Detect Evil
5 - Awesome Blow
7 - Lay on Hands 9/d, 7d6
9 - Iron Will
11 - Smite Evil 1/d, +2/+15
13 - Combat Reflexes
15 - Mercy(Shaken)
17 - Improved Crical(Greatsword)
19 - Divine Weapon Bond +4, 3/d
Dropping Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Sunder, Vital Strike, Improved Vital Strike.

I mean, is that cool or what?

Soo... I have some vague ideas for a SC human antipaladin 10.

Now, the template says that, after I convert my antipaladin, I should figure out the CR of a normal skeleton of its hd, and add 1.

Meaning I get a CR 7 creature out of the deal. It seems backed up by all the example NPCs I've been able to find, but it also seems more than a little ridiculous. Now, I'm all for abusing the CR system to add more challenge than the CR would suggest, but this seems more a case of bad writing than anything.

Should I disregard the rules and just call it a CR +1 template?

And doesn't it seem under-cr'd, anyway?

Glad you made it! Welcome to the OOC.

First order of business would be to figure out a marching order, so I know in which order to kill you.

In other news, there's rumors about the dungeon availible to your characters, if they roll good.

One can be earned with a DC 13 gather information check, or a charisma check if you don't have ranks in Diplomacy.

Another is either a DC 13 knowledge(local), Knowledge(dungeoneering), (religion) or (history) check, or just an intelligence check for characters that don't have any of the four skills. Even if you have ranks in more than one knowledge skill, you may only make one check.

Finally, bards may roll their Bardic Knowledge to earn a third rumor. As always, DC 13.

Your travels are largely, blessedly, uneventful. You're waylaid by easily driven off bandits on one occasion, and attacked by wolves on another, but by and large, the road is welcoming enough. You manaage to shoot two deer, and dig up some bland, but nutrishious roots as you travel, and although the meals are bland, you don't dig into your prebought rations on the way.

Besides meeting patrol of knights riding south, keeping to road open, you travel in relative solitude. Their captain is interested in hearing of your bandit encounter, and tells you to keep heading east if you ever get lost. According to him, the beachhead is supposed to be safer than the rest of the wilderness. He also says that it's a good place to reprovision if food and water is tight.

On the sixth day, around high noon, you come across a crudely painted sign in broken common, pointing out a small, goat-trail-like path that leads into the green hills and, if you trust the sign, to entrance of the Dungeon of Graves. After some discussion and observation, you set out on the path, weapons at the ready.

Your alertness is unwarranted; the sky is blue, with birds singing and soaring overhead, and the hills themselves covered in lush greenery.

The party makes camp in the hills, and the night is silent, undisturbed by brigands or wolves. The next morning, you set off in bright spirits.

You can't be far from the coast now, and those of you who know these things are pretty sure you spot seagulls on the horizon.

After two hours or so, you start to feel like you're being watched - a distinctive prickling at the back of your necks suggest that someone, or something is watching you, waiting. The birds are unconcerned, however, happily continuing their songs, albeit the clouds draw in heavy overhead.

Just as the prickly feeling abates, you arrive at your destination. By the sun, it is early afternoon, on the seventh day of your journey.

From the book
You crest the last hill and finally the complex
comes into view. In stark contrast to the lush
greenery of the hills lies a large sunken graveyard
laid out in the shape of a cross. Rather than towering
above the ground, the graves have settled into
depressions, and the main mausoleum, a building of
strange green stone, rests in the deepest depression
some 40 feet below the ground on which you now
stand. At the other end of the grave-filled hallow
stands what appears to be a stone well. There are no
gravestones near it. The normal sounds of wildlife
are gone, and large carrion birds circle overhead.
An ominous silence rests about the place. Each of
you knows in your heart that you have found the
legendary dungeon of Rappan Athuk. And though
none dare speak it, you wonder if you will live to
return to the warmth of hearth and home.

The foot of the cross point due north, and it is from this direction that you arrive. Directly below you is a low, circular structure. In the center of the cross stands a statue, grander than the rest of the gravestones, and a stone mausoleum stands at each of the cross' hands, wrought from the same green stone as the main mausoleum at the head, far south.

The bottom of the depression is roughly 500ft. long, from the foot of the cross to the head, while the arms are 350ft. across.

You have come. Now remains only the descent.

Map: With your campsites and encounters

Many hundreds of years ago, the forces of good allied to destroy the main Temple of Orcus in the ancient city of Tsar. With their temple in ruins, the surviving high priests of this accursed demon-god fled the city with an army of enemies on their trail - an army of heroic fighters, clerics and paladins - led by Zelkor, a powerful wizard. The exact fate of these evil priests was then unknown, for not only did the remnants of the followers of Orcus disappear from all human reckoning, but so did the army of light that followed after them disappear as well. Some said that in the eternal scales the loss of so many good men was a fair price to pay to rid the world of so much evil.
The evil cult, however, had not been destroyed. The surviving priests and their followers instead settled on a hill near the Forest of Hope, a sylvan woodland near the Coast Road. They found a vast underground complex of caverns and mazes, carving out a volcanic intrusion beneath the hill. There, the priests of Orcus found the perfect lair to continue their vile rituals. For many years, they carried on in secret, hidden from the light and from the knowledge of men.
Many years later, their underground delving completed, the evil priests erected a hideous mausoleum and a sunken graveyard atop the hill. It is believed that these graves are in fact the final resting place of the pursuing army of heroes that had been destroyed to a man. Soon after the mausoleum was erected the peaceful creatures of the wood began to disappear. Though many rangers and druids investigated these happenings, the cause of the creatures’ disappearance was not immediately determined. Some years later, a powerful group of adventurers, led by Bofred, a high priest of Pelor, investigated the evil happenings and found the sunken graveyard leading to a labyrinthine complex. Bofred and his companions found great hordes of evil creatures in the complex. Though some of his companions returned from their expedition, telling tales of fantastic treasure and ferocious monsters, Bofred was never seen again—lost in the catacombs beneath the cursed mausoleum.
For the last one hundred years, ranks of adventurers swarmed to the newfound dungeon. Many fell prey to bandits and monsters in the surrounding wilderness. Of those who survived to reach the mausoleum and the sunken graveyard, rumors suggest that most were slain by guardians of green stone before they even entered the dungeon or perished on the very first level. Those rare few who return from deeper treks speak of horrible undead and creatures that cannot be slain. All who have explored Rappan Athuk offer this one universal piece of advice,
“Don’t go down the Well.”

-The Legend of Rappan Athuk, as told by a wandering bard.

I ran this recruitment thread. It didn't really take; I believe I had four interested players and two completed characters over the course of two days. I'll still run it if I end up getting enough characters, but it doesn't seem terribly likely to occur. So I figured, what the hell, I know pathfinder well enough to run it in that instead, and it seems like that's what the forumgoers want these days.

Setting
You're in a homebrew setting. The game itself will take place in the wilderness just south of the human kingdom of Scorland.
North of the stretch of wilderness that houses the infamous dungeon of Rappan Athuk is a small town called Clarvunne, which is the southernmost town that might be considered part of Scorland. The town lives off of fishing & trade, both by ship and by road. It also has the dubious honor of being the closest outpost of civilization to Rappan Athuk, and so it sees its fair share of adventurers. Those lucky few who make it out alive retreat to Clarvunne as fast as they can.

Far to the south of the wilderness lies the port town of Greenshore. It's said to be a pirate port, a wretched hive of scum and villany, but it's probably not as bad as all that. Clarvunne plies trade with them, after all, and the two townships work together to keep the Coast Road open. Still, it's true that Greenshore does not recognize Scorland rulership. To here the bards tell it, you can buy anything, and everything is for sale in Greenshore.

Religion-wise, we're using the Golarion Pantheon. Most humans worship Iomedae, the inheritor of the dead god that was the old head of the pantheon. Other gods are venerated as saints, of sorts, demigods who patron aspects of life. Evil deities are considered demons.
There exist clerics who follow deities who're not part of Iomedae's entourage of saints, but they're looked down upon by the established church. That won't matter much where you're headed, though.
Wilderness Map.

Character Creation
-Either 25 point buy, or roll four d6 four and take best three for stats. If you roll, and dislike your result, you may take a 20 point buy instead. No rerolls.
-Level four.
-Standard WBL.
-Medium XP track.
-Roll hit points after first level. No rerolls.
-Two Traits, one may be exchanged for having an alternative racial trait without giving up the standard racial trait.
-All official pathfinder material allowed.
-No third party or 3.5e material allowed.
-Add some fluff to your character. No need to be elaborate, but a description is good.

Banlist
-Race builder races.
-Gargoyles, noble drow, ogres, centaurs, kasatha etc.
-Technological items & options.
-Other stuff at my leasure.
I'll keep an up to date version of this in the campaign tab.

Houserules
-Magic item marts have limits. For example, in Clarvunne, you can buy any magic items that cost 2000gp or less (i.e. magic weapons), and buy crafting materials for items that cost 4000gp or less, but anything else is on a case by case basis. At character creation, you can buy anything you can afford. Having crafting feats does not give you extra starting wealth at character creation.
-I run diplomacy as magical tea party, with bullcrap made up arbitrary DCs. So diplomacy is nerf-batted that way.
-I have control over what sort of cohort and follower Leadership or other feats like it provides. I might entertain general suggestions. I might saddle you with something arbitrary that you didn't want. You have little ability to find out which it will be beforehand.
-Animal Companions, summoned creatures, cohorts etc. are NPCs under GM control. If you want your summons to do something specific, you have to tell them so. If you want your AC to do something specific, you must use the relevant Handle Animal tricks. I don't believe this is homebrew, exactly, but most people don't run it like that for expediency.

Many hundreds of years ago, the forces of good allied to destroy the main Temple of Orcus in the ancient city of Tsar. With their temple in ruins, the surviving high priests of this accursed demon-god fled the city with an army of enemies on their trail - an army of heroic fighters, clerics and paladins - led by Zelkor, a powerful wizard. The exact fate of these evil priests was then unknown, for not only did the remnants of the followers of Orcus disappear from all human reckoning, but so did the army of light that followed after them disappear as well. Some said that in the eternal scales the loss of so many good men was a fair price to pay to rid the world of so much evil.
The evil cult, however, had not been destroyed. The surviving priests and their followers instead settled on a hill near the Forest of Hope, a sylvan woodland near the Coast Road. They found a vast underground complex of caverns and mazes, carving out a volcanic intrusion beneath the hill. There, the priests of Orcus found the perfect lair to continue their vile rituals. For many years, they carried on in secret, hidden from the light and from the knowledge of men.
Many years later, their underground delving completed, the evil priests erected a hideous mausoleum and a sunken graveyard atop the hill. It is believed that these graves are in fact the final resting place of the pursuing army of heroes that had been destroyed to a man. Soon after the mausoleum was erected the peaceful creatures of the wood began to disappear. Though many rangers and druids investigated these happenings, the cause of the creatures’ disappearance was not immediately determined. Some years later, a powerful group of adventurers, led by Bofred, a high priest of Pelor, investigated the evil happenings and found the sunken graveyard leading to a labyrinthine complex. Bofred and his companions found great hordes of evil creatures in the complex. Though some of his companions returned from their expedition, telling tales of fantastic treasure and ferocious monsters, Bofred was never seen again—lost in the catacombs beneath the cursed mausoleum.
For the last one hundred years, ranks of adventurers swarmed to the newfound dungeon. Many fell prey to bandits and monsters in the surrounding wilderness. Of those who survived to reach the mausoleum and the sunken graveyard, rumors suggest that most were slain by guardians of green stone before they even entered the dungeon or perished on the very first level. Those rare few who return from deeper treks speak of horrible undead and creatures that cannot be slain. All who have explored Rappan Athuk offer this one universal piece of advice,
“Don’t go down the Well.”

-The Legend of Rappan Athuk, as told by a wandering bard.

So. Rappan Athuk. I thought it was neat enough that I'd try to run it on the forums. It's supposed to be difficult, which I think it will be. So you might want to keep that in mind, and enter with more than one idea for a character.

Setting
You're in a homebrew setting. The game itself will take place in the wilderness just south of the human kingdom of Scorland.
North of the stretch of wilderness that houses the infamous dungeon of Rappan Athuk is a small town called Clarvunne, which is the southernmost town that might be considered part of Scorland. The town lives off of fishing & trade, both by ship and by road. It also has the dubious honor of being the closest outpost of civilization to Rappan Athuk, and so it sees its fair share of adventurers. Those lucky few who make it out alive retreat to Clarvunne as fast as they can.

Far to the south of the wilderness lies the port town of Greenshore. It's said to be a pirate port, a wretched hive of scum and villany, but it's probably not as bad as all that. Clarvunne plies trade with them, after all, and the two townships work together to keep the Coast Road open. Still, it's true that Greenshore does not recognize Scorland rulership.

Religion-wise, we're using the Greyhawk Pantheon. Most humans worship Pelor. Other gods are venerated as saints, of sorts, demigods who patron aspects of life. Evil deities are considered demons.
There exist clerics who follow deities who're not part of Pelor's entourage of saints, but they're looked down upon by the established church. That won't matter much where you're headed, though.
Wilderness Map.

Character Creation
-4th level.
-34 point buy.
-Max hp at first level, roll for subsequent levels.
-5400gp starting gold.
-Any LA +0 race, no templates apart from Dragonborn & Necropolitan.
-Predominately good alignments, Evil should be played tastefully, and instigating pvp will get you booted.
-All official 3.5e sources are allowed, including dragon magazine. No 3rd edition or pathfinder sources are allowed. No homebrew aside from what's in this post.

Homebrew Rules
-Track is no longer a feat, but a function of the Survival skill. Rangers gain Skill Focus: Survival at first level, and PRCs and feats that required Track now require Skill Focus: Survival.
-I run diplomacy as magical tea party, with bullcrap made up DCs. So diplomacy is nerf-batted that way.
-Everyone recieves a bonus feat at first level, in leu of flaws.
-I have control over what sort of cohort and follower Leadership or other feats like it provides. I might entertain general suggestions. I might saddle you with something arbitrary that you didn't want. You have little ability to find out which it will be beforehand.

Banlist
-Persistent Spell(noone ever use it without cheese anyway.)
-Sanctum Spell
-Flaws
-Bloodlines from the d20srd.
-Kobold Cheese (i.e. Punpun & sorcerers with epic feats and +3ish level of sorcerer casting.)
-Other Cheese
-Dragonfire Inspiration ceases to work if anyone attempts to use it in conjunction with Words of Creation.