Sean H's page

I have an old Bard/Poisoner Rogue I stopped playing a long time ago, as I didn't really like how he played.

Looking through Occult Adventures however, I realized Mesmerist would be perfect for the initial concept I had for him. I know I can pay PP+Gold to retrain my Bard/Rogue levels into Mesmerist levels, but since only classes with Poison Use are allowed to have poisons in PFS, I'm wondering what happens to the unused poisons I purchased with this character.

Do I keep them, even though I no longer have Poison Use?
Do I have to sell them back? If so, what happens if I bought them with PP?

How do these two interact?

The Bashing enhancement states that your shield does damage as if it were two size categories larger, and acts as a +1 weapon in combat.

The Shield Master feat says you add your shield's enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls as if it were your weapon's enhancement bonus.

So, if I have a +3 Bashing shield, does it:

- Function as a +4 weapon (+3 from enhancement bonus, +1 from bashing)
- Function only as a +3 weapon (With the +3 enhancement overriding the +1 from bashing)

If it's the former, I think it would be worth it for me because I would be essentially trading +1 to AC to go from a d4 to a d8.

If it's the later, I would rather just have a +4 shield since I would be not only be losing out on the +1 to AC, but also the +1 hit and damage from Shield Master.

I was reading over the Warpriest blessings, and noticed the following:

Enshrouding Darkness (minor): At 1st level, you can touch an ally and bestow a darkness blessing. For 1 minute, the ally becomes enshrouded in shadows while in combat, granting it concealment (20%). Creatures that are normally able to see in supernatural darkness ignore this concealment.

Would this work with the Fetchling's Shadow Blending?

Shadow Blending (Su): Attacks against a fetchling in dim light have a 50% miss chance instead of the normal 20% miss chance. This ability does not grant total concealment; it just increases the miss chance.

At 1st level, a magus can expend 1 point from his arcane pool as a swift action to grant any weapon he is holding a +1 enhancement bonus for 1 minute. [...] At 5th level, these bonuses can be used to add any of the following weapon properties: dancing, flaming, flaming burst, frost, icy burst, keen, shock, shocking burst, speed, or vorpal.

Adding these properties consumes an amount of bonus equal to the property’s base price modifier. These properties are added to any the weapon already has, but duplicates do not stack. If the weapon is not magical, at least a +1 enhancement bonus must be added before any other properties can be added.

Magic weapon gives a weapon a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls. An enhancement bonus does not stack with a masterwork weapon's +1 bonus on attack rolls.

If I have a non-magical Rapier, can I cast Magic Weapon on it, then use my Arcane Pool to make it Keen?

If so, what happens if the Magic Weapon spell effect ends before the Arcane Pool enhancement does?

The Warriors of Sunlight are the followers of the firstborn of the Great Lord Gwyn. They harness the power of sunlight, manifested as lightning powers.

A friend of mine is going to be starting up a Dark Souls themed game soon, and I'm trying to work out what I want to play. I know thematically, I absolutely want to play a Warrior of Sunlight(WoS). Mechanically, I'm struggling to come up with a class that fits. If possible, I would like something that can hit all of these points:

• Ranged lightning-based attack, similar to the Lightning Spear.
  
• Competence in melee combat.
  
• Ability to enhance melee attacks with lightning, similar to a Sunlight Blade
  
• Ability to wear armor of some sort.

We're starting at level 5, and my pre-adjustment stats are 17, 13, 12, 12, 11, 8. It's okay if it will take a few levels for me to get some abilities.

EDIT: It's totally cool if I need to pick up something through using a magic item, as opposed to an innate class ability.

For my next PFS character I have been considering playing a man from Hermea, but I'm not entirely sure how to run him. While there is a lot of discussion about Hermea the nation, there is comparatively little about people from Hermea. Looking through the wiki, the only relevant information I've found is this:

[Mengkare] periodically sends agents throughout Golarion to seek out the best, the brightest, the wisest, and the most beautiful to join him on Hermea in pursuit of utopia.

Other than that, I can't find any information about citizens of Hermea in the outside world. He could be an agent(There are certainly many great Pathfinders who could be recruited), but I would like more information before going that route. Would such an agent announce his presence, or be secretive? Would they deliberately test potential recruits, or only observe them passively? Would they search for other methods to enhance humanity(magic/technology/artifacts), or focus solely on recruitment?

Are there any other examples of Hermeans traveling to other lands? There's exiles of course, but that doesn't really fit my character concept.

When you score a critical hit or a successful Stunning Fist attempt against an opponent while using this style, that opponent is also shaken for a number of rounds equal to 1d4 + your Strength bonus.

Since the Shaken given by Dragon Ferocity doesn't seem to reference the Intimidate skill at all, I believe you can stack the Shaken effect from multiple criticals(or multiple stunning fists) to make an opponent Frightened or Panicked.

But what if you hit someone with a successful Stunning Fist, and the attack that delivered the Stunning Fist also happens to be a critical hit? Do they get Shaken twice, becoming Frightened immediately? Or are the only Shaken once, because they've only been hit by one attack(which met both qualifiers?)

Looking at the Wall of Lava spell, I can't figure out how the height for this spell is supposed to work. Am I missing something here?

This spell creates a vertical wall of lava that is 1 inch thick for every 4 caster levels and composed of up to one 5-foot square per level. A wall of lava's maximum height cannot exceed half of its width (with a minimum height of 5 feet). The wall cannot be conjured so that it occupies the same space as a creature or object. A section of a wall of lava can be destroyed by damage (hardness 4, hp 90), but if a section is destroyed, the remaining lava in the wall immediately fills in any such hole created, reducing the wall's overall size by one 5-foot square but remaining a contiguous barrier.

So if it's height can't exceed half it's width, you need it to be 20 feet thick to have a 10 foot high wall. However, you only get 1 inch per 4 CL, so you need a CL of 960 to create a wall of lava that is taller than 5 feet!? That can't possibly be right, can it?

I have a couple questions about using scrolls in combat:

1) If I cast a touch spell from a scroll, can my familiar deliver it?

2) Can I activate a scroll while grappled, assuming it is in hand?
2a) If yes, do I need to make a concentration check? If so, do I use my caster level or the scroll's caster level?
2b) If yes, what happens if I fail the concentration check? Is the scroll destroyed, or can I try again?

I loved the Qinggong Monk when it first came out, but as more and more books are released it makes me sad that none of the new spells are ever added to the Qinggong's list.

Looking at the spells in ACG, we have Air Step, Blessed Fist, Blurred Movement, Heightened Awareness, Heightened Reflexed, Long Arm, Thunderstomp... all exceptionally Monk-esque abilities, moreso that many SLAs Qinggong actually has, but nothing is ever added to their list.

We need some monk love :(

I'm trying to make a Wild Empathy focused character in PFS. I know that numerical bonuses to Diplomacy like skill ranks don't apply to Wild Empathy, but what about non-numerical modifiers?

Wild Empathy states "This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person." If you have an ability that changes how Diplomacy checks made to improve the attitude of a person works, do those also apply to Wild Empathy?

Take the alternate racial trait Silver Tongued:

"Humans with this trait gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Bluff checks. In addition, when they use Diplomacy to shift a creature's attitude, they can shift up to three steps up rather than just two."

The +2 bonus won't apply to Wild Empathy, because it doesn't get included in the Druid level + CHA calculation. But what about the second part? Since Wild Empathy "functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person", would the ability to shift a creature's attitude by 3 steps apply to Wild Empathy?

I was really excited to see Paizo's take on psychic magic, but I'm disappointed with the current implementation. It just feels rather... stilted, like they tried to cram the 3.5 PP system into the Vancian Magic system, and the result is not pretty.

While I love the PP system, Dreamscarred Press has cornered that market, so I see why Paizo didn't go that route. However, psychic magic feels like it's fighting against itself in it's current state, and I think this is because it's trying to be too many different things at once. Instead of being tied down to the past, I want to focus on ways we could make Psychic Magic into something new, cool, and distinctly Pathfinder.

Undercasting feels like it's trying to fill the same role that Augmentation did for PP, but since you can't split a higher level spell slot into multiple lower ones there's no reason to undercast a spell when you have higher level slots available unless you KNOW you're fighting a weaker foe. Against true threats, there's no reason to even consider not using your highest tier spell, since the high-level ones are always straight upgrades.

Compare this to say, Burning Hands v.s. Scorching Ray v.s. Fireball, which not only have varying damage but also have varying utility; which one you want to use can be heavily influenced by how enemies are positioned. With undercast spells, this isn't the case; the next level is always just a better version.

One possibility I think it would work better is if instead of having spells that just get bigger numbers as they level, these new occult classes learned ways to 'twist' their spells to better suit their needs. You could never quite know what to expect when fighting an occult caster; this would help add to that eerie, strange feeling that the occult is supposed to give. I think the Alchemist Admixtures are a good example of this; the Alchemist is still throwing bombs, but the exact effect it has been shifted to produce strange results.

Another option would be to use a system like Monk Ki or the Magus Arcana Pool for enhancing these spells. If instead of having Ego Whip I, Ego Whip II, Ego Whip III, etc., the Psychic just had Ego Whip with the ability to boost their spells up to higher strength by spending Ki or some similar resource, you would get the benefits of having multiple power levels without the weird dissonance that undercasting produces in a Vancian magic system. Players are also already familar with this kind of system, which is another bonus. It also opens the door for more possibilities like this in the future... I don't know about you, but I would totally play a Ki-based full caster.

There's a handful of buff spells (Sun Metal, Magic Weapon, Weapon of Awe, etc) which all are [Target: Weapon touched]. Obviously these work when cast on a mundane melee weapon, but what about a Spiritual Weapon?

This spell has [Effect: Magic weapon of force]. The question is, does this qualify for the [Target: Weapon touched] of the earlier spells?

My cleric just hit 9th, and looking at spells I found Lesser Astral Projection:

School necromancy; Level cleric 5, sorcerer/wizard 5

This spell functions as astral projection, except you cannot leave the Astral Plane and explore other planes (though you can still return to the plane you were on when you cast this spell).

And looking at the full one:

By freeing your spirit from your physical body, this spell allows you to project an astral body onto another plane altogether. You can bring the astral forms of other willing creatures with you, provided that these subjects are linked in a circle with you at the time of the casting. These fellow travelers are dependent upon you and must accompany you at all times. If something happens to you during the journey, your companions are stranded wherever you left them.

You project your astral self onto the Astral Plane, leaving your physical body behind on the Material Plane in a state of suspended animation. The spell projects an astral copy of you and all you wear or carry onto the Astral Plane. Since the Astral Plane touches upon other planes, you can travel astrally to any of these other planes as you will. To enter one, you leave the Astral Plane, forming a new physical body (and equipment) on the plane of existence you have chosen to enter.

While you are on the Astral Plane, your astral body is connected at all times to your physical body by an incorporeal silver cord. If the cord is broken, you are killed, astrally and physically. Luckily, very few things can destroy a silver cord. When a second body is formed on a different plane, the silver cord remains invisibly attached to the new body. If the second body or the astral form is slain, the cord simply returns to your body where it rests on the Material Plane, thereby reviving it from its state of suspended animation. This is a traumatic affair, however, and you gain two permanent negative levels if your second body or astral form is slain.Although astral projections are able to function on the Astral Plane, their actions affect only creatures existing on the Astral Plane; a physical body must be materialized on other planes.

You and your companions may travel through the Astral Plane indefinitely. Your bodies simply wait behind in a state of suspended animation until you choose to return your spirits to them. The spell lasts until you desire to end it, or until it is terminated by some outside means, such as dispel magic cast upon either the physical body or the astral form, the breaking of the silver cord, or the destruction of your body back on the Material Plane (which kills you).

When this spell ends, your astral body and all of its gear, vanishes.

Does this mean that, after paying 1,000 gp for the material component, I can cast this spell once to project myself... then return to the material plane as a projection, allowing me to adventure as normal and do normal people things, only if I die I will re-awaken wherever my real body is(admittedly with 2 negative levels)?

If so, that seems like it functions almost as a 'save point'... sure, it's 3k/'death', but it's a lot cheaper than the 8k/death you would pay normally to have someone raise you, and you don't have to worry about death effects/disintegration as much.

I just found this spell Blood Crow Strike, which sounds cool but I can't actually figure out how it works.

Based on the spell block, this looks like a spell that you hit an enemy creature with:

Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target one creature
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell resistance yes

Yet the spell description itself sounds much more like a buff spell you would cast on an ally:

Your unarmed strikes release blasts of energy in the form of bolts of fire or glowing red crows, which fly instantaneously to strike your target. You can make unarmed strike or flurry of blows attacks against the target as if it were in your threatened area; each successful attack deals damage as if you had hit it with your unarmed strike, except half the damage is fire and half is negative energy (this negative energy does not heal undead).

To complicate matters further, this is a 4th-level Cleric spell, which means you must be at least 7th level to cast it. However, the example given uses a 14th-level Monk, and I don't believe characters can go up to 21st level.

This further reinforces the idea that this would be a buff spell that you cast on an allied Monk, but since the duration is instantaneous I don't have any idea how this would work, unless you are permanently imbuing them with the power to make ranged Unarmed Strikes, which seems... incorrect.

I'm looking at Shatter Resolve specifically. It says that when creatures fail a save versus your channel, creatures become shaken for a number of rounds. Due to the way that fear effects work, subsequent channels would stack this effect, making creatures frightened and then panicked.

But what if you don't want them to run away? What if you only want them to remain shaken? Can you simply not use your feat?

I have a level 10 Cleric of Urgathoa in PFS, with about 20,000 gold and no idea what to spend it on other than generic +stat, +AC, and +Save items. Currently I have the following:

Headband of Charisma +4
Cloak of Resistance +2
Belt of Constitution +2
Handy Haversack
Metamagic Rod of Reach, Lesser

While I'm open on any suggestions for what to buy, ideally I would like to increase one(or more) of the following:

Channel DC
Spell DCs
HD Limit for Command Undead feat
EDIT: Also tools for dealing with constructs.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough fame for a +6 headband, can't buy a headband of wisdom because I need my charisma one(though I suppose I could get an ioun stone), and I don't know of anything that would increase my effective HD for channeling.

So... any ideas?

After seeing some fantastic examples of 3D terrain for various scenarios, I decided that I would like to try my hand at building my own 3D terrain. However, since this will likely be a large investment of time and money I want to make sure that the scenario I build it for is relatively uncommon, so that I can run it for a large number of groups(both locally and at cons).

The scenario I was thinking about was Haunting of Hinojai, but since it's an older scenario I have no idea what % of PFS players have played it. Does anyone have some numbers I could reference?

Is it possible to use PP in order to purchase expensive spell components? I'm looking at Stoneskin, and I would like to use 2 PP to buy a giant jar of granite dust(worth 750gp) which I could then use to cast the spell 3 times. I'm not sure how this fits into the rules legality though.

On the one hand, this could be considered purchasing a single item(the jar of dust) with multiple uses, not unlike buying a scroll with duplicate spells, wand with multiple charges, or a bottle of sovereign glue.

On the other hand, it could be considered 3 separate items(3 separate spell components), which just happen to be the same type of item that is stuffed into a single container.

I was working on prepping for a session I will be running this weekend where I was going to have the party ambushed by a group of monstrous humanoids. After looking at the statblock for Gnolls, Hobgoblins and Bugbears though, I noticed a... discrepancy.

The stats for all 3 of these monsters are very, very similar. Similar HP, similar attack, similar damage... but not similar CR. Hobgoblins are CR 1/2, Gnolls are CR 1 and Bugbears are CR 2.

What am I missing that is supposed to make a Bugbear as challenging as 3 Hobgoblins? I think a hobgoblin would stand a good chance 1v1 with a bugbear, so one of these monsters must be mis-CRed.

Since whips are traditionally made out of leather, are these any special materials you can use to make them? It seems like whipwood is the only one which seems like it could work, but even then that's almost a houserule since whipwood is in fact a type of wood, and whips aren't generally made from wood.

I really like the Moonlight Stalker feat, as +2 to Attack and Damage is nothing to sneeze at. However, to get it you need darkvision, Blind-Fight(kinda useful) and Combat Expertise(a feat tax).

Is it worth it to get Stalker if you're not otherwise going to pick up Blind-Fight or Combat Expertise?

I've got a Fetchling character with 3 levels of GM credit on it that I never actually built in PFS, and I think it's about time to do so. After much deliberation I'm sure that I want to go into the Shadowdancer PRC, but I'm not sure how I want to get there, so I would like some opinions from you guys.

My background story is going to be that I was an enforcer for the Onyx Alliance, then while on a mission in the Shadow Plane found the banished fae Count Ralnac. The Count caused me character to embrace freedom and reject the slave-trading Alliance, so he joined one of the Alliance's rivals - the Pathfinder Society.

Right now, the options I have considered are:

1) Monk -> Fighter -> Shadowdancer

This takes care of most of the feat requirements for Shadowdancer, allowing me to spend my other feats on more useful combat abilities. I had considered going for the Moonlight Stalker feat chain as it works well with the Fetchling's Shadow Blending, and I think this is the only way I would actually have enough feats to do it.

2) Ninja -> Shadowdancer

This has more of a focus on stealth, and as long as I'm picking up Dodge/Mobility being able to benefit from Sneak Attack when flanking could be nice. Pressure points synergies moderately well with the shadow's strength drain attack, too.

3) Summoner -> Shadowdancer

Sadly the Shadow Caller archetype isn't allowed in PFS, but I could still use my eidolon as a flank-buddy up until I get my shadow, then focus on buffing/support spells while my shadow melees. Here I would be directly contributing less, but have more versatility.

What do you guys think? Anything I haven't considered?

I have a Maneuver Master Monk in PFS with the Moonlight Stalker feat chain, and I regularly make use of Feinting in order to deny opponents their DEX versus my attack. However, I was recently told that Feint isn't actually a combat maneuver since it doesn't use CMB/CMD, and thus I can't use it with Maneuver Master.

Is this correct? It seems utterly bizarre to me, but a cursory reading of the rules doesn't find anything to contradict this...

I'm running a campaign where the PCs are currently in Nex and will be entering a tower devoted to magical research. I'm planning on having eight rooms, one for each school of magic, with an appropriately-themed encounter inside of it. I've got one for the most of the schools, but I'm having trouble coming up with one for Divination and Enchantment rooms. The party is currently level 5.

Jester's Fraud and the Heresy of Man series are perhaps some of my favorite scenarios ever, even after running them over 4 months ago. A new group of PFS players has just reached the 5-9 tier at my local PFS lodge, and I was contemplating sharing these excellent scenarios with the new players, but actually found myself held back by the upcomming PaizoCon, as I have a level 5.2 character that I need to get to level 7.0 in a limited number of sessions in order to play in the 7-11 scenarios I want to at PaizoCon.

Granted, I understand why Paizo wants to incentivize GMs to run their new scenarios, but unfortunately my work has been really busy recently and I don't have time to run through and prep a brand-new scenario. Would it really hurt that much to give credit for running a scenario multiple times, as long as it was several months apart?

For the Cleric Domain abilities which are A) Spell-Like and B) Require a melee touch attack(Such as the Darkness domain's Touch of Darkness), can a cleric 'cast' the ability and hold the charge the same way she could hold a touch spell, then deliver it later with an unarmed strike?

If you have a creature with racial SLAs, is there any way that you can either increase the number of times each day he can use those SLAs, or 'recharge' one of those SLA uses(akin to a Pearl of Power)?

It's been almost a year since last PaizoCon, where I won a boon for a Fetchling character in PFS. I still have yet to make a character for him, as I can't come up with any ideas which truly capitalize on a Fetchling's abilities.

I can't really make a Darkness fighter because you can't rely on your allies having Darkvision in PFS, and if you forgo Shadow Blending/Darkvision then a Halfling is almost always better at stealth. I just don't know what else to do with him.

I was looking over new magic items for my 8th-level Cleric and came across the Candle of Invocation. I had previously only noted the item for abusing broken Gate shannanigans, but the second ability of the candle actually intrigues me:

A cleric whose alignment matches the candle's operates as if two levels higher for purposes of determining spells per day if he burns the candle during or just prior to his spell preparation time. He can even cast spells normally unavailable to him As if he were of that higher level, but only so long as the candle continues to burn. Except in special cases (see below), a candle burns for 4 hours. It is possible to extinguish the candle simply by blowing it out.

How exactly does this work? The item description isn't very clear, but it seems like this could either be very useful if you can start the day by burning it while prepping some higher level buffs up to 4 times, but it could also be almost worthless if it is a one-use item where the spells only function during a 4-hour window.

I have a Cleric in PFS who is really good at bluffing(Trickery Domain), but terrible at forgery. I want to focus on shoring up this weakness. As I see it, the only real way to make believable forgeries is with the Linguistics skill. This is problematic for me, because as a Cleric who dumped INT, I start with an intrinsic penalty and don't have many points to put into it.

So, are there any other ways I can create believable documents, or ways to quickly boost my Linguistics check? Something like, I dunno, magical paper which makes people believe whatever is written on it?

I will be starting a new home game this Saturday, and I want to run it where the players begin on the surface and slowly work their way down into the heart of the Darklands. The concept for the game I have is that something is causing the Black Blood of Orv to spread, which is pushing the creatures spreading out to Sekamina, pushing creatures living in Sekamina to the surface, pushing the ones displaced even further, up until creatures such as the Derro are forced out of their homes and begin attacking surface settlements en-mass. The PCs need to find out why.

That said, there are several parts I need some help figuring out.

1) Setting. I've never done an underground campaign before, so I'm exploring new territory here. I've read the section on the Darklands in the ISWG, and I'm looking through the Pathfinder Wiki now, but I would really appreciate recommendations of resources to look at.

2) Rest Stops. I get the impression that the Darklands tend to be overwhelmingly hostile; as such there won't really be any stereotypical 'village with an inn' for the PCs to stop at between adventures. I want some sort of area where the PCs can rest to regain their bearings, purchase supplies & sell loot, or fall back to as a last resort. What should I use for this?

3) Ecology. I know there's a lot of weird, crazy monsters in the Darklands, like the Intellect Devourers and Neolithids, but I'm not exactly certain what fits where.

Thanks in advance for your help!

There's a Staff in Ultimate Equipment known as the Staff of the Master. The book says there are 8 different staves, one for each school of magic, but an example is only given for one of them(Necromancy). That particular staff allows the wielder to cast three Necromancy spells: Ray of Enfeeblement(1st), Spectral Hand(2nd), and Vampiric Touch(3rd).

It seems like for most games, Staves for the other 7 schools can be created simply by picking a 1st, 2nd and 3rd level spell from the school of the staff, which the staff can then cast. For PFS however, this seems to tread dangerously close to the custom magic items line.

So, how would this work in PFS? The Additional Resources states that all staves on pages 192–203, except the unholy staff, are legal for play. That means the Staff of the Master should be legal, but what spells to we use? Can we chose what spells we want the staff to cast? Will someone create a list of spells specifically for this staff we can use? Or is only the Necromancy staff available, because it's the only example given?

I have a Cleric of Urgathoa running through the Thornkeep dungeon who just hit 3rd level. She took the Alternate Channel for food, so living creatures who fail their will save versus her channel become Fatigued from starvation.

I took Selective Channel for my first level feat OFC(don't want to be fatiguing the party), but I'm not sure about my third level feat. I was considering Shatter Resolve to make enemies who fail the save Shaken as well as Fatigued, but we have run into several undead so far so Command Undead would be really nice to have as well.

Which one would be better?

I have a Diviner Wizard(Opposed Abjuration & Enchantment) in PFS who has started taking levels in Pathfinder Savant, and I'm looking for spells to take for Esoteric Magic. The ability states the following:

At each class level beyond 1st, the Pathfinder Savant chooses a spell from any class’s spell list and thereafter treats it as if it were on the spell list of his base spellcasting classes; if his base class could not normally cast that spell, it is treated as 1 level higher.

This ability caused some confusion about what was possible in the past, I think thatJames Jacobs's take on this is fair, so that's how I'll run it for PFS. So, assuming we take all spells at +1 spell level, what are some good picks for this?

I picked up Litany of Sloth from the Inquisitor list, and I was considering Death Knell next. I also like the looks of Bloodsworn Retribution and Blessing of the Champion from the Paladin list. Any other good picks?

I've got a 8th-level Wizard who just came into a big pile of money. After filling up my spellbook and expanding my scroll collection into a library, I have 23,000 gp left over to spend; I'm not sure on what, though. Right now all I have is the following:

-Handy Haversack
-INT Headband +2
-4 Lv1 Pearls
-1 Lv2 Pearl

Other than upgrading the headband to a +4, I'm not sure what else to get. Any ideas?

Specifically, I'm thinking about the spell Bestow Grace of the Champion, though this is also applicable to spells like Holy Word or Order's Wrath. If I have a LN or CG character, is there any way to make these spells affect them as if they were Lawful Good?

I'm starting a new character who will be a Separatist cleric of Urgathoa, but I'm having a little trouble pinning down a faction for her. I plan on playing her as a bit of a hedonist, but I'm uncertain where to place her. Scarnzi(for greed), Taldor(for decadence), or Cheliax(for the tender flesh puppets...?) all seem like viable options, but they all have some downsides as well.

Of the 3, I've only played Cheliax before, which was a lot of fun. As my cleric won't be super-lawful though, I'm not sure how well it would fit this concept.

If a Barbarian were to PRC into being a Living Monolith, would the Barbarian's class DR stack with the Monolith's class DR?

I've been looking over the Heresy of Man series, and I plan on running Pt. 1 later tonight. However, I'm a little uncertain on how the battle with the Dark Guardian of Norgorber is supposed to go.

When I first read over the scenario I thought he went to cast Darkness and attack as soon as the PCs invaded his holy shrine, but upon re-reading his tactics it looks like he sits back and waits while they desecrate everything, and only attacks once they try to leave. This... doesn't seem right. In addition to not making much sense, it means the whole battle would take place along a 5 ft. wide stairway, which means the PCs would always know where this guy is(right in front of them!) despite the darkness.

How have other GMs run this?

Quite simply, I'm looking for a good way to make a small-ish fog cloud that will obscure vision, for use with the Slyph's Cloud Gazer feat.

A Smokestick is too small with only a 5' radius, but Obscuring Mist and similar spells are too large with a 20' radius. Sadly, I don't think there's a "Shorten Spell" antimetamagic, and I haven't found any cloud abilities with a size in between these.

I'm wondering exactly how the interplay between these two should work. If you break your word, Legalistic says that you become Sickened for 24 hours. With the Wasting curse, you become immune to Sickened at 5th level.

Curses say that they are so powerful that only the gods can remove them, but how does it work if you have a curse which is preventing a curse from cursing?

Tied up creatures count as Pinned, and it is relatively difficult for them to escape from the ropes. If they have a friend however, it becomes much easier. But what about in the middle of combat? There's no Use Rope skill anymore, so what would the difficulty of this be?

It would suck to spend 2-3 rounds tying someone up just to have their friend walk up and untie them in a round. I suppose they could cut their friend out too, but at least that one can be fixed with Fortifying Stones.

I've long held Haunting of Hinoji to be my favorite scenario of all time, but I recently ran another that may just take the crown - Jester's Fraud. It got off to a rocky start, but once my group started getting past the shock-and-awe of the first encounter and into some of the silly interactions between NPCs, everyone started having a blast. They actually managed to get two of the three artifacts by negotiating with the bandits/jester instead of fighting them, which was a lot of fun for everyone involved.

I never got a chance to run it, but I remember another scenario I loved playing was Red Harvest. The openness of the scenario gave the players a lot of freedom, but drew them back into the final encounter well.

I think my favorite thing out of these three is they're all somewhat open, with enough investigative elements to perk up the ol' noggin, yet not so much it becomes a mystery game. Are there others like these? I would love to see more in the future.

As I understand it, only round 1 is anonymous, with round 2 and all subsequent rounds being open to discussion. How far does this extend, though? Despite it currently being round 1, would it be cool if I wanted to take a printout of my rough archetype down to my FLGS for critique and playtesting? I've always found the best test of an idea is getting it into the hands of players, and I would rather do that sooner than later if possible.

If we see an item during the course of voting that we want to talk about, can we make a post on the forums for it? Or should we hold off until after the voting ends in the interest of anonymity?

I've gone through about a dozen pairs so far, and I've found three items that I thought were really cool, and saved them out to a word doc. I saw others talking about doing the same thing, but I'm not sure what the precedent for this is.