RavanPyreloft's page

Brought it up with GM, apparently I am just min-maxing now by bringing this up. Stating how he would have to alter his encounters to cover the type of BS such as a charging Cavalier.

Even though I explained to him that I still need to roll a perfect 20 anyways to try and even get the critical chance to do that damage.

I dunno, I just think by his rules by only multiplying the weapon dice that I will certainly taper off in damage in comparison to the parties mage and rogues. Just my opinion.

Well just so we all know from here out, what exactly does this statement cover?

-Extra damage over and above a weapon's normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit. (Pg. 144 CR)

Because he does believe that covers strength damage and only solid explanation will work.

Greetings,

Now, the group I play with has always done critical hits like, only the weapon dice gets multiplied.

I recently made a Goblin Cavalier.
Level 1
Str: 16
Lance: 1d6.

Well we were fighting an Ogre and I charged him. I scored a critical hit and when the GM told me the added dice but only add your strength once as per the rulebook. I did dispute it because I did do my fair share of research into the Cavalier to bring out my Goblin's potential in damage.

Needless to say, it was a minor dispute, but instead of fully arguing and pissing off the group I agreed to just take the extra dice damage, plus my strength. Ogre still died in one critical charge anyways.

So after, we pulled out the rulebook. I pointed out some parts of the Critical Hit section than he found this piece.

-Extra damage over and above a weapon's normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit. (Pg. 144 CR)

Thus he believes it means strength and other bonuses are not multiplied. But I have seen countless forums where strength, powerattack and other damage bonuses are multiplied. I pointed out the statement before it.

-When your character scores a critical hit, roll the damage two, three, or four times, as indicated by its critical multiplier (using all applicable modifiers on each roll), and add all the results together. (Pg. 144 CR)

Now, I believe that I am correct in that strength gets multiplied. But what I need is a good explanation on what this covers so we know for future sessions to prevent complications.

We have always played by the rule that only weapon dice is multiplied by critical hits, but since we are following Core Rulebook completely now to quote it. Then yes, what does the first statement cover with damage above and beyond the weapons damage?

PS: Sorry for the long ass explanation.

Regards,
Goblin Cavalier

you can go with the feint line of feats. Granted it's quite an investment for a rogue but eventually you can feint as a move and SA in the same round, which would seriously improve damage output

Just looked it up, and that would be useful. I thank you for adding more options to my pool of tricks.

Piranha Strike seems like your friend.

It's Power Attack for light weapons.

Other than that...yeah no real ideas here.

Also, are you Two-Weapon Fighting?

If not, you can pretty much ignore Dex to an extent and just pump Str like a normal melee fighter.

If so, Piranha Strike may do more harm than good since your to-hit is likely to be s&$$tier than a Rogue's already is when TWF-ing.

I use two Sword-breaker daggers, one in each hand. One is just an enchanted weapon and the other is a Clockwork Sword Breaker. So yes, I am two weapon fighting.

Level 6
AB: 12, 10 if two weapon striking
4AB+ 6 Dex+ 1 Weapon Focus+1 Enchanted

Greetings,

I currently play a Dagger Specialized Rogue (Dagger Archtype) So one huge plus, I strike D8's instead of D6's for sneak, flaw: any other weapon type than daggers makes my sneak attack 1D4.

The flaw, I used to play a Magnus so I used to charge the front of the battle with my spells Shield and Mirror Image handy, a Kensai which really brought the pain: At the cost of so many fun skills that rogues use out of combat and everything.

The issue: As one may realize, going from being a front-liner to one who really depends on flanking in a party that for the most part distances from combat: Gunslinger, Inquisitor (uses hand crossbows), Druid, and a Monk which is a front-liner but still only one handy flanker.

So obviously a rogue is not always going to flank, I need to figure a way to bring more pain. Currently it really hurts my damage. I have played a rogue for years in DnD, but wondering if anyone has picked up on something I overlooked in Pathfinder. When not flanking and such, is there a way to do more damage than 1d4+2 (1 strength damage, 1 enchanted weapon).

I am now openly listening for helpful advice to hold my weight moreso in combat.

Note: I know stealth negates the need for flank, for one attack as long as their perception does not spot you. I know you can do a bluff and attempt to stealth upon success. But just need to know other options.

As the title states, I am wondering what all classes are available for Charisma-based characters. I know the basics like the Sorc and Bards, and other like. But what other options are there for high charisma PC's? I know there are more. A Paladin/Anti-Paladin can benefit from a high Charisma and such. This shall even include any arch-types you know that make Charisma useful.

Thank you for your aid in advance.

Regards,
Ravan

Yep. Arcane strike is untyped. It stacks with everything.

Which makes it a not bad feat for just doing a Swift Action upkeep.

Greetings,

This has probably been covered, but forgive me for bringing these up again. I just shall need more proof for my GM because I have been working quite hard to make a hard-hitting Magus and at times he is amazed with the damage I can bring out. One thing I wish to cover.

A Magus can, as a swift action, draw a point from his Arcane Pool to add an Enhancement Bonus to my weapon.

The feat, Arcane Strike:
Prerequisite: Ability to cast arcane spells.

Benefit: As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

Basically, so these stack?

So basically if I add a +1 Enhancement, it would be: 1d8+4(str), +1 (Enhance), +1 (Feat)?

Greetings,

I know this has probably been asked countless times. I have been looking through the forums and they don't always seem to address my question directly.

when wearing items that improve your stats and spells. Which ones can stack so I remember which items to avoid buying or if it drops to avoid picking up when another party member can use it.

A more direct question I guess, what stacks when improving ability scores?

I know this has probably been covered dozens of times but every thread I have been reading was just what weapons are more effective with it and everything. Power Attack, as rule stats in the Core Rulebook:

Prerequisites: Str 13, base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: You can choose to take a –1 penalty on all melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. This bonus to damage is increased by half (+50%) if you are making an attack with a two-handed weapon, a one handed weapon using two hands, or a primary natural weapon that adds 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier on damage rolls. This bonus to damage is halved (–50%) if you are making an attack with an off-hand weapon or secondary natural weapon.

When your base attack bonus reaches +4, and every 4 points thereafter, the penalty increases by –1 and the bonus to damage increases by +2.

You must choose to use this feat before making an attack roll, and its effects last until your next turn. The bonus damage does not apply to touch attacks or effects that do not deal hit point damage.

Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like it states that it applies to every attack, which means if you are a Two-handed archtype fighter with two attacks, means they can strike (assuming said fighter has 20 str) 32 damage even before damage rolls if both attacks hit.

Surely there has to be something off about this, I always thought Power Attack was the whole: You can strike multiple times or sacrifice your other attacks to make one high powered swing, not transform all your swings in high damage striking hits. Otherwise at max level what is stopping a Fighter from hitting four times and instantly gaining 100 damage before rolls (25 assuming for some reason the fighter does not gain more strength somehow)? To me this seems very off-balance, even the more powerful mage spells do not hit nearly as hard as a Two-handed Fighter Archtype power attacking warrior. Am I wrong?

This is a more simple question, but I need to confirm it so as to bring it up with my GM.

A Katana (Threat Range: 18-20) with Keen does change it's threat range to 15-20 correct? I was lead to believe it was 16-20.

Regards,
Ravan

DesolateHarmony wrote:

Xaratherus wrote:

...

-Magus crits on the roll for the weapon touch attack;

Just a quibble: the weapon attack from spellstrike is a normal attack, not a touch attack.

Thank you, corrected my mistake.

Magi can't do what I had originally typed until they hit 9th level and take Accurate Strike. ;)

The only flaw with that, is you would not be able to use Critical Strike, because Accurate Strike takes up the swift action to use. Critical Strike requires the spending on the swift action.

Greetings,
There is one major question I have with the Magus, now I already know when a Magus critical hits and confirms with their melee weapon and it is charged with a touch spell, that spell also critical hits for double damage (No matter the Critical modifier on weapon). But there is the Magus Arcana: Critical Strike, that I am curious of; can a Magus do an Spell Strike and if they critical confirm, do their damage and then cast the Touch Spell after the strike?

Spell Strike critical as an attack, then using Magus Arcana: Critical Strike to follow up with a Touch Spell.

To save the searching, here are the wordings for both abilities:

Spellstrike (Su): At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If the magus makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks. This attack uses the weapon's critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.

Critical Strike (Su): Whenever the magus scores a critical hit with a melee weapon, he may cast a spell with a range of touch as a swift action, then make a touch attack with that spell against the target of the critical hit as a free action. The magus can use this ability once per day. The magus must be at least 12th level before selecting this arcana.

Thank you for your input.

I just completed a session with some players and one friend of mine, also a GM, gave me some friendly critic which I shall confess was not taken well due to the fact I feel I did not do anything wrong with the mechanics of the encounter with a Crystal Hydra.

Group is level 5, so pretty low level to be fighting a Hydra, more so if it has 16 heads. Obviously I down powered it due to the fact it was a Hydra made from a magic mirror. It was a guardian of the chamber.

In the chamber before there was an intense solar beam being focused in the next room, they shut it down to enter. A perception check revealed the light was still captured in the wall.

So anyways, the Crystal Hydra, has a mirror reflected surface body and the room they are in has mirrors for walls and a mirror for a ceiling. The only part not mirrored was the ground. It was moss and grass that also had mirror weapons and shields littering the ground. So the party tried looking into the mirrors to try and spot differences. They tried their own weapons to break the mirrors and then the mirror weapons to do so. One person scored a critical on the wall mirror but bounced back (Like the mirror in the other room, it was magically enchanted which they tried to break before this room but found that out) Out Gunslinger shot the mirror at the ceiling and critical hit it too to find his bullet bounced. Finally they started digging it up, when one set of eyes were revealed they glowed and the thing emerged, ready to kill the intruders. Some players went before it, one player grabbed their weapon and slammed the wall, actually critical hitting it too but his weapon bounced off the wall. Their exit became blocked by the intense solar energy captured in the wall. When it became the Hydra's turn it roared loud and aggressively, cracking part of the mirror above as solar energy burst down, hitting the ground. Some players tried attacking it, to find it was not impacted back blows just like the wall. One player caught on right away and grabbed their shield and deflected the light back at the Hydra that showered from above. Upon a successful touch attack (proving you are aiming the ray of light at moving Hydra Heads) it would hit the Hydra and destroy the head completely, no regen. These pillars of solar energy lasted for 3 turns. If the energy hit a ground with moss, it lite the moss on fire, making it impossible to use the energy without first taking a turn to use dirt to put them out, which the party figured out. This Hydra, also deleveled, still hit hard. The character with a high ac went face to face with it, keeping a full round defense to try and soak up attacks until the party could kill it. Another thing to do, is you can throw your weapon or shoot something at the ceiling to break the glass to force more light down, (had to do at least 5 damage or the mirror did not break)

Here is the issue at hand, my other DM friend says the mechanics were poorly thought out and said there were no hints that the ceiling could be broken at all and that they thought only the Hydra capable of breaking it due to roaring every turn. That I should have hinted more that the ceiling could not be broken by players as well. Ravan, normally my player but not NPC for that one session because I was running it, (I rolled to decide if Ravan would attack the ceiling because in game I believe that is what I would have tried) so when he tried, and failed, everyone else realized the ceiling could be broken even though I failed to do. Obviously the rule being, if the DM character tried to do it, then it must be possible now.

Here is the issue, finally I am betting, so my friend as I stated accused my mechanics of being flawed and poorly thought out and that I had to hold their hand to lead them to the source. He said I should have at least let the mirror being crackable before the Hydra roared to show that they can be broken now. So we got into this huge debate, me, obviously defending my mechanic and him stating how poorly executed it was from one DM to another.

Overall, I told him to try and defend myself, the fact that the Hydra is now breaking it when he just roars shows the magic on the ceiling has weakened. His counter is he says that only makes the party think he is capable of breaking it and they cannot do it.

His added, is how come the mirror could not be broken on the ceiling before so why should that change now. My defense is due to the Hydra leaving the mirror on the floor, he draws energy from the mirror to make him impervious to damage both normal and magical in nature. Normal bouncing off and magical being deflected harmlessly. So thus the energy from the room, is strong enough to kill him since it powers him.

He debated how I should have given more signs it was breakable by letting him break the mirror on the wall, if even just a crack to prove it can be broken now that the Hydra is out. My response is that the wall mirrors would still hold their power to prevent adventures from escaping the room from the Hydra which was there to bring the demise of invaders. That my hint was the fact a roar now cracks the glass up top.

The fact that my character threw a weapon at the glass above was argued to be holding the players hand and thus the sign of a bad DM, while I honestly believe I may have tried that and rolled to even consider if my NPC character would or would not try. I pointed out my attempt failed anyways and he claims it does not matter because now that the players saw me do it...they then knew. Which I should never have to show them.

Overall, I am just asking people here because you all do not know me and are very free to tell me that I did indeed mess up the mechanics or if you feel I may have not done anything wrong.

I still believe I did nothing to screw up the encounter, so we just agreed to disagree but now I am curious.

I personally thought it was a good encounter, creative and I thought it was well thought out. They hand to ranged touch attack the Hydra (while staying away from him) with the beams of light 16 times to kill it. If it got dealt enough damage (which was negated still) then they stunned the Hydra 1d?, changed to according to how much damage was done. In my mind personally, did not explain it because they players are not really interested why it could be stunned and not damaged, was the strike or blast was hard enough to make the energy vibrate inside him and stun it till the energy naturally left it's body.

All and all, sorry for the long post...thoughts?