Salabrian's page

Hello fellow Pathfinders,

A friend asked me to temporarily join his campaign for a session or few, but they are still using 3.5. Thus, I find myself in need of some quick tips/rundown on the primary differences between 3.5 and Pathfinder (what were the biggest changes when Pathfinder was written?). Is there such a guide out there that will be more efficient that just reading the whole 3.5 rulebook, since this is only going to be for a few sessions?

And fear not that I will revert to their primitive D&D ways. Pathfinder for life!

Thanks again for all the input everyone. There were so many good ideas that were all so equally tempting, I actually ended up going with multiple different overlapping assassination attempts. Three different people trying to kill the same king with varying degrees of permanency in mind, some aware of the others' plans, some not. I'm using a combination of the doppelganger swap, the "he doesn't want to come back" lie, and the Rest Eternal spell. I was trying to build in Soul Bind as well, but it just didn't fit quite as nicely due to the necessity of the person being recently dead. But I liked them all! So thanks to you guys, this story has become delightfully convoluted. My players will be happy, and I will have my first time GM-ing start with a bang.

Alright, the name of the game is Sense Motive. What I need from you guys are static abilities, feats, etc. that give permanent bonuses to Sense Motive (i.e. not spells like Guidance). For the purpose of this exercise, you can assume a 20th level character.
Here’s what I have so far:
Wisdom maxed to 24 (and yes, I know I can get this higher with a Headband or Ioun Stone): +7
Sense Motive ranks: +20
Stern Gaze Inquisitor ability: +10
Skill Focus: +6
Alertness: +4
Eye for Talent: +2
Survivor Trait: +1
Snake Style: +2

What else can you give me? I want to max this sucker out. I will accept feats, supernatural abilities, multiclassing (as long as it provides more than it takes away from the inquisitor stern gaze), equipment… anything that’s permanent or useable many times per day. Help me out.

Now, why am I looking so hard for maxed out Sense Motive, you might ask? Well, if you take the things I have already, that’s a +52 to the check. That means, with Snake Style active, my AC will be between 53 and 72, depending on the d20. Even higher if I spend money on advanced magical equipment. Fun, right?

(And yes, yes, before you all jump down my throat, I know I’m not the first person to think of this. I just haven’t seen additional tips on the forums for how to pump the sense motive even higher. And yes, I also know that this would only work once per round and would therefore not be the best bet character wise. This is mostly for fun to see how high we can get it)

I’m trying to figure out how my various abilities would interact with Acid Arrow in terms of how much damage it deals.
Here’s what you have to deal with:

Let’s say I’m level 3 so the acid lasts one extra round. Normally, the spell by itself would be
Round 1: 2d4 (Acid)
Round 2: 2d4 (Acid)

But with my abilities thrown in, which of the following would it come out to be?
Option 1--
Round 1: 2d4 (Fire) + 2 (draconic) + 1 (Elemental Pupil) + 1 (Havoc)
Round 2: 2d4 (Fire)

Option 2--
Round 1: 2d4 (Fire) + 2 (draconic) + 1 (Elemental Pupil) + 1 (Havoc)
Round 2: 2d4 (Fire) + 2 (draconic) + 1 (Elemental Pupil) + 1 (Havoc)

Option 3--
Somewhere in the middle, such as
Round 1: 2d4 (Fire) + 2 (draconic) + 1 (Elemental Pupil) + 1 (Havoc)
Round 2: 2d4 (Fire) + 2 (draconic)

I've got a character with two claw attacks (draconic bloodline sorcerer) and the produce flame spell-like ability (pyromaniac gnome racial trait). I'm trying to figure out if there's a good way for me to use my produce flame as a melee touch in conjunction with my claw attacks. Seems to me if you're hitting something with your claws while one claw also have the (produced) flame, you should be able to hit for claw damage as well as fire damage. There's a few ways I could see this working out, and I'd love to get your thoughts on what you think is the most reasonable:

1) Make normal attacks (against regular AC) with the claws and produce(d) flame. If successful, one claw (designated beforehand) deals its natural damage plus fire damage, and the other claw deals its natural damage.

2) Make attacks with the claws and flame. If the flame-applied claw hits regular AC, it deals natural damage plus fire damage. If the claw misses regular AC but hits touch-attack AC, deal just fire damage. The second claw deals damage as normal if it hits regular AC.

3) Make attacks with flame and one claw. Flame replaces the first claw attack and hits against touch-attack AC. Other claw attack hits as normal.

Thoughts? Any other ways you think this should be applied?