Pipedreamer's page

Question same as the title, could not find answer after a quick look through the combat section.

So for example if a medium creature (human commoner) was being attacked by a tiny creature (house cat) currently occupying the same square as each other; would the commoner be able to attack the house cat or would the commoner first have to 5' step to an adjacent square?

Would the same hold true for larger creatures?

Due to my players creating fairly optimized characters and possessing an above average level of system mastery I often find myself changing ... if not entirely rebuilding entire enemies and encounters throughout the course of published adventures. This time around I thought that I would post my changes for others to adjudicate and use themselves if they were so inclined. Feedback is welcome.

A large focus of the rebuilds will be biased towards classes and archetypes that did not exist when the AP was first published. Especially in those instances where I feel that the new class or archetype better represents my own perceived flavor of the enemy. Many of the enemies with levels in rogue will be converted to the unchained version of the class as I prefer it to the original. However, since many of these enemies use archetypes the conversions will be straying into home-brew territory as the unchained variants are not compatible with archetypes. Disclaimer aside, I do not expect this to be much of an issue. Due to the swingy nature of the lower levels, I choose not to alter any of the enemies of the first book and only a few from the second book. If they go over well, I may post some of the home-brew NPC villains and monsters that turn up at various points throughout the AP.

First up is the villain that initially piqued my interest in undertaking this project, the first mate Captain of the Thresher, Knuckles Grype.

The only villain statblock that I know of was a little unwieldy for me as it required a lot of deleting to properly use so I made my own makeshift one. I hope to polish it up over time Link Here.

Knuckles was converted from the Fighter Brawler archetype from Ultimate Combat to a straight up Brawler from the Advanced class guide. The conversion represents a decrease in combat effectiveness in terms of attack and damage but gives him a healthy amount of flexibility in how he fights the PC's. I also wanted him to have a better out of combat presence as I suspect that my PC's might actually accept his surrender. The increase in skills and skill points serve to make him a more competent toadie and martial flexibility makes him much more interesting for me to run as a GM. Side note: I was this close to making him a strangler archetype but decided against it as it would have required me to significantly alter his gear.

I'm always looking to improve my game through house-rules and other minor tweaks. I got my gaming start with Pathfinder around 6 years ago and while I have no plans to switch systems in the near future, I know that many of the other systems have at least something to offer.

Pathfinder is the only system that I have any kind of significant experience with so ... I'm a bit of a D&D noob.

One thing in particular that I heard about the other day that I was interested in learning more about was a rule in 5e where mooks or henchmen or mobs only had 1 HP but still had adequate stat-blocks.

Other than that I'm all eyes on what I can do to improve my game without a radical rebuild of the entire system.

Anyone know a good place where I can expand my pirate vocabulary? GMed the first session last week and while I know enough nautical witticisms to get me through book 1 it won't be long before I start repeating myself for the next five books. Especially interesting in finding some really foul and creative pirate curses.

A few times the game mentions how abilities, items and effects function (or don't) in a vacuum. After looking around for awhile and not finding anymore information I was wondering if anybody knew if there are any rules for fighting in a vacuum or space.

Though specifically I would like to know:

1) Does being in space cause you to take cold damage?

2) Seeing as there is no air I am assuming creatures that need to breathe risk suffocation?

3) Same as above, no air means no spells with verbal components unless cast with silent spell? No command words either?

4) No air ... do breath weapons function?

6) ... So since there isn't any air ... can you imbibe things like potions or alchemical items?

7) Last time (yeah right) does non-magical flight function in a vacuum?

8) Does being in space impose any negative effects from things like radiation, pressure, or the orbits of planets?

I'm not looking to know how this would work in real life, just some quick play rules in case it comes up.

Had a weird situation the other day where an enemy was sitting behind a wall of force and the paladin declared him the target of her smite. A ruling didn't need to be made because it was the last encounter and the paladin had multiple smites left but I was just curious as to how this would play out. Three possibilities I can think of:

1) The paladin needs Line of Effect, the wall of force blocks line of effect and the smite is wasted.

2) The paladin only needs line of sight

the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite

and the smite is successful.

3) The smite is not wasted because the paladin was unable to expend it in the first place.

The Emerald Spire module begins with the PC's arriving at a fort near the ruin, Fort Inevitable. The fort is incredibly detailed with over 40 named locations and even more NPC's each with its own history, description personality and goals. However, right after this the adventure jumps into the dungeon without much integration between the two. I understand Paizo's premium on page space and leaving the information on the fort for individual groups to utilize or ignore as they see fit seems like the way to accommodate a variety of gaming groups ...

buuuuttt ....

I'd like to see Fort Inevitable play a more meaningful part in the adventure path and have started utilizing some of the information from the Fort's write-up into the story when the PC's return there to rest and re-supply. I'll list some of my changes and ideas below but I'd like to see how others have chosen to run the module.

- As the PC's arrived they were questioned by the Kiera Wirt and given a three day pass to stay within the fort.

- The party spends some time in the Helmed Lady (a tavern) and overhears mention of the seven foxes, a group working to undermine and eventually overthrow the Hellknight regime. After the patrons quickly silence talk of the foxes the PC's chose to remain silent as well.

- After agreeing to explore the dungeon and provide descriptions and maps of its various levels (along with the sigil for each floor) Abernard Royst offers to provide the PC's with food and lodging in between their expeditions into the spire.

- The PC's forget about their three day permit and are nearly arrested by the Hellknights. Abernard is able to talk his way out of it but the PC's will have to adopt real jobs while they stay inside the city walls. One player choose to join the Salamander company, she had her initiation test out on the Bailey in full view of the Hellknights. The other began to work in the potion and reagent shop for Londor Sefurd.

- Upon return to Abernard's house after a dungeon delve the party sees a young half elf woman named Taeserle leaving Abernard's study. He says that she works with her father on a vineyard outside of town and was dropping off some bottles of wine that he ordered. This is true but the true purpose of this drop off was to arrange a short meeting. Taeserle is secretly a spy for the seven foxes and was meeting with Abernard to request spellcasting in order to help a member from their organization escape the city (a service that he will occasionally provide).

- Before entering floor 3 one of the PCs was approached by an unnamed hellknight and asked to follow him. He took the PC to Dandru Wolfhelm, a Maralictor for the order of the nail. Dandru told the PC that he believes there is a group of with a base located near or within the spire and solicited him to locate the bandits and return their location to him or rout them himself. For this he provided a warrant and offered a reward should the PC's provide proof of their deed and stated that this would make them allies of the Fort. Dandru is attempting to gather enough evidence of bandit activity to lead a campaign against the bandit stronghold of Thornkeep.

- Upon reaching the end of floor three the group chose to forge an alliance with the bandits in the dungeon to take down Klarkosh, a Numerian wizard who controls much of the upper floors and resides in floor 6. Tarrin Dars, the leader of the bandits is hoping to learn as much about the PCs as possible and will attempt to keep the alliance going after Klarkosh's defeat. She intends to use the PC's connections to the fort for her own nefarious purposes and will blackmail/threaten the group if need be. She has connections to individuals in both Daggermark and Thornkeep which she can use to benefit or hinder the PCs as necessary. They inform Abernard of this alliance and while he isn't against it, he warns the PCs not to trust the bandits.

- The group chooses to sell some of the poison that they acquired in the bandit hideout to Londor Sefurd. Later on in the game I am planning to have someone in the city killed with poison that can be traced back the this transaction. The PC's, depending on their standing with the hellknights at that point, may face a variety of repercussions.

- The group asks Abernard about the seven foxes, who provides minimal information and cautions them not to ask many questions about them around town or appear as sympathizers to their cause.

- As the group returns to the spire they hear noises and notice objects moved out of place. Upon investigation they discover a young boy rummaging through the remains of the first floor. He is Davon Stonde and lives outside of town with his mother and siblings. They have fallen on hard times after the Hellknights hung his father for alleged (but never proven) crimes. He had heard that there was treasure in the ruins and was looking for a way to help his family.

- One day when the group returns to the fort they hear that a local man is being put on trial. Drurn a half-orc who runs the tannery outside of town is accussed of beating a slave to death, lying to the hellknights about it and attempting to illicitly dispose of the body. He has been in trouble with the hellknights for mistreating slaves before and while his ultimate sentence is uncertain his tannery has been seized and will be auctioned off publicly the following week (slaves included).

- Before going to face Klarkosh (who the PC's have learned much of by now through their coversations with the various dungeon denizens) Abernard informs the PCs that he wishes to see the spire for himself and will accompany them as they clear floor 6. He does this mostly to protect the party, as he believes that the bandits will betray them once they deal with Klarkosh.

- One of the PC's expressed an interest in traveling to Daggermark in order to commission construction of a magical item outside the capabilities of those within Fort Inevitable. Depending on their behavior within Daggermark the PCs may involve themselves with more bandits. If things escalate with Thornkeep as Maralictor Wolfhelm is attempting to arrange then there could eventually be a siege of the fort, a bad situation for the Hellknights as they would be grossly outnumbered.

- As the PC's clear more floors important NPC's will approach the PC's with their own agendas up to and including the Lady Commander. Interest is especially high regarding the disappearance of a hellknight expedition into the tower.

That's about what I've had so far, my group has finished floor 5 and I've read all the way through floor 10. I know a little bit about the ending and it seems lacking. I'm planning on heavily re-writing the last three floors to give it a more satisfying finale. One possible idea right now is the have Nhur Atemon's phylactery meld with the emerald spire and the only way to destroy it is to defeat the vault keep at the emerald root. More as the story progresses.

Tldr; I've come up with some ways to integrate the plot hooks presented for Fort Inevitable to provide more depth to the module. If you've run the emerald spire before or have ideas on how to enhance the adventure I'd love to hear about them.

I'm a little confused by the spell bloody claws. The text of the spell makes it seem as though you deal extra damage with every attack although it (as well as the universal monster rule) state that bleed attacks and damage never stack.

You give a creature the ability to deal bleed damage when making natural attacks so long as the attack deals slashing or piercing damage. This bleed damage for each attack is equal to one-half your caster level (limited to the creature's maximum damage with that attack), though bleed damage does not stack. When two or more attacks deal bleed damage, take the worse effect.

Does the spell grant reoccurring damage each round or do you deal the extra damage with each hit and reoccurring damage equal to 1/2 caster level?

I'm looking for a way to add some more space to my GMing area. I've been using the Basic Flip-mat for almost two years now and while it's been a great addition to my table, I'm getting to the point where the space available on the mat is just not enough. A lot of times I find myself with not nearly enough room for dungeons, let alone entire battlefields.

What would be a good alternative? The new solution doesn't need to be as portable or compact as the mat, though something reusable would be great.

I'm trying to get a player of mine to come out of her shell and polish up on some of the rule details before an upcoming campaign. For about a month or so I am going to be running a solo adventure with her, she is starting at level 1 and playing a barbarian. I'm going to be using kid gloves for most of this since its just a primer for the real deal.

I have some experience with unconventional parties and players with little experience/knowledge. But, I was just wondering if there were any significant pitfalls to avoid. I do not want to have the player run any additional characters and I am going to keep GMPC's to a minimum.

Are their any PFRPG compatible materials that could help?

I would like some help with an early arcane duelist build. I think that I pretty much have the stats selected (20 point buy), but I really do not know where to start in terms of feats or even traits. I have access to pretty much any Paizo resource just no third party stuff or 3.5 material. I have no plans to multiclass or prestige (especially not into DD) unless the idea is really good.

I am planning on going with a melee THW build but again I am stuck on where to start with feats and such. I am going to end up being the party face and would prefer not to dump any stats if possible. I was thinking maybe going down an intimidate line of sorts, but I'm still not sure if I wouldn't be better off just hitting the enemy with my weapon rather than spending the standard action to intimidate. Power attack is the level 3 feat of course.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I play sorcerer's like its my job and even when i'm not I find myself taking the Eldritch heritage feats. I am really interested in the ARG's (Advanced Race Guide) bloodline for humans, imperious.

It's definitely not the best bloodline but I love the theme of it. I was just curious to see what others though of the bloodline as I am strongly considering it for an upcoming homebrew campaign.

Class Skill: Perform (oratory) This is definitely meh, but for a little background on the character. He is a bit of a mix between a bard and a sorcerer leaning more towards the latter. I have read the bard archetypes that seem to fit several times and the only one that is still barely in the running is arcane duelist, magician is written off.

The feats aren't anything to get too excited about but for someone who is probably going to end up being the face their are certainly worse options.

Bloodline Arcana: essentially says that I gain a bonus to intimidate checks against those adversely affected by the spell until the end of my next turn equal to the level of the spell.

Is this something I need to worry about? I am thinking not but I hate wasting my arcana so I think it might be worth looking into. Any good ways for sorcerers to get free intimidate checks? Note: the 9th level power does help with this but it is pretty limited and requires foresight.

I am mostly satisfied with the powers especially the first one netting some extra class skills along with a bonus when gathering info about humans.

I really want to make this character for those not familiar he basically uses three swords (one in his mouth) I actually am not having too much of a problem house-ruling that. My problem arises with picking a class, though I think I have it narrowed down to two of them:

Weapon Adept Monk or Samurai. Right now I really feel that Samurai represents his character better my only question is this; what do I replace the animal companion with?

Another other advice would be greatly helpful.

I am in the planning stages of a pirate themed campaign currently and I've decided that I am going to give my players extra wealth so that they can deal with various extraneous expenses like ship maintenance, crew salary, and other pirate like purchases. I have absolutely no idea where to start with this though I am leaning towards the opinion that a little too much is better than too little. How much extra wealth should I give my players?

I'm in the planning process of a new pirate campaign for my players and rust is mentioned in the flavor for several weapons in the Pirates of the Inner Sea . I looked and asked on the boards, but it seems that there is no existing mechanic for natural rust of weapons. How would I go about adding some rules in for the rusting?

I read up on rust a little bit and found the following variables if they help.

-Alloys resist rusting such as steel which will be what virtually all weapons are made of.

-Seawater, acid rain, and snow belts speed the process of rusting due to the presence of better electrolytes.

-Water tends to have a higher percentage of oxygen than air and so it makes objects rust faster than air itself.

-The larger the exposed surface area the faster it will rust.

-Separation of oxygen from the object to be rusted is effective in preventing it such as certain oils.

-The hotter it is, the faster it will rust.

So any tips on putting in rules for rust? I think that I'll allow magic weapons a save against rusting (Fort) with a low DC (12?).

So I was looking through my copy of Pirates of the Inner Sea and one of the new 'Pirate' weapons is the brass knife, which is basically the same as a dagger, except it has the fragile quality. In the flavor description it is noted that pirates and sailors use it because;

It isn't vulnerable to rust like steel is

I didn't know that there were rules for rusting and upon checking I didn't find any. Are there any rules for iron and steel equipment rusting or is this just flavor for some of the weapons?

So other than the inner sea map, which has as far as I can tell, Avistan and part of Garund are there any other large scale maps depicting the Golarion world? I am nowhere near done exploring the inner sea region, but I can't help but feel it is only a small taste of the entire world. Are there any other detailed maps like the inner sea one? Preferably of the other continents?

Rogues kinda fall flat compared to some of the other classes, but balancing this class has proven more difficult than I had imagined because even the slightest changes seem to make it either completely overpowered or almost unplayable. So I came up with two ideas for making the rogue a little better.

To-hit becomes an issue in the late game for the rogue is alone in the fact that it is the only 3/4 BAB class* that doesn't get spells or magic of some kind built into the class, because of this they are the only 3/4 BAB class* that cannot through their own class features boost to-hit. So here are two possible ideas I have for making the rogue a little better.

4/5 BAB - If you give the rogue full BAB its better than the fighter and as I pointed out before, the class really isn't akin to any of the other 3/4 BAB classes, so why not put it in a league of its own.

Full BAB - Give the rogue full bab, on all of its attacks, that are not sneak attacks. If the rogue sneak attacks, it uses 3/4 bab. Too much?

Times per day - Let the rogue sneak attack in any situation, a number of times per day, sorta like Ki for a monk.

Thoughts?

*For purposes of this I am considering monk a full-BAB class.

Usually I forbid custom weapons. Though recently I realized that part of this is just because I can't seem to figure out the rules for creating these things. It isn't fair to limit my players creativity because of my ignorance so I am trying to learn a thing or two. I did a quick search and there are more than a few threads on this, but I still can't seem to gain any understanding.

My player wants a sword that can steal life and give it to him. He doesn't much like the idea of the sword of life stealing since it only grants 1d6 on a critical with a weapon that has a 10% chance to. So I get the idea that I can just use the spell Vampiric touch and stick it on a weapon. I cannot figure this out. Here is what I have so far and lets just forget about the cost of masterwork for a second:

Vampiric touch is a 3rd level spell, therefore a 5th level caster made it. I figured it would work on command just like the elemental damage types So I here is the basic formula for that:

Spell Level (3) X Caster Level (5) X 1,800 = 27,000

That seems simple enough, but am I supposed to charge this amount or transfer that to an enhancement bonus of some kind? I was thinking a +2 bonus is fair since that equates to 16,000gp at its cheapest for 2d6 negative energy damage (I guess it is technically untyped) to the creature transferred to the wielder in the form of temporary hit points that last one hour. I understand that if an enhancement bonus is applied I have to up the caster level and then the number of d6 would also increase.

This was a much bigger undertaking than I had expected, and I would really appreciate some help.

Recently I saw this post and even referred to it a few times myself since its a pretty sweet combo. Basically a bard can lay down three buffs (inspire courage, good hope and haste) in one round with the help of a quicken rod, a pretty impressive deed. However, I thought about it for a little bit and now I see this:

Inspire Courage (Su): A 1st-level bard can use his performance to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to perceive the bard's performance. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 5th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +4 at 17th level. Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability. Inspire courage can use audible or visual components. The bard must choose which component to use when starting his performance.

Then here we have the spell good hope

This spell instills powerful hope in the subjects. Each affected creature gains a +2 morale bonus on saving throws, attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls.

Good hope counters and dispels crushing despair.

Alright this is the last quote I promise.

Bonus: Bonuses are numerical values that are added to checks and statistical scores. Most bonuses have a type, and as a general rule, bonuses of the same type are not cumulative (do not “stack”)—only the greater bonus granted applies.

So these do not stack? If so I am kinda disappointed as bard is one of my favorite classes and I liked seeing this combo for them. The question is, do inspire courage and good hope stack?

Is there an official formula for this? If not is there some unofficial formula that somebody has come up with? I have seen a number of people refer to average damage when posting builds and just got a bit curious, plus it would be super helpful when thinking of hypotheticals.

It kind of goes without saying that angels and devils hate each other and Azatas and Demons don't exactly see eye to eye. After all good and evil are opposites that almost always have conflicting interests and methods, but can the same be said for the forces of law and chaos? Do Angels and Azatas dislike each other as much as they do Devils and Demons respectively? Do the Angels view Demons as the ultimate perversion and being even worse than devils? Are the conflicting forces of Law and Chaos as important to the methodologies of these creatures as the forces of Good and Evil?

Quick question regarding this class feature.

Share Spells: The wizard may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch spell) instead of on himself. A wizard may cast spells on his familiar even if the spells do not normally affect creatures of the familiar's type (magical beast).

Say hypothetically my familiar gains the ability to cast spells (I am fairly certain spell-like-abilities do not work this way though I cannot find the text I am thinking of.) Can the familiar target me in the same way I would target it? Come to think of it, if my familiar does go both ways would it be be able to target my character with spells that have the target of "you" via wands?

Taking this feat grants one the powers of either the 3rd of 9th level bloodline power that was selected with previous feats (skill focus in the bloodline skill and the first level power via eldritch heritage). Say I selected arcane as my bloodline and I wished to take the ninth level power called new arcana:

New Arcana (Ex): At 9th level, you can add any one spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list to your list of spells known. This spell must be of a level that you are capable of casting. You can also add one additional spell at 13th level and 17th level.

Does this just add the spell to my list of spells that I can prepare? Does this even work for a prepared caster?

Can a player track while mounted? My gut reaction says no otherwise class abilities like swift tracking seem kind of pointless, but I figured since it is likely to come up with my party soon it was worth checking out.

I was reading the huge synthesist summon thread and after awhile I did not find the answer to this particular question so I just stopped. If this question has already been addressed and answered my apologies in advance.

Does the bab from the synthesist (whilst in eidolon form) and the bab from other classes stack?

My sister is having some problems with her druid in combat, mainly she usually isn't conscious at the end of the fight. I just wanted to know if anybody could offer advice or see a problem with the build that I haven't. She is a level 8 half orc druid.

Stats: used 4d6 and pick 3 best.
Str - 16
Dex - 12
Con - 16
Int - 15
Wis - 18
Cha - 11

Feats: Combat casting, Power attack, Natural spell, Craft wondrous item.

She is new to pathfinder and pen and paper rpg's in general so she spends most of her spells on all day buffs like Greater magic fang for the monk and the animal companions plus air walk and longstrider for herself. She usually leaves her bonus spells open so that if a party member gets diseased, cursed, poisoned. etc. she can cure it right away. She has also taken to crafting wondrous items in between missions that they have (travel time on boats can add up).

She wants her focus to be wildshaping and mauling the closest enemy into oblivion and she favors the forms of a dire tiger, but doesn't usually last more than three or four rounds in a fight with anything that is a serious threat.

I recently tried running a session for my home brew campaign with some new ideas pertaining to encounter design. I got my information from this article. It is a lot to read and to sumarize the main point I took from it is that for every 20 encounters 10 of them should equal the APL, 6 should be 1-4 CR below the APL, 3 should be 1-4 CR above the APL and 1 should be 5+ above the APL.

My party is APL 7 and four members. every time I threw multiple lower level enemies at them the party completely dominated, but if I pitted them against one higher level enemy they were severely hurt. For example at one point I had the party fight 6 dire apes which would equal out to a CR of 8 if I did my numbers correctly (if not please correct me) and it was over in three rounds with very little damage done to the group. Earlier however there was a glass golem with a CR of 8 which was tearing the party up and probably would have killed one of the party members if I had not forgotten about the bleed damage for a round. Earlier that session the party faced a dire crocodile CR 9 which nearly TPKed.

One point that I noticed is initiative is a big deal. In the ape fight specifically the party got high initiative and killed two of the apes before they even got to go. Some helpful information to have would be that my party has put little to no money into increasing their AC (I think there is one ring of protection between all of them). There is a switcher hitter ranger, a unarmed monk, a Spirit of the Beast wildshape based druid, and a gunslinger 1/rogue 6. Anything that anybody could add would be great.

I do not know how commonplace this is and would like to ask the community a few questions about their campaigns and if music is involved.

Is it used for important parts in the campaign? Background music? Character theme songs? Have a favorite song? Share it! Tell me what you think of my take on the concept:

I use music as an important part of my campaign and most of the members are inexperienced with pen and paper RPG's and it helps them get more attached to their characters and the story. I put some restrictions on the theme song and generally prefer that it have something to do with the characters concept. I usually do it by a case by case basis and play part of the theme song when the character is introduced or does something awesome. It adds so much to the campaign in my mind when I have a theme song for the important NPC's and play cool battle music during the climax of a big battle. The PC's in my campaign currently spend their time in between adventures in an expensive tavern where they are allowed to stay for free because they saved the owner (level 3 bard) in the first session. The tavern happens to have a stage and is the only tavern in town that plays live music. Having a tavern song or two for the party to play while they rp with other members, order drinks, ask for info or just party gives it a cool feel that I do not think I could accomplish otherwise.

I have a lot of my current soundtrack for my game picked out and am holding back on some of the songs for later in my campaign. Once they debut I'll post some links for them since I have one player who likes to stalk me on the forums for hints to the plot of my campaign.

Some of my favorites include:
CN Female Half-Orc Druid's theme song
CG Male Half-Elf Ranger's theme song
Tavern song number one
Tavern song number two
Battle song number one
Battle song number two

Usually you can't grapple a creature more than one size larger than you and I have been playing around with an idea to make this possible and wanted to know what others thought of it.

There are some things that would not be possible with this and they would be:
-It would be impossible to impose the grappled condition on the creature you are performing the grapple check on (I know it sounds pointless bear with me). Though the grappler would still receive the grappled condition
- Obviously the pinned condition is impossible as well
- The grappler would no longer be able to occupy a separate square and will be forced to share a square with the creature it is grappling.

I was unable to think of a good name for this, but since it is so similar to grapple all of the feats would work with this one as well. I suppose something like a forced ride or mount would be appropriate.

It would require a check to maintain the grapple hold just like the normal maneuver and the player could with a successful check also do one of the following:
-Move to a different place on the creature 1/2 movement for horizontal distances 1/4 movement for vertical ones.
-Deal damage to the creature with object in hand (or similar appendage like a claw or bite). If the grappler has a weapon in their hand they will take a -2 penalty on any grapple checks to stay attached or initiate (instead of the normal -4).
-Hinder the creature in one of two ways. The first is that he can grant all allies attacking a +2 bonus on attack rolls against the creature for that round (kinda like an aid another action for all allies). Second is the hinder the creature for one round giving it -2's to all attack rolls for a single round.

The creature being ridden can make a check as a standard action to attempt the "buck" or throw the creature off its back, arm, face, etc. If successful the grappler is launched off the creature 5 horizontal feet for every 10 vertical feet they were on the creature and will take any necessary falling damage.

What do you think of this? I think the hinder options might be a little too good, but I figured larger creatures have a higher AC so some higher reward for the risk is needed.

I am currently running a game and one of the members is playing a Gunslinger 1/Rogue X (in this case 2
rogue levels). A problem came up today when I told him that he would be taking an additional penalty to his stealth from the gun making a loud noise and a puff of smoke popping out (in addition to the regular -20 from sniping). He pointed out that there is nothing in the RAW to support this and after looking I found nothing.

My questions are this: Is there any penalty for sniping while using a firearm in the RAW? If not what would be a fair penalty? Would this be worthy of a FAQ?

If you wouldn't mind critiquing my calculations that would be great too.
Scenario is that the sniper is 40 feet away at level 3 shooting a musket at a target who is engaged in melee. The sniper hits and proceeds to make his stealth check.

Stealth Check: 15 (roll) + 5 (Dex) + 3 (Ranks) + 3 (Misc mod)
- 20 (sniping) = 6

The enemy (in this case a bugbear cleric) tries to notice him and so the DC is 6(total of the stealth check) + 4(+1 for every 10 feet) + 5(distracted due to fighting in melee) = 15

I have a player attempting to play the sniper archetype of a rouge and is wondering if he can use the opportunist talent at range

Once per round, the rogue can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who has just been struck for damage in melee by another character. This attack counts as an attack of opportunity for that round. Even a rogue with the Combat Reflexes feat can't use the opportunist ability more than once per round.

Would this allow a character to get an attack of opportunity at range? Typically, you have to be threatening an opponent in order to get an attack of opportunity by my understanding, but the wording of this talent is unclear to me.

I am aware that he would be unable to snipe if he took this attack and am just wondering if it could even be done. Thanks in advance.

How do animal companions work for classes like a sorcerer who took the wildblooded sylvan bloodline or an inquisitor who took the animal domain? Are they allowed to pick from the normal choices a druid gets (with the -3 class level functioning as druid level) or do they have to pick from the ranger list. RAW it seems they get the full selection, but that seems a little off to me.

Say I am using a spiked chain to trip an enemy since it is a two-handed weapon do I apply 1-1/2 str mod on the CMB check?

Post your most bizarre or unusual encounter.

I have had some pretty weird stuff transpire once PC's try to come up with a plan to any given situation, but one tops them all.

The PC's were investigating some suspicious activity and had trailed one guy to a sewage treatment plant (the city was advanced enough to have its own sewer system similar to the one of ancient Rome) and were working their way inside. They eavesdrop on the NPC's conversation long enough and learn that the group of commoners for no particular reason has decided to plug up the sewage system until it overflows into the streets and floods the city. The PC's were unaware that the leader of this group was being controlled by a succubus looking to spread chaos and suffering. After the PC's learned of this they quickly rushed in and started attacking defenseless and harmless commoners. After a round or two the commoners try to flood the room with some sewage in order to create a distraction and escape. The Succubus quickly tries to take control of one of the PC's and she selects the paladin in order to try to demoralize the other PC's (APL was lv 4 paladin not immune yet). The paladin knocks out the halfling bard next to him who begins to drown. The rest of the party quickly turns on the paladin (the succubus was in the rafters and no one had thought to question why the paladin had suddenly turned). They use create pit and he falls in a hole which begins to quickly fill with sewage. Then a swarm is summoned on top of him. For some unknown reason (which he could not even explain or validate) the party druid casts burning gaze and targets a large round table in the center of the room. It ignite and so does all the hydrogen and methane gas not only in the room, but also through the entire sewer system causing a city wide underground explosion and a forest fire outside the city where the sewage was dumping. The Succubus then left and released the paladin (who had fallen unconscious). Only two party members were left standing after the explosion and the bard drowned in this time.

Easily the most bizarre chain of events I have ever experienced.

I've always been torn between sorcerer and wizard so once I saw the which I was very excited despite not having access to the full arcane spell list. We are about halfway through the campaign at this point and so far I like the witch a lot, but I was wondering if there was is a better way to play a controller/summoner than I am currently doing. Other members of the party include a gish magus, a boss killing utility extract using alchemist, and a very very insane damage obsessed barbarian.

We are eleventh level my race is a half-elf and my ability scores are as follows:

Str: 12
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Int: 20 (all bonuses from racial and leveling stacked into here)
Wis: 15
Cha: 16

Hexes:
evil eye, Fortune, Slumber, Cackle, Misfortune, Retribution (major hex)

Feats:
Toughness, Improved Initiative, Spell focus (conjuration), Augment Summoning, Improved Familiar (pseudodragon), Spell Penetration

Like I said before I am a Support caster and a summoner (though I do have a few blasts on my list of known spells) and due to circumstance I have been pretty much forced to become the party face despite my lack of class skills for the job.

The spells I Know are as follows and I have the agility patron for my familiar:
(P)=Patron spell

0- All spells

1- Mage armor, Obscuring mist, CLW, Identify, Mount, Unseen servant, Ray of enfeeblement, Jump(P), Enlarge/Reduce person

2- Vomit swarm, Web, Cat's grace(P), Glitterdust, Pernicious poison

3-Haste (P), Fly, Magic weapon greater, Stinking cloud, Summon monster 3

4- Volcanic Storm, Enervation, Freedom of Movement (P), Summon monster 4, Fear, Confusion

5- Magic jar, Feeblemind, cone of cold (usually 6th level for witch dm made it 5th), Polymorph (P), Teleport

6- Suggestion/mass, Summon monster 6

I will typically memorize a couple of battlefield control spells like obscuring mist/web/confusion, a few debuffs like pernicious poison/feeblemind/enervation, at least two haste's and one magic weapon greater and fly, At least two summon spells and one vomit swarm and if there is any room left I will prepare one blast.

The first round of combat is almost always spent by me either throwing out a battlefield control (if their are multiple enemies) or the evil eye hex (-4 to saves if its just a BBEG or a BBEG and a few henchmen) followed by a cackle. Second round is usually a buff like haste or begin summoning. Sometimes I can get off a nasty combo if the enemy isn't immune to poison with a total of -8 to saves against poison then vomiting a swarm on them and finishing with a haste to really tack on the destruction. From then on its support as needed if the enemy gets close in melee I throw out the blast usually or try to cast fly and get away. If I get low on spells as the day goes by I try to coast by with my hexes.

Any advice or critiquing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

does the feat snatch arrows allow the user to throw back a bomb that an alchemist has thrown (splash weapons require no proficiency)? Also can the attack if it can even be made, be taken as a free or immediate action or does the "snatcher" need to wait until his turn?