Prof. Löwenzahn's page

Found some stuff that would work:

Pugwampi Braid, given to an ally who activates the aura.

Foresight Divination School Power, accessible via VMC if you don't want to multiclass

I'm not sure if you can stack infinite rerolls within each other, but IF you could it would be:

1. have ally activate Pugwampi Braid (reroll/take lower on all d20 rolls within a minute)
2. activate bit of luck on yourself (reroll all d20 rolls until next round and take more favorable result)
3. next round as a free action activate the Foresight Power and roll a d20 (roll twice because of bit of luck, roll each of the both rolls twice again due to Pugwampi Braid), so we got 4 rolls already for the school power alone. One might argue the rerolls don't multiply and that both rerolls apply only on the original roll, which still gives us 3 rolls total)
4. cast Lucky Number and apply Bit of Luck and Pugwampi Braid for the same reuslt as above, netting 3-4 rolls again.
5. compare the Foresight result with the Lucky Number result and pick either.

Depending on the ruling, you now have:

8 rolls totally: 72,7% of rolling 1-3
6 rolls totally: 62,2% of rolling 1-3

or if you are saying Pugwampi Braid an Bit of Luck can't apply both:

4 rolls totally: 47,7% of rolling 1-3

My char now would go VMC and thus get a familiar that I'd give the Arcane Amplifier Archetype for applying Extend Spell to Lucky Number and netting me a duration of 48 hours in which I can roll the 1, 2 or 3 on one of my 3+CHA Summon Monster SLA's per day.

Things I invested into it: 9kgp, a use each of a basic cleric/wizard ability and a 1st level spell.

I agree though that bit of luck and ill omen won't work together, since both refer to the more resp. less favorable result and I can't argue to use both at the time on order to get the lower roll.

You know, these are an awful lot of investments from many different classes into 1 single effect. The Luck domain power needs a cleric, Ill Omen needs a witch or psychic caster [and the GM might decide which roll is the less favorable result for you], Borrow Fortune needs an oracle or psychic, ... and who is the summoner?

My character is a Sworn of the Eldest Monster Tactician Inquisitor with the Fate Subdomain (Luck). I got the Luck Domain, summoning and Borrow Fortune covered. Propably there is a witch in the party, but ill omen was just an example of reroll mechanisms that came to my mind. Part of my question was to find other ways to reroll that I might get access to myself.

Empower rod is nice and propably more effective, but I tend not to plan with buyable items, because I don't know if the GM will provide enough wealth or if other items might be needed more. Besides the affordable rod loses its effects after Summon Monster III and I have to keep investing to keep the tactic going. The lucky numbers age quite well without much (monetary) investment.

The cyclops ability “flash of insight” lets you choose the result of a d20 roll before you make it. Accessible to PCs via the cyclops helm and the Cyclopean Seer oracle archetype. Usually used to force a natural 20, but could just as easily be used to make your lucky number “3.”

Nice, did not know that Helm. It's not even that pricey and you don't have to deal with propabilities at all.

Lucky Numbers has a 15% or 20% chance (1-3 or 1-4 on d20) to add +2, which averages to a +0.3 or +0.4 bonus. That's a nice daily buff for a summoner, but not too powerful. At high levels, when you can afford to waste away all your 1st-level spell slots, you can cast Lucky Number several times to get a good number; but there are much better uses for it than improving summon numbers - dedicated summoners are likely to have feats like Superior Summoning that increase the number already, adding little %-benefit to a summon spell.

This of course would be in addition to Superior Summoning and the like. The spell itself woould not be that great due to its low chances of rolling 1-3, but with rerolls it gets increasingly better. Of course this is a theme you have to build around.

The bit of luck power increases the 1-3 chance from 15% to 27%. A third reroll (for example from ill omen, another 1st level spell) increase it to 38% (I believe at CL 5 a casting of ill omen would affect both "bit of luck" rerolls, so it's actually a 4th reroll).

The good thing about all this is its flexibility. You start for example with bit of luck and ill omen. If you get your 1-3, you stop. If not, maybe apply Borrow Fortune or the Good Fortune/Tugging Strands reroll. If you happen to roll a 4, you know you can switch to the 1d4+1 list of summon monsters instead of the 1d3 list. If you happen to roll a 5, you might summon your strongest monster and the spell still finds use for a save or initiative or attack roll.

At the first few levels your 1st level slots will be too precious, but on later levels (when summoning multiple creatures becomes relevant), there will likely be 1st level slots left at the end of the day. Due to the 24h duration, you can expend all resources left to get a nice powerful summon the next day and it won't cost you a lot.

Hello there,

the Lucky Number Spell says:

You are able to tweak tiny variables affecting a creature’s immediate future in order to grant the target a bit of luck at the right time. Roll a d20; once during the duration of lucky number, when the target creature rolls that result (regardless of what type of dice the target rolls), the creature has the option to either reroll the result or add a +2 luck bonus to the result. The creature must decide to use this ability before the success or failure of the original roll is known. A creature can have only one lucky number at a time. If lucky number is cast on a creature already affected by that spell, the new number replaces the previous one.

Notably: regardless of what type of dice the target rolls

A summoning class that summons several monsters from one or two lists down (1d3 or 1d4+1 respectively) would apply for the Lucky Number bonus, no? Provided you roll a 1-4 on your Lucky Number roll, you would get 2 (3 with Fate's Favored) extra summons out of this 1st level spell.

The odds could be turned in your favor if you apply things like the Luck Domain to your Lucky Number roll (roll twice and take the more favorable - in this case lower - result). Which you could further increase by the 6th level reroll power from the luck domain or the "Borrow Fortune" Spell that for example the Fate subdomain grants.

Anything that prevents this powerful combination ruleswise?

Also do you have any further options to reduce the roll on the Lucky Number Spell?

Hello Folks,

I read into the Occultist Focus Powers and my Attention was drawn by the Soulbound Puppet ability of the Necromancy implement. While it seems mediocre on the first look, I dived into all the possibilities and was amazed at how with one ability, you can essentially fulfill almost every role out of combat and many roles during combat.

The ability says:

Soulbound Puppet (Su)
As a full-round action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to create a soulbound puppet from a bone, doll, or skull. If you use a bone or a skull, your power builds a Tiny or Small flesh puppet around it that vaguely resembles the original creature from which the bones were taken. If the implement is a doll, the doll comes to life. Treat this as a familiar, using your occultist level as your wizard level to determine its powers and abilities. By using a bone or skull from the appropriate creature or a doll shaped like that creature, you can select any of the familiar choices available to a wizard. You can instead use a humanoid bone, doll, or skull, to give the puppet the base statistics of a homunculus, but without a fly speed or the poison bite or telepathic link abilities. No matter the form, this creature is a construct with an alignment matching your own. You can have no more than one soulbound puppet active at any given time.
The soulbound puppet remains animated for 10 minutes per occultist level you possess.

So we get a familiar. The text says "you can select any of the familiar choices available to a wizard". While it aims at chosing every kind of animal, it also means: every familiar archetype available.

So you spend some Mental Focus (the more, the better) into this one focus power, no more investment necessary, and you can have whatever you need at the moment for 10 minutes per level. This is huge. Compared to a class with fixed familiars, you get:

- a familiar tailored to your current needs for a full round action
- a familiar that disappears anyway, so it can die easily without negative consequences (no money to be paid to raise a new one)
- potentially many different kind of familiars on the same day, maybe even during the same combat
- a different bonus granted to the master as well as a different starting feat every time, so potential use of niche feats that shine in specific situations

Now for the first advantage to comprehend, we need to browse all familiar options. I just started, but some options seem so overpowered I already feel remorse for using them (starting with the least powerful and increasing in overpower):

- the Mauler familiar for a nice critter in melee that can flank, damage and more importantly take damage and die. It's basically a summoned monster.
- the Valet familiar during crafting hours to double your crafting speed. This is tricky though, because it needs to be present all the time (so rather at high levels and you need to spend a lot of points)
- the protector familiar, who since it can die means at later levels: double your hit points and divide damage evenly between the two of you, with the possibility to negate hits (Bodyguard) and direct hits towards the disposable minion (in harm's way), with other words: DR/half with benefits
- the Figment/Sage combination. Need to pass any Knowledge check? Raise a Sage with ranks in the category you need and give it the Skilled Evolution via Figment. That's a +3(class skill)+8(Skilled)+1,5xLvl(Sage)+Int Bonus to the check. Not bad? It gets even better. You can do this with any skill you have no ranks in (without the half level bonus though). Any skill that comes up too seldom to invest in now becomes available. That's not even all. Some skills need to be done by you for various reasons (in my case of a Psychometrist Vigilante the Occult skill unlocks). There's a 1 Point Eidolon Evolution called "Shared Evolution" with which your Figment familiar can give you another Evolution it possesses. So from level 7 it can give you Skilled (+8 bonus) to any one skill you want. Taken into account, that many skills can get another +3 by chosing the right type of animal, we are looking at a +11 untyped/racial bonus to most skills.

- further useful archetypes in specific situations: Animal Exemplar/Ambassador if your group lacks a face/druid, Pilferer or Infiltrator for spying and stealing, Decoy for intrigue like games, Prankster for some fun at parties and Mascot to improve group interaction and teamwork.

To summarize: You can do any skill in the game, you can summon a meat shield and boost your defenses. You can adapt to many different tasks and have enough versatility for almost any encounter.

This is more than any other ability I've seen in this game. Please change my mind.

Biting Words

Not very strong, but obligatory 1st lvl spell for this theme :)

I'm totally with RedDarius here from a GM perspective. I'm not saying the players should lose every second fight, but I think a campaign where no one is afraid is boring.

It leads to metagaming, knowing that the GM makes only balanced encounters and makes sure everyone survives. Players don't prepare for combat, they don't use their wide array of skills and abilities and head into every dungeon without risk of failure. Furthermore, they just battle every antagonist, even if they are intended to be the final boss of the campaign and not some random encounter.

I made the mistake to make an important villain too weak, they knocked him over and were like "no one messes with us, we are the best". Next session I had them be defeated and arrested by the local authority. Some found it very hard to cope with, but other players later told me they really liked that experience to feel that there are superior forces somewhere.

I guess its main function is that of a backup weapon. When you run out of bombs you have to switch to some kind of weapon and at Lvl 9 it is already a swift action and thus does not interfere with your action economy. Another tactical option might be the "Explosive Missile" discovery, where you can add a bomb and an alchemical weapon to your bolts/arrows. Main advantage here is superior reach, but you hit AC instead of touch AC, so it's rather weak.

As to other alchemical weapons than acid, just browse the list for useful stuff. I think there are some useful circumstantial things, that deafen/sicken or trip opponents. Just be sure to craft in every free minute and have some items for every occasion.

Not sure if it's legal, but poisons and drugs are some nasty things to add, drugs espcially because there is no save for the Con/Wis Damage.

The feat Master Alchemist helps a lot with this archetype

from a mini-guide I started to work on (about bullrushes, because that's a really nice maneuver). The most awesome Things are done with feats though (Merciless Rush and Squash Flat!) Some items Keep those feats in mind, so feel free to ignore These parts.

Gauntlets of the skilled maneuvers – the item with the best cost/use-efficiency considering bullrush. 2000 for a +1, it won’t get cheaper.

Belt of giant strength – you need ST for CMB, you need ST for damage and you need ST for hitting. This is a must-have, if you want to do damage with your char. If you try to focus solely on the bullrush itself, consider one of the alternative belts (see below).

Pauldron of the bull – one of the best stuff ingame. You get two rolls and take the better result. For a non-mathematican it’s not that easy to compare to e.g. the pelt of the beast, which occupies the same slot and grants a +2 to bullrush, so I checked the numbers: The average roll with the pauldron is a 13,85 (10,5 without), so it improves your average roll by 3,35. Another advantage is: Your automatical fail chance (rolling a 1) decreases from 5% to 0,25%. Of course, you miss a possible +2 to your maximum result, but you won’t experience dice bad luck as often as you do now.

Boots of the vengeful behir – 3/day bullrush opponent one size category larger (2 size categories against dragons). Not something you need in the first levels. Buy it once you reach the two-digits, it should not bother your purse.

Dusty rose prism + wayfinder – the second most effective item in cost/use-comparison, but the wayfinder with its resonant power is obligatory. A +2 to CMB and CMD that benefits all maneuvers. Nice to use with squash flat, where you also need to improve your trip CMB.

Thorny ioun stone (crimson) – for roughly 3k more than the version above, you get a +2 to bull rush attempts, but don’t need a wayfinder. If by some reasons you don’t get access to resonant powers of a wayfinder, consider this. Besides, in late game, you might want an ebon wayfinder for 18k which let’s you use both ioun stones at the same time.

Amulet of mighty fists – if you are collecting natural attacks for damaging aside from your bull rush, this is the way to go. Don’t take simple +1 enhancements, go for the special abilities. Brawling let’s you add the enhancement bonus to Combat maneuvers. If you play a barbarian/bloodrager, consider to add Furious, which results in a +4 bonus to your meneuvers while raging for the price of a +2 amulet.

Impact weapon – even if you are not relying on weapons, consider wearing one and enchanting it with the impact ability. It’s a +2 enchantment, so you need to pay a +3 in total, but you get the enhancement bonus to your bull rush cmb. The best choice would be a reach weapon with a high damage die, since it gets increased by one category.

Belt of thunderous charging – this is an alternative to the belt of giant strength. It’s +2 to ST and +2 to bull rush on a charge. On charges, you’d have the same benefit for 10k as with a belt of giant strength for 36k. Although charging is a good option for bull rush, often we can’t do it (difficult terrain, stuck in melee, trees in the way…). Additionally, we lose the possibility to upgrade our strength further. Less damage with merciless rush, less bonus to weapons or natural attacks.

___

In case you want a Brief summary of the useful feats besides Improved/Greater/Quick and Bullrush strike:

Merciless Rush - does STR-Mod. as damage with bullrush, Need to worhsip Rovagug though

Squash Flat - second feat in the chain, but let's you sacrifice one 5ft. increment for a Swift trip. Totally debuff, if you force an Opponent to stand up AND move towards you (so no attacks basically)

Tribal Scars/Breaker of Barriers - each +2CMB to bullrush plus some neat side effects

Spiked Destroyer - Swift attack with armor Spikes when bullrushing

Rhino Charge - don't know if it's legal that way, but I read it as being able to Charge around Corners by readying charges (a Standard Action - move into Position before, then trigger bullrush by something trivial like enemy on sight)

Mind buttressing Armor

People are way over reacting, and adding in their own hot buttonness to this.

Very true, this is political correctness and oversensitvity in the highest degree. How do you guys even manage to play a game where things such as succubi or a Demon Lord with the Portfolio of Nocticula exist?

Just stick to the question that was asked. A brief comment on the word groping (if used accurately or not) and its influence on Paladin Code Violation is okay, but don't make it a tale of oppression and sexual assault between Players when there is literally no hint that any of them Players feels uncomfortable. I appreciate that sensitvity in general, but only when it's appropriate.

I guess this discussion has moved far away from what the OP wanted to discuss.

He was not asking for advice on how to deal with women being oppressed and assuming these problems is simply making them up if there is no other clue for it.

As to archetype questions, it seems there is no better choices than the ones presented.

But maybe make your own "Oath of Love" or whatever.

its not the flirting or sex jokes that the issue its that the paladin is sexually assaulting people which is a big no no for the standard paladin code

That surely depends on what the groped People feel about it. No native English Speaker, but according to my Translation groping is not implying discontent automatically?

I did not read every post in particular, but guys...really? Writing a Code of conduct and creating safe spaces, so that women and men can Play a board game together?

This is no BDSM session (at east I hope so). It should be common sense to act appropriately in Society, no matter if with women or men.

In each of my Pathfinder Groups there is at least one woman, mostly about half of the Players. There has never been any issue regarding gender Problems. In fact sexual Topics are mostly initiated by the Girls, even the ones with a "harrassing" note.

But as I believe the question in this thread was not about gender studies and feminism, I'll add some tips that might help:

- People in general shy away from Groups of People whom they don't know. They like to Play with friends. So either try to get together lots of already established friend circles (or are you friends with each female individually?) or have some parties where you invite those you want in the Group. They might get to know each other in a one-time-Meeting and are not obliged to Play a whole campaign with guys they might not even like.
- start with smaller Groups. Maybe have some test gaming sessions so they become familiar with the mechanics. If my first Pathfinder round was with about 20 People, I might not have started in the first place.

I was massively annoyed by them splitting up the talents of the warlock vigilante into the separate and mutually exclusive warlock & cabalist archetypes from playtest to finished product. It pretty much killed my concept for a magic-using vigilante dead in the water.

I second warlock. Great concept, but so so weak.

I created one of my best characters with this in mind, a Girl with Venician masks and Dresses as her Vigilante Identitiy, having another theme of Colors/masks for every type of bomb she throws (some Ice Queen like costume for Frost Bombs, Roses and green for Tanglefoot Bombs, some sad dark blue/black for Void Bombs)

You guys are too harsh with this Player I think.

As a newbie, Pathfinder is overwhelmingly difficult. I played for a year until I started digging through the stuff, and even after 5 years of playing I'm not through yet.

He does not contribute much, but does he really bother you? I for my part like to help new players select feats and help with the numbers. If I were in your position, I'd just ask him what he wants, build his character and maybe make a spread sheet for combat, where he has all the relevant numbers.

I think adding attack Bonus to your d20 roll could be learnt rather fast. If not, he might be not the brightest candle on the table.

Roleplaying is difficult, many people don't feel very comfortable doing it, so let him stay out of it. Just let him Play a simple character that he can manage in combat and it will be fine.

Kicking him out of the Group or not is more a question of personality, not one of gameplay. Do you get along well? Then Keep him. Is the social interaction awkward or difficult? Let him go.

which is totally understandable for a new Player

Inquisitor is way too complicated for someone who is not into Pen & paper or has the entitlement to look into things. He probably shys away from Magic because it's so difficult to oversee, and archery and a fix racial ability seem more comfortable.

I usually only have minmaxing Players in my Group (I do it too I admit) so I appreciate flavor builds.

This however seems more like a mixture of bad decisions than flavor, so I would just tell him everything that is suboptimal and offer him to rebuild.

When you take the 2 vs. >40 damage gap into account, I think he will gladly take that offer and might be grateful for advice. If he doesn't want, you can't make him. He will regret it rather soon, when he starts falling behind even more. Maybe renew the advice then :P

And since the bull rush feats explicitly apply to bull rush combat maneuvers, the "checks" obviously refer to bull rush combat maneuver checks

That is an assumption you made for yourself. RAI is another discussion, there are arguments for and against both rulings. But we can only solve this if we look at the specific wording.

While "Check" is not defined in the Pathfinder rules, we can pretty much agree that a check includes rolling a die and meeting a certain DC. Now there are different types of checks. When a feat (such as Improved Bullrush) states it applies to "checks made to bullrush", it applies to all types of checks that initiate a bullrush maneuver. Those are mainly Combat Maneuver Checks, but in this Special case, the check is done via an attack roll - but still a check made to bullrush.

If I understand you right, your argumentation goes like that:

1.) Combat Maneuvers are always tied to Combat Maneuver Checks
2.) Shield Slam does not use Combat Maneuver Checks for Bullrushes

See the contradiction?

Regarding RAI, I am not sure what to think of it myself. Using the exact roll result of your attack roll, but comparing it to CMD seems illogical and nerfs the feat in any cases (because if you applied Bullrush bonuses, you'd also apply attack roll bonuses such as weapon Focus or weapon enhancement, since you use your weapon for the bullrush just like with trip or disarm maneuvers).
On higher levels, shield slam then becomes pretty useless. But maybe they wanted the feat to be that weak, who knows? However it is really poorly worded and mixes two different rule systems that can't be combined. I'm bothered that there has not been any Errata so far.

My guess is: They intended "attack roll" to work like "the die-roll-result of your attack roll", apllying different bonuses since you also target different DCs (CMD vs. AC)

Following Chess Pwns Argumentation, dragonhunterq has a great point here. Of course you are making a check to bullrush, just no CMB Check. I was not aware of the wording on the Maneuver Feats, but obviously this is a check to bullrush someone (using your attack roll instead of CMB does not exclude it from being a check).

I think for 1vs1 duels to be interesting, you should not build him a usual two handed fighter. Then it is only damage vs. damage and the one who dishes out more wins.

Apply some combat maneuvers, trip, disarm, maybe a bullrush here and there. Just make sure the build does not auto succeed, make it a 50/50 Chance against his CMD, otherwise the PC won't stand a Chance.

Also don't ever take a full caster for a duel, it's sudden death, either the PC grapples the caster or the caster dishes out some save and suck spell. How I hate full casters :D

If you stick to Barbarian, I'd suggest taking all the Combat Maneuver rage powers (Knockback, Knockdown, Savage Dirty Trick, Impelling Disarm) and leave the rest to defensive stuff.

CR is difficult to estimate on These Levels, it depends on how much you optimize your Champion. I'd just go from CR=Lvl and adjust as you consider it appropriate.

I would go Oath of Loyalty Paladin with either multiclass or VMC to Life Oracle (so the classic Oradin build) and then go to Stalwart Defender with a Tower Shield, healing both you and your allies and tank AC as high as possible, while sitting in the middle of the battle field with full defense.

263. Big tavern party, but there is a Leprechaun that sneaks upon guests invisibly and punches them with his shillelagh, then hiding under tables and chairs, becoming invisible again. Most of the guests find it hillarious.

264. A female Tiefling Bard that performs beautifully and challenges the Party Bard to a singing contest. When the Party Bard wins, the audience boos her off stage and insults her because of her demonic ancestry.

260. Someone gives the PCs the quest to look for Oregano, Marjoram, Tarragon and Thyme, last seen at the clearing near the street to the woods. While looking for herbs, the PCs meet 4 drinking knights, making fun of the PCs and later introducing themselves as Sir Oregano, Sir Marjoram, Sir Tarragon and Sir Thyme.

261. Mishap while teleporting? By coincidence, they land in a swamp behind a researcher of crocodiles. While they leave him to his studies, from afar they hear him screaming. Obviously the splashing noise of the teleportation has startled some crocodiles :(

I think 13 is too young to expect such a reasonable playstyle. I used to chase after Goblins and jump through Portals with my first Dwarf, too, and I'm double her age. Because dwarfs do stuff like that.

Is the rest of the group that young too? Because then, it's up to the GM to make a campaign that does not result in death, when someone acts unreasonable. As to the healing Thing... I'd advice her to Play a character that has no possibility and thus no duty to look after her allies. But now that she plays an Orcale, maybe she'll focus on healing and learn to care.

If you want to raise your survivability from HP loss, take Orc.

The FCB grants you +2 on the negative CON score to determine death each level.

Combine with the "Heart of the Wilderness" human alternative racial trait for 1/2 your class level on the same score.

Then the "Resurrected" trait for another +4.

And get a Tourmaline Ioun Stone (I believe 1k Gold) for another +2.

So you can fall to CON + 6 + 2,5xlvl.

It gets more impressing with a Barbarian with Raging Vitality, but as long as your GM does not let ist Monster kill unconcious PC's, you won't have to worry about getting killed for a long time.

Plus you get all the feat and Item Options that Orcs provide, as mentioned above.

Hybrid classes.

Base classes.

Alternate classes.

don't you dare...

Really? Being an "ally" makes you instantly immune to being touched by other allies? That does not make sense and is not game breaking, considering there are spells that also let you move allies for a Standard action.

There are harmless spells that allow a saving throw, if the target wishes. How are combat maneuvers different?

You can burn your allies by casting AOE spells, but combat maneuvers do not work? You've got to be kidding.

Yes, that's how it works.
If you want it more RP-like, you could plan ahead and state that you are suddenly interested in Knowledge (Planes) because of that demon you fought some sessions ago, and begin to ask people or read books about it. But putting one rank into the skill when you level up is enough

Apologies in advance, if there is a similar thread. I'm having a hard time searching for discussions about specific aspects of this rulesystem.

My GM spontaneously awarded us with a nice manor in a big city - an orphanage, but we plan to use the kids for our purpose (huahahaha)

Since no one of our group has yet read through the downtime rules, especially rooms,I took the job and soon stumbeled upon the inconsistencies of the system. With your help I woould like to find a reasonable way to handle this.

For simplicity, i suggest working with an example: I'm aiming to generate as much magic capital as possible for the hundreds of wondrous items I want to craft. I found out that a classroom (thematically fitting with the orphanage) has the best cost/prize ratio, then the magical repository is a must, besides a scriptorium, alchemy lab, courtyard, storefront, maybe furnishings...
These are the questions I have to solve. As far as I see they are not clearly worded or broken. I'm not asking for RAW here, unless they are totally reasonable. Im looking for a balanced way to make it work

a) Beginning construction: I want to earn capital to reduce prizes. So me and my 4 co adventurers spread out into the city, doing stuff to gain the capital. Each has a skill modifier so that they will earn 2 capitals each, so it will not last too long, but is it resonable I have to wait till I gathered all compontents, before I can start construction? I think workers should be able to start with 2 goods, 2 labor and 2 influence.

a²) More important: We want to build multiple rooms, but the building section of the rules indicate that we have to add the time of all rooms together. Now if my herbalist mate wants to build a beautiful garden, my dhampir builds some Gothic stuff in the cellar and I start my classroom, why should we not be able to construct simultanously? I really have no time to wait half a year for my business to become useful. We could forgo this rule by stating each player runs his own business, and even when we want to have more than one construction per person - what stops us from giving my favorite orphan all the money and goods and let him start construction time. It should be allowed for everyone to start as much construction as possible. They paid the labor price for each individually, so each construction site should have its own workers...

b) Room size: There is a range of how many squares a room takes, but it says you can reduce the size below the minimum if you wish. So since we don't have infinite space, we should build each room at 1 square - even the classroom o.O Even wihh the minimum squares listed, it is only 5 squares. Are there any penalties for small rooms that I am missing? Should there be? I'd really like a fix number of squares, otherwise it feels too cheeesy.

c) Building vs. rooms: The rules suggest that you add up all modifiers for one sort of capital per building. It seems to be no must, so logically it is much more effective to take 10 on alchemy lab, take 10 on magical repository and maybe roll on the classroom. Every modifier below 10 becomes worse with this system, but it is still better than combining. What are your rule suggestions here?

c²) Working at a room: Now I have some days to spare and want to work at the magic repository to increase magical income. Rules say I get a +10 bonus to my 1d20+12, fine. I did not quite understand if I also add my Spellcraft modifier as in the skilled work section. Is it 1d20+10+12+Spellcraft or 1d20+10+12? If the latter, it is much more productive to let the business work on its own and go spellcrafting in the city. Even with the former rules, it is only slightly better, because (taking 10) 10+Spellcraft and 10+12 are the same, except when you'd reach the next 10 points.

d) Splitting income: The rules say we can split a modifier to serve different capital incomes. Assume we are at the beginning of the whole process and only have our classroom. Would it not be much more effective if we just split the +8 to +1 Goods, +1 Labor, +1 Influence, +5 Magic? Thus we get 1 of each while we are away, opposed to only 1 magic capital. Or does the room only get one check per day? Then it is impossible to split the earning...

e) Running a business with all PC's: We are a nice team and want to run the business as a group. Assume we play with the combining modifier rule, so my 5-7 magic generating rooms all add up to +50 or something. Since my cook and bartender mate wants to have a belt of giant strength and my herbalist mate is tired of earning gp at a very bad rate, they want to help with acquiring magic capital. Can I give each of them another room to boost the income with their skilled labor?

f) Earning gp from a room: If I work at some room to earn money, what skill check do I apply to my result? Is it up to the player to come up with a creative way and to be nodded by the GM? For example a Spellcraft check to craft and sell small magic items at the magical repository?

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If I were GM, my ruling would be:

- All modifiers to the same capital add up, while the adventurers are away and when only one of them takes care of the business.
- you cannot split modifiers for one room, unless you have another room generating the other income (e.g. Bar makes gold, my magic capital earnings check results in 42, so I spend 2 points of one modifier to the gold production of the bar.
- Characters that work in the room roll seperately, as if in the city. Then they add the +10 bonus and make the normal check for the room, adding all together. That results in effectively +1 capital (compared to earning capital seperately)
- When multiple or all party members take care of the business, they can divide the modifiers to the same capital earnings between them. So I take magical repository+classroom for a +20 modifier, while my herbalist mate runs the alchemy lab for +10 (thus you gain one additional check for each PC, which is reasonable, since we could also just build our own business and run nothing together).

I'm open to suggestions and corrections of my misunderstanding of the rules. Thanks for your help!

Seems like a nice and powerful build, but I wonder if it is really that overpowered. On level 10 you had 6 feats to spare. I'm counting 5: following step, step up, press to the wall, accomplished sneak attacker, two-weapon-fighting. One feat left. So you propably don't have a very high base damage or attack bonuses, especially since you have to enchant/weapon focus every weapon on its own and the natural attack needs an AOMF.

If you are dex based you need a feat or enchantment to get dex to damage. Otherwise you are dependent on str, dex and con. They can't be all up, so it should be quite dangerous to confront the boss alone from my understanding.

I think it's either the other party members who are not very optimized or the opponents who could play better. If they feel being pressed to the wall is bad for them, they should adapt to this threat. Block the places from where you flank, move into wider areas or in narrow passages where you can't get opposite a wall.

Besides, I don't think 1/3 of opponents HP/40 damage per full attack is too much damage. My level 12 vivisectionist does about 100 when he gets in flanking position

I don't think you should worry about game content to solve this problem. This group is simply a bunch of a**holes and you should leave as soon as possible.

If I were you:

Go to the next session, wait for the next night, do the watch and then coup de grace as many as possible with a x3 weapon. The cleric or whoever can revive first, the others in appropriate order of who you like least.

As you do so, collect your stuff and leave.

I can't believe such a group even exists, and I wonder why they even searched for a new Player when they want to play a linear, uncreative, lawful good campaign with people that behave exactly as the GM wants.