Pregen Amiri's page

I'll be playing in a new campaign sometime next month.

The character I will play is for an E10 campaign set in an intimate world where we are assumed to stay mostly within the same nation, get to know the npc's, and only deal with legitimate monsters if and when we venture into uncivilized lands. The campaign's antagonist is a necromancer who doesn't have to be defeated or interacted with- but that's the target if we choose to take aim. Intelligent enemies are expected to actually be intelligent, and combat circumstances are generated on a multi-tiered table via dice rolls. Enemies are possibly going to have actual builds and instead of feats like toughness and 'proficiency' and power attack they'll instead come with feats designed to let them do interesting things and do them well. Even enemy composition will be designed to maximize their effectiveness as a group and their spells and abilities won't be random but planned much like pc's who hypothetically work together would.

My party composition is unknown, but it is highly probable that the other males at the table will compete very hard to do all of the damage all of the time. We will be sticking close to wbl, so we'll always be broke, though the DM has stated that there will be opportunities for additional wealth. Magic Item Mart will be extremely limited, and hiring crafters and waiting will be a very real factor. But this isn't a low loot setting, just more realistic in its acquisition.

I also have to be a leader IC and direct the group in combat so that they don't die by making really bad tactical mistakes. This has been a feature over the past 5-7 years that the GM and I really wish to steer away from. To that end, I also need some ability to make quality tactical decisions through game mechanics.

I have two characters I am choosing between. I want them both to be related. One is a Cavalier (around 40-50 years old), who is the father, and the other is the somewhat estranged son who is a ranger. I'd like help in deciding which to pick and to be informed if certain build choices are poor or should be moved around.

Also, any thoughts on backstory, motivation, etc, would be welcome. Full disclosure: Because the ranger has been ignored to a very large degree, and only spoken of in the context of the Guide/Freebooter/etc or an archer, I have a strong urge to play one that is not a Guide or archer.

Here are the character builds:
Oh, and traits aren't allowed (at character creation).

The Putrefactor Witch archetype has several abilities that seem to interconnect in interesting ways. It's an archetype that strongly benefits being in melee while only having a caster chassis.

How effective this archetype can be seems to be dependent on how the rules are interpreted.

Here is the first ability,

seems to allow you to count your infestation as your familiar....and also gives you an actual standard familiar. This appears to be for targeting purposes and certain other mechanics.

Do you have two effective familiars? When something references your familiar, which is it referencing or can you choose either? Both?

The second ability is

This ability seems to suggest a couple of things that are important. First it is stating that the familiar is not a separate entity until it has been disgorged and second it keeps the effects (poisons, buffs, spell effects, etc) applied to it until it has been disgorged giving them effectively infinite duration which can be very good or very bad. But if it is only a separate entity when it has been disgorged, does this mean that it counts as you/part of you when you have devoured it? What happens if you cast Call of the Void or Frosty Aura (x2) on the familiar and devoured it? Do you take damage eat round or does the effect work as though the familiar is a part of you once consumed like the ability suggests?

The verminous blood ability states that the swarm (your familiar- see above) has started to replace your blood. If you cast a blood modification spell on your familiar like say, Caustic Blood, Adhesive Blood, etc, and then consumed it would you get the spell effect or would it be moot assuming the familiar is counted as part of you once devoured? The same query for spells like Fungal Blisters.

The end result seems to be an archetype focused on entering melee and establishing control with a multitude of permanent buffs and debuffs while being afforded some protections to make it survivable while doing those things. If that is true, than the archetype doesn't strike me as bad at all and, in fact, appears to be quite powerful. It's not your standard witch, and it replaces one of the most devastating weapons in their arsenal, but infinite hex use for infinite self-buffs is actually a quality trade.

Assuming the above works, certain spells are questionable like Archon's Aura which is a 20' radius centered on you. Is that a spell effect that you/the familiar are under assuming you finagled a way to cast the spell as or onto the familiar?

Lots of questions, lots of potential.

Branch Pounce

Dragonfly Flight

If I have a movement speed of 50' and make an acrobatics check and vertical leap 100' and have the ability to cover that distance despite my movement speed because of a magical effect, what happens?

More specifically: how far can I charge, how much falling damage do I apply, how much falling damage do I take, and am I still falling while gliding/is gliding counted as falling or are they separate things I am doing?

Other questions related to this use a lot of conjecture and the sample feat for those arguments is Rhino Charge which might be a little more cut and dry but still poses some of the same questions listed above.

It's been a while since I have posted, however, I figured that I could shed some light on this issue and perhaps receive feedback in the event that I am incorrect.

Many posts dance around this issue or provide what I feel is decidedly erroneous information. This post should clarify and if I am wrong, provide accurate information in the responses.

True Seeing is a nasty spell. It sees through illusions and shows things as they truly are. This is not detailed explicitly in the spell but we do have two specific sources of information to clarify exactly what the result should be under some circumstances that I will mention.

Illusions and disbelief

A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals it to be false. What does this mean? It's a valid question because the next words tell us that phantasms and figments leave translucent outlines when disbelieved. This means that the other subschools do not leave said outlines. So what happens when you make your save vs an illusion that isn't a phantasm or a figment? You see nothing? You see the illusion exactly as presented but just know it isn't real?

The text linked above gives us some clues but a bit of spell research plays a part as well. In the case of glamers, the result should be that you simply don't see the illusion. You would ignore the typical +10 bonus provided by most glamers and probably similar spells since the bonus is coming from the illusory manipulation and if you can see that then the target gets that bonus on their actual disguise. This obviously doesn't make sense and undermines the nature of the True Seeing spell. So True Seeing must reveal nothing. True Seeing penetrates glamers and ignores the disguise bonuses provided by them revealing only the physical entity being observed and none of the illusory elements.

Shadow spells are partially real. Most of the time making our save against a shadow spell simply makes it less effective. The shadow spell doesn't become a faint outline or translucent. It's really there and still creating real effects. All making your save does is reduce the effectiveness once you make your save. What does it mean to disbelieve a shadow in practical terms? Unknown. That's fluff for the gm and player, I think.

This leaves us with True Seeing and the FAQ which informs us that in the case of phantasmal killer you still see the mental impression but True Seeing reveals that nothing is PHYSICALLY there so you know the image is all in your head and therefor not real. You would then see a translucent outline of the phantasmal killer.

In short:

True Seeing reveals translucent outlines of phantasms, and figments within 120'.
True Seeing does not see glamers, at all. If it did, it would be paradoxical.
True Seeing sees shadows exactly as they are. Shadows are actually real (if only partially). Making your save reveals exactly what you see (it's just less effective)

So what happens when you see a pattern with True Seeing? Almost all are mind affecting. Patterns are real, though. You see light. Does true seeing not see the pattern or does it see the pattern and you still have to make the save (because knowing it is an illusion doesn't stop the effects of a pattern spell, necessarily).

I await your thoughts.

Hi,

I've been playing an unchained monk in a home game where I found an item that only interacts with those who are arcane casters. My monk theme was about pretending to be a caster without actually knowing spells so I took the Serpent-Fire Adept archetype and a host of other feats and such to flesh out my 'Spell casting'. At any rate, I was the only character with any arcane casting ability so the item interacted with me. About a year later in game (currently last session), I sat in my observatory and pondered the nature of the heavens and the mysterious object I held- it then burrowed through my palm and arm and stopped once it was imbedded in my chest.

The gm then informed me that I was probably about to be very unhappy and that my next level gained had to be in the sorcerer class and that I could choose between these bloodlines: Psychic, Stormborn, and Starsoul. I am allowed to use my wisdom modifier for spellcasting and (I believe) class features that normally require charisma.

I already have Eldritch Heritage with the Stormborn bloodline selected from that. I just hit 7th and 8th level (I was 1 exp away from 7 before we started) so I haven't selected my 7th level feat yet. How do I keep this sorcerer level from becoming a burden or can I turn it into a benefit? At the moment tattooed wild blooded sorcerer for a familiar and selecting void touched to cause save vs silence on all my evocation type sla's seems like a salvageable option but I wasn't expecting this and could use some opinions and advice to help me out here. I feel like this could be an opportunity for something cool rather than a 'level tax'.

I've been looking over the Chakra system and it would appear to be universally reviled as a concoction of uselessness and a trap. I considered it and, in my usual form, decided to make it not such a bad option and even to make it pretty good. My aim was to craft an exquisite combination of martial puissance, with a flexible and potent range of mystical capabilities- while being a monk. So let's see how close I came with my rough draft, and also hear your thoughts and suggestions. Flavor and feel are as much a part of this as raw mechanical impact. I know this is an uphill battle and that I could have just been a magus or war priest or something. But that's not the point here at all. Don't even suggest that kind of stuff. We want a monk who visually and mechanically plays Mr. Wizard/Druid and if we can keep the fact that he can smash your face in with a headbutt or punch, we'll do that too. So, let's see how far we got.

I typically dip, dip well, and dip often. This is one of those extremely rare cases where I felt that dipping would not help us at all. But then again, it might. Regardless, the build/concept is entirely serviceable with nothing but monk levels.

Here is my take on the Serpent-Fire Adept.

Now, this is just where I am at the moment. Lots of stuff can probably change.
I hadn't realized that SLA's do not count for recharging staves. This is a problem and encourages me to drop the entire nature related theme as a primary element. This would be:

Oaken Staff, Dryad's Sandals, Four-Leaf Clover, and Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad.

Losing the Oaken Staff encourages me to grab any of these three options as weapons: Monastic Warden (flavorful and still useful), Ten-Ring Sword (opening up two more ring slots, total), or a +x Guardian, Impact non-bludgeoning weapon.

For FAQ efficacy:

Do the 8th and 16th level features of Chakra Expertise allow for chakra benefits to be gained from the rounds where maintenance of chakras does not require the normal expenditure of resources or requisite actions?

See Occult Origins (pg20.) Serpent-Fire Adept, Chakra Expertise (EX).

Assume you have a kitsune Oracle with the wolfscarred muzzle or hunger curse.

Your natural form has this bite attack (two different ones technically, right?).

You change into fox form. The polymorph rules say the bite attack is gone and the new form may or may not have given you a new one.

If you use the bite in fox form, does the foxes bite benefit from the curses bonuses? Moreover, does it meet the hungers curse requisite to remove the sickened condition?

Some time ago I read somewhere (pretty sure it was a link from here) a rather amusing story of some wizard or lich or something who really just did one thing- spam enervate (or was it energy drain). The only thing about the story that I really recall was that the caster was holding a conversation, probably with the reader, and while doing so is fighting off adventurers and shouting 'Enervate!' As he does so. My friend wants a blaster sorceror but I want to get him to join the enervate club. Help me find this tale on the interwebs so I can show him why the spell is so awesome (through the eyes of the single-minded enervation caster).

Thanks! ^-^

So our gm has a game world where no player, monster or summon has access to a preset list of spells. Among the spells banned are teleport, greater teleport, and dimension door. My ninth level Winter Witch has some pirates to murd- ahem, I mean 'parlay' with. These pirates are all likely cr 9+ and everything that is not a PC has max HP.

I cannot defeat them (or anything) in direct combat, and definitely not alone) and have just attained 9th level and have 3 new spells to select. I had considered the Summon Accuser' spell as the devil it conjurs could spy for me and acquire things like hair and such and allow for a pretty good witch-themed assault on these sea-lovers. But the devil cannot use greater teleport. The gm, apon request, gave a compensatory power of at will gaseous form-Useful, but this doesn't allow me to reach the pirates once they set sail. Ships travel pretty slowly (up to about four miles per hour) but realistically they will be hundreds of miles away in short order.

I am wondering if there are some less likely known options for transport at distance or affecting the pirates from such long range, consistently. Otherwise this is looking like I simply cannot allow the pirates to leave dock and if I do, I have to go with them.

His parents thought he was going to be a girl and named him Marilyn. His close friends call him Merryl for short. Among strangers he introduces himself as Power, Maximum Power. Oh yeah.

He hides his insecurity (and real name) through plenty of layers of false bravado. He likens himself to a real life superhero. He thinks fighters are poor sods who only know how to swing pointy sticks and thinks that other wizards are squishy and weak little things because, hey, all they can do is some finger waggling.

But above all else, he thinks that nothing beats a good bash to the face with a large, preferably blunt, object.

Str: 17
Dex: 14-16
Con:12-14
Int:13-14
Wis: 7 (he is a fool)
Cha: 7 (low self esteem, hidden by boisterous bravado).

Human male wizard (transmutation specialist).
Opposed schools: Necromancy and either divination or evocation.

Skills:
Knowledge arcana
Knowledge Dungeoneering
Linguistics
Spellcraft

Extra skills (from into increases etc):
Fly
Diplomacy
Knowledge history/planes
Acrobatics?

Feats:
Two-weapon fighting
Dodge
Toughness
Double slice
Arcane strike
Power attack
Improved shield bash
Shield focus
Shield slam
Arcane armor training or improved two weapon fighting.

Spell focus...? Conjuration, I guess.
Extend spell or quicken spell. Probably quicken with a rod of extend.

Planning wizard 5, fighter 1, eldritch knight 5. Or fighter 2, ek4 for earlier feat access.

Marryl, er, Max- will use a warhammer and a light shield. Until he is proficient he'll deal with a quarterstaff or a club. I was originally going for a full quarterstaff build. But the ac from a shield seemed really useful.

Should be fun. Whacking things ftw!

So I have recently made a winter witch for a home game and because it is a home game, I can be evil and also do all the cool stuff with undead. This has lead me to an interest in the occult patron. The occult patron will let me touch on some undead things but that's about all the patron has besides one flavorful spell of interest; snake staff.

Assuming this spell is mechanically viable, it will be enough to convince me to dive into the occult patron instead of the Trickery one.

So let's see what we can do to make this spell practical, shall we?

For starters it appears that summon monster 5 doesn't give you as many poweful creatures as snake staves advanced giant constrictor, however, it does give you multiple monsters which are all quite competitive with the single constrictor. This seems like a better deal when flanking and special abilities are considered. The advanced giant cobra is laughable with a +5 attack (it needs 19's to hit easy level appropriate foes....) But the poison can add up quickly if it hits and the target fails saves.

All of that said, snake staff has limitations on where it can be cast as there is a condition of needing debris or branches/staves/logs/small trees. So far, all I've got is unseen servant dragging up to 100 pounds or carrying logs weighing up to 20 pounds total. It lasts hours per day in a first level slot and the materials would there for always be on hand for combat. The 100 pounds probably doesn't count for small trees sadly. So we are likely stuck with advanced venoumous giant cobras.

Any further ways to easily strengthen this spell into being worth casting?

I'm making a winter witch for a home game and possibly pfs. His name is Bruha Brumali, known by the elves as Taboo.

I wanted to emphasize the creepiness that can come with the witch title. To that end, this character wears a mask that he rarely removes. He has long, strawberry blond hair visible around it and from the sides one can see that the skin of his face is fair and smooth. He wears a blouse slotted to reveal his torso in a way bordering on sensual, though one might take note that the skin of his torso is clearly that of a darker skinned, more ethnic person. He speaks with an indecipherable accent- the lilt of a tribesman, the fluidity of elves, the cosmopolitan nature of knowing every language in the game besides secret ones. On his back is a large warhammer made of some strange material (I am thinking cold iron maybe or bone).

So, the idea was that if anyone sees his face he kills them. Period. He does this via slumber and coupe de grace with that warhammer, in secret.
His reasoning is that no one should ever again see the face of his loved one as no one deserves to. He wears a constant disguise making his face appear as that of the youth he so loved.

Brumali wants to protect all things beautiful and preserve them in ice. He seeks the power to make this happen.

He loathes primitive cultures like his own and affords them the barest hint of respect, even becoming openly hostile depending on if they have anything obvious that he values. He will willingly slay an entire village or tribe if given the opportunity. He does favor children, though. Children and elves. To elves and elves alone he will reveal his face without harm. He favors blond children, green eyed children and anyone with both he will whisk away (once strong enough to have his own realm and the power to whisk someone away).

He is brilliant, power hungry, prepared for virtually anything, very determined in his goals and cruel. To reach his goals he intends to keep accurate information about him to a minimum, utilize fear as a tool, perhaps focus on information acquisition so he has the upper hand.

Below are his stats, if you see something wrong or have any better suggestions, I would love to hear them.

There are some things I want/need based on the familiar or theme.
Bluff and disguise seem like they need to be on his list of skills along with intimidate and diplomacy and probably an additional knowledge skill; perhaps history or....I don't know. Dungeoneering? As he doesn't need to max linguistics, fly or perception, he will have plenty of spare points as he levels and acquires more int.

I would love to have witch knife and amplified hex but they aren't needed.

Also, water lung, beast eye, beast speech, soothsayer, scar, disguise and have eye all call me. I am tempted to remove cackle and get the hex from the blouse alone.

I could also drop craft wondrous item and even scribe scroll, but together those seem really, really potent for a prepared caster with high ambitions. Obviously, these are ignored in society.

I know the post is lengthy, sorry. Any thoughts before this guy is locked in stone?

Ever since I began making Captain America for pathfinder, I realized how great the dearth of information on the ranger class was. I tried looking for builds, guides, advice, and thoughts but found almost exclusively limited and dated information. So I did the legwork on my own, all the while feeling sad about the ranger who seems to never be compared to and scarecly mentioned except as an afterthought when people talk about paladins smiting evil, rangers vs favored enemies and fighters dealing more damage in general.

Ranger was a class that was heavily played in 3.0 and 3.5 (along with halfling rogues), thanks to the lord of the rings trilogy. At the time and for many years after I felt that were I to see another ranger or halfling or rogue it would be far too soon. And here we are when it is not too soon.

My friend and I were discussing pathfinder over iMessage when he said something along the lines of fighters being one of the most versatile classes in pathfinder. Now, I know he meant more in the way of actual fighting and he's correct in some ways. They are extremely flexible and foregiving. You simply have so many feats available that you can dig deeply into !multiple combat trees, complete them, take some random tests, grab some utility feats, and still have room for 'necessary' feats (power attack) while being able to consider another feat tree to master...

But I rose to the defense of the other martials and stated that the paladin is a stout defender, built to survive grueling combats, support a party with status removal and healing, able to bring powerful weaponry or a decent mount to the field all while annihilating any evil that dare show itself.

I argued that the ranger was skillful, and excellent at hunting down a target and preparing for a kill. Against a single or very small group of enemies, the ranger seemed primed to be a phenominal combatant through the combination of favored terrains, favored enemy, few but extremely versatile and potent spells, a hardy animal companion and bonus feats that come with early access that is extremely significant. They can navigate and fight and hunt.

I ignored barbarians.

This lead me to really think about these martial classes. I also said so!e raw things related to other classes like a human brawler and human fighter but I digress. I realized that a paladin probably is the worst combatant of the group, with fewer combat feats and only one primary offensive tool- smite. Still, they endure more readily due to healing and saves and a possible mount or super weapon. They also bring more to a party in utility. The ranger, I felt may not always fight as well as the fighter (depending on level) but brings more than he ever could. Clearly superior to the paladin in terms of raw combat ability, the ranger seemed to stand tall but in more subtle ways that required a bit more work and forethought, ranging from spell selection and access to favored enemy and terrain and quary and evasion as well as the animal. Fighters struck me as having advantages overall in combat via better ac and sometimes mobility combined with consistent combat output versus anything without any preparation. They have plenty of tricks and are going to be good at all of them, and their advantage is that they are effective more often and against any number of foes. In this regard I felt that the ranger was the more versatile of all the corr martial concepts and on a per fight basis, was as capable as any other at it's best (smiting, raging, etc). However, I felt that the fighter performed better in combat over time as rangers are restricted by specific choices and limited resources (in terms of my claim that they can equate to the best of martials doing their best).

All that said, I wanted to hear the communities thoughts on the class dynamic between these martials. Is my analysis off? Do the numbers reveal something else? Yes, ragelancepounce barbarians exist who eat magic. Where does a fighter or ranger kick in during a random encounter in a random environment? What is the real difference in combat ability and what do these classes actually bring, functionally, to a table?

The normal rules for two weapon fighting assume that the weapons you are wielding are each taking up a hand slot.

What happens when your offhand weapon is an unarmed strike and your primary weapon is something like a longsword or heavy shield which can be wielded both with one or two hands?

Can a character take a two-handed swing with their longsword/shield and then free action release with the offhand and follow up with an offhand gauntlet/cestus/unarmed attack? It sounds really effective and good-so I assume a rule exist saying it doesn't work and I missed the reason.

Reading the entry for two-weapon fighting on page 202 of the crb didn't display anything to contradict this attempt at squeezing out way more damage than normal. The entry for the two-weapon fighting feat does say 'primary hand' in terms of penalties. So it is possible that you have no primary hand when fighting two-handed. Of course, releasing the weapon leaves you with an offhand so....

A while ago I posted a thread where I needed a cool character idea. The one I came up with was a barbarian tank that used DR as his tool. Sadly, this idea is far from original as invulnerable ragers seem to be the new 'core' barbarian.

Still, I liked the idea and noticed that other builds claimed immortality but all seemed decidedly inferior to the one I had come up with. Regardless, no one in the previously mentioned thread found the idea as appealing as I did. Maybe that's the ACG's fault as I posted at the time of release. Well, I have had time to refine it and here it is:

Gogalthamir, The Immortal
Barbarian Invulnerable Rager 8, Fighter Lorewarden 2.
Half-orc, Shamans Apprentice, Skilled.
Str-15/16, Dex-10-ish, Con-20, Wis-7, Int-10-ish, Cha-7

Traits:
Threatening Defender, Mindlessly Cruel.

Feats:
Endurance (Race trait)
1.)Diehard
F-3.)Fast Healer, Power Attack (fighter bonus).
F-4.)Stalwart (fighter bonus), Combat Expertise (Lorewarden Bonus).
5.)Improved Bullrush.
7.)Raging Throw.
9.)Deathless Initiate
11.)Improved Stalwart.

Rage Powers
2.)Lesser Celestial Totem
4.)Knock back
6.)Ground breaker
8.)Undecided.

This version has less uber tanking ability than before (and thus less immortal). Previous feats like Raging Vitality and Ferocious Tenacity were removed because they were nerfed pretty hard (once a day, really?) or did not offer enough to warrant not being able to do one of the other cool things he can do.

The remaining rage power decisions look like: Impelling Disarm, Renewed Vigor, Increased Damage Reduction and Superstition, although the improved version of ground breaker is kind of tempting as well.

I had considered the fiend totem line for the automatic damage dealt when I am hit, but lesser celestial seemed a mechanically more valuable and theme-appropriate choice for less of an investment.

Golgy here uses an orc double Axe because he can. Obvious enchantments to grab are furious and courageous and to make one side adamantine. I haven't really figured out what other enhancement should go anywhere else. There is monetarily only room for about a +3/+2 weapon in this case. What goes where still has to be decided.

The goal is to keep it simple yet interesting enough to keep me engaged. Massive HP and healing combinee with dr and the capability to fight into the red while hurling disarmed weapons and enemies at other enemies. Anything sound objectionable from a DM point of view? Any table variance here? I am trying to avoid any of that by keeping everything I do as painfully simple as possible. Any important things missing? Thoughts or suggestions? I wanted something a bit nonstandard here but I am not sure how far off the beaten path I have traveled with this.

So in another thread the issue came up of how a player should make a mechanically strong character all of the time and just dial it back in game play if needed.

I argued against that and it was even said that there will be people and tables where having a mechanically strong character could be seen as rude. I argued that it was about taking the temperature of the room so to speak before making a character for the table.

Recent experiences (and some not so recent) support my feelings.

Last weekend, I played in a 7-9 scenario. I played my nightmare touch monk (bewildering koan, 2+ saves per hit, 2-4 additional debuffs per hit, additional effects as desired per hit...). My monk is a ki mystic and sensei and Qinggong and has levels of inquisitor and other crap, but mostly inquisitor.

Our party had a rogue (thug archetype), a paladin and another monk....who was a ki mystic with levels in inquisitor.

This monk had every single knowledge skill, and honestly, it felt like he put a point in every possible skill so that he could always contribute to every possible situation. By having monster lore, ki in his pool and a high wisdom, a large number of skills were at good bonus in general and great bonus in somewhat more specific cases. When I say he had skills in everything, he had profession artist and craft calligraphy- which happened to be uniquely useful in that scenario. Sure, monks do calligraphy. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt there. But he also had bluff, diplomacy, sense motive, and on and on and on. Anything the gm asked- he rolled for it.

Gm: Got profession butterscotch maker?
Player: even better, I have profession candymaker, and craft confections.
Me: are you %&3c8!ng $#1t!ng me?
Gm: OK, sounds legit.
Me: *tosses up hands*

Our paladin had the best diplomacy. But Mr monk was rolling well all night so fought to make the diplomacy checks, fought to make every knowledge check (always beating me by at least 1-2 points), and made all the rest of the checks for the entire group. He also overshadowed us in the social aspects with personality and generally over talking myself and others. There was a point where I felt like literally saying 'blah blahblah' because I was evidently not being listened to or acknowledged but figured that if I had done so it may be construed as rude. Poor psychology. Being trivialized and ignored was far more rude.

Keep in mind that said monk was a level lower than the paladin and I.
in combat he was....there. Nothing special. So in a fight I could definitely be more memorable but our group had two pure DPs machines so the combat was boring and unenjoyable as we didn't get to like...you know, fight. The most I got to do was reduce an enemies ac by 7 at which point it just up and fled.....yay.

But even if our monk had not been socially overbearing, it would have been just as annoying to effectively be competing on every freaking skill check....except bluff. I am pretty obnoxiously decent with that skill.
Had he dialed it back it would have been fine because it was for pfs. But in a home game it would be a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. I'd feel cheated out of all meaning where I to find out that god was with us and, even though we won without him using his divine powers, we were never really going to die because he was there. Or if he did use his powers to save us, then that act and our knowledge of what he can do, undermines the value of the game.

While making mechanically strong characters isn't a bad thing, it can be annoying as hell under the wrong circumstances. I wanted to share a circumstance where someone's mechanical strength in a large portion of the game made for a rather boring and unfun game where I (and others) were marginalized as a result. Having evil monsters and a paladin and having a thug with a 20 base str and greatsword just made combat too quick and unnoticeable. In this case, optimization and strong mechanics really diametrically opposed the fun element (for me). 4 hours of spectating. Yay.

What are your thoughts on the topic?

Several magic items which use the hand slots specifically state that 'both gloves must be worn for the magic to be effective', indicating that you gotta stuff your bra all the way. Besides, going halfsies makes it embarrassing if you get groped on date night anyway.

Several magic hand slot items also use the singular when referencing being worn or used or in their description like ye old Gauntlets of Rust. Some have dubious descriptions that can be interpreted as a pair of gloves or a single glove (Deliquescent gloves). Others, like the Poisoners gloves make it clear that each can be used separately and even have different trackable uses per day.

Great. The rules state that there is only one active magic slot for the hands... *looks at his*

I should do my nails.

...However, if you were to wear two different gloves (arcane striking and dilequescent gloves) what exactly happens? Furthermore, what happens if you have a gauntlet of rust worn and a single poisoners glove equipped when a rust monster comes but you attempted to use the poisoner glove that round? Do you lose your immunity to rust? Can you not stick the bad guy with poison? Jabbity, jabbity.....jab?

Are we unable to arcane strike and deal our acid damage? I am trying to munchkin here. Shoot me down or help me out.

Short version: pfs gm says enforcer feat + cruel weapon don't interact usefully. Based on ruling it takes 3 hits to actually use the cruel enhancement to benefit from reduced saves. This makes my Bodywraps a useless magic item. The 'enhancement' will be sold and I will have about 10k gp after. Fame is nearly 40. Level is 7 just turned 8. Class is monk 4, cleric 1, brawler 2.

Uses stunning fist(stuns or fatigues), hells corruption(-2 saves), gentle rest(staggered), scorpion style(reduced movement), martial flexibility (dazes), Enforcer(shaken), Bewildering Koan (dazes as swift bluff check). Bab +5. Str 7, Wis 22+, Dex 16/17, cha 7.

When he was able to apply the sickened condition, he could force enemy saves at -6 when needed or -4 without expending any resources. Any ideas on how to compensate for this noticeable weakening (loss of money and critical power and resource management tool)?

Character tanks via utterly disabling enemies and severely hampering those who manage to escape disability.

Is there a timing rule when applying effects that trigger simultaneously?

My understanding was that the player/relevant character chooses. It is being argued by a society gm that the effects happen simultaneously but that actually makes things messy, seemingly.

The Question

Do multiple effects that trigger simultaneously have an order and if so who chooses the order, if not what happens?

Examples
A Monk/Alchemist with Adder Strike and contact poison coated gloves makes a stunning fist attempt. He hits his target. The target must now make two saves. For simplicities sake, let us say that the poison requires a fort save and damages con by 2 per round. Which triggers first? Both trigger only on the hit. But depending on the timing rules, if any, determines whether or not the stunning fist DC is easier or harder to make because the con is being damaged.

A Brawler has the enforcer feat and a cruel amulet of Mighty Fists. He strikes his target, dealing subdual damage and follows through with an intimidate check to demoralize and succeeds. Does the cruel amulet trigger now? Trigger at all? Do you have to wait until you hit him again to trigger it? Each ability only triggers on a successful hit-at which point they both trigger.

You are poisoned (save or take 2 dex damage) and burning and have fast healing x. All three trigger at the start of your turn. Assuming an abysmal con score of 5 and being at 0 HP, the fire can kill you. You have the option, at the start of your turn to make a reflex save to put the fire out. Also at the start of your turn, you heal. Furthermore, at the start of your turn you take take damage to your Dex. If things happen simultaneously do you lose 2 Dex, but make a save to put the fire out at a penalty or not? It really matters. And in regards to timing, all things are happening off 'at the start of your turn'. If there is an order, it could easily determine if you live to suffer all the effects or not.

So tomorrow is module day for pfs and I don't know what to play. I generally play things that really inspire me. My largest inspiration was a Cleric of Urgathoa however, I can't play that due to a friends request (he wants us to play together).

1.) Captain America is an option but its still in need of refinement and I'm not sure how I feel about Brawler base or Ranger Base.

2.) Half-Orc Invulnerable Rager. I have never played a barbarian before. This one is designed to be virtually immortal. The build is strange, focusing largely on taking hundreds (that's right) points of damage before being potentially killed. At the moment it doesn't have some barbarian staples so I am unsure of its worth.

3.) Aasimar/Tiefling/Tengu? I have a played level 1 Aasimar thingy. It was slated to be a nature oracle with the stupidly powerful horse. When I saw the errata for that, I lost interest. I tried going Tengu with a 'Dark Raven' concept but the feats never panned out and I didn't really get sparked with creativity aside. The last idea was maybe a lunar oracle with moonlight bridge, primal companion, the beast form powers and the moonbeam attack (all pretty thematic). But Idunno. Form of the beast comes online rather late and the really good stuff comes online even later. Everything else just didn't feel like 'enough'.

Out of all of these only the immortal barbarian sparked enough interest to sort of create itself instantly and full-bodied with a large degree of certainty. I am just not really feeling it like I thought I would.

Anybody have a great, intriguing and really freaking cool character concept better than what I have above? I need some help. I have to play a level 1 and want it to be something I'll enjoy the commitment to.

So, a lot of people on these forums know a little bit about this game and how to optimize things. A thing I've noticed is a distinct lack of ability to take something as is and optimize it as requested. So as part of the challenge (and for some maybe the hardest part) can you make an optimized cleric or oracle without suggesting another class that may or may not be better?

The subject was initiated with the idea being: what if you removed the things everyone thinks or knows are good and force yourself to make a character with what is left? Will you have something different? Something good? Both? Since people do what they are familiar with and what they know works, we aren't likely to find out without taking an intentional step down this path.

That said the rules are simple:
1.) Don't suggest another class, though oracle is an acceptable alternative. The discussion moves forward on the grounds that it is a cleric/possible oracle who has to be optimized.

2.) You're in a home game but you're building to 11 without 3rd party material. Most acceptable races are allowed (use your better judgment) and your fantasy world is no more slanted to one theme than it is another. Lastly all encounters are a realistic mix on any given day.

3.) You cannot bypass the cleric spell list through race selection or paragon surge or other bs. You can use domain spells and mystery spells not on the cleric list.

4.) You may never personally make weapon attack rolls that are not made through either a touch or ranged touch spell. You're a caster first and last.

5.) You may not fulfill these common party roles: Healer, Buffer, Martial Damage Dealer.

6.) If a popular (cleric) spell is granted to you by a domain or mystery, you don't get it. If your race gives you a popular sla you do get it.

7.) You may use any feats normally available to players. Though multiclassing is discouraged, prestige classing is not and any other classes used to enter one are acceptable. If a non PRC-related multiclassing takes place it has to enhance the builds theme through functionally related mechanics or actual, you know, role play feasibility.

8.) Have fun. You are free from being built normally and typecast into favored roles. Take this as a moment to flex your creativity and have it rewarded with on topic refinement and not just altered into what's already been commonly done before.

Other ideas are welcome.

That's all I could think of for now so here are the 'popular' spells you may never ever under any circumstance cast:

I searched several threads, got conflicting views, saw a reference to Jason Buhlman having answered this but could not find it.

When using the Holy Vindicator's Vindicator's Shield ability, what constitutes wearing? If I had a heavy steel shield I was carrying but did not have readied would I get the sacred/profane bonus to ac? Must it be readied?

My cleric is cool. He uses a scythe and a shield cloak. I can activate the cloak and treat it as if it were a light wooden shield-enabling me to channel into it. The bonus lasts until I am hit or for 24 hours. It doesn't seem to end when the cloak is not being used as a shield. Also, I am always wearing the cloak. The ability from the prestige class gives me the benefit of the sacred/profane bonus to ac so long as I am wearing my shield.

Different posts have said you can strap the shield to your back and get the bonus, others have disagreed. If anyone can provide the kink to any developer post or find a definite answer to this, that would be great. It is probably the deciding factor on whether I commit to enter the PRC or not. A cloak adding a useful profane bonus to ac on a scythe wielder is pretty cool, you know. :)

So if I have the Undead sub domain and make a melee touch attack against a willing ally now treating them as undead for effects that cause or heal damage based on positive and negative energy.

Now I activate channel smite and channel negative energy. I touch my ally...

Things get murky here.

I am attacking an actual living target. The smite does negative energy damage. The target then heals since the kiss triggers only for purposes of actually taking damage, not for meeting criteria of targetting.

Or

My target is considered an undead creature and channel smite has no listed effect for channeling negative energy and striking an undead.

In which case, what is the effect if there is any?

I believe the first ruling is raw and true to the spirit of the abilities in question. I just wanted to run it through the rules folks since I felt it was a rather clever and cool way to heal people but clever and cool tends to mean 'not possible' with many of my ideas. :D

Whew, what a title, eh?

Well, while you chew on it I thought I'd inform you all of a proposition made by a friend: Let's work together in pfs!

I know, I know...the hell was he thinking? I mean like, who does that? C'mon, really.

So anyway, I got excited, agreed and he ran through rough ideas: teamwork feats, two blaster wizards, etc. I suggested boon companion rangers but it doesn't stack because stupidness. So I asked him what he wanted to play and he told me a blaster. I pointed out that blasting had issues that a single friend doesn't really fix: initiative, people moving into melee, other stuff. But then I had an idea. I already have a negative channeling Tiefling cleric fresh from the stork! He's a controlled blaster unconcerned with the petty people moving about. Why not make two of them?

He somewhat reluctantly agreed but as the day went on, he fell in love.
No, not with me but with this kinky dude named Zon-Kuthon. The end result was a Tiefling cleric of Urgathoa and a human cleric of Zon-Kuthon who use their deities favored weapons (Scythe and Spiked Chain, respectively) and wear their faiths specific accouterments (Pallid Crystal and Mask of Cutting Flesh) and go to town slaying the living, commanding the undead, animating the living they kill and all sorts of general bad @$$ery.

As a team, the general goal will be to delay until I channel (Shatter Resolve) followed by his own channel. When low on those, we're no strangers to melee but we can still rock the Banes and Cause Fears until the mid game. Everything will flee or die (or die trying to flee or flee while dying even). All in good fun.

We'll both detect as absolutely evil but neither of us will be. He'll be LN and I'll be N.

So here is where you come in. Give me some ideas on why we are adventuring together. How did these two meet up? What faction seems most appropriate (We're thinking Arby's, Sczarni or Osirion) and what sort of relationships could they have? And why in the Abyss are we working for the society?

To help-
The Kuthonite is a dedicated necromancer and channeler so he takes Command Undead right out of the gates which makes up for my inability to do it until later and Selective Channel. He'll also be going with the Death (Undeath) Sub domain and Destruction (Torture) Sub Domain.

The Thoa-nite? Urganite? Whatever! The Tiefling will be a human at level 1, taking selective channel and Shatter Resolve. Take that suckers! His domains are Death (Undeath) and Strength (Ferocity). And he is an equal opportunity channeler and battle paddle. Part of me wishes we would both grab Tactics and just cherry pick initiative and that we were both Tiefling with the darkness SLA but that would probably just shut everyone else out of playing entirely before we destroyed everything.

The human has solid stats and such but the Tiefling has int 5 and is a little slow to learning new things, mastering skills and remembering details.

Classes are set. Don't suggest he play another type of necromancer please. Races set. Domains still flexible. Stats mostly set (int 5 is staying because we are now too stupid to know how to change it). We're thinking of having a business or some-such as a front for a place where we store the bodies of the deceased and undead we dominate for uh...religious purposes best left undescribed. ;)
And the Tiefling is debating switching the Ferocity sub domain for War (Tactics) since both powers are awesome (and not just one) and the spells are solid (but Str domain has reeeeeeealllly good spells).

I've been wanting a Tiefling so I am making one for pfs.

Tentative details:

Revel, CN Male Tiefling Demonspawn Cleric of Urgathoa. Cleric 8, Fighter 2.

Domains: Undead (Death), Ferocity (Strength).

Feats: Improved Channel, Quick Channel, Selective Channel,
Shatter Resolve, Armor of the Pit, Power Attack, Arcane Strike,
Channel Smite, Extra Channel, Command Undead, Fey Foundling.

Stats: (Don't laugh)
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 13
Int 05, Wis 14, Cha 17.

Skill: Chosen very carefully.
Seriously. You can stop laughing now.

Traits: Sacred Conduit, Defender of the Society.

Equipment:
Phylactery of Negative Channeling
Gloves of Arcane Striking
Shield Cloak +x
Amulet of Natural Armor +x
Pink & Green Sphere Ioun Stone
Lesser Reach Metamagic Rod
Ring of Protection +x
Belt of str/Dex/both +2
+1 Vicious Spellstoring Scythe (may have to cut spellstoring)
Bane Baldric (May cut)
Haunted Shoes, Spider Climb Slippers or Boots of the Cat.
Eyes of the Eagle (but Deathwatch Eyes are much more thematic).
Full Plate +x

Racial Traits:
Prehensile Tail & Vestigial Wings (that or fiendish sprinter, either way it's just for looks).

Backstory- Shunned by society and burdened with the dark urges of his forebearers, Revel follows Urgathoa as she provides some release for those desires. The undeath aspect isn't really his thing but he sees the practicality and is fullness of it insofar as how it pertains to him, personally. He wants to make the most out of every moment in life and there for lives in and for excess. He feels that life is short and will go to great lengths to preserve his own for as long as possible so that he may experience as much as he can, perhaps becoming an undead along the way. Aloof and constantly amused, Revel can be trusted about as far as he can be thrown by a halfling with a bad arm. He works for the society because of their diversity, acceptance and willingness to not be dictated by morality when it comes to satisfying their needs.

Haven't decided on an archetype if any, his last class level, which of the two extra feats to drop or when to take which feats. He does, however, hit extremely hard. I also figured that harder to resist channels were better than more channels.

Let's say you're a variant Aasimar or Tiefling and get different racial skill modifiers than normal.

The regular racial section shows these prefers skills under the 'skilled' racial feature and the variants replace the skills with new ones.

If you wanted to select a racial trait that replaced skilled, could you?

I get the feeling that this is partially covered in some other distant and perhaps unrelated rules FAQ. Maybe it works like qinggong powers and other archetypes or maybe you just lose your variant races 'skilled' entry.

Does anybody know? This is for pfs if that helps.

I have played for quite a while and, particularly in pfs, combat reflexes is a mechanically wasted feat, though psychologically gratifying.

Mechanically it is wasted because nothing ever provokes an aoo if it can avoid it leaving you with a rare few opportunities to ever attack more than once in a round. That said, that once or twice a year when it does happen, monsters die and the party is happy but if you had just selected another feat, you could have achieved more consistent results.

Obviously characters with reach can use it and there are feat paths and PRC requirements where Combat Reflexes must be known to qualify. Aside from those specific builds, the feat seems like an utter waste.

At what point does a general melee character decide it is not worth the feat slot? Have you ever made a build without it? A tank without it? How did that work out for you?

Inquiring minds want to know. :)

*edit* I forgot to add that some builds can force aoo's, usually through combat maneuvers. Exclude those, as well.

Below is what is called a wall of text. So the tl:dr is right here.

How to get organization in pfs organized play. Suggestions welcome.

Wall. Of. Text.
My local pathfinder group behaves as though strategy and organization do not have any place in the game. This is an observation based on over a year of experience. There are exceptions to this rule, of course and I have met a few people who know when and how to integrate and role play but the general experience is that if a little planning and organization would help, then that is definitely what we won't do. I am not fabricating this based on my feelings either. On more than several occassions (10+ coints as that right?) I have tried to be proactive and offer suggestions, encourage the party to organize their efforts, even gone as far in two or three instances to stop the group and suggest we figure out the best way to approach the situation-especially when we had the tools and opportunity and the threat was real. No luck. I have literally been flat out ignored as though after I had finished speaking, it was as if I had never spoken at all.

To this end I am not sure how to make a character who doesn't have to ignore his teammates in order to function (because everybody just ignores everyone else until they need healing or someone to draw attacks off of them). I want to feel like I played the game with people instead of just spectating as everybody else fights for their personal series of moments to shine.

The group is not small. I play with different people all the time. I estimate we have around 30+ players and new ones coming periodically. But I am starting to really not enjoy the 'who cares if there is an easier way or if you want to do any hint of character development-charge!!' style of play that keeps happening. I am not invested in the scenario's because I am not able to really participate or engage without playing a single player game like everyone else. I dislike fighting for attention in real life and I don't want to do it when I role play. So being an attention w#0r3 in order to feel like I was involved in a game is not my thing.

When I say I want to participate-I mean that quite literally.

I have a seeker oracle who is a trapfinder and blaster. The last scenario he played in he got to check for traps for half the adventure (but the dc's were high so he failed) before everyone opted to trigger traps by walking into them and taking damage. At the end of the scenario the character had 9 unused spells. The thing is that is his max. He never got to cast and it wasn't like there weren't any monsters. People just didn't care that when we had 5 enemies grouped up and plenty of space to fall back that I could cast a very powerful burning hands. They used the same mindset when we encountered swarms. People even chose to attack them normally rather than have me nuke them. And while a given situation can have its merits (someone with a pregen and alchemist fire saves me a spell slot), they seldom actually do.

The gm asked me a few times what I was doing in combat, and I told him 'passing my turn again'. And my reason was because everybody else 'had it covered'. Not covered they way they would have liked (unless they liked spending resources and taking damage) and not the way I would have liked- yay! Everybody wins....

Sure, this stuff is just free exp at the risk of the health and resources of others. And I don't mind some free exp. But this has been grating on me for a while now and it is becoming an issue since the group of people is quite large. I may like exp but I show up (most of the time) to role play....and all that entails.

At this point, I am trying to make characters with group abilities and benefits for capitalizing on their actions (usually a setup of some sort like a debuff). But I am not sure that even that will be quite enough considering how 'single player' the um...format...has been. I don't want to sit back and play bards or clerics where I can participate and not necessarily have to compete for the action to participate.

I have less than a single handful (fewer than 5) of sessions in pfs that I have played that were memorable. And in most, maybe all of those cases, there was character development and/or teamwork. That is to say that players (not just me) who were useful or best in a situation were actually used to tackle it. Before my monk got Errata'd into 9 wasted levels, parties would develop strategies around him, players asked me to play at their tables with him, he in turn learned their tactics, needs, and abilities and would come prepared to play to their strengths like they played to his.

Right now I am in a home game online. The very same blaster is getting utterly different treatment than in the pfs game. The tanks beg me to blast....to do what I am built for. When I try to let them shine and use my weaker stuff they tell me to stop playing around, get down here and vaporize. Conversely, I totally expect them to stand in front of anything big and nasty and keep me safe. And when we have diplomatic relations, I Focus more on role playing and let the characters who actually took social skills shine like they were meant to. So far, everyone is happy. We all work like we want to succeed-as a group. Yes, some of that involves familiarity with the same people, some of it is knowing each characters strengths and weaknesses, some of it is purely party composition ic and ooc. So far, the ooc party composition has helped in pfs- a lot. But everything else has failed utterly. Telling people that you or another party member is amazing at task Y and the group ignores you and everyone goes with X...even if X was unnecessary, really set us back and removed the option to perform Y. *sigh*.

So in an environment where I generally cannot vouch for my own abilities, cannot vouche for those of others and cannot find any semblance of organization besides 'you all have the tag Pathfinder on your shirts and you have to finish this as a group', what is a guy to do? I really want to play with a team, I thoroughly enjoy being the party backbone or being the parties silver bullet or leader or whatever. I can play any number of ways, be it quietly in the background helping other people excell or being in the forefront and taking orders. What I am trying to say is that I am flexible and I want to keep trying. I don't think the problem can be fixed entirely with character class and build and definitely not my personality (I get ignored when I try deviating from absolute chaos or helping another player get some well deserved attention, remember?). I cannot physically go to distant locales to play so am stuck with just this one.

Options. Thoughts. Suggestions. I'm open to them all.

This is more for personal reference but opinions are welcome.

I didn't really like the versions of Cap I had seen on the various boards. Most never touched on the visual aspect of his style beyond 'Shield bash' and having a throwing shield. Many of them are also a good bit dated or bogged down with perennial rules discussion. So I thought this might be fun and extremely party friendly and wanted to optimize it. Feel free to post your suggestions in case there is something I might have missed, overlooked or gave too much/not enough consideration over. This is being considered as one of two candidates for this Saturdays pfs.

Human: Ranger (Skirmisher) 7, Fighter (Brawler) 4. Not sure about Freebooter.

Stats: Whatever you want. I dumped charisma, started with 18 str and 14/15 in Dex and Con. Wisdom is at 12 or so.

Skirmisher levels-
1.) Power Attack
1.) Two-Weapon Fighting (Human)
2.) Shield Slam (Ranger Style)
3.) Opening Volley
5.) Weapon Focus: Shield
6.) Shield Master (Ranger Style)
7.) Point Blank Shot
Brawler Levels-
8.) Target of Opportunity (Teamwork)
9.) Equipment Trick: Shield (Fighter)
9.) Lookout (Teamwork)
11.) Weapon Specialization: Shield (Fighter)
11.) Throw Anything or Deadly Aim or Dodge or Close Quarters Thrower.

Favored enemies (2): Humanoid (Human), Outsider (Evil) or Undead.

Skills: Perception, Acrobatics, whatever else you feel fits the theme. You have 7+ points per level. But don't forget about Equipment Trick: Shield.

Ranger Tricks: Vengeance Strike, Surprise Shift.

Hunters Bond: Companions.

Equipment: Ring of Tactical Precision, Called property on shield (and whatever else you want), Belt of Mighty Hurling. This character has access to a Braid of the Master. The other candidate can use it for the ac bonus, though. All other equipment is optional.

The teamwork feats are powerful, particularly Target of Opportunity. You can unload a good deal of damage with this if your ally fires first and hits, letting you shoot. If you hit, your ally gets another shot before continuing with their full attack.

Without a level of Cavalier, we use a ring of tactical precision and give the ring (and the feat use) to an ally with a ranged weapon. If there is no one else who uses ranged attacks we have Lookout to enhance party survival or we could take precise strike to work with another melee character.

Ranger tricks are awesome and the two we grabbed focused on damage dealing and maneuverability. There are other goodies to choose and if you want more versatility. You can easily take hobbling attack, aiding attack, tangling attack or upending strike, for instance.

This build can produce large amounts of damage and attacks from unexpected situations. If a particular ally hits with a ranged attack or any ally is hit while you are adjacent to an enemy, you get a free attack as an immediate action at your highest bab. You are already two weapon fighting which gives you one additional attack when you get to take a full attack action but even better, every time you bash with your shield you get a free bull rush attempt. And don't forget that because of Opening Volley (probably your most powerful feat) you should almost always be power attacking and rarely miss on iteratives: You are incredibly consistent with your attacks. In fact, you should always be attacking at a bonus. First: Shield Master removes your Two-Weapon Fighting penalties with the shield and then it gives you a bonus to hit and damage. Second: as long as you use your offhand attack as the first attack after a ranged attack, you get a +4 to hit with it netting you a total bonus of +2 instead of the usual -2. You are hitting more often than normal, harder than normal and in more situations that are normally allowed. And when facing down the boss, you two hand the shield for even more damage. Remember also that power attack won't penalize your shield throws. :)

The shielded fighters fifth level ability allows them to, among other things, alternate between using his weapon and his shield when full attacking. It doesn't provide extra attacks nor any penalties like two weapon fighting does.

Here's my issue/question:

Can't we already do that?

If I were wielding two different weapons and had a single attack for the round, on that attack I could choose to use either weapon (let's say a longsword and a warhammer). I would have my full bonus to hit with whichever weapon I chose to attack with.

If I were hasted I could swing once with each weapon at my full Bab and still suffer no penalty. If I had an iterative, I could swing with one weapon all three times or with one weapon twice and the other a single time-even if they are both are not light weapons.

So did I miss a rule somewhere, is this something specific to shields I forgot, or does this portion of the shielded fighters ability just reiterate a basic function that all characters have?

Does the orc ferocity racial ability of half orcs count as the ferocity racial trait?

Does taking ferocious resolve allow one to qualify for feats like ferocious tenacity?

Are there any ways to get the ferocious racial trait if the above options do not count, if so, what are they?

Seems like an obvious answer but the devil is in the details and I feel like I am missing a few.

Let me start by saying that this is only a backup of a backup. However, despite showing up to play pfs frequently, I have difficulty qualifying for any games to join (and am sick of playing pregens when I do). Therefor, it is likely that this concept won't be played for a long time. But the iron is hot now so I might as well strike.

Race: Human, Half-Orc or Tiefling.
Class: Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager), Fighter (Lore Warden or Unbreakable).
Prestige Class: Pain Taster.

Traits:
Threatening Defender, Second Chance (Adopted-Tiefling Chain Master and Defender of the Society are contenders as well).

Rage Powers:
Intimidating Glare, Renewed Vigor, Ground Breaker (Superstition, Ghost Ranger and Increased Dr are high priorities as well).

Feats: Combat Expertise, Stalwart, Deathless Initiate, Weapon Focus: Whip, Great Fortitude, Improved Stalwart (Power Attack, Raging Vitality, Toughness, Iron Will, Improve Whip Mastery, Extra Rage Power, Racial Heritage, Bolstered Resilience, Disarm/Trip feats, Serpent Lash and Eldritch Heritage are all fighting for room).

The character would probably use a whip/scorpion whip and a light or heavy steel shield to shield bash with in melee. Ac helps but is not a priority.

If human with heart of the wilds, it is possible to survive at around negative 40 by 8th level. That sounds darn impressive and neigh immortal enough to me.

The only pieces of equipment I have looked at are enchanted whips and the cord of stubborn resolve.

Pain taster is not 100% necessary but it is quite thematic and offers some very useful and simple abilities.

I tried to deviate my interest from the whip but it became difficult to find an appealing alternative weapon (chains look cool but whips can do so many neat things). Ground breaker + whip just screams fun for offense and defense due to the range and eventual 10-15' of threatened area.

If Pain Taster is taken, whip mastery or whip focus is gained for free. Any weapon can be used but the whip is really an attractive selling point and seems to be the fuel for this inspiration.

I have never played a barbarian or made one so I defer to the forums opinion and judgment here to inform me and help make this a really cool character that works like a charm.

PS. All of this is just a rough draft. As you can see, a lot of things have not been decided yet (like what feat is power attack replacing, etc).

I am not 100% clear on how this works. It says that they may use their advice ability while spending points from their Ki pool...

So, advice must be active or activated and then Ki must be spent at the same time or during the advice performance?

Or....

Do you use a round of advice when you spend Ki to activate an ability you want to share?

The 12th level changes seem to imply that you must already be performing to use this class ability, maybe.

I have never gotten around to playing a of bard, nor have I paid much attention to their mechanical but nowhere in the description of bardic performance does it mention needing the perform skill at all, except when using specific performances. So the Sensei's advice ability does not seem to actually ever require any ranks in perform oratory, if I am not mistaken. Or am I missing something? It just seems strange.

***bellow may be spoilers for pfs players.***

So, I was lucky enough to receive a clockwork spy as a reward in a recent adventure of mine but I have a few questions.

Does the spy follow the rules of followers in pfs preventing me from having both my familiar and the spy? The spy is not intelligent. I can't find the book, but a quick search in the resource guide and primer for 'followers' didn't help.

The spy has to be repaired and skill checks made to restore it to working condition. After that, it follows simple commands. The catch here is that it says it cannot be repaired if it uses its self destruct ability. Does this mean that if it were destroyed in combat (say evil villains discover I was spying on them with it) that I could repair it later at the listed costs and via the necessary skill checks? Repair it with spells? The odd thing is that it can self destruct after being destroyed and that this process can be stopped but does not stop it from dying. The answer may seem obvious since I can probably by another one (the chronicle sheet doesn't say I can't) but during an adventure, repairing it might matter instead of having to wait for another session to get a completely new one.

Is it safe to assume I am not the creator and therefor could not program it not to self destruct?

If an archetype grants an ability which is similar to a feature granted by its original class but the archetype replaces an entirely different ability and makes no mention of the similar class feature, what happens, does one supersede the other or do you gain two similar but different abilities?

This is a rough draft. The character above should be proof that dealing damage is not required to tank. While it is by no means as refined as it could be, I wonder what could/should be done differently to make it better.

The primary goal is to lockdown of one or two enemies on my turn, possibly more on the enemies turn by forcing so many saves per hit (and bewildering koan) that I cannot be ignored or I must be avoided at all costs. Switching levels around, dropping some entirely can all work by providing other perks (like one more level in inquisitor means initiative jumps by 7).

I feel like the build/idea is missing some glaring obvious point. Gear is built in (Dex belt and +4 Wis headband is all). So everything else is open to cover the gaps. Regardless, nearly naked, a character that looks like this sounds pretty strong to me since each piece of gear just makes it better.

Lastly, I really wanted Pharasma for the Repose Domain so I could wreck enemies with staggered. But pfs rules prevent me from going nuts. As it is, I managed to cram 3 domains and converted one to an inquisition. Pharasmas domains aren't good enough (even death) to warrant taking her for the concept. The character build is an even mix of supportive and offensive.

Stun dc's are DC 24.

It seems important to ask since masterwork tools and instruments provide a +2 bonus for their respective skills. Goblin Fire Drums, if masterwork, would also provide this bonus when playing them. I did not do the math to determine the value and reverse engineer the item via price. However, I also did not see any listing for adding masterwork to any item other than weapons and armor, though there are masterwork tools and one of the charts in the crb mentions something about wondrous items and additional costs and masterwork quality but lacked further detail.

Any thoughts? There are tons of items that this could effect.

Ok, I have a flame oracle focused on damage over time instead of flat out destroying everything in one hit.

He has Burning Magic (su), Burning Spell (metamagic feat), uses alchemical power components (alchemist fire), and spells that deal fire damage.

After really reading through the rules, it seems like I am unable to stack Burning Magic from different spells because it is the ability and not the spell doing the burning. So if I were to hit with burning hands, the enemies fail their saves and take 1 damage a turn at the start of their turn for 1d4 rounds. If, during that time I cast fireball and they fail their saves (and are still alive), the first burning spell stays active but irrelevant and the new one from fireball deals 3 damage a turn for 1d4 rounds. If the second trigger of burning magic (from fireball) runs out of duration before the first trigger from burning hands, the burning hands trigger continues to deal its damage.

Am I right?

With this in mind, if someone manages to extinguish the fire by using a move action and making a save equal to the spells DC, they still have to do the same thing for each application of the burning magic since the previous versions have different durations, deal different amounts of damage and can very easily have different dc's. This would be very much like dispel magic in a sense.

So far so good?

With that in mind, if I use a metamagic rod/feat of burning spells, the spell is now modified to deal 2x Spell level in damage on the start of the next turn. By RAW, burning spell appears to infinitely trigger (and no gm would allow that, pfs or no). I say this because metamagic is an alteration or modification of a spell and the damage from burning spell would count as the spells damage and then trigger itself every round with no save or anything. So for arguments sake, it triggers, does 2x spell level in damage and is done. It also does not interact with Burning magic (though gods of Golarion I wish it did) so there is no opportunity to deal the metamagic damage off of the supernatural ability triggers. Right?

(And yeah, that would totally be awesome and cool to do that).

Penultimately, alchemical power components are modifications to a spell. The use of a power component only changes/adds/modifies an effect on a given spell. When using alchemist fire, several spells now cause burning on the subsequent round (as if struck by an alchemist fire) and the burning can be undone like normal alchemist fire. But this effect is now part of the spell. Does this now mean that if I say, cast an alchemically powered, burning spelled flaming sphere, move it to a foe and they fail their save and take 3d6, that on their next round burning magic (su) triggers causing them to take 2 damage for 1d4 rounds, burning spell triggers causing them to take 4 damage at the start of their next turn and the alchemical modification to the spell causes them to take 1d6 damage at the start of their next turn as well?

Does this then not also mean that because the alchemical modification to the spell made the spell deal damage at the start of the next turn, that it triggers the burning spell metamagic that was still attacked to it for another 4 points of damage on the start of the turn following that?

Finally, burning magic and alchemical power components (alchemist fire) set their targets on fire. However, each form of being set on fire has its own rules for extinguishing the flame and come from markedly different sources. Each attempt at flame extinguishing also requires radically different actions or dc's to be met. So despite the effect being similar, am I right that they are not the same and actually stack?

You are engulfed by a supernatural flame that burns with an uncanny resilence, furthermore, you are coated in mystical fires wich burn with a life all their own, fueled by an eldritch source of arcane power. Take a lot of damage. That's my take. I am just curious if I missed something.

When do you use gear like this and is it worth the risk?

By standard equipment I mean the same gear everyone and their mother has; the optimizers choice: cloak of resistance, boots of /yawn speed, two handed weapon (almost always a great sword), Str belt, caster stat headband, we have all heard the exact same list of equipment that makes every optimized 'character' look the same. The wizard looks just like that ranger who looks just like that paladin who is merely a clone of that druid. We'll ignore how their tactics and philosophies emulate the above as that is the subject of another discussion.

But when do you find yourself using a different item in the shoulders slot like a cloak of fiery vanishing, elven kind, the cacoon cloak or pauldrons of the bull? What about Nightmare boots, boots of levitation, hand of glory, the feychild necklace, or the security belt?

Certainly there are sets of equipment and character builds that are only functional in home games as opposes to society games (but please prove me wrong here). Yet, I still feel that these magic items were made to do more than fill space in a book but when I see character sheets or even worse, read suggestions on the boards, the same equipment is suggested for every character regardless of race, class or build. I have literally seen people suggest (after the op specifically said not to) the exact type of suggestion not wanted. In each of those suggestions the standard equipment list (and character builds/classes, etc) comes up. Are there no viable, non-niche character builds that can actually use the other 98% of the published equipment and do well?

What are your experiences?

Let us say that I have class like oracle with a curse like blackened.
Assume it is a race with a favored class bonus allowing me to hasten through my curse progression, like say a tengu.

The curse grants spell access to a typically arcane spell (in this case firewall) which is not on the cleric list.

What level is the spell for the oracle/cleric?

At 7th level the tengu with the blackened curse can add firewall to their spells known. The question is whether they are adding it as a 4th or 5th level spell. Access to the spell would normally come at level 10 and seemingly take up a 5th level Spell slot to use. But the spell is a 4th level (or lower in the case of summoners) spell for all other classes with the exception of the druid (for whom it is a 5th level spell).

Is the spell originally a 5th level spell for this oracle or a 4th level spell? Does accelerating access to knowing the spell in any way impact what spell slot it takes?

Does the level at which the spell is normally available to the class significant? Because other arcane spells are added after the oracle has been able to cast them (burning hands gained at 2nd level via flame mystery, scorching ray at 5th level via blackened curse, etc).

The examples above are of spells that may be wizard/Sorceror only or wizard/sorceror and magus only but which are 1st or 2nd level spells being learned at levels much higher than anyone would need to be to first be able to cast them. There is an FAQ in the crb about spell like abilities and how to determine if they are divine or arcane. It says to look for an arcane version first, then default to cleric, druid, etc. It also says to look at class and if it is a divine or arcane class, the spell like ability matches their class.

But that is for spell like abilities and is as close a rule I have found regarding spells, specifically. This all does not impact me or any characters I have yet (my character gets fire wall at lvl 8) but I am sure that it might be useful to know in case it comes up. Especially in society play.

I was reading the rules on archetypes and it is very clear that if two different archetypes modify or replace the same class feature, then you cannot take them.

1.) The Oracle Archetype, Seeker, clearly states that it replaces the bonus class skills gained via the mystery. The Dual-Cursed Archetype merely states that the oracle gains no additional class skills from her mystery. How do these interact since I am not sure if Dual-Cursed Oracle is modifying or not. Of course, other modification abilities clearly state that that is the case so..maybe I am just answering my own questions.

While I am at it:

2.) Crossblooded Sorceror must choose only one bloodline power when they qualify for one but you have two bloodlines.

Tattooed Sorcerors must replace their first level bloodline power.

How do the rules look at this? Some digging on the forums got me strange results (such as this very question being asked but another question being answered instead).

So, you can apparently be crossblooded and tattooed. Right? Or did I miss something?

3.) The Tattooed Sorcerors tattoo familiar states that it does not allow you to have both a familiar and bonded item. Does this mean that if later, you become a wizard, that you gain no benefit from arcane bond?

Sorry for the rehashing.

So with the 'revelation' that Fire Gods Blessing was not legal in pfs, I had to create a whole new character concept and find different inspiration.

The cross blooded bloodlines are draconic and orc allowing Mayhem to deal 1 damage per die on any damage dealing spell, 1 damage per die on any fire damage dealing spell. This totals for +2 damage per die on any fire spell cast and those spells are all cast at +1 caster level and when cast, those spells heal an ally equal to the spells level while increasing their will save and attack bonus by 1, as well as setting the target on fire if they fail a reflex save from the spell, in which case they take damage equal to the spells levels for 1d4 rounds at the start of each round.

With fire gods blessing, this would be healing me for 1 HP/round as well (sigh).
If using the burning spell metamagic feat, those who fail their saves against these spells ALSO take 2x the spells level in damage at the start of their next turn. This seems to trigger the oracle burning magic revelation due to the metamagic feat description. Fun for everyone!

As you can see, the magic items selected help in a variety of situations but ultimately are themed. When Mayhem isn't blasting, she can infiltrate enemy territory and blast....or just gather info, thanks to her mummers ruff and hat of disguise. With the Gaze of Flame revelation and gloves of Reconnaissance, she can spy on enemies without them ever knowing, emulate their appearance and use that to her advantage. She prefers to have encounters indoors because of this (and because being indoors means she can burn the place down).

When cornered she relies on dealing more and more fire damage to a target in any way she can, resistance be damned! Failing that or with a situation like that approaching, she knows she cannot outrun anyone on the ground and uses her cloak (if we don't go with resistance) by making sure she and her target burn, or ideally has begun the fight in elemental form or in the air.

She also knows that everybody expects fire and that everyone and everything thinks they can handle it. With this in mind she uses lingering spell to test that theory (can you really handle it?). And since she can see through the flames she creates, this generally works out very well for her.

One thing I wish I could afford to do, is go dual cursed oracle, netting me an additional revelation slot, and then grab misfortune or free up a feat slot. Freeing up a feat slot allows me to remove toughness and take both spell focus AND mages tattoo increasing the DC of my fire spells by 1-2 points depending on their school. Failing saves is more important than damage since her spells deal damage 3+ times (initial cast effect followed by burning followed by spell lvl x 2 burning and possibly enemies entering lingering aoe). The main catch here is the loss of fireball if I take dual cursed. I see no easy way to circumvent it and get it back. Also not sure on which spell to apply her traits to.

Thoughts? What did I miss (besides having an ac and selecting divine spells?)

I don't have a lot of system mastery here but I made an effort.

The race(s) would be half orc, human, gnome, asimar or tiefling.
Primary class would be Oracle (flame mystery).
Secondary class (if any) would be some wizard type (isn't there an elementalist?)or a sorceror type (crossblodded looks rather useful here).

Feats look like:
Glorious heat
Spell focus
Mages tattoo
Burning spell
Fire gods blessing
Spell specialization
Toughness
Lingering spell
Selective spell
Intensify spell
Persistent spell (need to rr-read this one)
Spontaneous metafocus.

There are not enough feat slots. Not all of the feats are priorities.
Dazing spell could be added but seems much better suited to a magical lineaged spell or simply higher levels.

Curses are in the air because they largely depend on race. Blackened seems reasonable, but clouded vision isn't bad if I pick a race without dark vision or trade dark vision out from a race for another racial trait.

Revelations
Burning magic
Form of flame
Wings of fire
Heat aura
Gaze of flame
Firestorm
Molten skin...it's all so good.
Gaze of flame becomes viciously strong with lingering spell for battlefield control. Heat aura seems like a reasonably strong option as well. Molten skin is fine, especially if I cannot get fire resistance any other wah, but if dipping sorceror or taking the eldritch heritage feats, is irrelevant. Firestorm comes at the end of my career and is just ridiculous. I love it.

Traits
Flame touched, magical lineage, gifted adept.

They are all magical traits. So I can only choose one. Flame touched seems weakest here with the last two being rather powerful.
Non magical traits that are relevant I am unsure about beyond the magic is life and the one that allows a reroll on a save. Those are potent as well but boosting initiative might be the way to go with reactionary, also.

Spells
Haven't decided on cure or inflict. It could go either way but cure is probably safer but both fit the theme very well.

1st. Burning disarm, obscuring mist and murderous command are the ones I want the most with sun metal, endure elements and divine favor being second.

2nd. Blood Spray, Spiritual Weapon, Shield Other, Death Candle, Blinding Ray are all first impression choices, though if I look harder or am willing to branch out, I believe other solid spells are available here, too. I really like the flavor of death candle but don't know if I can take it legally or not. The flavor and amusement of blood spray is nice as well. Not optimal, of course, but fun.

3rd. Archon's Aura and if allowed, Fractions of Heal and Harm. Both seem like extremely powerful choices for a ranged caster who is already focused on healing while/as a result of dealing damage.

So far, this is all I've got.
I haven't looked at gear yet, so I am sure that there are several cool things I am missing to power this up further and to make it more fun.

The original idea was to burn and heal simultaneously, allowing me efficient in combat healing. Lingering spell and burning magic/burning spell opens up a lot of control options. Effectively, it has turned into more of a dot build with modest burst damage and small heals that trigger whenever I deal any damage. Humans with racial heritage and half orcs seem the only options for following this path, but the other races have excellent favored class bonuses (but half orcs isn't terrible) and usually some built in fire enhancing/related racial features.

So help me out. This is for pathfinder society.

That's right. I give my gm all sorts of headaches. While submerged, I attempted to trip a foe. The environment rules and the rules on trip don't address that this is not possible. But we had it ruled that you could not do it.

Does it work? Is there some other rule hidden somewhere else? What happens when you trip a target while you are both under water?

:)

I recently caught wind that there was a Paizo event taking place, some people dressed up as goblins and there is supposed to be a special scenario or module to play as well. The event, as far as I know, takes place this very Sunday and I would like yo participat. Could anybody direct me to information about it? If it helps, I am I'm the Phoenix area (Arizona).

I have a Maneuver Master in pfs who recently was informed by my local VC and at least one other GM that I could not use flurry of maneuvers in armor or with a shield-this was after providing the vc with ultimate combat and the entry for the ability. I am required to have proof before using my class features now and playing the character again (who I have invested some time into).

FoM replaces FoB. The armor proficiency segment of the monk states that you cannot use fob, get the monk ac bonus, apply wisdom mod to ac or benefit from the fast movement bonus while wearing armor or using a shield. A character using either or both would lose all of those benefits. But if they replace fob with fom there is nothing in any FAQ or listed errata stating that you lose access to fom while wearing armor or using a shield.

I've been over the forums in search of answers, but there have been no official rulings posted from what I can see. Hit the FAQ button please to help get this resolved as quickly and officially as possible. I would really like to resume playing my character.

I will try and consolidate issues found over the forums.
The basic questions are:

1.)Is FoM treated as FoB or is it a separate ability entirely?
2.)What restrictions are there for FoM?
3.)Which maneuvers can or cannot be performed as part of a FoM?

4.)When using FoM are non-bonus maneuvers penalized (ie. Maneuvers performed at the normal Bab during the flurry)?

5.)At levels 1, 8 and 15 additional maneuver attacks are available. How do these penalties apply? (Ie. At level 15 does the final maneuver suffer a -12, all three bonus maneuvers suffer a -12, or all maneuvers done that round-bonus or not, suffer a -12).

Those are all that immediately come to mind.