It's a corner case that probably won't come up much though. I feel like these actions were made with monsters using them against PCs in mind, not against other monsters. When do you as a GM wind up running those? And running 1st level creatures against dragons?
I guess you could use a summon monster ability as a PC, but I think most of the stuff it seems silly to trip only hits on a nat 20 anyway. And honestly, I'd rather have some weird cases that will never come up rather than get bogged down in size category gate keeping that usually just prevents PCs from doing cool things to monsters.
Summons, Leadership, Planar Binding, Handle Animal, and Diplomacy can make that sort of thing come up lot.
Size categories should matter. It's come up a lot over the years we've played, and never bogged anything down. I'd rather the rules make some sort of sense in terms of simulating the world, and this sort of thing is pushing it too much toward board game land for me.
Its perfectly possible within the 2nd ed. rules. Its called a leap and doesn't even require a skill check. It only requires a skill check when the distances get excessive.
You are my hero, my whole group missed that, thanks!
We have totally been spoiled by the hyperlinked SRDs.
Also, to be fair, I'd like to see one clip where a player is standing still for 6 seconds and then attempts a dunk with ANY measure of success...
Sure, you can't jump *high* without a running start, but you can definitely jump, probably even a couple feet. Enough, to say, block a shot.
It just seems that things folks can trivially do in real life should be possible for fantasy heroes, particularly when things like "perched on the narrow ledge, Conan leapt upwards to the dangling rope and freedom" are genre staples.
Jumping is sure helped by a running start, but there seems to be evidence it's possible without one, given the existence of the NBA.
Not so much much in P2, as far as I can tell, and I really hope I missed something...
You're missing the Quick Jump Skill Feat, removes the need for movement beforehand.
Sort of? It makes me sad they think that's a Feat, not just, like, how the world works. Something your average high school kid does on the regular sure doesn't seem Feat worthy to me.
So I've got a fair number of NPCs to make, a mix of normal races with levels and monsters with levels. I like things that can be reused, so I'd like to do them in a format easily shared with other folks and sites like d20pfsrd.com, and I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions.
It costing 50g seems a pretty good reason why it is not some sort of magical immobility. Otherwise I could use it to moor some poor smuck at the bottom of the ocean with no chance to swim away or detach. I mean a person is a craft no? I have a crew of like a billion red blood cells and bacteria working round the clock(even more now, damn sickness).
Edit/threadjack:Black Blood do you ever sleep :? you've posted on everything on the boards i think. hehe
No, you aren't a craft. So that argument is a non-issue. Having gp value have some relation to how useful/powerful something is makes good sense of course, but I'm not sure "magic immobility" is actually better than "instant for-real anchor". Because I'd be sorely tempted to use it to *sink* boats by dropping it out of the sky on them.
It's a real deal anchor. Check the damaging objects section for the HP and hardness. You can attempt to lift and use the anchor as an improvised weapon.
What makes you think that? Not arguing, just curious if you actually found somewhere the paizo folks discussed it, or are just going with what you think is most reasonable?
We're running a Pirates! game. Stopping fleeing ships has come up a few times, thus the anchor token. But how does it actually *work*? Is it a force that makes the ship stop for up to 24 hours? Can it be ended early? Is the ship now an immovable object?
Or is it a real, physical anchor, that moors the boat and lasts for 24 hours? If so, how many HPs? Hardness? Can you pick it up with your insane strength and bludgeon someone with it?
If you were given complete control over redoing a PC class, with absolutely no hard feelings from the original designer, which would it be? What would you do, generally speaking? Ones where you aren't the original designer, preferably.
But if you would rather not answer that for any of myriad reasons, what about ones you did design?
The summoner. I'd remove eidolons entirely and replace them with an "outsider companion" that worked, rules-wise, similar to a druid's animal companion. And the choices for outsider companion would be options like "Demon" or "Celestial" or "Elemental" or "Protean."
And if there was time left over... I'd change the cleric to say in the core rules that they must worship deities, and I'd fiddle with the bard's Versatile Performance ability so that he'd be able to re-allocate his skill ranks every time he replaces a skill with a Perform skill.
As for the ones I did design:
I designed the first drafts of the alchemist and the gunslinger. The alchemist made it through mostly unchanged, but the gunslinger was vastly improved by Stephen (my version was for a post-apocalyptic sci-fi game, so it had a bunch of stuff in it that wouldn't work for a fantasy game anyway, I guess!).
I think a feat (or feat chain) for summoners to get them a little more in line with that vision for them would be great, something like the feat that makes your eidolon a fey-ish thing (although hopefully a bit better).
Hey there, I'm the creator of the dice roller at rolz.org.
There is a page called "Mini" that probably does what you want: just the minimal interface without any help text, so you can keep the site open in a very small window:
So it appears no clear answer in the rules I missed somewhere.
It seems there's more than one "reasonable" way to handle this; the
example of claw or slam, claw or slam, bite, seems reasonable.
But so, to me, does slam, slam, claw, claw, bite...Half-dragon gorilla slams
with fists, and claws with feet, then bites.
Anyone know any Paizo material where we could find a published example of
a critter with slam attacks and a template adding claw attacks? Something in
a module, perhaps?
If you add the half-dragon template to something with natural slam attacks, how does the addition of the claw/claw/bite interact with the pre-existing slam attack(s)?
Does anyone know of any way to increase or decrease the size of non-humanoids without changing their form? As far as I can tell, both Enlarge Person and Reduce Person only work on, well, *people*. Righteous Might seems like it's the only option to enbiggen a nonhumanoid without form changing, and there doesn't seem to be any way to shrink one.
Correct; a half-dragon with no racial HD would have a breath weapon that deals 1d6 points of damage. Not an awful lot, but this was a purposeful design choice because the flavor of a humanoid half-dragon isn't one that we at Paizo particularly like, and it's one that a LOT of our customers have expressed exasperation with. Primarily because back in the 3.5 days, half-dragon was probably THE most overused template of them all. We (Paizo and our readers) mostly got sick of them, causing the half-dragon to go on the LIST for the last 50 or so print issues of Dungeon. That meant that if someone put a half-dragon into an adventure, they had to have a GREAT reason and GREAT background for that half-dragon.
Half-dragons in Pathfinder are intended to skew toward monsters. Things like the dracolisk would be a perfect example, but other creatures with racial HD work well, particularly animals, vermin, magical beasts, and aberrations.
Now... I do understand that dragonpeople are a popular choice for players as PC races. And even though a half-dragon PC or NPC would have a pretty weenie breath weapon, his ability score increases and defense alone should MORE than make up for that fact.
I could certainly see a feat like the following existing though:
Improved Breath Weapon
Your breath weapon gains power as you gain class levels.
Prerequisite: Half-dragon with 0 racial HD, Ability Focus (breath weapon)
Benefit: Your breath weapon now deals 1d6 points of damage per character level (Reflex half; DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + you Con modifier). You can use your breath weapon a number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1/day), but must wait 1d4 rounds between each use.
This is a great feat, and I'd really like it to end up actually published somewhere. I'm definitely one of your customers and one of your readers, and I REALLY like humanoid, playable dragons, and a big part of that is a breath weapon. Otherwise you're just a funny looking lizard man. I suspect a LOT of your other customers like humanoid, playable dragons, they just weren't as vocal as the ones who were exasperated, since, well, they were getting what they wanted and had no need to voice any complaints. Perhaps a Paizo take on something like the Draconomicon, were you can tuck all the feats you need to get a real "dragony" feel for your half-dragon, amongst other things.
didn't Mr. Jacobs mention the APG having features for the bard to make it an arcane warrior?
He did allude to that, yes. I have my doubts about whether or not it can be done effectively without removing the whole singing and dancing bit and replacing it with something more thematically appropriate, but perhaps they plan to do just that. If they do it up in that manner though, can you really still call it a Bard? Not that I think what you call a class makes a difference, mind you.
You can call it a cheese sammich if you want, and I'd still be interested in taking a look at something based on the Bard chassis without all the singing and dancing business. James has brought up the Bard a few times in discussions like this, and wondered why those of us who are so into fighter/wizards ignore them. For me, it's all the performance-based abilities and trapping (spell lists included) that make the Bard not at all what I'm looking for. Battling foes with spell and sword, yes, singing "Fa la la la la, we'll kick your ass!", not so much. Nor rousing oration, a quick jig, or any of that stuff.
Just as another data point on the off chance Paizo folks are still paying any attention to this thread...
I'd love a fighter/wizard base class. I've been trying to build a fighter/wizard I've been happy with since 3.0, and in general, it's an exercise in frustration and I usually end up deciding the best fighter/wizard the system supports is a cleric, at least for me.
What I want is to wear some decent armor, fight fairly well, and cast fairly well. I also really like the flavor of arcane magic over divine usually, but taking the Trickery and Travel domains helps with that.
Yet while I've certainly made characters that were functional and fun to play, it has never been quite what I want, particularly when it comes to the role-play and flavor aspects. For me, part of what I like about the fighter/wizard is the whole "self-made man" thing.
He has studied martial skills and magic, earning his powers and abilities through dedication and training. No hand up from god (paladins, cleric), or from a magical ancestor (sorcerers).
The two base classes I've seen that come the closest are the Duskblade and Monte's Mage Blade. The duskblade fails for me because of the extremely limited spell list. I don't want magic just to do damage. I like arcane magic for its wacky tricks. It's the Prestidigitation, the Dimension Door, the Rope Trick. The Mage Blade fails in...well, mostly in not being Pathfinder class, actually. Love the wholeathame thing.
I'd be very happy with, basically, an arcane cleric. Medium BAB, full caster progression, potential full access to spells (like a wizard), and ideally more skill points than a cleric (4 plus would be fine). Some way to cast in armor, light's fine to start but it should have the potential to be heavier later in levels.
I hear the cries of "that's broken!" already, but hey, the cleric has most of that stuff anyway, plus the giant pile of awesome that is channeling. He also has access to all the cleric spells, instead of what just he's managed to learn or buy.
One thing I'm a little concerned about, and I hope someone might enlighten me regarding, is whether by chatting about this stuff on the forums we make it less likely a particular design will actually show up in official material. I mean, if someone on here actually comes up with a base class design that seems nifty to most of us, does that mean Paizo will then end up wanting to stay away from publishing anything too similar, just to make sure they're in the clear when it comes to copyrights and such?
I'm guessing you're a fan though, so could I ask you what you like
best about KQ? Maybe top three things?
Sure, I'm delighted you asked.
1) That it is a magazine. So what, you ask? Well, I love looking at advertisements for new things (I discovered Cloud Kingdom Games and Tricky Owlbear pdf that way). Cool cover art. Letter to the editor. That kind of stuff.
2) Last issue I really enjoyed the Garnet Codex article. Other good ones were the Plague one and the one on Rogues. Previous issues that stand out in my mind were Ecology of the Barghest, Cloaker, and Homonculus, Blood Magic, Star and Shadow Magic, Bonded Items for Paladins, and a Monte Cook interview.
3) A dwarven Airship fully done-up map. Either a dungeon: ready to occupy or a good seed for an adventure (around Golarion in eight sessions?)
I'm right there with you on the magazine thing, but for me it's just
that a magazine is easy to stick in my bag and read whenever I've
got the chance. Online or pdfs, not so much.
The Ecology articles are a big draw for me, usually enjoyed them
in Dragon.
Maps are also great, but I'd really like some that are set up so
I could copy them and have a battlemap ready to go for the encounter.
Seems like there's a nice variety of material, though.
I really liked the setting, though I didn't have a chance to get the books till after the setting was out of print. I'd consider getting the new stuff (4e or not if the flavor was well written), except as I've heard it said, they're going to be changing some rather core elements of the Scarred Lands setting to make it mesh without problems to the 4e game mechanics, design philosophy, and Points of Light campaign style.
Wow, that blows. I always got a 'Greek Mythology gone wrong' vibe from the Scarred lands. Even though the 'heat' mechanic bothered me, with bards being a hole in it. I never ran a game in it, but I used the monsters in my own games to great effect.
Yeah, it's really too bad. I liked the Scarred Lands setting quite a
bit, never got a chance to use the whole setting, but plundered
it for my other games. In particular, I thought their background
material for hags and witches was great. And Titan's blood was
a nice in-setting explanation for any crazy sort of monster you
might want to make.
I also stole the whole Jack of Tears thing wholesale for a
Ravenloft game.
Oh well, at least it should be easy enough to convert what I've got
to Pathfinder as needed.
It would be very cool, however, if Kobold Quarterly published a Pathfinder / 3.5 adventure though. Kind of like Dragon used to do before Dungeon existed. I wonder if Paizo and Wolfgang have discussed this?
I bet they have!
Sweet. I haven't actually picked up an issue of Kobold Quarterly
yet, but if this happens I certainly will.
Why on Earth havn't you already?
Limited time for gaming stuff; Real Life tends to interfere.
Been spending most of it reading & playing Pathfinder, and
the Exalted game I'm in.
Hopefully, now that the holidays are done I'll have a bit more
time.
I'm guessing you're a fan though, so could I ask you what you like
best about KQ? Maybe top three things?
You know, out of those three, China Mieville is the only one
I'd want writing Pathfinder fiction. ;)
But you know, Mieville is into gamer stuff; there's a reference
or two about "adventurers" in some of his work (and they are
pretty clearly D&D style adventurers, seen through a more gritty
lens), and he did write those articles for Dragon. Maybe he'd
*want* to write some gaming fiction, perhaps a short story or two.
Mieville's an excellent writer. His writing would be great to tackle an environment - Kaer Maga for example. But Erik's pretty sure China's too busy.
Maybe China reads these pages and is perhaps gaining some inspiration. Perhaps not.
Still, there remain a great number of impressive fantasy fiction writers that Paizo can perhaps connect with: Jim Butcher, Paul Kemp, Lisa Smedman, R.A. Salvatore. (Assuming any are willing to dip into a new setting or perhaps divert attention from their own personally-established lines.)
Any of those would be fine with me, but Kemp would be my pick. His gaming fiction has an fun, action-oriented feel to it that's what I
want in my games, so I like it a lot in fiction set in the same
worlds.
It would be very cool, however, if Kobold Quarterly published a Pathfinder / 3.5 adventure though. Kind of like Dragon used to do before Dungeon existed. I wonder if Paizo and Wolfgang have discussed this?
I bet they have!
Sweet. I haven't actually picked up an issue of Kobold Quarterly
Glad I could make your life a little better, all a part of the service.
Out of curiousity, where would a clever guy like yourself think
the right forum for discussing the design for a build of the
Dragon Disciple (using the most current Pathfinder Beta rules
set) is?
China Mieville is well aware of Paizo. I was just trading emails with him today, in fact. He's written a fine introduction to a forthcoming Planet Stories book.
Speaking frankly, China Mieville is not going to write a Pathfinder book. He is fantastically successful writing material he owns based on his own ideas, and I imagine he is completely happy to continue doing so.
Stephen King is probably unavailable, too, sadly.
As are the guys who wrote the Gospels. :)
You know, out of those three, China Mieville is the only one
I'd want writing Pathfinder fiction. ;)
But you know, Mieville is into gamer stuff; there's a reference
or two about "adventurers" in some of his work (and they are
pretty clearly D&D style adventurers, seen through a more gritty
lens), and he did write those articles for Dragon. Maybe he'd
*want* to write some gaming fiction, perhaps a short story or two.
I've read the Dragonlance books and was impressed with a few of those. Most notably Richard Knaak managed the impossible in Legend of Huma by depicting a three dimensional, well written main character. This is simply not found anywhere in D&D literature--at least based on my readings. Granted Knaak's side-characters were poor, but for this achievement alone he gains my relative approval and recommendation.
I have a huge soft spot for Richard Knaak - his creator-owned Dragonrealms books remain some of my favorite fantasy from my childhood. You can bet that, if he opted to step back from his big-name media tie-ins like Diablo and Warcraft, I'd be ecstatic to have him do some Golarion fiction.
Right at the moment nothing's been finalized where authors are concerned, but we've had offers from several people whose names you'll undoubtedly recognize from the better game-related fiction of yesteryear....
Didn't think anyone but me was into Knaak's Dragonrealm work, nice
to know there's at least one other fan out there. Gives me hope
for reprints someday.
Anyway, big names are great, no doubt, but I'm also interested in fiction from the designers themselves, if they're so inclined.
One of the big reasons I read gaming fiction is to get a feel for
the world, and I'd imagine it's designers would have the best handle
it.
I'm building a 15th level character for our new Beta
game, which will be using the tournament module Crypt of
the Devil-Lich. Any suggestions for a Dragon Disciple build?
One feat will be going to Leadership (we're only 3 PCs,
need a little more meat), and we've got rolled stats (*high*
rolled stats, around the Epic Fantasy point-buy level). Only
material we can use is Paizo created Pathfinder stuff, so no
WoTC expansion books. Other than that, no real plan yet.
C'mon, I know y'all have opinions, and this is the Internet, for
$DEITY sake. Share them!
So, we're starting a Pathfinder Beta playtest using some
tournament module called Crypt of the Devil-Lich. I'm
probably building a Dragon Disciple, and I'm wondering if
anyone has any thoughts about spell selection for the 13
caster levels of sorcerer spells I'll have.
Uhm, any input besides scrapping or changing the feat?
Well, what I'm usually looking for from Leadership is not a bunch
of fodder, or a healbot cleric or buffbot bard. I'm usually in
it for the monster- at higher levels, Leadership is a relatively
easy way to get a cool monstrous companion or mount. For example,
an evil cleric of Winter I built had Leadership to get his
Winter Wolf mount. A good ranger had a blink dog as his hunting
dog. That sort of thing.
Very nice work! It's still obviously just a start, but this could turn into an excellent resource. I still use the d20srd.org site all the time and have been longing for a PRPG equivalent. It would be nice to hear from someone at Paizo about their thoughts on this though - if there was a plan for them to do it themselves, or how much they want us to be able to put out on our own so we can still play nicely with their legal department.
Perhaps someone from Paizo might want to contact the guy that put
together d20srd.org, and see if he's interested in making a Pathfinder version?
Just checking in to see whether there's any word on your progress with negotiations.
I imagine Vic's previous statement remains true, that Paizo can't say anything until their partner or they make a formal announcement or the deal falls through. So no news is good news, right?
I guess. It's just unfortunate that they made the fan-created map disappear when it looks to be a long time, if ever, before they're offering anything similar.
In absence of any use for this power until the Necromancer can Animate Dead at 7th level, I would house-rule that any undead taken 'control' of via the Command Undead spell could be retained indefinitely by adding them to this 'control pool.'
Otherwise the power is dead weight for six levels. Even my tweak makes it dead weight for two levels (although a Necromancer could, in theory, use a Scroll of Command Undead before reaching 3rd level).
Strange design, giving a Specialist a power that he can't really use for quite a few levels...
Yeah, I was really hoping it would be addressed in the Beta- it
was certainly mentioned during the Alpha playtest. The Necromancer
really needs a bit of love before the final version comes out.
This topic comes up quite frequently and each time Erik and Vic and James and Wes and everyone says that Pathfinder fiction (perhaps not novels, but standalone fiction) is inevitable. If you search around the boards you'll find tons of other threads wherein they talk about their thoughts on the process. We know that they aren't coming out before GenCon, though, as everything's been announced until Aug 09, but we'll get Golarion novels or short stories soon enough.
Still, I think we should keep mentioning it around here to make
sure they know interest is still strong. I'd cheerfully buy a novel
or an anthology of short stories.
1. No one was sent a cease and desist. We asked those responsible to take it down.
2. The artwork in question contains both copyrighted and trademarked material owned wholly by Paizo and posting it without permission violates both.
3. We're working on a community use policy that will allow our community to do some things--reposting the entirety of our maps online is not one of them.
4. The argument that "you can't stop piracy, so you might as well not try" should be retyped as "you shouldn't try to protect your trademarks so, by law, your trademarks are no longer yours." We're not playing big brother folks, we're protecting our trademarks. No, I'm not saying the map was piracy.
5. Most companies wouldn't take the time to respond--they'd unleash their lawyers on the offender. We have not.
Of course some companies, like White Wolf, would just realize someone
had gone through a ton of work to make a resource players would like,
all because they really love the setting.
See the Map of Creation for their Exalted setting at:
http://hd42.de/rpg_exalted_maps.html
I'm not wild about animal companions or golemlike animated sticks.
I'd like to see the specialist power to be a constant invisibility to undead effect, like the spell. A Horde of minions seems like one path a necromancer could take rather than defining to class
I'd like the first level power made more useful. A cold hand doesn't cut it for me. Rather than buffing it by making it ranged why not convert it into a minor negative energy channeling. Change the damage from cold to negative, (and make it unusable on yourself if you happen to be undead) and have undead hit with it need to make a will save to avoid being controlled by you. The DC of this could be is equal to 10 + 1/2 your Necromancer level + your Charisma modifier. It keeps the feel more than a frost ray would while still becoming useful.
I think this leaves room for necromancers to have any alignment. A good necromancer could delude himself into thinking he is declawing undead while not destroying them, or could decide to use them in the battle for good.
Nice. I like this a lot. I really wanted something that impacts
undead as well as the living, but in a different way. This fits
the bill.
I think the Universalist school needs some work, but this is not the thread for it. Instead, we should be looking at the necromancy school, which also could use a bit of work. I am thinking about changing this one to grant you an undead companion, that would tie into the animal companion rules, but I am not set on this yet.
Thoughts?
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
I've certainly heard worse ideas, but I'd really like the dedicated
wizard necromancer to no longer suffer in comparison to the evil
cleric who happens to dabble in necromancy.
Thus, I'd like necromancers to have cleric-style undead control.
You can thus have your skeletal army if that's your thing, or
you can have one or two badass minions if that works better.
It stands to reason that if your PCs have thought of or discovered this combo of spells, so have others in the past. In the real world it would have been used for everything from robberies to assassinations and thus the combo would become well known amoung all powerful circles. True, a commoner might not know about "wizardly workings" but it makes sense that any government official, BBEG (is there a difference really?), or other high-powered or wealthy individual would know to anticipate such tactics. As such, any fortress built should already have private sanctums literally woven into the stonework. This means that almost any and all attempts to use this combo will already have been prempted when the villain buitl his secret, or not so secret, lair.
In other words, given these factors, why is there a need for new spells?
Why not? It actually gives a way for BBEG to have built his secret
lair to be proof against this tactic, and it's a consistent way
that the PCs can use too. For me, I like my world to have internal
consistency, and any world where wizards have developed scrying
and teleporting spells should also have had wizards figuring out
a way to defeat them.
Something i have long wondered/considered, but not actually playtested:
What about allowing the monk to use his 'unarmed strike' damage when using 'special monk weapons'?
It would eliminate the amulet of mighty fists supercost requirement by allowing the monk access to the same priced melee combat boosters as all other classes, plus also get rid of the 'need' to do things like..multiclass to kensai so i can enchant my fist...etc. I think it would allow the monks to get more into the damage dealing level that rogues have because it would allow the stacking of holy, flaming, etc.
Just a thought
Simple and easy to implement. I like it. Thoughts?
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
I like it too, but there is, nevertheless, something about an effective unarmed monk that sounds appealing. I would, therefore, posit the possibility of an alternative approach. Perhaps it would be a solution, to look at the expected magical bonuses provided at a given level and mechanically compensate the monk for it (perhaps not 100% compensation rate to account for the fact that monk's weapons cannot be taken away). I would suggest looking at the "Vow of Poverty" feat in the Book of Exalted Deeds for inspiration. Imagine giving the monk a "+ budget" to 'buy' magical abilities. Each "+" could be converted to a magical weapon ability (as given in the DMG, but within certain limits - perhaps a monk dedicated to a good aligment would be able to get extra holy damage, while an evil monk unholy damage, whereas a monk dedicated to an element only extra damage of that type...), but instead would be applicable to unarmed attacks.
This would preserve the 'unarmed/non-materialistic' monk, while keeping him competitive.
Maybe a monk could even chose either an unarmed path or a weapon path (though this kind of distinction might be a bit excessive).
Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
;)
More seriously, I like both these fixes together. I really like the
idea of the "+ budget" that lets monks buy from a subset of weapon
enhancements. It's good mechanically, and I love the flavor.
You've got your ghost-touch and/or holy for your classic ghost
fighting, demon hunting monks. And your can have wacky assassin
sects, like a Burning Fist Tong (the d6 fire damage).
Also, I'd like to see monks able to really work that CMB. I want
it to be higher than a fighter of similar level, even if he took
a feat or two.
I've looked around in the forums, and can't seem to find
an answer.
Just how does the Necromancy school power work?
Automatically controlling 8 HD of undead / level
seems too good.
Having it only replace the 4 HD / level limit from
Animate Dead seems too bad. If that's the case, then
it's a school power that doesn't work at all for several
levels, which seems wrong, and it still leaves necromancers
with the problem that any random cleric can come along
and steal the necromancer's undead, with the necromancer being
unable to even try and get them back.
Could we please get a little clarification from a developer?
Well, as I said I don't think it actually gives you the ability to control undead; it just allows you to control more undead that you yourself have made with Animate Dead. So Scenario #1 and #2 can't happen, IMO.
I think you might be right, but I really hope not. I've always
found a big weakness in the necromancer speciality was that an
evil cleric could come along and just steal your undead, and there
wasn't much you could do about it. This seemed like a fix for that.
Bards can't do a thing about scrying with it, because it's a 3rd level spell for bards and scrying is 4th level.
Patrick Baldwin wrote:
I also don't find the SRD spells quite do it either; I'd like the ability to defend against Scrying to become available when Scrying does, and neither of the two SRD spells do that.
But there is a defense from scrying at the same level; detect scrying. While it doesn't actually stop scryers, it lets you know immediately when someone is watching you. At that point, you make some prearranged hand gesture to your fellow party members and they all start talking about the weather.
Or, you could just yell, "Hey! Are you scrying on me, jerkwad? Well, since I beat your caster level check, I know where you are and what you look like. And, since I know what you look like, that counts as secondhand familiarity for me to scry you back! And, since I'm a Pathfinder diviner, that actually counts as firsthand familiarity! So you'd better just give up now, dirtbag, unless you want a permanent image of your naked butt displayed throughout the Nine Kingdoms!"
I love this game. :)
But seriously, you're worried about the Scry-Buff-Teleport combo, not just scrying by itself. Mordenkainen's private sanctum is the same level as teleport, so it can still effectively stop this combo. Plus, teleporting to a location you've only viewed once has only a 75% chance of working properly. Good odds — but would you bet your life?
As far as I can tell from:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/scrying.htm
Scry is indeed a 3rd level bard spell; unless of course this particular
SRD is wrong in this case.
Detect Scrying is fine and all, but doesn't help much when you're
asleep. Hell, if you're being hit with scry every so often to keep
an eye on you until you're weak for some reason (tough fight,
asleep, party divided) knowing it's coming is nice, but probably
won't help much.
Private Sanctum is, again, only on wizard/sorceror list; as I said,
I want the defenses against scry to be available when the capability to
cast it becomes available.
You're certainly right about alarm, but I'm not happy with the
fix for SBT being in a non OGL book, so I'd like to come up with
my own, that could be OGL.
I also don't find the SRD spells quite do it either; I'd like
the ability to defend against Scrying to become available when
Scrying does, and neither of the two SRD spells do that.
Any comments on the spell I posted?
Well you Scry Ward duplicates 3 spells.
For objects, Obscure Object (SRD, lvl Clr3 W/S2) no opposed checks the attempt simply fails. Only works on 1 object per casting. 8hr duration.
For person. Nondetection (SRD, lvl W/S3) has opposed check longer duration and 50gp component. Though not in Cleric list except trickery domain.
For buildings see Private Sanctum above which is a better deal.
It just seems that your spells don't really step far enough outside the SRD spells to warrant new spells. Now some of these will be needed for divine casters to have similar powers.
But Scry Ward looses all its appeal to a caster when he can get private sanctum and the longer duration w/o opposed checks one spell level later. And Greater Scry Ward? In balance is the longer duration worth the trade of an opposed check to see if they get through it anyway?
I don't see any particular need for spells to "step far enough outside
the SRD"; even if I did, I think Scry Ward is different enough than the others. I also see no problem with a higher level spell that has
functionality similar to multiple lower level spells in one.
Particularly in this case as those lower level spells only effect 1
thing at a time, instead of multiple things (like, say, enough to
actually ward your whole party against scry).
However, you're right about Private Sanctum being a better spell for
most wizards. Need to think about that more.
Do you think Greater Scry ward would be better without the opposed
check?
Or just take the Leadership feat and play your cohort. With a feat at every level in Pathfinder, there's little reason NOT to have a cohort, especially at the levels where the SoD effects supposedly get so hot and heavy.
There's a feat at every level? I thought it was every other level?
You're certainly right about alarm, but I'm not happy with the
fix for SBT being in a non OGL book, so I'd like to come up with
my own, that could be OGL.
I also don't find the SRD spells quite do it either; I'd like
the ability to defend against Scrying to become available when
Scrying does, and neither of the two SRD spells do that.
I think that racial skill bonuses should be granted to the caster, because they are more based on form, not culture or nature. After all, a snake has a bonus to hide because of it's shape, being low to the ground, right?
And often, it's coloration and the fact that that shape can fit
a surprisingly large amount of snake into surprisingly small
spaces.
Race
Wounds (0) HP (92) Saves (15/14/16, +2 vs enchantment) AC (26/21/23) CMD (34) Init (+3)
Changeling
* Ability Score Modifiers: Changelings are frail, but are clever and comely. They gain +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma, –2 Constitution.
* Darkvision: Changelings see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
* Hulking Changeling (Annis Hag): The changeling gains a +1 racial bonus on melee damage.
* Hag Magic: Some changelings have an innate talent for magic. They can choose one 1st- or 0-level spell from the witch spell list (Mage Armor) that does not have a material component costing more than 1 gp. They can use the chosen spell as a spell-like ability once per day if it is a 1st-level spell or three times per day if it is a 0-level spell (caster level equal to the changeling’s character level). This racial trait replaces natural armor.
* Claws: Changelings’ fingernails are hard and sharp, granting them two claw attacks (1d4 points of damage each).
Feats
* Lvl 1: Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Investiture, Dragon Style
* Lvl 2: Invested Power: Divine Favor
* Lvl 3: VMC Wood Wizard: Ioun Wyrd Familiar
* Lvl 5: Dragon Ferocity, Precise Shot
* Lvl 7: VMC Wood Wizard
- Flexible Enhancement (A master of the wood element is able to bend like bamboo when stressed and snap back into place. You gain a +1 enhancement bonus to your Wisdom ability score. This bonus increases by +1 for every five Wizard levels you possess to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.)
- Splintered Spear (As a standard action, you can create a wooden shortspear appropriate to your size, which hurls itself as a ranged attack against one target within 100 feet (range penalties apply), using your Intelligence modifier as an attack bonus instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifier. The spear deals normal damage according to its size, plus your Intelligence modifier, then breaks into countless splinters; the target takes 1 point of bleed damage each round on its turn. At 6th-level and every 6 levels thereafter, the spear gains a +1 enhancement bonus and the bleed damage increases by +1. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier)
Equipment 35k
* Monk's Robes (13k)
* Belt of Str +2 (4k)
* Headband of Cha +2 (4k)
* Liquid Glass handwraps +2 (8800)
* Boots of the Earth (5000)
* 200 gold
Invested Regent Unchained Monk (4):
AC Bonus
* When unarmored and unencumbered, the monk adds his Wisdom bonus (if any) to his AC and CMD. In addition, a monk gains a +1 bonus to AC and CMD at 4th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every four monk levels thereafter, up to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.
* These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the monk is flat-footed. He loses these bonuses when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears any armor, when he carries a shield, or when he carries a medium or heavy load.
Flurry of Blows
* At 1st level, a monk can make a flurry of blows as a full-attack action. When making a flurry of blows, the monk can make one additional attack at his highest base attack bonus. This additional attack stacks with the bonus attacks from haste and other similar effects. When using this ability, the monk can make these attacks with any combination of his unarmed strikes and weapons that have the monk special weapon quality. He takes no penalty for using multiple weapons when making a flurry of blows, but he does not gain any additional attacks beyond what’s already granted by the flurry for doing so. (He can still gain additional attacks from a high base attack bonus, from this ability, and from haste and similar effects).
* At 11th level, a monk can make an additional attack at his highest base attack bonus whenever he makes a flurry of blows. This stacks with the first attack from this ability and additional attacks from haste and similar effects.
Stunning Fist
* At 1st level, the monk gains Stunning Fist as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites.
* At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the monk gains the ability to apply a new condition to the target of his Stunning Fist. This condition replaces stunning the target for 1 round, and a successful saving throw still negates the effect.
* At 4th level, the monk can choose to make the target fatigued. At 8th level, he can make the target sickened for 1 minute.
Evasion
* At 2nd level, a monk can avoid damage from many area-effect attacks. If a monk succeeds at a Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a monk is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless monk does not gain the benefit of evasion.
Fast Movement
* At 3rd level, a monk gains an enhancement bonus to his land speed, as shown on Table: Monk Unchained. A monk in armor or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed.
* 10ft
Ki Pool (Su)
* At 3rd level, a monk gains a pool of ki points, supernatural energy he can use to accomplish amazing feats. The number of points in a monk’s ki pool is equal to 1/2 his monk level + his Wisdom modifier. As long as he has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he can make a ki strike.
At 3rd level, ki strike allows his unarmed attacks to be treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
* By spending 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action, a monk can make one additional unarmed strike at his highest attack bonus when making a flurry of blows attack. This bonus attack stacks with all bonus attacks gained from flurry of blows, as well as those from haste and similar effects. A monk gains additional powers that consume points from his ki pool as he gains levels.
* The ki pool is replenished each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation; these hours do not need to be consecutive.
Ki Power (Su)
* Ki Metabolism (Su): A monk with this ability uses his ki to control his metabolism. As long as he has at least 1 point remaining in his ki pool, the monk needs to eat and drink only 1/4 as often as normal, needs only 2 hours of sleep each night (including to replenish his ki pool), and can hold his breath for up to 1 hour per point of Constitution. As a move action, he can spend 1 ki point to enter a state of suspended animation, falling unconscious and appearing dead to all senses. At the time he enters this state, he indicates a preset period of time or a triggering condition, after which he awakens.
Still Mind (Ex)
* At 4th level, a monk gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells and effects.
Investiture (Su)
* An invested regent gains a pool of investiture points, supernatural energy he can use to call upon amazing abilities and divine protection. The number of points in the invested regent’s investiture pool is equal to 1/2 his monk level + his Charisma modifier. As long as he has at least 1 point in his investiture pool, the invested regent can select one of his saving throws as a swift action and gain a +1 sacred bonus on saving throws of that type for 1 round. If he spends 1 point from his investiture pool during this swift action, he instead gains a sacred bonus equal to his Charisma modifier on the saving throw selected.
* A character with this feature and the ki pool class feature tracks investiture points and ki points separately.
Vested Power:
* Divine Favor (1 point)
Divine Hunter Paladin (2):
Smite Evil (Su)
Once per day, a paladin can call out to the powers of good to aid her in her struggle against evil. As a swift action, the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is evil, the paladin adds her Cha bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her paladin level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. If the target of smite evil is an outsider with the evil subtype, an evil-aligned dragon, or an undead creature, the bonus to damage on the first successful attack increases to 2 points of damage per level the paladin possesses. Regardless of the target, smite evil attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess.
In addition, while smite evil is in effect, the paladin gains a deflection bonus equal to her Charisma modifier (if any) to her AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. If the paladin targets a creature that is not evil, the smite is wasted with no effect.
The smite evil effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the paladin rests and regains her uses of this ability. At 4th level, and at every three levels thereafter, the paladin may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on Table: Paladin, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level.
Aura of Good (Ex)
The power of a paladin’s aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her paladin level.
Detect Evil (Sp)
At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell. A paladin can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds. While focusing on one individual or object, the paladin does not detect evil in any other object or individual within range.
Divine Grace (Su)
At 2nd level, a paladin gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all Saving Throws.
Lay On Hands (Su)
Beginning at 2nd level, a paladin can heal wounds (her own or those of others) by touch. Each day she can use this ability a number of times equal to 1/2 her paladin level plus her Charisma modifier. With one use of this ability, a paladin can heal 1d6 hit points of damage for every two paladin levels she possesses. Using this ability is a standard action, unless the paladin targets herself, in which case it is a swift action. Despite the name of this ability, a paladin only needs one free hand to use this ability.
Alternatively, a paladin can use this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures, dealing 1d6 points of damage for every two levels the paladin possesses. Using lay on hands in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Undead do not receive a saving throw against this damage.
Champion of the Enlightened (2):
Detect Chaos (Sp)
This ability functions like a paladin’s detect evil ability, but detects chaos instead of evil.
Martial Artist (Ex)
The class levels of a champion of the enlightened stack with monk levels for determining the effect of his AC bonus, flurry of blows, stunning fist, and unarmed strike class features.
Smite Chaos (Su)
At 1st level, a champion of the enlightened gains an additional use of his paladin’s smite evil ability. In addition, he can choose to use his smite evil ability to smite chaos instead, affecting chaotic-aligned creatures and dealing 2 points of damage per class level on the first successful attack against outsiders with the chaotic subtype, chaotic-aligned aberrations, and fey. Levels in this class stack with paladin levels for the purpose of determining how much damage a paladin of the enlightened deals to targets of his smite. A champion of the enlightened cannot have both a smite evil and smite chaos effect active at the same time; using one while the other is active immediately ends the older effect.
At 8th level, a champion of the enlightened gains an additional use of his smite evil ability.
Ki Pool (Su)
At 2nd level, a champion of the enlightened gains a ki pool equal to 1/2 his class level + his Wisdom modifier; this functions like the monk ability of the same name, and levels in this class stack with levels in other classes that grant a ki pool. In addition to the normal uses of this ki pool, a champion of the enlightened may expend 2 ki points to trigger either his lay on hands ability (if he has it) or his smite evil ability. His class levels stack with paladin levels when determining the effect of such abilities.
Pursuit of Knowledge (Ex)
At 2nd level, a champion of the enlightened adds 1/2 his class level on all Knowledge checks and can make Knowledge skill checks untrained.
Emissary Ioun Wyrd:
Level Plan:
Lvls 9-10: Unchained Monk (6)
- Flying Kick - Purity of Body - Tongues Vested Power (2pts to cast)
Lvls 11-18: Champion of the Enlightened (10)
Lvls 19-20: Elementalist Shifter (2)
- 1d6 fire damage - Wis to AC (Capstone!)
