Sehnder's page

Hey folks. If a creature has, say, 6 tentacles each with the GRAB ability, can it grapple multiple enemies at a time? Players are going to face the following beasty:

https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/bestiary/monster-listings/aberr ations/abyssal-harvester-tohc

Does that mean it could grab three players at once and constrict them? Can it maintain a grapple with all of them or just one? My understanding is that basically this creature is just going to beat at them with its tentacles if it can only grapple one creature at a time and it is fighting multiple foes by itself. Thanks!

Hey folks.I am putting some of my GM games (and GM boon) to use and thought that the above combo would be pretty fun/effective. Wanted to get your thoughts on what an effective build would be combining these two. I know Zen Archer alone is pretty formidable, so I'm not sure on how best to combine the two. Thanks in advance for any help!

Hey folks. Probably a simple question with a "no" answer, but would like to get your thoughts.

In PFS one of my alchemist's trademarks has been putting defeat enemies into barrels and chucking them at the next batch of opponents. Not an effective strategy I admit, but a lot of fun for everyone at the table. However, tonight a GM called to my attention that a barbarian rage power and a full round action is required to toss anything as large as barrel.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo--- rage-powers/hurling-lesser-ex

So my simple question is- is there a way to chuck barrels at people without dipping into barbarian? My alchemist build already has me going into monk/fighter, and I can't afford any further detours. It is obviously just a fun stylistic thing, but if there is some item or spell that would let me retain this it would be fun. Otherwise I might just have to settle for dropping barrels on people once I get access to fly. Thanks for your thoughts!

As a result of a FPS scenario, I am now living with a very real problem related to the confused condition. Minor chronicle sheet spoiler with details.

So net net, I know my character is going to get confused for many rounds at a time. I have been looking around to see if there is any means of preventing confusion or eliminating it when it occurs, but so far I have not been able to find anything. I'm hoping I'm missing something, because otherwise I feel like my character is a walking time bomb to cause a TPK (either by attacking others or being useless). Thanks for any help!

The bonus spells for alchemists read as follows:

"An alchemist can create only a certain number of extracts of each level per day. His base daily allotment of extracts is given on Table: Alchemist. In addition, he receives bonus extracts per day if he has a high Intelligence score, in the same way a wizard receives bonus spells per day."

The main nuance for an alchemist is the he frontloads his casting by creating extracts. The key term here is CREATE. That means unlike most casters, an alchemist only really needs his casting stat at the start of the day (or if he is mixing up a new brew later) for spells per day purposes.

With all that in mind, wouldn't this mean that an alchemist could do the following?:

Fox's Cunning
Create Extracts
Fox's Cunning Fade
Enjoy Extra Extracts

To use a simple example, my 14 intelligence alchemist only gets two extra extracts per day (one level 1, one level 2). By buffing at the start of the day, I would be able create two additional extracts (one level 3, one level 4). In my mind what this means is that if an alchemist plans to create all his extracts up front, there is no reason for him not to buff before doing so in order to maximize his number of extracts. Am I missing something here, or is that actually how it works?

I was thinking of trying something a little bit different for my next PFS character, and thought that a combination monk alchemist may be fun. Conceptwise the idea would be to be a frontline brawler who can supplement his abilities with some alchemy for big fights.

Ragechemist 4- Disocovery: Feral Mutagen
Monk 8- Not sure on what compliments the theme well.

Stats:
Str: 15
Dex: 14
Int: 12
Wis: 14
Con: 14
Cha: 7

My first question is whether or not this character concept is even viable or if it would be horrendously ineffective (the stats are spread pretty thin as you can tell). Second question would be what a good monk compliment would be to the ragechemist. It seems like overall the ragechemist should only go up to level 2 for rage mutagen or level 4 for feral mutagen, and I am having trouble deciding on what the best use of the other 8-10 levels is. Thanks for any insights!

Had a player reroll a ninja and just wanted to makes sure I'm not missing something here.

Essentially with vanishing trick, a ninja in melee on his turn can do the following:

Swift-Vanish
Full Round- First Attack Sneak, Vanish Removed, Remaining normal attacks

And when the ninja gets invisible blades:

Swift- Vanish
Full Round- All sneak attacks, remains invisible.

From a GM perspective it seems once he hits level 10 everything gets obliterated unless they happen to have detect invisibility up. Accurate or inaccurate?

If I have my paladin UMD expeditious retreat on a wand, can I apply it to my paladin mount through "share spell"? My understanding is that I can redirect it to my mount, giving it a 50+30=80 base move speed. Justice is swift!

Bonus question 1: If my mount is going to die in combat, can I use http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/h/hero-s-defiance to keep my horse alive? If you can replace "you" with "horse" when using share spell, it seems like the horse would be able to trigger it.

Bonus question 2: What kind of action is used to "catch" something being dropped or thrown to a nearby ally? I am planning to use my horse as a utility animal and have helpful items like wands/potions strapped to him that allies can grab and use. I was wondering if I could have the items attached by a rope and have the horse "bite it free" while moving past allies and they could grab it (or have the horse simply toss them the item with his mouth). Basically the idea is to have the horse act as 1,500 pound saint bernard, aiding allies however he can.

Thanks in advance for the help!

I've been planning a Paladin/Hellknight combo for a while, but I'm a bit indecisive on how to finish it off. The original plan was for a Pal 10/ Hell 2, but it occurs to me that levels 9 and 10 don't give that many toys to a Paladin.

I am wondering if some sort of fighter class dip would help my overall combat ability and give my build some desperately needed feats. Or maybe two levels somewhere else to round him out more.

My character has a pretty flexible playstyle- he is happy to assist with wands, wait for the enemy to advance, or handle diplomatic matters. That said, what he lives for is those times when swift heroism is required and he can charge in, falchion in hand. In other words, being a combat beast is his preferred choice, but he happily places that aside when the team needs him in another capacity. So added combat ability is my first thought for whatever his last two levels are, but I'm willing to forgo it for awesome utility.

At present I am thinking either two levels in the two-handed fighter or unbreakable archetypes are the way to go.

Current stats are as follows:

Level 5 Aasimar Paladin
Str:18 (Used level 4 stat bonus)
Dex:13 (+1 at level 12)
Con:14
Int:12
Wis:07
Cha:17 (+1 at level 8)

Skill Focuses: Use Magic Device, Intimidate

Feats: Fey Foundling, Power Attack, Furious Focus

!Bonus Question!

Even though I am not a mount focused melee character, I am debating picking up an animal for my divine bond for utility purposes (having horse flank my enemies, rescue damsels in distress, attempt trip attacks, or run up to wounded allies so they can take one of the potions he has saddled to him).

Fun idea or terrible idea?

Thanks for your help!

I am running an adventure path against a somewhat customized Lamia Matriarch. She seems like she has a good chance to massacre the party if played intelligently. Just a few of the things it seems like she would do...

1. Charm Fest
My understanding is that you can cast charm without breaking invisibility. If this is the case, the Lamia can easily cast charm monster on every party member before the fight even begins. Unless you detect her she can just bide her time until everyone fails. I don't even know what she would do at that point, but it seems to me it could get nasty REALLY quick. "Let me talk to your barbarian alone for a few minutes."

2. Suggestion
The fight is on the top of a clock tower 200 feet high. As part of the fight she summons a scary illusion. She can simply suggest "that thing will kill you! the only way to escape is to jump off the building!" and it will essentially take someone out of the fight (also, 20d6 damage)

3. Invisibility + Mirror Image
We have three melee fighters and she has an AC of 25. Getting through that will take a bit.

I'm curious in particular if #1 and #2 are jerk moves on my part or expected play from a Lamia. I figure she has 16 int and Wis, so she is going to play smart. I came up with her plan of attack after only a few minutes, so I am positive she could be even more nasty if she put her mind to it. Any insights appreciated!

When a loot reward says something to the effect of "a crown worth 40GP" or "a holy symbol worth 100GP", is that the amount the PCs will sell it for or how much it is worth total? Since most of the items flagged this way don't have any alternative uses, I want to make sure I am not giving the PCs twice (or half) as much gold as I ought to. Thanks!

I originally had this under advice, but since it is more a smattering of rules questions I thought this part of the forum would be more appropriate.

I haven't GMed before and most of our players can count the number of RPG sessions on one hand, so we have the blind leading the blind. If we have differing opinions my interpretation stands with only token grumbling, but I let them know I will research and report back before the next session. That is where you guys come in!

I'll simply add on replies as more questions arise- less clutter than making a new topic each week. Thanks in advance for any responses you provide!

Hey folks. GMing Burnt Offerings (first time GM) and rather than make a dozen new threads as new questions pop up, I thought I would just bump this when I get stuck. Currently all of the soft stuff of keeping the players happy and engaged are going great, but could use a hand on some of the "hard" stuff. The current head scratcher is...

TREASURE:

1. When running an adventure path, do you ONLY award explicitly stated treasure, or do you determine random treasure as well for foes defeated?

2. Does a monster with specific loot in an adventure path also drop regular treasure in addition to its listed treasure?

3. I know you "buy" magic items from loot rewards (e.g., more items is less GP), but is there any specific guidance on how many items to buy in this way? There is a big difference between a PC getting a single minor magic item at level 2 vs 1,000 GP in cold hard cash.

4. Using the loot tables and loot by level...

Here is where I get a bit lost. Conceptually, I know that you award treasure in such a way that the PCs have more or less the expected GP for their level (see #3). I get that it can balance out overall (no treasure when you fight the ooze, double the treasure when you beat the boss) but how I actually go about figuring out loot for an encounter is a challenge.

Example: The PCs so far have defeated:

Encounter A- 3 Goblin (CR 1/3) [CR 1]

Encounter B- 2 Goblins (CR 1/3) Goblin Chanter (CR 1/2) [CR 2]

Encounter C- 1 Goblin Commando (CR 1/2) Goblin Dog (CR 1) 3 Goblins (CR 1/2) [CR 2/3? Not listed in the book]

(These three encounters are scripted with no break in between)

Encounter D- 2 Skeletons (CR 1/3) [CR1? Not listed in the book]

The only treasure explicitly listed is one potion for both the commando and the chanter, their equipment, and 20 GP. That leaves 8 goblins, 2 skeletons (no treasure) and a dog who didn't drop any treasure. In the case of the goblins they appear to only have combat gear (and whatever "other" treasure is) but if it were standard treasure,I'm a bit baffled as to whether this was 2 total encounters or four. The PCs are expected to get 400GP per encounter, which means if each of these awarded that much they are 1,200GP behind where they should be. They only have a fight or two before they reach level 2, and they are certainly going to be behind the expected $1K per person at this rate.

Mathematically it is easy enough to figure out the number of encounters expected per level and how many "encounters" it should take to level, so my thought is something like this.

PC Expected Wealth By Level 2: 1,000*4= 4,000 total to be awarded (Ignore starting equipment)

% of level gained by encounter(s) * 4,000= Gold to award

So judgmentally, if the encounters above got the PCs roughly 1/3 of a level, they would need to receive ~1,300GP from the encounter to be on track. Obviously it can be less than that and money is obtained from other sources (quest rewards, hidden treasure outside of the encounter, etc.) but I think this is the basic idea. If this is the case should I be "deducting" the value of scripted adventure path awards from the loot I am doling out?

Sorry for the long-winded questions, but hopefully you can see what I am trying to get at. Your thoughts and pointers are appreciated.

I'm trying to put together a cleric that will have the sole focus of drawing enemy attention while being nigh-unhittable. The character will be used for some Pathfinder Society games. I'm a pathfinder newbie, so your help would be appreciated!

[PROPOSED STATS]
LG Dwarf Cleric
Str 14
Dex 12
Int 7
Wis 18
Con 16
Cha 10

Domains: Law and Freedom

Variant Channeling: Law (Helpful) http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spellcastingClassOptions/c leric.html

At level 2 grab a level in fighter to gain access to full plate, tower shield, and shield focus. After that back to full time cleric.

[RATIONALE]
Law domain chosen primarily for the channeling. Giving the party +5 on all saves alone is pretty major, and with the attack bonuses added on it is all the better.

Freedom domain so that on the off chance that something IS able to make me fail saving throw, any incapacitation will be short lived.

Multi-class into fighter because it makes more sense than dumping multiple feats for heavy armor and tower shield proficiencies.

[PLANNED "SPECIAL TOUCHES"]
I have some interesting ideas planned to make my character a threat and add some unique value. Would like to hear your thoughts or if there is anything I am overlooking that would make these not work.

C'mon, hit me: Cast http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/compel-hostility and then sanctuary. Forces the enemy to attack me unless they succeed on a save, and even if they do they must then pass the sanctuary check.

You can't catch me, I'm on fire: Cast http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/r/resist-energy and then light myself on fire. As long as I'm not taking more than 10 damage, I should be dandy. Why do this? Being grappled/eaten/mauled is never fun, and if they try it they will regret it. My thought is that I would basically douse myself in oil before and light er up the start of each dungeon dive. Any reason this wouldn't work.

[OTHER MUST HAVES]
I have only played pathfinder once so I am sure I am missing out on some other neat things I could do here. In particular I don't know what other feats/spells would be good to accompany this. Overall though I think a perpetually on fire dwarf compelling things to attack him should make for some interesting adventures. Any thoughts/suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help.