Puma D. Murmelman's page

I've just seen this here lying around and while I moved away from pathfinder some time ago, maybe some of you could make use of it. So I present:

Study Prey (Replaces Favored Enemy)
(A Ranger with Study Prey adds Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Local), Knowledge (Planes) and Knowledge (Religion) to his class skills)
By consulting his informations and knowledge about a certain type of enemy for 15 minutes, a ranger can focus his abilities. He gains a bonus equal to 1+ half his skill ranks in the respective Knowledge skill (rounded down) on attack rolls, damage rolls, perception checks and survival checks against said creature type. He can only focus on enemies if he has at least one skill rank in the respective knowledge skill.
Study Prey lasts until used to focus on another enemy and is usable once per day at 1st level, and one additional time per day at 8th, 14th and 20th level.

Example: A 5th level ranger with 3 ranks in Knowledge (Religion) uses Study Prey to focus on undead. He gets a +2 bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, perception checks and survival checks against undead until he uses Study Prey to focus on another type of enemy.

So I built myself a bard who is really good at painting.
At level 2, he already has:
- Skill Focus (Craft[Painting]) (+3)
- Prodigy Feat (+2)
- Inner Beauty Trait (+4 1/day)

So with masterwork tools, he can paint with a bonus of +21 1/day.

What can I do to raise this even further?
He would consider using magic tems or spells (like crafter's fortune) to be cheating, so that's out of the question.

Second, is there anything he can actually do with a high painting skill, except for amaze people with it? Like a feat or anything to use it for benefit? 3PP are welcome, too!

Who likes to be the guy with the CLW-Wand to heal all the little cuts and bruises after a fight?
I know I don't.

I played that way for a long time until we finally switched to Evil Lincoln's strain-injury system (thanks for that, by the way).
But still, I wasn't satisfied, as it had it's issues and you had to track two types of HP. So I came up with my own system for a Hit Point Recovery System. A System system. Hm.
Anyway, I'll share it with you.

Hit Point Recovery System

First things first, it involves some math. But don't flee in panic yet, you only have to do it once per level (or more often in the case of changing HP totals).

The HPRS is based on two things: Hit Die and Consitution Modifier.
These two factors create a percentage of Hit Points you will recover yourself after a combat, if you have the chance to rest for a short while (10 consecutive round for example).

Each Hit Die has a fixed percentage of HP recovery, as follows:
d6 -> 10%
d8 -> 20%
d10 -> 30%
d12 -> 40%

Added to that are 10% per Constitution Modifier.
The sum is the percentage of Hit Points you recover. Easy, eh?

Example
Torik is a 5th level fighter with a Constitution Score of 14. He has 44 Hit Points.
In combat he gets hit for 17 damage total.
But after he gets some rest he recovers 22 Hit Points (d10: 30% + CON-mod 2: 20% = 50%) and is now at full HP.
After all it were just some bumps and bruises, he wore out a little but didn't get badly wounded.

His friend Ilardo is a 5th level wizard with a Constitution score of 13. He has only 27 Hit Points.
He also gets hit for 17 damage total (because Torik didn't do his job to protect him, obviously).
So after the fight, he recovers 5 HP (d6: 10% + CON-mod 1: 10% = 20%) and is still wounded and has to be healed.

Thats about it.

Some rules to clarify:
- Hit Points recovered are always rounded down
- In case of multiclassing, the current class counts for the HPRS. Cause that's the path you chose for now.
- You can never recover damage carried over from a previous encounter
- If you go dwon in a fight (or reach -1 HP any other way), you can not recover Hit Points via HPRS until you are healed to 1 HP or above.
- Temporal Constitution increases do not count for the calculation

Variant Rule
Characters brought to -1 hit point or below received a mortal wound and cannot recover lost Hit Points via HPRS until fully healed again.

HPRS end

The thought behind that, apart from decreasing the need for the CLW-Wand, is not only to represent the ability to take punishment as Hit Points, but also the abilty to recover from the heat of battle, as HP are more than just wounds.
It can lead to extremes, like barbarians with a Constitution score of 22 recovering 100% of his HP, but well, he's obviously a big boy and can be killed just as easily (or uneasily) as before. He just recovers better from combat.

Opinions and contructive criticism welcome.

Are there good ways, rules wise, for an alchemist to bring his bombs where they need to be and bring some heavy damage when they do?

I'm aware of the Grenadier archetype, but it works more like a Magus. The Fire Bomber bumps damage with fire bombs and some favored class options add some as well.

So apart from that, are there any feats, items or else that can do the above, launching bombs on enemy troops like artillery shells?

First things first: if you're Esnapand, do not read this.

I'm going to start a campaign soon where the PCs will have to escort a girl safely through rough territory.

The journey will start in southern Brevoy and will go south from there through the River Kingdoms and Galt. On from there, I have no idea.

The girl is a good ten and a half years old, maybe a little favored by Shelyn (she's a good singer and loves to paint), but nothing overly special, a human.

That's what I have. What I don't have is a specific place whre to bring her and more importantly, why.

Any input is much appreciated and met with a thousand thanks.

I'm planning to play a enchantment specialist as my next character that does not use charisma as his spellcasting attribute. I'm slightly allergic to the wizard class and the classic enchanter looks even more dull.

Is there any material out there that covers enchantment specialists that fall under that category? All books or 3rd party stuff is welcome.

Thanks for the help.

Let's start this with an example:

"Hi. my name is Baku and I'm from the Bestiary 3. I'm a chubby medium-sized furry elephant-emo thing and I am awesome. Why, you ask? Well, take a look at my ability scores!

I have a strength of 14. I'm flying all the time and my muscles are probably degenerated and I don't have any combat abilities worth noting but a 14 is just good enough for me.

I have a dexterity of 21. Did I mention I was kind of chubby on floating around all the time? No reason not to be quicker than the most gifted elf, therefor a 21 is just good enough for me.

I have a constitution of 18. Flying around all the time and sucking dreams up and stuff really makes you a tough son of a beach (hehe). And for CR8 I need loads of HP, so a 18 is just good enough for me.

I have an intelligence of 15. Okay, I might not me that smart compared to other monsters, but feasting on thoughts and ideas is really nourishing for my brain. Therefor a 15 is just good enough for me. Actually, I wonder why this is my second worst score, but, ah well.

I have a wisdom of 16. With my big nose I smell your dreams 10 miles away! And people who think of me, because I don't like that. You see, a 16 is just good enough for me.

I have a charisma of 25. Yes, 25! Thats just two points behind the succubus, but im seriously more good looking. Also, I'm kind of shy, which totally makes sense if you ask me. As you may have noticed by now, I'm quite the charmer, so a 25 is just good enough for me. Damn you, succubus!"

That's one example of many. Why do so much monsters have unexplainably awesome scores? I don't get it.

Playing Pathfinder and D&D for quite a while now with only one PC and one GMPC (gestalt characters), we encountered a problem with the core XP-tables. The fast and normal tables are too fast overall and the slow progression is hard for early levels regarding our playstyle. So I created a custom table thats quite fast at early levels and gets very steep at higher levels. The idea behind that is the decreased efficiency of killing stuff. What was quite new and adventurous at first becomes more routined and grants proportionally less experience to advance a level. That leaves more room for quest- and non-combat-XP. In addition, a unique or very special enemy might be worth a lot of bonus XP for being a greater experience.

So here's the custom table:

2nd 1.600 XP
3rd 4.000 XP
4th 8.800 XP
5th 18.400 XP
6th 34.400 XP
7th 63.200 XP
8th 108.000 XP
9th 184.800 XP
10th 300.000 XP
11th 492.000 XP
12th 773.600 XP
13th 1.234.400 XP
14th 1.900.000 XP
15th 2.975.200 XP
16th 4.511.200 XP
17th 6.968.800 XP
18th 10.450.400 XP
19th 15.980.000 XP
20th 23.762.400 XP

The math behind: to advance to the next level you need an amount of XP equal to twice your current level times the XP for one monster of a CR of your level: lvlX to lvlY = 2*X*CR(X). Only exception is level 1 to level 2.
So to advance from level 19 to level 20, you would have to kill 38 ancient red dragons for example. Better to find some more rewarding experiences.

Opinions/critiques welcome.

Hi there!

My players PC committed murder and is now evil. He was sentenced to a special "resocialization treatment" and has to pass the Halls of Trials, some bizarre dungeon where he is confronted with opportunities to do good or evil acts.

Cause he's no lunatic i plan to push him a little to lose his temper, not enough to justify violence.

If he is about to do an evil act, the "resocialization treatment" will punish him for doing so (e.g. magically causing intense pain).

I'm not quite sure how to pull this off so i'd be happy to get advice for two things:

1) situations he can be brought into to test him

2) a good method to punish him aside from pain or torture

Thanks for the help!

A question came up yesterday at the gaming table: Can remove disease cure a gambling addiction?
Does an addiction / impulse control disorder count as a disease?
What about schizophrenia, phobias and other mental stuff?

If it works, how?

Your turn, roll for initiative!

Is there no way of making your eidolon faster at land than adding legs?
I didn't find a 1-point evolution that grants an additional 20 feet land speed, but other forms of movement, like climb, have that.

A 1st level quadruped eidolon can have a land speed of 50 feet with a pair of extra legs.
A 1st level climbing eidolon can have a climb speed of 80 feet, selecting the climb evolution 3 times.

A 20th level 'quadruped' eidolon can have a land speed of 170 feet, spending all points for extra legs (15 pairs o_O).
A 20th level climbing eidolon can have a climb speed of 540 feet (60 mph !!), spending all points for climb evolutions.
It could, with the run feat, run for 2700 feet (just over 300 mph). That's as fast as the fastest street car's land speed.
Same works for swimming.

while it's probably stupid to take the same evolution 26 times, it just illustrates the point that there should be an evolution for additional land speed :D

Hi!
I created a conversion for the Shifter/Master of Many Forms prestige class using the new content of the APG. And here i share with you, open for discussion.

the format didn't translate very well, so i restructured the table a bit.

Requirements
Feats: Alertness.
Skills: Knowledge (Nature) 5 ranks.
Special: Wild Shape Class Feature.

Class Skills
Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha).
Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

BA 3/4, Good Saves: Fort, Ref; Bad Saves: Will.

lvl1 - Aspects 1/day (Falcon), Improved Wild Shape (Alter Self)
lvl2 - Aspects 2/day (Bear), Shifter's Speech
lvl3 - Aspects (Stag), Fast Wild Shape
lvl4 - Aspects 3/day (Wolf)
lvl5 - Improved Wild Shape (Beast Shape IV)
lvl6 - Aspects 4/day, Improved Wild Shape (Form of the Dragon I)
lvl7 - Improved Wild Shape (Giant Form I)
lvl8 - Aspects 5/day, Improved Wild Shape (Form of the Dragon II)
lvl9 - Improved Wild Shape (Giant Form II)
lvl10 - Aspects 6/day, Evershifting Form,
Improved Wild Shape (Form of the Dragon III)

Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Shifters gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Aspects (Su): Once per day, a shifter can aquire aspects of an animal. At 1st level, this ability functions like the Aspect of the falcon spell, except the duration is 10 minutes per shifter level and the shifter can change back as a standard action. At 2nd level and every two levels thereafter, a shifter can use this ability an additional time per day for a total of six times per day at 10th level. At 2nd level, a shifter can choose this ability to work like Aspect of the Bear, at 3rd level like Aspect of the Stag, and at 4th level like Aspect of the Wolf instead. Each use of this ability counts agains the shifters total uses of aspects per day. A shifter can only use this ability while in her true form.

Improved Wild Shape (Su): A shifter's class levels stack with her druid levels for the purpose of determing her ability to wild shape into other forms and to wild shape at will. For example, a 5th level druid/3rd level shifter's wild shape functions as Beast Shape III, Elemental Body II or Plant Shape I. In addition, a shifter knows how to use her wild shape ability to assume a wider range of forms. At 1st level, she can use wild shape to take the form of a humanoid as per Alter Self.
At 5th level, her wild shape ability functions like Beast Shape IV, at 6th level like Form of the Dragon I, at 7th level like Giant Form I, at 8th level like Form of the Dragon II, at 9th level like Giant Form II, and at 10th level like Form of the Dragon III.
A Shifter also gains one additional use of her wild shape ability per class level gained.

Shifter's Speech (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a shifter maintains her ability to speak normally (including verbal components of spells) regardless of the form she takes. Furthermore, she can communicate with other creatures of the same kind while in wild shape, as long as such creatures are normally capable of communicating with each other using natural methods.

Fast Wild Shape (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a shifter can use her wild shape and her aspects ability to change her form or revert to her normal form as a move action.

Evershifting Form: A 10th level shifter has reached the pinnacle of her shapechanging abilities. She gains the shapechanger subtype and becomes immune to any transmutation effect unless she is willing to accept it.

i created a pdf file for download or print and uploaded it to some random fileshare host, but you can upload it to your space and post it here so it will last longer o_O
Shifter Conversion PDF

So i'm going to play my second summoner soon, finding this new class very interesting. But there are some things concerning the eidolon...

1.) The summoner and his eidolon communicate via the 'link' ability, but the eidolon has a base intelligence of 7, so he should be capable of actually speaking a language. So can the eidolon speak and if, what?
-> in my party, the eidolon had the ability to speak celestial, because the summoner was CG and so was, as by the rules, the eidolon.

2.) What does an eidolon look like, or to be more accurate, what can it look like? The rules say, the physical appearance is up to you, but it has to be fantastical in some way. My last summoners eidolon was an biped anthropomorphic more-or-less-female fox/human with blue-white fur. Not very monstrous, but fantastical and good to handle in urban areas if equipped with some robes and hood. Possible?

3.)Can i love my eidolon? That's not an ethical question but more of a general rule-thing. The Eidolon can be a rather smart, charismatic and possibly even attractive (as far as I understand the rules, your eidolon could actually look like one of the viera race from FF12 or any other more-or-less fantastical but still kind of humanoid creature, as long as you do not imitate existing creatures). And if I can designate the eidolons appearance (presence and absence of certain body parts and how they function (i.e. retractable claws like a cat), there is no reason you could not have the same kind of relationship as with other outsiders, such as the succubus.
Again, that's not a 'can I bed my futa-furry-smexy-eidolon' question (GM's choice :D). But i wonder if the eidolon can have a true own personality, feelings and such, being more like a cohort than some animal comanion or ex-animal familiar.

Your thoughts?