1- My warpriest wants to use the Sacred Form spell in combination with his Spined Shield since this battle form has hands, but I'm not sure if it is allowed. I know that according to the rules, a battle form can benefit from the circumstance bonust to AC that the shield provides. What confuses me is the "gear is absorbed" part in the battle form explanation inside the polymorph trait:
If you take on a battle form with a polymorph spell, the special statistics can be adjusted only by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties. Unless otherwise noted, the battle form prevents you from casting spells, speaking, and using most manipulate actions that require hands. (If there's doubt about whether you can use an action, the GM decides.) Your gear is absorbed into you; the constant abilities of your gear still function, but you can't activate any items. If a polymorph effect causes you to increase in size, you must have space to expand into or the effect is disrupted.
¿Is the intent of this rule that the shield gets absorbed into the battle form, and that usually the circumstance bonus comes into play when there is Cover, or can you keep it in your hand? If you get to keep the shield, can you activate the "Fire Spine" ability since it is not merged?
I'm inclined to keep it simple and allow the character to use the shield as usual, but I'm not sure if I'm missing something here. Thoughts?
2- The fighter has taken the 10th-level feat Debilitating. On paper it seems quite powerful for a fighter to inflic slowed 1 on hit with no save allowed. What are your experiences with this feat? have you houseruled it somehow?
I would like to know if in this example, lesser cover is supposed to be applied to the defender.
A - Attacker
B - Defender
M - Minions allied with the defender.
All of them are medium-sized creatures.
A M
M B
If you draw a line between A and B, the line touches the corners of both minions. Reading the text from Cover in PC 424, it seems B should have lesser cover since both Ms are creatures and not "hard blockers" like a wall corner.
Is this correct?
Thank you!
Part of the Cover rules:
"Usually, the GM can quickly decide whether your target has cover. If you're uncertain or need to be more precise, draw a line from the center of your space to the center of the target's space. If that line passes through any terrain or object that would block the effect, the target has standard cover (or greater cover if the obstruction is extreme or the target has Taken Cover). If the line passes through a creature instead, the target has lesser cover. When measuring cover against an area effect, draw the line from the effect's point of origin to the center of the creature's space. See the diagram for examples."
One of my players has a twisting tree magus, and while playing today's session some questions have popped up, hope you can help me get some clarity:
- As a twisting tree magus, she has reach with the staff while using it two-handed. During one of the combats, she attacked an enemy 10 feet away, with an ally standing between her and the enemy. Does the enemy get the lesser cover bonus? (+1 to AC)
- One of the enemies in that combat had the Reactive Strike ability and 10-foot reach. When the magus used Spellstrike, the ability triggered because the spell used as part of the Cast a Spell subordinate action had the manipulate trait. The enemy got a critical success on the attack roll. Is the whole Spellstrike disrupted, or just the spell? I can't find anything specific about this on the subordinate actions and disrupting actions sections:
Subordinate Actions
Spoiler:
An action might allow you to use a simpler action—usually one of the Basic Actions—in a different circumstance or with different effects. This subordinate action still has its normal traits and effects, but it's modified in any ways listed in the larger action. For example, an activity that tells you to Stride up to half your Speed alters the normal distance you can move in a Stride. The Stride would still have the move trait, would still trigger reactions that occur based on movement, and so on. The subordinate action doesn't gain any of the traits of the larger action unless specified. The action that allows you to use a subordinate action doesn't require you to spend more actions or reactions to do so; that cost is already factored in.
Using an activity is not the same as using any of its subordinate actions. For example, the quickened condition you get from the haste spell lets you spend an extra action each turn to Stride or Strike, but you couldn't use the extra action for an activity that includes a Stride or Strike. As another example, if you used an action that specified, “If the next action you use is a Strike,” an activity that includes a Strike wouldn't count, because the next thing you are doing is starting an activity, not using the Strike basic action
Disrupting Actions
Spoiler:
Various abilities and conditions, such as a Reactive Strike, can disrupt an action. When an action is disrupted, you still use the actions or reactions you committed and you still expend any costs, but the action's effects don't occur. In the case of an activity, you usually lose all actions spent for the activity up through the end of that turn. For instance, if you began to Cast a Spell requiring 3 actions and the first action was disrupted, you lose all 3 actions that you committed to that activity.
The GM decides what effects a disruption causes beyond simply negating the effects that would have occurred from the disrupted action. For instance, a Leap disrupted midway wouldn't transport you back to the start of your jump, and a disrupted item hand off might cause the item to fall to the ground instead of staying in the hand of the creature who was trying to give it away.
- The magus used the Wooden Double spell to reduce damage received by a critical hit. The spell has this trigger: "You're critically hit by a damage-dealing effect or Strike". Am I right by thinking that you need to decide if you cast this spell before knowing how much damage are you taking? I am not sure because the double basically functions as a shield, with some hardness and hitpoints of its own, and I know the step to use shields is when applying damage (that you already calculated). Is this spell intended to be used in the same step as shields?
One of my players wants to take this archetype for his character (psychic), and I don't know exactly how to convert part of the "Hallowed Ground" focus spell to be compatible with the remaster.
Hallowed Ground [two-actions] Focus 1
Legacy Content
Uncommon Good Necromancy Positive
Source Book of the Dead pg. 25
Cast [two-actions] somatic, verbal
Range 60 feet; Area 10-foot burst
Duration 1 minute
One small space becomes inhospitable to undead as you fill it with life-infused benevolent magic. Each undead creature in the area takes 1d6 positive damage and 1d4 good damage when you Cast the Spell, with a basic Fortitude save. After that, undead creatures have weakness 1 to positive damage and your necromancy spells while in the area.
This spell also automatically attempts to counteract any attempt to raise undead in the area (if either the undead would appear in the area or the effect's caster or creator is in it).
If you Cast this Spell again, any previous hallowed ground you had cast ends.
So it is my understanding that the positive damage turns to vitality, and the good damage to spirit (holy) damage. The problem is, I dunno how to convert the "weakness 1 to your necromancy spells while in the area" part. I'm leaning towards applying the weakness to any spell that deals damage to simplify things, but maybe there's a better way to handle it?
This question appeared in our last session as a character with a flaming ghost touch weapon hit a wraith. That creature has the following ability:
Resistances all damage 5 (except force, ghost touch, spirit, or vitality; double resistance vs. non-magical)
Does a creature with that kind of resistance take full damage only from the weapon damage dice and applies the resist all 5 to the flaming rune, or does it take full damage from both types of damage?
I am looking through the Player Core searching for answers regarding Hardness but there is only a section in the Damaging Objects and Shields that doesn't really explain this: does it apply to damage dealt as a whole, or does it reduce each type of damage separately? I have read on the forums about this and I don't know if it has been clarified or not. I assume it is only applied once, as when shields block damage.
For example, lets say an Animated Colossus (Hardness 15) receives an attack that deals 20 bludgeoning and 20 fire damage. How much damage of each type does it take after applying Hardness? 5 bludgeoning and 5 fire, or 5 bludgeoning and 20 fire?
Related to that question, does a shield's hardness allow it to mitigate other types of damage besides physical? (bludgeoning, slashing and piercing). The trigger for Shield Block requires taking physical damage from an attack, but doesn't specify in the descripcion that it can only block those three types of damage: "You snap your shield in place to ward off a blow. Your shield prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to the shield’s Hardness. You and the shield each take any remaining damage, possibly breaking or destroying the shield."
In my last game two situations came up, and I would like to get some imput from fellow DMs out there about how you would resolve them.
- A character observed by some enemies turned invisible and then used Sneak to move to another position secret Sneak check went well and he became undetected to enemies. Then he took a potion and drank it. Is grabbing/drinking a potion while undetected considered an unobtrusive action? Rules talk about allowing this type of actions with a new Stealth roll to try not to give away your position. I ruled it was unobtrusive so a new Stealth could be rolled. What do you think?
- In the same combat, the same character used a Summon Dragon spell (9th) to conjure a lvl 13 Adult Blue Dragon. This creature has the Frightful Presence monster ability:
Frightful Presence (aura, emotion, fear, mental) 90 feet, DC 32
This ability doesn't seem to differentiate between allies and enemies, so it should affect everyone inside the aura, but that kinda defeats the purpose of using a summoned dragon... I ruled that the dragon could appear without the aura active to not mess with the PCs, but I have found nothing in the rules to support this. How would you run this?
Please cancel all my subscriptions (Pathfinder AP and Starfinder AP) ASAP, due to a raise in shipping and taxes on my country it's impossible for me to maintain them.
I made this order a while ago. At the time all was ok. Usually Paizo orders take a 2-3 weeks to reach my home, but today I wondered why the order has not arrived yet, and I saw a message on the order regarding the shipping method, a problem that I needed to contact CS to solve.
Reading this spell, I have two questions about it. Hope you can help me.
- Can you fulfill the requirement for the contingency to activate by yourself? So the trigger would be something simple but with some details to not worry about triggering it by accident, like "I touch my forehead with two fingers" (goku style). I think the answer to this is yes, but would like to check anyway.
- I'm not sure to what is referring the text when it says "During the casting, choose a trigger under which the spell will be cast, using the same restrictions as for the trigger of a Ready action". I have read the Ready action, but it doesn't really talk about restrictions, only that you cannot ready a free action that already has a trigger. Can anyone explain this part of the spell to me?
You prepare a spell that will trigger later. While casting contingency, you also cast another spell of 4th level or lower with a casting time of no more than 3 actions. This companion spell must be one that can affect you. You must make any decisions for the spell when you cast contingency, such as choosing a damage type for resist energy. During the casting, choose a trigger under which the spell will be cast, using the same restrictions as for the trigger of a Ready action. Once contingency is cast, you can cause the companion spell to come into effect as a reaction with that trigger. It affects only you, even if it would affect more creatures. If you define complicated conditions, as determined by the GM, the trigger might fail. If you cast contingency again, the newer casting supersedes the older.
Heightened (8th) You can choose a spell of 5th level or lower.
Heightened (9th) You can choose a spell of 6th level or lower.
Heightened (10th) You can choose a spell of 7th level or lower.
Ready Action:
Ready Two Actions
Concentrate
Source Core Rulebook pg. 470 2.0You prepare to use an action that will occur outside your turn. Choose a single action or free action you can use, and designate a trigger. Your turn then ends. If the trigger you designated occurs before the start of your next turn, you can use the chosen action as a reaction (provided you still meet the requirements to use it). You can’t Ready a free action that already has a trigger.
If you have a multiple attack penalty and your readied action is an attack action, your readied attack takes the multiple attack penalty you had at the time you used Ready. This is one of the few times the multiple attack penalty applies when it’s not your turn.
I have an encounter I'll have to run some sessions away.
This encounter features the monster Poltergeist. This creature has the following ability:
Natural Invisibility A poltergeist is naturally invisible. It becomes visible only when it uses Frighten.
Since my casters have True Seeing, I'm wondering how this two game elements interact if they cast the spell in combat.
True Seeing:
True Seeing Spell 6
Divination Revelation
Source Core Rulebook pg. 378 2.0
Traditions arcane, divine, occult, primal
Bloodlines diabolic, genie
Cast Two Actions somatic, verbal
Duration 10 minutes
You see things within 60 feet as they actually are. The GM rolls a secret counteract check against any illusion or transmutation in the area, but only for the purpose of determining whether you see through it (for instance, if the check succeeds against a polymorph spell, you can see the creature's true form, but you don't end the polymorph spell).
Natural Invisibility doesn't have the illusion keyword, but it is basically a permanent invisibility effect... would you allow for true seeing to work against it? for the record, these poltergeists are more powerful than the one in the Bestiary.
Today I have tried to make a new order, using the holidays promo code.
When I reach the 4th step in the checkout, the system doesn't correctly display the 10% discount from Paizo for the shipping, and the 10% discounto from the promo code. Reading the terms&conditions, both should apply, unless I'm missing something.
Could you please take a look at this so I can place the order?
A player of mine has asked me a question about this two game elements and the order of resolution in a situation where both apply. I have tried searching the internet for answers but I find nothing on this specifically.
Imagine two PCs. One of them has a shield raised, it is hit by an enemy, and uses Shield Block. This PC has another ally, a champion, that is in range and uses Retributive Strike to reduce the damage of the attack.
How do you resolve this? wich one goes first, Shield block or Retributive Strike?
Thanks!
Shield Block:
Shield Block Reaction Feat 1
General
Source Core Rulebook pg. 266 2.0
Trigger: While you have your shield raised, you would take damage from a physical attack.
You snap your shield in place to ward off a blow. Your shield prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to the shield’s Hardness. You and the shield each take any remaining damage, possibly breaking or destroying the shield.
Retributive Strike:
Retributive Strike Reaction
Champion
Source Core Rulebook pg. 107 2.0
Trigger: An enemy damages your ally, and both are within 15 feet of you.You protect your ally and strike your foe. The ally gains resistance to all damage against the triggering damage equal to 2 + your level. If the foe is within reach, make a melee Strike against it.
I'm not sure how to resolve the following situation, hope you can help me:
You have a character that has the wounded 3 condition. An enemy knocks the character unconscious by attacking and dealing enough damage to reduce the PC to 0 hitpoints.
Can the PC spend a hero point through Hero Recovery to avoid gaining the dying condition, wich will put it at dying 4 (dying 1 + wounded 3), killing it instantly?
The thing that makes me doubt if this is possible is the fact that Heroic Recovery requires the dying value to increase. Does it count as an "increase" if you go from normal status to dying 1?
Just to be clear, in this example the character doesn't have any feat or game element that affects the standard value of the dying condition that it can acquire before dying.
Thanks!
Heroic Recovery:
Heroic Recovery
Source Core Rulebook pg. 460
If you have at least 1 Hero Point (page 467), you can spend all of your remaining Hero Points at the start of your turn or when your dying value would increase. You lose the dying condition entirely and stabilize with 0 Hit Points. You don’t gain the wounded condition or increase its value from losing the dying condition in this way, but if you already had that condition, you don’t lose it or decrease its value.
Wounded Condition:
Wounded
Source Core Rulebook pg. 623 2.0
You have been seriously injured. If you lose the dying condition and do not already have the wounded condition, you become wounded 1. If you already have the wounded condition when you lose the dying condition, your wounded condition value increases by 1. If you gain the dying condition while wounded, increase your dying condition value by your wounded value.
The wounded condition ends if someone successfully restores Hit Points to you with Treat Wounds, or if you are restored to full Hit Points and rest for 10 minutes.
So after the new errata you define all your carried items in one of three categories: held, worn, and stowed
Is there something preventing a character from declaring every item as worn? (aside from DM intervention).
The only limit seems to be the max. 2 Bulk on worn tools, and I assume every character will stow some items inside their backpack to benefit from the "2 free bulk".
I think this may be a stupid question, but I would like to check if I'm right about this.
So in my game I have a halfling druid. He casts the spell Animal Form.
Does he lose access to heritage mechanics, like Keen Eyes? Does he lose access to the Halfling Luck feat?
I think the answer to both is no he doesn't, by reading the spell and the polymorpth trait rules. He gains the animal trait and that's it. Maybe I'm missing something.
Thanks!
Polymorph Trait:
Polymorph
Source Core Rulebook pg. 635 1.1
These effects transform the target into a new form. A target can’t be under the effect of more than one polymorph effect at a time. If it comes under the effect of a second polymorph effect, the second polymorph effect attempts to counteract the first. If it succeeds, it takes effect, and if it fails, the spell has no effect on that target. Any Strikes specifically granted by a polymorph effect are magical. Unless otherwise stated, polymorph spells don’t allow the target to take on the appearance of a specific individual creature, but rather just a generic creature of a general type or ancestry.
If you take on a battle form with a polymorph spell, the special statistics can be adjusted only by circumstance bonuses, status bonuses, and penalties. Unless otherwise noted, the battle form prevents you from casting spells, speaking, and using most manipulate actions that require hands. (If there’s doubt about whether you can use an action, the GM decides.) Your gear is absorbed into you; the constant abilities of your gear still function, but you can’t activate any items.
Animal Form:
Animal Form Spell 2
Polymorph Transmutation
Source Core Rulebook pg. 317 1.1
Traditions primal
Deities Angazhan, Cernunnos, Geryon, Kazutal, Lamashtu, Stag Mother of the Forest of Stones, Wadjet
Cast Two Actions somatic, verbal
Duration 1 minute
You call upon primal energy to transform yourself into a Medium animal battle form. When you first cast this spell, choose ape, bear, bull, canine, cat, deer, frog, shark, or snake. You can decide the specific type of animal (such as lion or snow leopard for cat), but this has no effect on the form's Size or statistics. While in this form, you gain the animal trait. You can Dismiss the spell.
You gain the following statistics and abilities regardless of which battle form you choose:
AC = 16 + your level. Ignore your armor's check penalty and Speed reduction.
5 temporary Hit Points.
Low-light vision and imprecise scent 30 feet.
One or more unarmed melee attacks specific to the battle form you choose, which are the only attacks you can use. You're trained with them. Your attack modifier is +9, and your damage bonus is +1. These attacks are Strength based (for the purpose of the enfeebled condition, for example). If your unarmed attack bonus is higher, you can use it instead.
Athletics modifier of +9, unless your own modifier is higher.
You also gain specific abilities based on the type of animal you choose:
Heightened (3rd) You instead gain 10 temporary HP, AC = 17 + your level, attack modifier +14, damage bonus +5, and Athletics +14.
Heightened (4th) Your battle form is Large and your attacks have 10-foot reach. You must have enough space to expand into or the spell is lost. You instead gain 15 temporary HP, AC = 18 + your level, attack modifier +16, damage bonus +9, and Athletics +16.
Heightened (5th) Your battle form is Huge and your attacks have 15-foot reach. You must have enough space to expand into or the spell is lost. You instead gain 20 temporary HP, AC = 18 + your level, attack modifier +18, damage bonus +7 and double the number of damage dice, and Athletics +20.
The bard PC in my group has taken this cantrip, and after reading it I have some questions about how to run it correctly. I think it is quite open to interpretation, and I would like to know how other GMS run/adjudicate it.
House of Imaginary Walls:
House of Imaginary Walls Cantrip 5
Uncommon Bard Cantrip Composition Illusion Visual
Source Core Rulebook pg. 386 1.1
Cast Single Action somatic
Range touch
Duration 1 round
You mime creating an invisible 10-foot-by-10-foot stretch of wall adjacent to you and within your reach. The wall is solid to those creatures that don't disbelieve it, even incorporeal creatures. You and your allies can voluntarily believe the wall exists to continue to treat it as solid, for instance to climb onto it. A creature that disbelieves the illusion is temporarily immune to your house of imaginary walls for 1 minute. The wall doesn't block creatures that didn't see your visual performance, nor does it block objects. The wall has AC 10, Hardness equal to double the spell's level, and HP equal to quadruple the spell's level.
- The spell creates "an invisible 10-foot-by-10-foot stretch of wall adjacent to you and within your reach". The description seems ambiguous regarding how thick it is. Should it be a 10-foot length/5-foot width/10-foot high wall? (4 squares in total) or is it a 10x10x10 wall? (8 squares in total)
- "The wall is solid to those creatures that don't disbelieve it, even incorporeal creatures". Ok, so according to the general rules regarding illusions (Core Rulebook pg.298), if a creature tries to step through the invisible wall, it should roll a Perception check against the caster Spell DC (this cantrip is not a mental effect, so Will shouldn't be used). Is this correct?
- Are the caster's allies affected by the wall by default? It seems they are not affected because they are given a choice to consider the wall solid when that is beneficial in some way.
- The description says that "The wall doesn't block creatures that didn't see your visual performance, nor does it block objects". So, if an enemy fires a crossbow through the wall, does it have to roll Perception to disbelieve (the bolt interacts with the wall), or does the bolt go through the invisible wall unimpeded? I use a crossbow as an example, but this question should apply to any weapon that can reach a character on the other side of the wall. I think the general question should be: is there a difference between an object wielded by a creature and an object that is not wielded when establishing if the object ignores the wall or not?
- The last part of the spell talks about the statistics (AC, Hardness, and HP). However, unlike most of the other "wall" spells that I have read, it doesn't say that the wall is immune to critical hits and precision damage, so I assume you can crit it and also deal sneak attack damage. Is this correct?
I have taken a look at the spell and I am confused about what "transform the target creature into a harmless animal" really means from a rules standpoint.
Usually when a polymorph spell changes your numbers, it does say so in the description.
The failure line talks about changing only the target's body, and the critical failure changes both body and mind. But it doesn't tell you how to calculate those.
So if an enemy turns your character into a squirrel because you roll a failure or critical failure, do you keep your AC, saves, HP.. values? How do you apply the effects of this spell?
Thank you!
Baleful Polymorph:
Baleful Polymorph Spell 6
Incapacitation Polymorph Transmutation
Source Core Rulebook pg. 320 1.1
Traditions arcane, primal
Bloodline hag
Deities Mother Vulture, The Lantern King
Cast Two Actions somatic, verbal
Range 30 feet; Targets 1 creature
Saving Throw Fortitude; Duration varies
You transform the target creature into a harmless animal appropriate to the area, with effects based on its Fortitude save.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target's body gains minor features of the harmless animal. Its insides churn as they partially transform, causing it to be sickened 1. When it recovers from the sickened condition, its features revert to normal.
Failure The target transforms for 1 minute but keeps its mind. If it spends all its actions on its turn concentrating on its original form, it can attempt a Will save to end the effect immediately.
Critical Failure The target is transformed into the chosen harmless animal, body and mind, for an unlimited duration.
I have a question about the interaction between animal companions/familiars and the death/dying rules.
Core Rulebook pg. 459:
Player characters, their companions, and other significant characters and creatures don’t automatically die when they reach 0 Hit Points. Instead, they are knocked out and are at risk of death. At the GM’s discretion, villains, powerful monsters, special NPCs, and enemies with special abilities that are likely to bring them back to the fight (like ferocity, regeneration, or healing magic) can use these rules as well.
As a player character, when you are reduced to 0 Hit Points, you’re knocked out with the following effects:
- You immediately move your initiative position to directly before the turn in which you were reduced to 0 HP.
- You gain the dying 1 condition. If the effect that knocked you out was a critical success from the attacker or the result of your critical failure, you gain the dying 2 condition instead. If you have the wounded condition, increase your dying value by an amount equal to your wounded value. If the damage was dealt by a nonlethal attack or nonlethal effect, you don’t gain the dying condition; you are instead unconscious with 0 Hit Points.
I start from the premise that this rules apply to AC/F. They seem significant enough to me to not kill them when they reach 0 hit points, but maybe I'm understanding that part wrong.
The problem I see is with the "You immediately move your initiative position to directly before the turn in which you were reduced to 0 HP" rule.
Since animal companions and familiars have no initiative of their own (they go with the PC that owns them), it doesn't seem possible to apply the rule as written. I suppose you could separate the animal companion's initiative when they go down in combat and make it join the PC's initiative again when they are healed and regain consciousness, but it seems weird to me.
What I have done until now as a temprary solution is that when the AC/F goes unconscious and starts dying, it doesn't make a recovery check on the owner's next turn, it starts with the next one after. That way, you "preserve" the idea that the characters have one full round to heal their ally before it starts rolling recovery checks. Hope I have explained myself clearly enough...
So after taking a look at the forums, I haven't found an answer to this. How do you fellow DM's out there rule this and solve it in your games? Is there anything I'm missing?
In the last session I DMed, a situation arose that I haven't found explained in the rules.
Basically the PCs are fighting a monster that specializes in grabbing its prey. It grabbed the bard, and the character had a very low chance of escaping before being constricted to death.
Another character, the monk, used Tiger Slash (monk feat 6), and after hitting the monster the player asked me if the push effect of this feat could help the bard. I ruled that the monk had to make an athletics check against the monster DC as if trying to escape, and if successful, the Tiger Slash would push the monster away from the bard, freeing him. If the roll fails, then the monster would be pushed, dragging the bard with it.
Fortunately, the roll was successful, the monster was pushed away, and the bard was saved :-)
So, what do you think about this ruling? is it covered somewhere in the rulebook? I could swear I read something in the CRB about this situation but I cannot find anything.
Tiger Slash:
Tiger Slash Two Actions Feat 6
Monk
Source Core Rulebook pg. 161
Prerequisites Tiger Stance
Requirements You are in Tiger Stance.
You make a fierce swipe with both hands. Make a tiger claw Strike. It deals two extra weapon damage dice (three extra dice if you’re 14th level or higher), and you can push the target 5 feet away as if you had successfully Shoved them. If the attack is a critical success and deals damage, add your Strength modifier to the persistent bleed damage from your tiger claw.
Also, regarding the Grab monster ability, I have a question about how it is extended.
So basically if a monster has an attack that grabs, after you hit you spend the next action and the creature you hit is automatically grabbed until the end of the monster's next turn. No roll required.
What happens in the following rounds? reading the text of the ability, my understanding was that you spend another action to use "Grab" and the grab is automatically renewed until the end of the monster's next turn, again no roll required. However, I have seen Jason Bulmahn in some YouTube games doing an athletics roll to maintain the grab... have I been using Grab wrong?
Grab:
Grab Single Action
Source Bestiary pg. 343
Requirements The monster's last action was a success with a Strike that lists Grab in its damage entry, or it has a creature grabbed using this action. Effect The monster automatically Grabs the target until the end of the monster's next turn. The creature is grabbed by whichever body part the monster attacked with, and that body part can't be used to Strike creatures until the grab is ended.
Using Grab extends the duration of the monster's Grab until the end of its next turn for all creatures grabbed by it. A grabbed creature can use the Escape action to get out of the grab, and the Grab ends for a grabbed creatures if the monster moves away from it.
One of my players have a gnome bard with the Sensate Gnome Heritage.
I'm not sure how this imprecise scent works when used to Seek.
- Does this sense allow the character to automatically detect creatures inside the radius when he spends an action to Seek? I'm referring to the "You can usually sense a creature automatically with an imprecise sense..." in the Imprecise Senses section, and the "preventing creatures from passively noticing its presence via smell alone" in the Negate Aroma spell description. That text implies it is automatic. On the other hand, the Heritage gives a +2 circumstance bonus to Perception checks when the target is inside the Scent range, so that part implies that a check is needed... maybe I'm reading it wrong, english is not my first language.
- Wether you have to roll or not, do you still have to select a 30 ft. cone or 15 radius burst (keeping in mind that the Scent only works up to 30 ft.) when using this sense in a Seek action? Or does it function like an "aura" of sorts, detecting in a 30 ft. radius in all directions from the character's square?
- If you don't automatically detect creatures, how do you calculate the difficulty to detect a creature by smell inside the Scent range? I assume that the DC would be easy unless you take specific precautions that mask your smell or the conditions in the area prevent you from using Scent or make it difficult to use.
Is anyone else confused by this? How would you adjudicate the Sensate Gnome Heritage in your games?
Thank you.
Sensate Gnome:
Source Core Rulebook pg. 44
You see all colors as brighter, hear all sounds as richer, and especially smell all scents with incredible detail. You gain a special sense: imprecise scent with a range of 30 feet. This means you can use your sense of smell to determine the exact location of a creature. The GM will usually double the range if you’re downwind from the creature or halve the range if you’re upwind.
In addition, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Perception checks whenever you’re trying to locate an undetected creature that is within the range of your scent.
Imprecise Senses:
Source Core Rulebook pg. 464
Hearing is an imprecise sense—it cannot detect the full range of detail that a precise sense can. You can usually sense a creature automatically with an imprecise sense, but it has the hidden condition instead of the observed condition. It might be undetected by you if it’s using Stealth or is in an environment that distorts the sense, such as a noisy room in the case of hearing. In those cases, you have to use the Seek basic action to detect the creature. At best, an imprecise sense can be used to make an undetected creature (or one you didn’t even know was there) merely hidden—it can’t make the creature observed.
Scent:
Source Bestiary pg. 344
Scent involves sensing creatures or objects by smell, and is usually a vague sense. The range is listed in the ability, and it functions only if the creature or object being detected emits an aroma (for instance, incorporeal creatures usually do not exude an aroma).
If a creature emits a heavy aroma or is upwind, the GM can double or even triple the range of scent abilities used to detect that creature, and the GM can reduce the range if a creature is downwind.
Detecting with Other Senses:
If a monster uses a sense other than vision, the GM can adapt the variables that keep its foes from being detected to equivalents that work with the monster’s senses. For example, a creature that has echolocation might use hearing as a primary sense. This could mean its quarry is concealed in a noisy chamber, hidden in a great enough din, or even invisible in the area of a silence spell.
Using Stealth with Other Senses
The Stealth skill is designed to use Hide for avoiding visual detection and Avoid Notice and Sneak to avoid being both seen and heard. For many special senses, a player can describe how they’re avoiding detection by that special sense and use the most applicable Stealth action. For instance, a creature stepping lightly to avoid being detected via tremorsense would be using Sneak.
In some cases, rolling a Dexterity-based Stealth skill check to Sneak doesn’t make the most sense. For example, when facing a creature that can detect heartbeats, a PC trying to avoid being detected might meditate to slow their heart rate, using Wisdom instead of Dexterity as the ability modifier for the Stealth check. When a creature that can detect you has multiple senses, such as if it could also hear or see, the PC would use the lowest applicable ability modifier for the check.
Seek:
Single Action
Concentrate Secret
Source Core Rulebook pg. 471You scan an area for signs of creatures or objects. If you’re looking for creatures, choose an area you’re scanning. If precision is necessary, the GM can have you select a 30-foot cone or a 15-foot burst within line of sight. You might take a penalty if you choose an area that’s far away.
If you’re using Seek to search for objects (including secret doors and hazards), you search up to a 10-foot square adjacent to you. The GM might determine you need to Seek as an activity, taking more actions or even minutes or hours if you’re searching a particularly cluttered area.
The GM attempts a single secret Perception check for you and compares the result to the Stealth DCs of any undetected or hidden creatures in the area or the DC to detect each object in the area (as determined by the GM or by someone Concealing the Object). A creature you detect might remain hidden, rather than becoming observed, if you’re using an imprecise sense or if an effect (such as invisibility) prevents the subject from being observed.
Critical Success If you were searching for creatures, any undetected or hidden creature you critically succeeded against becomes observed by you. If you were searching for an object, you learn its location.
Success If you were searching for creatures, any undetected creature you succeeded against becomes hidden from you instead of undetected, and any hidden creature you succeeded against becomes observed by you. If you were searching for an object, you learn its location or get a clue to its whereabouts, as determined by the GM.
The target loses its odor, preventing creatures from passively noticing its presence via smell alone, even if the creatures have precise or imprecise scent. A creature attempting a Perception check to Seek with scent and other senses might notice the lack of natural scent. If the target has any abilities that result from its smell, such as an overpowering scent, those abilities are also negated.Heightened (5th) The range increases to 30 feet, and you can target up to 10 creatures.
I have trouble understanding how this focus spell is supposed to work regarding the area of effect, if it is only for the initial casting or for the whole duration.
Do you get the bonuses only while your are inside the area, or if you are affected when it is cast you can go as far away as you want from the bard, keeping the bonuses for the duration?
Thank you!
The description from AoN SRD:
Inspire Courage Cantrip 1
Uncommon Bard Cantrip Composition Emotion Enchantment Mental
Source Core Rulebook pg. 386
Cast Single Action verbal
Area 60-foot emanation
Duration 1 round
You inspire your allies with words or tunes of encouragement. You and all allies in the area gain a +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects.
One of my players has a druid, and is thinking about taking this feat:
"You are at home out in the elements, reveling in the power of nature unleashed. You do not take circumstance penalties to ranged spell attacks or Perception checks caused by weather, and your targeted spells don’t require a flat check to succeed against a target concealed by weather (such as fog)."
The question is: does this feat allow a character to ignore the effects of concealed created by a mist form elixir and the obscuring mist spell?
Mistform elixir:
"A faint mist emanates from your skin, making you concealed for the listed duration. As usual being concealed when your position is still obvious, you can’t use this concealment to Hide or Sneak."
Obscuring mist spell:
"You call forth a cloud of mist. All creatures within the mist become concealed, and all creatures outside the mist become concealed to creatures within it. You can Dismiss the cloud."
I'm not sure if these effects fit the "weather" requisite.
I have searched the forums but I haven't found an answer to this.
I would like to know the correct order to apply the damage when this spell is active, and how the spell works when the caster/target have DR or energy resistance.
So imagine the following:
The solarian has energy resistance 10 to fire.
The mystic has energy resistance 5 to fire.
The mystic throws Shield Other on the solarian.
The solarian gets hit for 20 fire damage, and it has no stamina, so the damage goes to his hit points.
How do you break down the damage and apply the resistances?
Solution 1
Solarian takes half of 20, thus 10 damage, and that is reduced to 0 due to energy resistance 10. Total damage received: 0 fire.
Mystic takes half of 20, thus 10 damage, and that is reduced to 5 due to energy resistance. Total damage received: 5 fire
Solution 2
Solarian takes 20 fire damage, and that is reduced to 10 fire damage due to energy resistance 10, then Shield Other reduces it to 5 due to halving. Total damage taken: 5 fire.
Cleric takes the other 5 fire damage, but that is reduced to 0 due to energy resistance. Total damage received: 0 fire.
So far I have applied solution 2, as I think for a character to receive damage, you first have to go through its resistances/DR. I also see no indication that the mystic can't reduce the damage through this own DR/energy resistance.
Thanks in advance!
Shield Other:
[SFS Legal] Shield Other
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 377
Classes Mystic 2
School abjuration
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets one creature
Duration 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
Description
This spell wards the target and creates a mystic connection between you and the target so that some of its wounds are transferred to you. Casting this spell requires you to spend 1 Resolve Point. The target takes only half damage from all wounds and attacks (including those dealt by special abilities) that deal Hit Point damage, and you take the amount of damage not taken by the target. Only Hit Point damage is transferred in this manner; the target’s Stamina Points are damaged as normal. If you still have Stamina Points, you take the damage to your Stamina Points before Hit Points, as with normal damage.
Forms of harm that do not involve Hit Points, such as charm effects, temporary ability damage, ability drain, permanent negative levels, and death effects, are not affected. When the spell ends, subsequent damage is no longer divided between the target and you, but damage already split is not reassigned to the target. If you and the target of the spell move out of range of each other, the spell ends.
The mechanic in my game wants to take the Technological Innovator trick from the Armory.
Technological Innovator:
Choose two mechanic tricks you meet the prerequisites for but don’t have. Once per day as a move action, you can gain one of these tricks for 10 minutes. Each time you gain a mechanic level, you can replace one of these mechanic tricks with another that you meet the prerequisites for but don’t have.
The tricks he wants to take are Scoutbot and Quick Patch, both from the CRB
Scoutbot:
You’re always crafting rudimentary bots in your spare time, and can use them to scout. It takes you 10 minutes and 1 Resolve Point to create a scoutbot. A scoutbot is a Small technological construct, its EAC and KAC are equal to 10 + your mechanic level, and it has 1 Hit Point per mechanic level you have (and no Stamina Points). It has a land speed of 30 feet, and you can control its movements with your custom rig as a move action. It has a camera that streams visual and auditory data back to your rig. The scoutbot uses your saving throw bonuses if necessary. It is untrained in all skills and has a +0 bonus in all of them, though you can use your own Perception skill when examining the feed from its stream. Once created, the scoutbot lasts for 1 minute per mechanic level you have before falling apart unless otherwise destroyed.
Quick Patch:
When you attempt to patch a system on a starship, you reduce the number of actions required to do so by one. This does not reduce the time needed to patch a glitching system, but you can patch two systems with one action.
For Scoutbot, I have one question.
- It takes 10 minutes to craft the bot, wich is the same time that the mechanic hast the trick to use it, according to Technological Innovator. Can the mechanic build the bot given that both durations are the same? Does the bot keep functioning even after the mechanic loses this temporary trick? I think yes to both as it doesn't seem unbalanced, but what would you do in your game?
For the Quick Patch trick I have three questions:
1st - adjudicating the temporary duration. According to the rulebook, starship combat rounds don’t have a fixed duration:
pg.317:
Like combat between characters, starship combat occurs over a number of rounds until one side flees, surrenders, or is otherwise defeated. Unlike rounds in combat between characters, a round of starship combat doesn’t correlate to a specific amount of time.
So, how much time should the temporary Quick Patch trick last in starship combat?
2nd- establishing how to activate the Technological Innovation in starship combat. Reading the sidebar “other actions in starship combat” (SCR pg.322), I assume the character will have to spend his turn in one of the combat rounds activating the trick (move action replaces the standard role actions), and on the next round he could start using the Quick Patch trick in the engineering phase. Does this sound right?
3rd - Finally, the starship the characters use in the game has a Slime-Patch system installed (from the Scavenger Slime in AA).
Slime-Patch system:
While most spacefarers know better than to try and harness scavenger slimes’ technology, given the obvious dangers involved, the oozes’ ability to quickly adapt and repair systems has made them surprisingly useful tools for those starship engineers daring enough to employ them. Slime-patch systems can be installed in any starship for 8 Build Points, with no expansion bay or PCU cost. When a ship with slime-patch systems acquires a critical damage condition, the slime-patch system automatically turns on, spraying the damaged systems with scavenger slime material almost like a fire-sprinkler system.
The slime, which is chemically treated to die within moments of its unexpected freedom, automatically begins repairing the system, reducing the number of engineering actions required to patch the critical damage condition by 1 (minimum 1).
Does the action reduction effect when patching the systems stack with the action reduction effect provided by the Quick Patch trick?
For example, let's imagine the starship has two systems with critical damage conditions. One is malfunctioning (2 actions to patch) and the other glitching (one action to patch). The mechanic starts with the malfunctioning system, that normally requires 2 engineer actions to patch. The slime-patch reduces this to 1 action, and the Quick Patch reduces it again to 0, allowing the mechanic to patch the two damaged systems with one action (per the trick text). Keep in mind that the slime doesn’t affect the glitching system, as it still requires one action.
I was reading this spell and I’m not sure how to interpret a very important aspect of it. When a creature affected by the spell is attacked, it attacks the attacker back; or if it rolls on the table and gets the 76-100 result, on its next turn it “attacks nearest creature”.
The problem is, the spell doesn’t explain what “attack” means in this context.
I have looked through the forums and only found some answers regarding the PF1 spell (wich is nearly identical), and there is a lot of table variation.
How do you apply the effects of this spell in your games? To provide some examples:
1- You use everything to attack the creature. If you are a spellcaster, you use the spells in your repertoire in the best way possible to damage or disable your “enemy”. If you don’t have spells, you make one or more attacks or use special attacks (like trick attack), depending on the circumstances. In both cases, you use daily resources, items and resolve points if it makes sense, in a tactical way, to give you a better chance to kill your enemy.
2- You attack using your best weapons and may use multiple attacks/special attacks if it makes sense given the circumstances, but you don’t have to use daily resources, items or resolve points. Casters don’t have to use spells.
3- You only make one attack using whatever weapon you have in your hands at that moment.
In these three examples I assume the confused character/creature can move to attack if that is beneficial (to avoid cover, or to strike with a melee weapon) and the action economy allows it.
Also, it is questionable if the confused creature can use abilities that not only attacks/damages the intended target, but also other creatures. For example, a confused dragon using its breath weapon/a character throwing a grenade to damage not only the nearest creature, but also other creatures nearby (be they allies or enemies).
As a sidenote, it is weird that the spell doesn’t use the confused condition, that has mostly the same text with some extra lines that clarify that the creature treats everyone as its enemies.
Thoughts?
Confusion Spell:
Confusion
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 344
Classes Mystic 4
School enchantment (compulsion, mind-affecting)
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area 15-ft.-radius burst
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
Description
This spell causes confusion in all creatures in the area, making them unable to determine their actions. Any confused creature that is attacked automatically attacks or attempts to attack its attackers on its next turn, as long as it is still confused at the start of its next turn. Note that a confused creature will not make attacks of opportunity against any foe that it is not already devoted to attacking (either because of its most recent action or because it has just been attacked). For confused creatures that have not been attacked, roll on the following table at the start of each affected creature’s turn each round to see what it does in that round.
D% Behavior
1–25 Act normally.
26–50 Do nothing but babble incoherently.
51–75 Deal 1d8 + Str modifier damage to self with item in hand.
76–100 Attack nearest creature.
A confused creature that can’t carry out the indicated action does nothing but babble incoherently. Attackers are not at any special advantage when attacking a confused target.
Confused Condition:
Confused
You are mentally befuddled and can’t act normally. You can’t tell the difference between ally and foe, and thus you treat all creatures as enemies, even your closest friends and family, if applicable. An ally who wishes to cast a beneficial Spell on you with a range of touch must succeed at an attack roll against your Energy Armor Class, since you cannot be considered a willing target. If you are attacked while you’re confused, you always attack the creature that last attacked you until that creature is dead or out of sight, unless it is otherwise impossible for you to attack it that round. While confused, you can’t make attacks of opportunity against any creature or thing that you aren’t already committed to attacking.
If you are not devoted to attacking a target, roll on the following table at the beginning of your turn each round to see what you do in that round.
d% Behavior
1–25 Act normally.
26–50 Do nothing but babble incoherently.
51–75 Deal 1d8 + Str modifier damage to self with item in hand.
76–100 Attack nearest creature.
If you can’t carry out the indicated action, you do nothing but babble incoherently. Attackers are not at any special advantage when attacking you.
What the subject says. Up until now, I have only added the photon mode insight damage bonus to damage rolls from melee/ranged weapons, but RAW it seems the bonus should also apply to photon powers with damage rolls, such as Supernova, Corona, Stellar Rush, Blazing Orbit, Sunbolt and Particle Wave (Armory). I have searched the forums but nothing has come up regarding this.
The relevant text:
When you enter photon mode, you gain 1 photon attunement point and become photon-attuned. Some of your stellar revelations are photon powers and get stronger if you’re photon-attuned. While photon-attuned, you gain a +1 insight bonus to damage rolls (including damage rolls for your stellar powers). This bonus increases by 1 for every 6 solarian levels you have.
What do you think about this? Should the damage bonus apply on the powers I listed?
I have questions regarding how these two game elements interact.
Before that, I would like to quote the relevant information:
Spoiler:
Haste Circuit (Magic)
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 205
Item Level 8; Price 9,250
Slots 1; Armor Type Light, Heavy; Bulk L
Capacity 10; Usage 1/round
You can activate the haste circuit as a swift action to gain the benefits of a haste spell until you spend another swift action to deactivate it or it runs out of charges. A haste circuit’s charges replenish each day.
This upgrade can be installed only in light or heavy armor.
-----------
Slow
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 377
Classes Mystic 3, Technomancer 3
School transmutation
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets up to one creature/level, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
Description
An affected creature moves and attacks at a drastically slowed rate. Creatures affected by this spell are staggered (see page 277) and can take only a single move action or standard action each turn, but not both, and it can’t take full actions. A slowed creature moves at half its normal speed (round down to the next 5-foot increment). Multiple slow effects don’t stack. Slow counters and negates haste.
-------------
Countering And Negating
Some spells can be used to counter other specific spells, as noted in their spell descriptions. For instance, you can use slow to counter a casting of haste. This works exactly like the counter effect of the dispel magic spell (see page 351), except you don’t need to attempt a caster level check; if the target is in range, the spell is automatically countered and fails.
Many times, these same spells note that they negate one another as well. This means that a successful casting of one spell on a target under the effects of the second spell undoes those effects, and the effects of the first spell don’t occur.
Ok, so imagine a lvl 9 mystic is fighting an assasin that has the haste circuit installed as an armor upgrade in whatever armor is wearing. The circuit has 10 charges.
The mystic casts the slow spell on the assassin, and it fails the saving throw, so for nine rounds it is slowed, as per the spell description.
As the assasin is staggered, on its turn it can use a swift action to activate the haste circuit.
- I assume this situation is described in the last paragraph of "Countering and Negating", so the haste negates slow. But what are the effects of negating, exactly?
a) Does it mean that the entire 9 rounds of slow dissapear, as if the spell didn't affect you, and the following rounds (as long as you keep the circuit active) you act hasted?
b) Or does the circuit only cancel the slow for 9 rounds, acting normally, and the tenth round you are hasted? (as slow would have expired)
- I believe that when you first activate the circuit with a swift, you still only have one action, because negating the slow effect doesn't give you back your full set of actions (move and standard). Am I correct?
I have changed my payment information adding a new credit card and deleting my older debit card.
The problem is, your system asked for the card verification number, I typed it, and the website told me the card was declined. I have checked with my bank and everything is ok.
For the record, this also happened the last time I changed the payment method.
Please check this, I don't want any problems paying for my subscriptions.
I've looking for an answer in the core rulebook and online regarding how to apply damage in case a character has both energy resistance and temporary hit points, with no success, so I hope you can help me with this.
An example: A character has resistance 5 to acid and 10 temporary hitpoints. An attack hits the character, dealing 15 acid damage. How do you apply damage correctly?
a) The character resists 5 points of damage due to its resistance, and the remaining damage (10) is applied to the temp. hitpoints, reducing them to 0.
b) The caracter first reduces damage using temp. hitpoints (10), leaving 5 acid damage that is entirely blocked by the resistance.
I think the correct answer is a), but I haven't found anything specific in the rules.
So in a few sessions my party is probably going to face a glass serpent (AA2 pg. 64) on Eox. I foresee a problem with my mystic player and I want to ask you about how to approach it.
The maraquoi mystic usually uses mind thrust against enemies, but as the serpent can turn invisible temporarily, this is not possible acording to the rules.
From the CRB in the Magic chapter:
Targets
Some spells have one or more targets. You cast these spells on creatures or objects, as defined in the spell’s description. You must be able to see or touch the target (unless the spell has an attack roll; see Spells with Attack Rolls below), and you must specifically choose that target. You do not have to select your target until you have finished casting the spell.
Mind Thrust doesn't have an attack roll, so you need to see the target or touch it. The problem is, the rules doesn't explain how to touch a target with a spell that doesn't have a range of "touch".
I'm trying to come up with an alternative to use Mind Thrust on those rounds that the serpent is invisible. So far, this is what I have:
- First, the character must be near enough the serpent to touch it. In this case, the character has a 5 ft. reach, so that means it has to be adjacent.
- Once adjacent, the character casts the spell, provoking an attack of opportunity as usual.
- If the casting is successful, as part of the same action as casting the spell, the character can attempt a melee attack against EAC to touch, taking into account that the serpent has a 50% concealment.
- If it succeeds, the spell takes effect as normal. If it fails, I suppose the spell should be lost, as it's not a touch spell, so you can't hold the charge.
I hope you fellow forum members can help me understand better this two items.
Planar Runeplates: after reading the description, I'm not sure if the plates are supposed to give their benefits against creatures that have an alignment subtype opposed to the plates' alignment, or against creatures that simply have some part of their alignment opposed to the plates.
So for example, in the first case if you have Chaotic Good plates, you can use them against demons, wich have the evil subtype (opposes good) but not against a chaotic evil goblin (doesn't have alignment subtype).
The full description:
Cultists and religious artificers forge planar runeplates, as do the demon-worshipping drow of Apostae. Each set of planar runeplates is dedicated to a specific powerful being native to the Outer Planes, such as an archdevil, a demon lord, or a god. Devotional symbols on the plates might convince others you’re aligned with the being in question, even if you’re not. You wear the plates by affixing them to clothing or armor; they count as a worn magic item unless you install them in armor, taking up a number of upgrade slots equal to their mark.
Each set of planar runeplates has the same alignment as the extraplanar entity to which the plates are dedicated, although no plates are created with a neutral alignment with no other alignment components. While you wear the plates, they have several effects. If a creature with an alignment component opposite any of the plates’ alignment components attacks you, the plates alert you to the creature’s opposing subtypes. If the attack hits, as a reaction you can force the creature to reroll the attack and use the worse result. If you fail a saving throw against an effect created by such a creature, as a reaction you can reroll the saving throw and take the better result. Once you benefit from a given set of planar runeplates, you can benefit from a different set only after 24 hours have passed.
Null-Space Chamber:
The mk 1 type has this description: You can close up to 25 bulk in this device’s pocket space, a 3-foot cube. It can hold enough air for one Medium creature or two Small creatures for 10 minutes.
I honestly don't know how to calculate how much bulk a character or creature is worth (aside from what they are carrying), so basically I can't determine if a specific medium or small creature can fit inside the chamber when it already has some of those 25 bulk occupied by items and such. Is there any way to do this?
I haven't found any threads on this, so I'll ask: Do you think the mechanic trick "Overcharge" works with a projectile weapon with the "energetic" fusion applied?
A player of mine wants to use it on a breaching gun (uses shells as ammo)
From Aon:
Energetic
Source Starfinder Armory pg. 63
Item Level 5
A projectile weapon with the energetic fusion relies on energy rather than physical ammunition to generate kinetic attacks. Instead of being loaded with darts, rounds, or scattergun shells, the weapon is loaded with a battery. The type of battery the projectile weapon uses depends on its original capacity as follows: 1–20 use batteries, 21–40 use high-capacity batteries, 41–80 use super-capacity batteries, and 81 or more use ultracapacity batteries. The weapon’s usage does not change, but it takes charges from the installed battery, rather than expending physical ammunition. The fusion converts the energy into physical bullets which target KAC and deal damage normally for the weapon. Only weapons in the projectile category that would normally use darts, rounds, or scattergun shells can benefit from the energetic fusion.
Overcharge (Ex)
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 72
As a standard action, you can use your custom rig to overcharge and attack with a ranged energy weapon or a melee weapon with the powered special property (see page 181) that you’re holding. If you hit, you deal 1d6 additional damage of the same type the weapon normally deals. This attack uses three times as many charges from the battery or power cell as normal and can’t be used if the weapon doesn’t have enough charges. This trick has no effect on a weapon without a battery or power cell. You can instead use this ability as a move action on a touched powered weapon that is unattended or attended by an ally to grant the same effect to that weapon’s next attack before the beginning of your next turn.
So basically when you apply the fusion to a projectile weapon I think you fullfill the "needs to use a battery" requirement for the trick to work, but not the "ranged energy weapon". From a rules standpoint, an energy weapon is one that deals energy damage (fire, cold, electricity, acid, sonic) and usually targets EAC except where noted. The energetic fusion doesn't change the type of AC targeted (KAC) or damage dealt (physical, not energy damage).
Any thoughts? Maybe I'm reading too much into this...
It seems your system is trying to charge me again for starfinder society scenarios 1-22 and 1-23, along with the new ones 1-24 and 1-25 in my subscription. I alredy paid for the first two in order #7475977 (yeah, the same order number as this one) on september 26.
The first order where those scenarios show up in my subscription is order #7443243.
Also, the payment option the email shows is not correct (I have changed my payment method yesterday).
I don't understand why I have two different order numbers with the same items and being charged again for something I already paid.
I have sent you an email about this, please check it out as soon as possible.
Right now I'm dming WotR, and I have created a document where I put all the modified/new statblocks I want to use with my gaming group. My players have a lot of experience with the Pathfinder system, so I need to create more difficult encounters. This document is a work in progress, I update it whenever I can.
Before you check it out, I would like to explain a few things about this document:
- When applying the elite array (when adding a class to a monster), I don't apply the -2 modifier, and change it into a +0. The rest of the modifiers stay the same.
- SR values have been adjusted acording to the creatures' CR when adding class levels or racial hit dice. This is one of my house rules, because I consider SR one of the major defensive abilities for those monsters who have it. If it doesn't go up as the monster advances, then you are basically lowering its base CR.
- When applying class levels to a monster, I add the class hit dice to calculate the monster's Ex/Su abilities save DCs. This allows breath weapons, poisons, gaze attacks, etc to still be threatening. I don't do this with class abilities (such as channel energy).
- I don't use XP in my games anymore, so the CR is based solely on how difficult I need an encounter to be, based on the specific circumstances and party level.
- The text highlighted in red shows most of the mythic stuff, so it's easier to use in combat.
That's all. Hope you find it useful for your game.
Here you have the conversion document I made to run the Age of Worms AP with the Pathfinder system. It is a 193 page document with lots of statblocks. Let me explain a few things about this conversion in general:
- I always tried to maintain the famous difficulty of this AP.
- When converting I tried to stay as simple as possible, although there are exceptions. I limited myself to Core rulebook feats, spells and such to keep it simple while we learned all the diferences between 3.5 and Pathfinder. When choosing feats, I tried to select those that gave passive bonuses or boosted saves/hp, the vital strike chain, the critical X chain, etc. There are feats that are useless (in my opinion) and get changed almost every time such as Cleave and Great Cleave.
- When a monster had a 3.5 specific prestige class, I changed it to a core class. The only exceptions are Moreto the true ghoul (he is a magus, fits perfectly and his original writeup was a mess) and Venk the derro (I changed her to a full warlock, converting the class). All the anti-dragon prestige classes in Kings of the Rift got changed into similar base classes.
- When applying the elite array (because you added a class to a monster), I don't apply the -2 modifier and change it into a +0. The rest of the modifiers stay the same. Why? because it is much easier to add than to substract for penalizing an ability score. That and my players have better ability scores (we use the heroic method).
- SR values have been adjusted acording to the creatures' CR when adding class levels or racial hit dice. This is one of my house rules, because I consider SR one of the major defensive abilities for those monsters who have it. If it doesn't go up as the monster advances, then you are basically lowering its base CR.
- Some statblocks don't have the skills bonuses calculated, but the skills themselves are listed so it should be easy to figure them out.
- Dragons deserve a special mention, because there are a lot of them. If you compare the 3.5 stats to the Pathfinder ones, you can see they lost a lot of hit dice (and all that goes with it: BaB, hp, saves...). What I did is use the basic age abilities and size category from Pathfinder but keep the 3.5 hit dice and Dexterity scores. In some cases I added a point or two on the natural armor bonus so the AC stayed at least the same as the original.
- Following what I said just before for dragons, some of the monsters lost power when the designers converted them to Pathfinder. I tried to keep the difficulty up by comparing the 3.5 and Pathfinder stats, and keeping the best of both. Example: the froghemoth from the Champion's Belt and the marilith demon from Kings of the Rift . Monsters that first appeared on this AP got converted and in some cases I added some new abilities. An example of this would be the acidwraith and the Overgod in Prince of Redhand. Both of them got some new toys to keep the challenge high.
- Some encounters got changed because there were too many monsters, I found a better monster or simply made more sense to me. Example: In A Gathering of Winds, I replaced the blood amniotes with an entropic reaper (fits in the Queen of Chaos backstory) with the ability to fly over the river of blood, bound to the tomb by the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. In the same module, I changed the false clockwork mechanism at the other side of the Xorn bridge into a real machine that could drain the river of blood, thus helping the characters. The trick is the machine was guarded by a black jinni bound to the tomb. The players need to negotiate with the monster or destroy it. At the start of the module, I changed the mechanics of the abyssal ghoul so it created a more dynamic encounter, and reduced the number of belkers by two in the howling corridor because they were too big to fit.
The Library of Last Resort also saw a lot of changes when converted. I tried to give it a more First World feel, and changed some of the monsters for those of the Tane group. Harrowdroth got turned into a frumious bandersnatch. The ancient night twist now is a Sard. Darl Quethos replaced the dead minotaur with a Thrasfyr, creating a telepathic bond. The rock king turned into the JubJub King...
- The document does not contain all the statblocks. For starters, the first module I converted was Encounter at Blackwall Keep, and what I did then is replace the monsters with the Pathfinder versions. For important NPCs like Shukak the lizard king, I applied the advanced template. Later modules saw some conversion but again in most cases I could go on and replace the monster using the Pathfinder Bestiaries. The nearly full conversion starts at A Gathering of Winds and continues up to the end.
A couple statblocks are missing because I didn't need them. That's the case with the ominous Fabler (again I used the original statblock plus advanced template) and Darl Quethos/the sinfire twins (the players negotiated with Darl), I converted the rest of the group except for those three.
My Age of Worms campaign has finally ended, after a year and a half playing once a week.
Yesterday we played the final fight against Kyuss at the end of "Dawn of a New Age". As with the Dragotha fight, I'm posting this information so others can (hopefully) benefit from it.
We play using Pathfinder rules, Core Rulebook only. The setting is Forgotten Realms. I used the Jergal metaplot from the Realms conversion documents, written by Eric L. Boyd. I also added a lot of things of my own creation, like a modified Mak'ar room in the Spire of Long Shadows (it was a small spaceship)
The party:
- half-elf barbarian 20
- half-elf druid 20, small cat animal companion
- human monk 20
- half-elf cleric 20. Magic and Protection domains. It is important to say at this point that in our group we don't use Mage's disjunction.
- half-elf sorcerer 20, infernal bloodline
- Syranus, solar ranger 5
When the party got access to 9th level spells they tought about casting gate and getting a powerful ally to help them from the beginning of "Into the Wormcrawl Fissure". I suggested the creatures from the "gating in the heavy hitters" article in Dragon magazine. I statted up all of them and they chose the solar. Syranus doesn't wear the standard solar full plate but has taken a lot of gear from dead enemies to compensate for that. The cleric player is the one who runs the solar.
No additional allies for this fight. The party had the two fragments of the Rod of Seven Parts (so they got that nice +20 attack bonus against Kyuss), the sphere of annihilation, the Talisman of the Sphere, and the Circlet of Zosiel. In the Rod's case, they had to fight the pit fiend Visciannix to get it (it wasn't an easy fight).
On the other side of the ring we have Kyuss the Wormgod. Since I'm running Pathfinder, I had to convert him. At first I thought about using the Mystic Theurge prestige class along with sorcerer and cleric levels, but in the end I kept the True Necromancer levels so he didn't lose those cool powers (some of them are very important, like that increase in CL on necromantic spells and sp-like abilities). I chose the arcane bloodline for the sorcerer levels, since that benefited him much more than the undead bloodline. Clerics have less spell slots in Pathfinder so I adjusted that, deleting some spells from the statblock.
I looked over the Worm that Walks template published on Bestiary 2 to see if something could be added or modified on his statblock. I gave him fast healing, deducting his CR from the SR. That helped him last longer.
I added his divine Rank 1 to his AC, since the magazine forgot to account for it. I also chose an additional Divine Salient Ability: Automatic Metamagic for his cleric spells. According to the 3.x Divine rules, a Rank 1 deity should have two DSA. Kyuss already had Divine Blast.
At some point I thought about adding 2 slams to his attack routine in case he lost his Mace, but my players didn't tought about using the sphere to annihilate his artifacts, so it wasn't needed. I suggest looking at the Worm that Walks statblock on Elder Evils (3.5) for an appropriate damage value and additional ideas on how to improve Kyuss.
The feat selection stayed mainly the same, but I swapped some useless feats (like maximize spell) for something a lot more interesting: Multispell (x2), Vital Strike, Power Attack, etc... that helped him to keep his melee damage output at a threatening level and stay on par with the PCs on the action economy (he could cast three quickened spells per round, each one at +1 DC due to bloodline arcana).
How I debuffed Kyuss:
When I first read the adventure, I couldn't believe how weak Kyuss gets if the PCs accomplish all the objectives. I wanted to reward my players without turning the final battle into a walk in the park, so these are all the benefits my group got by fighting despair on Alhaster and destroying the Unlife Vortex:
- Kyuss needed two turns to emerge. Not rounds, but turns.
- He lost his +20 insight bonus to AC.
- He lost his Divine Aura.
- The Wormgod's spire lost all those nice player-killing magical effects.
The combat:
The party reached the top of the spire after dealing with Lashonna, the blessed angels and Maralee. Everyone had deathward, freedom of movement, fly, haste, bear's endurance and greater heroism. Some had spell resistance on them. The animal companion had animal growth.
When they saw the monolith and the negative-energy explosion, we rolled initiative. Kyuss got the third position I think. the whole battle lasted 6 rounds.
The monk, the barbarian and the druid moved near the monolith.
The solar kept his distance since he was going to shoot his bow and cast spells.
The cleric stayed near the stairs and casted a buff (righteous might or divine power).
Kyuss got his first turn, and started emerging.
The sorceress moved and opened the portable hole.
First round over. At this point, an alien artifact the party had recovered from Mak'ars spaceship (Numunal, the spellweaver codex that appeared on Dragon magazine) appeared flying near the monolith and projected an image of Jergal as a shadowy spellweaver, with new arms growing directed at the avatars of Bhaal and Myrkul (they were outside of Malchor Harpell's epic barrier), Kyuss and an avatar of Bane that had fallen seconds ago from the sky near the ziggurat. The important thing here is that the party had until round 10 before Jergal absorbed his 4 horsemen of the apocalypse and became the new Forgotten Realms overgod, surpassing Ao.
Second round, some party members tried to destroy the alien artifact (it didn't had an effect on the battle but the party didn't knew this), others casted some additional buffs and Kyuss emerged fully as a full round action. He casted divine power, miracle (to get the benefits of a greater heroism spell) and wail of the banshee at the druid, the druid's animal companion, the solar and the cleric. Unfortunately, I rolled crap on half the caster level checks to overcome SR and the other half of the characters saved taking no damage. Only the animal companion failed the save and almost fell unconscious (0 hit points). Kyuss threw a worm as a free action at the sorceress. The sorceress extracted the sphere of annihilation from the portable hole and moved it towards Kyuss (not enough to reach him). She also casted a mage's sword spell to get rid of the worm.
On the following rounds, the batlle went more or less like this:
- The monk and the barbarian stayed near Kyuss nearly the entire battle. Both of them died from full attacks or decapitation (barbarian got "vorpaled"), but were later revived with a miracle spell from the solar. With the heroism and haste effects, the barbarian could hit Kyuss regularly with 3-4 attacks. The monk was having worse luck and lower bonuses, so he failed a lot more.
- The druid full-attacked in dragon form using shapechange, since the circlet of Zosiel allowed her to punch through Kyuss' damage reduction. She died after Kyuss returned the favor, and got revived with another miracle. The animal companion full-attacked and died as well.
- The sorceress spent her move actions almost every turn to move the sphere and touch Kyuss. The standard actions were used to cast spells or redirect the mage's sword to a new enemy (the worms Kyuss kept throwing at her). Her touch attacks were high due to the rod of seven parts fragments and increased dexterity. Kyuss' lower AC helped too. It was her who dealt the killing blow using the sphere.
- The solar alternated his turns between casting healing spells/reviving fallen allies using miracle or full-attacking with his bow. He did good damage to Kyuss.
- The cleric casted a lot of healing spells, basically. His last spell (mass heal) gave the party the victory against the wormgod, because she succeeded in the SR check (rolled really high on the die, 16 I think, with both spell penetration feats) and Kyuss ate a hundred points of damage even after saving. That damage left Kyuss under 200 hit points, and the next hit from the sphere killed him (the adventure specifies this).
- Kyuss: As I said before, the firs spells were burned mostly on buffing his melee attacks. Why? because the party was well protected against magic effects in general and I thought it was better to focus on the melee to do the most damage. With divine power and greater heroism, he got a +10 to attack and +6 to damage. Power attack was always used, adding +15 to damage and -5 to attack. +50 to damage rolls in total, and an extra attack at the highest bonus. With those spells in place, I could hit most of the characters easily. Luckily for me, the characters were too busy trying to kill the wormgod to even think about dispel magic.
For the most part, I kept full-attacking and killing or severely damaging characters; and using the quickened spells to cast harm to heal. After the sorceress hit Kyuss for the first time with the sphere, I tried to use an implosion to kill her and get some pressure off, but I rolled crap on the SR check and decided it was better not to maintain concentration on the spell (Kyuss had a lot of 9th level spells so it wasn't a big deal). On the next round I thought about casting gate on the sphere, but clearly the dice were against me and if I failed, Kyuss would have probably died on the next round. I casted harm a third time to heal the maximum. To annoy the sorceress, I kept throwing worms at her so she couldn't have all the actions without facing the consecuences of the super-worm eating your brain.
The fifth round sealed Kyuss' fate. I tried desperately to kill a character or two, but that round I rolled like three natural ones (luckily for me Kyuss doesn't miss automatically) and the last two attacks failed to hit. And then Kyuss got hit by the cleric's mass heal. When the sorceress next turn came up, she controlled the sphere, rolled the attack and hit.
The Wormgod died and the Realms were safe again!
Final thoughts:
Both the players and I had a lot of fun with this fight. Running Kyuss was much more fun than Dragotha, because there were less combatants and turns were much quicker to resolve. As the magazine says, he is a complex combatant, but in the end I don't think you have to devise a very detailed strategy. As with the Dragotha fight, magic is less useful than simple melee attacks, except for buffs. I had nightmares about a two-round end battle but in the end Kyuss proved to be an acceptable challenge after the players worked hard to debuff him. I know some DMs have made Kyuss more difficult but what I wanted is a satisfactory ending for our campaing, and I think we got it. After a very difficult campaign (55 deaths, not counting animal companion deaths), it was great to see my players happiness after killing a god!
I will try to post a link to my Pathfinder statblocks conversion
document on another thread so other DMs can use it if they want.
Yesterday we played the dragotha fight at the end of "Into the wormcrawl fissure". I have read the fight details from other DMs on this board and that helped me inmensely, so hopefully others will find this information useful.
We play using Pathfinder rules, Core Rulebook only.
the party:
- half-elf barbarian 19
- half-elf druid 19, small cat animal companion
- human monk 19
- half-elf cleric 19.magic and protection domains. It is important to say at this point that in our group we don't use Mordenkainen's disjunction.
- half-elf sorcerer 19, infernal bloodline
- Syranus, solar ranger 5
When the party got access to 9th level spells they tought about casting gate and getting a powerful ally to help them from the beginning of the module. I suggested the creatures from the "gating in the heavy hitters" article in Dragon magazine. I statted up all of them and they chose the solar. Syranus doesn't wear the standard solar full plate but has taken gear from dead enemies to compensate for that.
The cleric player is the one who runs the solar.
Additional allies for this particular fight:
- Gantrenacht, advanced marut inevitable (from another dragon article)
- Barabog, elysian titan barbarian 6
- Zulshyn, lillend bard 3/sublime chord 10
(I converted the prestige class since there wasn't a suitable replacement in the Pathfinder system)
The bad guys:
- Dragotha: I converted him keeping his hit dice and ability scores, advancing him up to Great Wyrm (so he gets access to 9th level spells and some minor new abilities). I added some feats and changed his ring into two rings of counterspelling (each loaded with greater dispel magic)
- Zyrith: I discarded all the aerial avenger levels and advanced the standard Pathfinder Wyvern until I got the same CR (keeping the 3.5 talon attacks). Not sure if I applied the advanced template as well...
- Venk: I rebuilt her as a Warlock 19. As cool as she was in her original write up, she wasn't a challenge to my players, so I gave her all warlock levels.
Additional allies: None, as all the other denizens of the Tabernacle (Mahuudril, wormdrake, avolakias) were dead after the party "cleaned up" the place following Balakarde's advice.
The combat:
the party had advanced up to the worm's path and killed the nightcrawlers. They teleported out of the tabernacle and rested at Zulshyn's tower. They prepared all the spells and abilities based on the information Balakarde provided and research on standard dracoliches. They gathered their allies, buffed themselves up, teleported into the worm's path again and advanced until they reached the Writhing Sanctum.
Dragotha taunted them, they taunted him back and the fight was on. The whole battle lasted 6 rounds I think.
For the record, everyone had deathward, freedom of movement, haste and greater heroism up and running (except the marut wich is immune to mind-affecting effects). The druid and the cleric had prepared all the spells under the effects of an incense of meditation (all their spells were maximized). Every character had buffs that upped their AC, Saves, etc.
On the first round, Dragotha tried to dispel the deathwards but failed. Because of that, he never got to use his special breath weapon, as that would have been a waste of a standard action. Instead of using the Death Wind, he breathed fire quickening his breath but everyone saved (they were inside the radius of the Balakarde fragment that gives evasion). then used quicken spell to cast haste.
The druid casts sunburst and dragotha fails the save and is blinded. Thank god I gave him the blind-fight feat, because he spent almost the entire fight suffering from that condition.
The barbarian moves while flying and hits Dragotha. He has the slayer fragment.
The monk moves while flying and tries to hit but misses.
The marut double moves into position.
The titan moves and attacks using greater vital strike and power attack, scoring a critical hit. He has a greataxe and improved critical. The damage was along the lines of 48d6+153. Total damage was 300+.
the druid shapechanged into a huge brass dragon (immune to fire) and casted a sunburst. His animal companion moved near Dragotha while air walking. The animal was under the effects of an animal growth spell.
Zulshyn tried to greater dispel magic Dragotha, but the roll was not high enough (I forgot about Dragotha's rings but remembered later). She mainstains her inspire courage song.
The cleric advanced and casted a dispel magic, getting rid of the telepathic bond. We play the dispel magic as if no spell is specified by the player, then the highest one is dispelled.
The sorcerer tried to disintegrate dragotha but failed, even with the fragment that ups the DCs.
Venk was under the effect of retributive invisibility on one of the ledges, and started to cast eldritch chained eldritch blasts and quickened eldritch blasts at the PCs, damaging them.
Zyrith made a flyby attack with the sting using vital strike against the cleric, hoping to damage the healer. He did some damage but the character saved against the poison (he has a belt of dwarvenkind from the ebon triad vault).
Syranus moves and spends a move action to give everyone half his favored enemy bonus (undead+4, so +2).
First round over.
My memory is a little fuzzy on the details of the following rounds, so I'll summarize the results:
Dragotha alternated his turns between attacking and healing. He full-attacked the titan, the barbarian and the monk. he killed all of them except the titan, who regenerated (dragotha couldn't deactivate his regeneration) and was later healed. As all of them were flying over the river of Kyuss' blood or the ziggurat, they were affected by them. The titan in particular lost a lot of hit point due to the constitution drain.
To heal, on one turn he casted time stop to wish himself back to full health, use a harm to get rid of the blindness and quicken new mirror images. The second time he only casted wish to heal again (his concentration is high enough to cast a 9th level spell defensively without risk of failing). The negative energy infusing the room healed him a little bit every round. The party never got to dispel his buffs because they concentrated on attacking. That gave him an advantage, because the mirror images absorbed a lot of hits (none of the characters casted true seeing because all the called allies had it as a constant spell-like ability)
On his last turn he recharged his breath and quickened it again, finally damaging someone (the solar and the druid animal companion took a lot of fire damage, even with fire resist 30). Everyone else evaded.
During the fight he got hit by multiple sunbeams and 2 sunbursts. Even when he saved he took quite a bit of damage due to the incense of meditation effect and the spell's greater damage against undead. His defeat came at the hands of the titan, who hit him with his colossal greataxe. On his last turn I could have healed him again or teleported him away (the PCs hadn't thought about that), but it was getting late and I didn't wanted to steal them their hard earned victory.
The barbarian and the monk stayed the entire fight basing Dragotha, and transfering the slayer fragment between them. Both of them died on different rounds but were resurrected back to full using two miracles. A lot of their attacks were spent chewing through the mirror images (Dragotha always got the maximum number, eight).
The marut full-attacked the entire fight, hitting regularly.
The titan full-attacked every round, using power attack and hitting once or twice each round. He scored another critical, but not as damaging as the first one. the bonuses from Zulshyn's song and greater heroism allowed him to Power attack and still hit.
The druid moved so she could cast sunbeams and hit both Zyrith and Dragotha. The spell caused blindness on both of them, severely debuffing Zyrith and doing big damage to Dragotha.
Zulshyn casted different spells: sunburst, greater dispel magic and one wish. One of the greater dispel magic was countered by one of Dragotha's rings.
The cleric kept casting healing spells and reviving fallen allies. Dragotha saved against the mass heals but even then he took quite a bit of damage. She also full-attacked Zyrith once but did little damage.
The sorcerer spent her turns casting several heightened disintegrates on Dragotha and Zyrith. She also quickened some magic missiles. On one of the later rounds, she casted a glitterdust on Venk so the rest of the team could finish her off more easily.
Venk stayed invisible on the ledge, shooting the characters with her eldritch chained blasts. When the solar approached her, she tried to cast banishment from a scroll without knowing that Syranus was unde the effect of a greater spell immunity (banishment was one of the spells chosen by the caster). She died after receiving a full-attack from the solar's bow and failing to save against the slaying property while blinded with glitterdust.
Zyrith landed near the cleric and started full-attacking. Once the druid blinded him, he started missing (no blind-fight) and was later killed by a full attack from the druid's animal companion. Most of the damage he suffered came from the solar arrows and the druid sunbeams. He did next to nothing in the fight, but at least he took a lot of attacks that otherwise would have been directed at Dragotha.
Syranus the solar ranger was the character that took the most different types of actions: he casted some spells (greater dispel magic, mass heal, miracle...), moved, and full-attacked poor venk turning her into a porcupine. He also attacked Zyrith.
I think Venk and Zyrith died on the same round (4 or 5) and Dragotha was destroyed on round 6.
Final thoughts:
I think this battle accomplished the most important objective in a game session: that players had fun fighting one of the most powerful dragons ever to exist. They worked hard (and died too!) through the module to get every bit of help necessary to destroy their enemy. They used the information Balakarde provided to plan for the battle, and made an intelligent spell and item selection.
Even better, they got the opportunity to run some powerful creatures like the solar and the titan. That's not something you see every day.
Balakarde's fragments are key to this fight. After the battle, the players knew that without them they couldn't have won. They seem like too much and nerf Dragotha heavily, but also allow players to feel powerful and that's good. My players have suffered a lot in this campaing (40+ deaths up to this point), so for once it is ok if they had the upper hand against the enemy.
From my point of view (the DM), this combat was a bit boring since Dragotha was the only enemy contributing meaningfully to the fight, and the players had a lot of turns with all the allies so each round took a lot of time to resolve (combat alone took 4-1/2 hours). This combat was important so I let the players take all the time they needed.
Dragotha is a nasty creature, and his numbers are pretty impressive. The only problem is that the Balakarde fragments nullify every tactic except for full-attacking. If other DMs run this fight as written, I strongly suggest to full attack as much as possible. Don't bother casting offensive spells, because they will save and you would have wasted a turn. Regarding the breath weapon, don't forget (like I did) to use the alternate melt stone breath weapon, so characters cannot evade the fire damage. It seems unfair but the PCs will still get a lot of mileage out of the Balakarde fragments. As for the Death Wind, it depends on Dragotha making the caster level check with an area greater dispel magic to eliminate the deathwards the party will surely have. As you can see, in the end I didn't get to use it because it was a waste of time. Other option is to give him the dispelling breath spell found in the 3.5 draconomicon.
9th level spells are important. I used time stop to recover and wish to heal and buff. I casted wish prior to combat so I could get a moment of prescience bonus on initiative, since an initiative roll is a Dexterity check. If you can open the fight with a succesful greater dispel magic and then breath the Death Wind, you can get an advantage for the first round. Remember that Death Wind doesn't allow a Reflex save for half damage, only a Fortitude save against the wind. There's a reason it is only 1/day and it shares the recharge with the standard breath wepon...
When I built Dragotha, I created two different statblocks. One of them is more or less the same as the original, except for the age category (Great Wyrm as opposed to Wyrm), the extra spells and feats. The second one used the ravener template instead of the 3.5 Draconomicon Dracolich, with the thassilonian magic variant power (allows the ravener to cast spells as normal and heal). This one gives dragotha some interesting abilities: better DR, better ability scores, soul ward, improved critical with all natural weapons, a natural deflection bonus (AC 61!), etc. The only downside is that it makes some of the balakarde buffs a little less useful (no paralysis attack for example). If my players were using splatbooks (APG, UC, UM), I would have used this version instead.
I have two questions about Form of the Dragon and Prismatic Sphere. Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, I have searched the forums with no luck.
- Form of the Dragon III: This spell gives several natural attacks, including a Bite and a Tail Slap. Dragons get 1-1/2 times their Strength bonus on this particular natural attacks. Does this rule apply to the spell?
- Prismatic Sphere: This spell does not list melee attacks as blocked by any of the colors. Can a monster hit the caster inside the sphere? As I understand it, if the monster has SR, it can avoid some or all the colors' effects if the caster doesn't succeed on all caster level checks (the spell says you have to check for each color present). If it doesn't, it has to start making saves.
