Seraph403's page

Pirate wrote:

lots about his awesome game aids

must see hero point cards, terrain, and pics of your lair!

Super bad quality photo taken with my iPhone to bug a buddy who hasnt been able to play D&D/Pathfinder in years

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/cryage/map.jpg

The black felt is the fog of war and the stick thing was what we use to show a lanterns light.

Pirate also has strings and pipe cleaners with 1" increments to mark a 5' movement. Super awesome how much effort he puts into the sessions and trust me, us players greatly appreciate it ! :D

I'll take a few more photos next week if Pirate will allow it of the zones we've already explored (don't want to spoil unexplored zones yet!)

Darkwing Duck wrote:

Yes, while Jason is lead designer at Paizo, others helped work on the core rules. You didn't.

Wrong.

Darkwing Duck wrote:

While PF is based on 3e which was designed by Monte, Skip, Jonathon, et al, you had no part in designing the 3e core rules.

Wrong.

Darkwing Duck wrote:

What you did work on was 3e Forgotten Realms

And core D&D 3E. And Greyhawk. And Ravenloft. And Birthright. And Dragonlance. But that's okay.

Darkwing Duck wrote:

(which I've never heard anything good about and a whole lot of bad about).

I guess the Best Roleplaying Supplement Origins Award for the 3E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting was for the pretty pictures. It's not like I've ever had diehard Greyhawk fans who hate the Realms ever tell me, "your book made me want to run games in FR." Oops, except I have had that happen.

Darkwing Duck wrote:

You will never find me being a professional game designer as I couldn't handle the massive pay cut down to what even the best game designer makes.

Stay classy!

SKR just won the internets!

I've always enjoyed everything SKR worked on back in 3.5, trolls gonna troll I guess...

I would agree, but this isn't a conversation about cultural views of evil regarding necromancy, it's a conversation about why there is no logical reason in game that is a metaphysically evil spell.

We're just coming up with examples to substantiate why it SHOULDN'T be considered an outright evil spell ;)

We have a Dread Necromancer in our current game. She isn't evil in any paticular way, and tries to help people all of the time. She also will put her life first of it is someone else or her, if it comes to survival.

This same character decided that she would not animate the dead of sentiant creatures, no human, elf, goblin or orc skeletons. Considers it revolting. However this same person would hesitate in the slighted to animate that bull, deer, or bear into the undead. Her opinion is that, "Man, and others, enslave, and murder cows, sheep, deer, horses all the time. Isn't using a creatures bones less of a crime than killing it.

There is also a Cleric NPC around from an order that does not see skeletons and zombies as evil, believing their their souls have passed onto the next realm, but they have intelligent undead and seek to destroy them to release their souls to the next realm.

Are either of those people evil?
I don't think so... are their acts evil? That's a different in point-of-view.

That's actually quite a good argument. In a shamanistic culture, using the bones of an animal would be considered useful and not being wasteful. I could see this being a "loophole"

Kudos to your player :)

Alright, Hypothetical Situation.

A Dwarven king dies and rests in his tomb with his legendary axe. A group of a dozen dwarfs elect themselves to be the sole guardian of that axe and the remains of their once was great king. Nearing the end of their mortal lives, they advise their cleric that in death, they still wish to serve their purpose.

They all slip into death one at a time, and the cleric fulfills their wishes - animating them into skeleton soldiers to forever protect this relic.

Because the dwarfs chose this fate, is that evil? It hardly is, at this point, those dwarven skeletons are not acting ANY different than a golem would.

IMO, it's situational.

Quick question about Druid's Vestments... can you buy multiple vests and change them out after you use the daily charge to get more uses of wild shape per day? (like level 4 with 2 druid's vestments get wild shape 3x a day if he changes the used vestment after the 2nd use).

A GM should accomodate the party to a degree. I personally dont ever feel that a person should HAVE to be designated as the "healbot" unless they want too. IMHO if a party is lacking a dedicated healer, then more potions/wands of cure light wounds should drop to supplement the lack of healing from strong casters such as clerics, druids, or oracles.

Not to mention animal companions are SUPER customizable in Pathfinder :D

Seraph403 wrote:

Raging Hobbit wrote:

I am trying to craft a shield of adamantine. I want to use this shield as both a shield and a weapon. How does that work with the damage reduction and the ability to bypass hardness for sundering. Would an adamanitine shield even provide damage reduction? The text says it automatically is masterwork. Do I have to pay the adamantine price twice to get both abilities (3,000+5,000).

Adamantine damage reduction quality only applies to ARMOR, not shield. However, using it as a bashing weapon would act as a bludgenoning adamantine weapon and bypass damage reduction on say, a golem.

I cant understand why a Shield which is a piece of Armour and counts towards Armour class should not have damage reduction. Surely it should have but only to attacks coming from the shielded side and the front.

My thoughts would be DR is dependent on the size of the shield - a Large shield is thicker than a small shield, and should be classed as Light Armour DR - small shield, Med Armour - Large Shield, and if you manage to carry a Tower shield - Heavy.
The cost should be +3000, +6000, +9000

Because a shield isn't attributing to your "Armor" bonus, it is your "Shield" bonus. Yes, it applies to your FINAL AC, but it is a different item and bonus all together. Its easier to find a way past a shield than it is in a guy wearing full plate as the full plate encompasses your entire body, thus giving you the damage reduction. I kick you from behind, while you're on the ground, in the face, in your arm, etc - you are still armored. You are holding your shield and i slash you in the back, why should you deserve a damage reduction bonus the same as a guy in full plate?

Even in the front, the shield doesnt cover you 100%.

The only time it matters if a spell is arcane or divine is on a scroll. That said, yes, some staves have a mix of spells from different class lists. Who could use that staff of defense you ask? Maybe a mystic theurge or a multiclassed cleric with levels in sorcerer or wizard who didn't go that way. Also, don't forget that you can always Use Magic Device to get those other functions, or pass the staff to someone who can actually use the function you want. The real pain is that in order to recharge the staff of defense you need 8th level spells....

And burning that 8th level spell only gives you 1 charge/day :/

Wish it gave you an equivalent back on half of the spell level you spend (so an 8th level spell would give you 4 charges back)

I was thinking of taking the Shadow bloodline as a sorcerer and you can rake in a pretty impressive stealth check, so I was just wondering - what are the rules of casting a spell while stealthed? I know there is the sniping ability if you are firing a bow, would it work very much the same way?

My friend pointed out to me, ray attacks against a flat footed ac = awesome.

Seraph403 wrote:

Just wondering, reading through the Dhampir in the beastiary 2 , how much sleep does a Dhampir require? It is half human and half undead, yet ages the same as a elf.

Just wondering what would you guys rule for how much rest one would require? The full 8 hours of a human? None as they are half vampire?

Thanks!

Unless a humanoid creature's writeup indicates otherwise, it's safe to assume it requires the same amount of sleep as a human.

Figured as much, thank you for the clarification James! :)

Just wondering, reading through the Dhampir in the beastiary 2 , how much sleep does a Dhampir require? It is half human and half undead, yet ages the same as a elf.

Just wondering what would you guys rule for how much rest one would require? The full 8 hours of a human? None as they are half vampire?

Thanks!

Hey guys,

I was reading through the starsoul sorcerer since I'm debating one as my next character (as my rogue had died recently in kingmaker... RIP)

I was reading the bloodline arcana where you cast an evocation spell and if the target fails their save they are dazzled.

My question is, does this also apply to evocation spells that dont offer a save? Ie: magic missile?

Thanks in advance!

Allowing 3.5 feats and source

Incantrix level 7 ability "Instant Metamagic" Once per day the 7th level incantrix can use a single metamagic effect of any metamagic feat she knows on a spell without preparing it beforehand or increasing its cast time."

Incantrix Level 8 ability "improved metamagic" At 8th level, the incantrix has mastered metamagic to such an extent that whenever she uses a metamagic feat the feats level increase upon a spell is rduced by one (this cant reduce an increase to less than one).

Players handbook 2 "Arcane thesis" Choose one arcane spell that you canc ast to be your thesis spell. When casting that spell you do so at +2 caster level. When you apply a metamagic feat other than heighten spell to that spell, the enhanced spell uses up a spell slot one level lower than normal

Complete arcane "Split Ray metamagic" You can cause any ray spell to fire one additional ray beyond the number normally allowed. A split ray uses two spells higher than the spells actual level

Complete arcane "Twin spell metamagic" Casting a twinned spell causes the spell to take effect twice in the same area or on the same target simultaneously. Takes up a slot 4 levels higher"

Scorching Ray, level 2 spell

Empower +1 (3rd level spell) 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6
Empower split ray (4th level spell) 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6
Empowered, twinned, split (6th level)6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6

Now prepare a quickened one (8th level) 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 --- and now couple it with the regular one Empowered, twinned, split (6th level)6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6 + 6d6
= 96d6 in one round 96 - 576 damage from two spells. Keep in mind, these can also crit and almost guarantee to land since they're touch based.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt though, 3.5 is pure cheese with a ridiculous amount dumb source material which stacks like this. My party has outlawed a lot of source material (actually all, any 3.5 stuff has to be dm approved) because of this , but playing my wizard last night, I did about 400+ damage with ease in a round (needed to use about 4 spells though) and I could do it to multiple enemies since it's all AoE spells. Also rods , metamagic mastery, and again, proper combo of metamagic feats are super win for wizards.

Perhaps. But same could be said about cleric. 600 damage is quite good, but a wizard with proper metamagic feats and planning can do around that damage consistently and doesn't have to hope for a crit nor a perfect situation.

I agree with the idea that the Inquisitor is primarily a striker class but there is a way to kind of get a bit of both worlds.

This build leans very Dex heavy with only like 10-12 in str for weight/loads.

What I did for my inquisitor was make him a follower of Sarenrae.

This makes you proficient with scimitars.

At level 1 pick up Weapon Finesse. For now just pick up a rapier or an elven curveblade if you're elven (which I was).

At level 3 things get much easier. Pick up Dervish Dance (a feat from one of the side books. Guide to Qadira or something). This single feat kind of sets you on track to damaging while pumping dex. It not only lets you treat a scimitar as a finessable weapon but it ALSO allows you to add your DEX to damage over your STR.

Will you do AS much damage as if you had picked up a two handed weapon for time and a half STR? Not quite but you gain some decent AC from having a high dex, plus you make prime use of some light armor in the process.

Plus later down the road, an animated shield really gives a nice strong boost here.

Pick up Weapon Focus Scimitar as you go for any help to hit and focus on healing/aid spells over damaging ones as you go, given your classes extensive damage capabilities without it.

The Dervish Inquistor really works out great in a game (tested and approved). You don't have to worry about STR so much which is a really nice thing to be able to do with a sufficient melee class.

It's funny, i've always wanted to make an inquisitor / cleric of Sarenrae... sort of base him on Eli of Book of Eli... this actually works perfect.

Also solid advice Ice Titan, Greatly appreciated!

I am trying to craft a shield of adamantine. I want to use this shield as both a shield and a weapon. How does that work with the damage reduction and the ability to bypass hardness for sundering. Would an adamanitine shield even provide damage reduction? The text says it automatically is masterwork. Do I have to pay the adamantine price twice to get both abilities (3,000+5,000).

Adamantine damage reduction quality only applies to ARMOR, not shield. However, using it as a bashing weapon would act as a bludgenoning adamantine weapon and bypass damage reduction on say, a golem.

A halfling's greatsword is similar to a human's longsword, but the balance will be completely different. What's more, the grip will have a different diameter/feel to it, which can be murder on a wielder's handling of the weapon. As such, I think the rules make sense as written.

True enough, a giants club would be a tree trunk to a man ;)

Seraph403 wrote:

Abraham spalding wrote:

MooNinja wrote:

Having trouble trying to select a Patron. Anyone with insight on some of their experience with 'em ?

The strongest for a "generic" witch are endurance and wisdom. If you are looking for a witch eldritch knight, then strength really pulls ahead as well as transformation. Elements is... ok if you want blasting, but without that (and some Elemental spell feats) the witch hurts a bit for blasting spells, and honestly doesn't really have the slots to waste on single round effects from the class's spell list. Personally I find the witch is great at low opponent fights, but against large groups struggles a bit due to a lack of good multi-target spells (both buffing, and debuffing).

Summoning isn't a bad strategy for a witch, especially since the witch can make the enemy easier to hit (and hit less often) which gives the summoned creatures a chance to actually drop some CR = opponents.

Aside from use magic device, what importance does Charisma have on a witch?

Little to none. I'm not sure why the question is brought up though -- I said nothing about Charisma.

Misquoted, meant to quote Ice Titan's

"If you rolled your stats, that's fine. But if you used point buy, I would heavily suggest dropping STR to 10, WIS to 10 and then making CON and DEX 14. With the extra point, CHA 13. CotCT goes to 16, so you'll have 4 stat bonuses. One in CHA, 3 in Int and a Wish or tome for +1 Int at the end of the AP gives you a good... 28 Int at the end of the line. And all even mods."

My witches stats are as follows (We're doing 25 point buy system)

Str 8
Dex 16
con 12
Int 20 (18, +2 human)
Wis 12
Cha 7

More options, many wonky things fixed. It's 3.6 or 3.75 compared to 3.5

It's a cleaned up version of 3.5. It cut a lot of the fat off (god bless CMD and CMB).

Jumping from 3.5 to Pathfinder is a very easy switch.

MooNinja wrote:

Having trouble trying to select a Patron. Anyone with insight on some of their experience with 'em ?

The strongest for a "generic" witch are endurance and wisdom. If you are looking for a witch eldritch knight, then strength really pulls ahead as well as transformation. Elements is... ok if you want blasting, but without that (and some Elemental spell feats) the witch hurts a bit for blasting spells, and honestly doesn't really have the slots to waste on single round effects from the class's spell list. Personally I find the witch is great at low opponent fights, but against large groups struggles a bit due to a lack of good multi-target spells (both buffing, and debuffing).

Summoning isn't a bad strategy for a witch, especially since the witch can make the enemy easier to hit (and hit less often) which gives the summoned creatures a chance to actually drop some CR = opponents.

Aside from use magic device, what importance does Charisma have on a witch?

direcow wrote:

I'm not quite sure why this hex would be used. Could someone give me an example or two when using this might be a good idea. Thanks in advance.

What I love with the Witch is how funny her hexes are. They're not necessarly powerful, but they're funny. Even read fairy tales? Remember how the witch in Sleeping Beauty just went into the castle and casted curses on the royal baby? Well that's what witches in Pathfinder can do too. Turning the king into a kobold might make the rest of the kingdom treat you with a little more respect. It doesn't kill the target, it usually can't even weaken it, but it changes his body, and his whole identity might go away with it. Throwing someone into another body is one hell of a great curse, if you ask me. It would make anyone freak out.

Are you kidding? That would crumble the kingdom ;)

King goes missing, some lame kobold saying "I'm the king!"

I can picture it now... >:D

I am acutally a bit worried about cackle:

If you have something like a mount from the mount spell, or maybe a zombie horse oder someone to carry you so you do not have to use your move action (sorry Fly Hex wont help you there).

You could keep a your entire party (and of course undead minions) under the effect of the fortune hex all day long (as long as you stay within 30 feet). And to add insult to injury you could misfortune, evil eye and ward (and later retribution) too.

I mean it will be a bit creepy and tough on your vocal cords, but it seems broken, especially since a level 1 witch can do it (Simulacrum of a level 2 witch costs about 500 - 1000 GP) ^^

Regarding spell focus, in the end it comes down to personal choice, what effects you want to succed. And IMO two of your best spells enervation and energy drain do not require you to increase the save dc, since those should not come to happen most of the time.

It sounds like really bad advise for a spellcaster, but considering that you are not shielded, blurred, hasted, stoneskinned, mirrir immaged like your wizard buddy, keeping you alive has top priority.

So I would suggest you to invest in something like Dodge. On the other hand if you remove both Spell Focus feats, and replace them with Quicken Spell and Spell Perfection:Enervation you could sling quickened Enervations from your 5th level slots. If you decide to go this route I would suggest exchanging Persistant Spell for Empower spell - or Weapon Focus Ray.

So you would end up with 1 quickened enervation with +2 to the attack roll and +8 on checks to beat spell resistance and whatever else you want to use your standard action for. Invest in some metamgic rods of empower to add insult to injury.

Keep in mind, Cackle is a move action so you cant do much else. Granted you could move and cackle or cast a spell/hex and cackle, but you cant spell/hex, cackle, and move, so you really need to decide what to do. Also not cackling for 1 round can remove the hex. So if I use misfortune on an enemy, then I cackle the next round, but on the third round I cast a spell and move to get myself into a safer area, misfortune drops and I cant put it back on that target for 24 hours.

As a witch you really need to prioritize this.

I took Evil Eye as my first hex. I took Arcane Strike and Combat Casting as my 1st level feats. Are those good, or could I do better?

If you're human, i recommend as an additional feat "Extra Hex" and take cackle.... evil eye + cackle = amazing.

I'm making a witch right now who is more of a product of circumstance and wasn't necessarily always a witch...

Readers digest version: Came from rich, aristocratic family who practiced magic so arcane/divine magic was never foreign to him. His family was butchered in front of him and dismembered (inspiration was Dexter with this), and it drove him nuts. He dug up the bones of his brother and took his brothers head never accepting that his brother died and only his parents.

His animal companion is a raven (they can speak 1 language, I'm choosing common) and he speaks to the skull as if his brother is still alive, but the raven always answers (going to see if my dm will allow a role playing element that the skull/raven have remnants of his brothers soul lingering and connected to the two).

Granted he'll be chaotic neutral, but lean towards good more than evil.

I can't wait to play this character :D

I think in order to make a GOOD character, YOU yourself needs to come up with a good idea for a character and craft an PC around that idea using role playing elements. To be EFFECTIVE, pump up int to increase your hexes and spells DC's, get dex or con as your next highest (Dex for AC and bonus to ranged touch attack spells like ray of enfeeblement. Con for obvious reasons... more hp = happy etc).

Is there anyway to make this at all effective?

I was thinking of making a rogue who specialized in throwing daggers (custom weapon, using the exact same stats as darts), however after throwing his first dagger, he really doesn't get sneak attack after he's been noticed...

Are there any feats to make this more viable? Apparently "Gang up" doesn't work with ranged weapons (BOO! lol) or am I stuck with my first shot = great success, and every other shot after (Unless I make a next to impossible stealth check at lower levels for sniping) useless?

Thanks guys!

No, the trait links to race traits in the trait chapter. Your examples of elf lowlight vision versus weapon familiarity is also invalid since these are racial traits and the trait states race traits, which are not the same thing.

Oooooh I see, you can choose from the race traits on page 331-332....

lame ;) , but it makes sense.

Thanks!

Sounds like you're punishing your player more for metagaming vs "breaking the paladin code."

The wyverns were a potential threat. How long were they going to be in these caves/crypts? Were they going to be out there long enough that the wyverns could have potentially woken up?

Lets say you're a level 1 commoner, doing your field on your farm land, and you see a couple of these beasts fly overhead. Are you going to stay working in your field or flee for cover?

I guess it comes down to another situation:

The paladin and his party cross a wolf who starts growling at them.

The paladin slays the wolf to defend his party.

They then find out the wolf was protecting its cubs, is the paladin evil for killing the wolf , however protecting his own party?

IMHO, the paladin was alleviating a potential threat that could have troubled the party down the road. Again, the paladin's code doesnt mean they have to be stupid... what did you want him to do? Throw some rocks at them and yell "I CHALLENGE THEE!" ? lol

I did some searching on the forum and I honestly couldn't find the answer, so if this has already been discussed , please post the URL.

Basically myself and a friend have been trying to find a good bomber build with the alchemist. We love the idea of potions and bombs, but aren't wanting to build a hulk-esque character that relies on mutagens, so naturally the option of being a bomber is there.

My friend has a cohort that he built up to be this way and is a bomb throwing gnome alchemist and its actually a very potent build!

One thing that makes this a great build is the alchemist variant from the APG:

"Alchemist: Add +1/2 to the number of bombs per day the alchemist can create." at the cost of losing the additional skill rank or hit point.

My question is with the adopted trait it reads:

"You were adopted and raised by someone not of your actual race, and raised in a society not your own.

Benefit: Select a race trait from your adoptive parents’ race. "

It isn't TECHNICALLY considered a racial trait, however it is a benefit to the race via the "favored class option" so would/could it apply?

I suppose rules as WRITTEN - since it's not specifically listed under the traits I could see the answer being a firm "no" , but maybe rules as intended (since it seems to me the "adopted" trait has quite a bit of grey area) that since it is something that could be considered learned and not born with, I could see the answer being "Yes"

I guess what I mean is with the "Adopted" trait, it's completely acceptable to say a human raised by elfs can easily quantify having the weapon familiarity:

"Weapon Familiarity: Elves are proficient with longbows (including composite longbows), longswords, rapiers, and shortbows (including composite shortbows), and treat any weapon with the word “elven” in its name as a martial weapon."

Since that would be considered "learned" whereas they couldn't have low light vision:

"Low-Light Vision: Elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light. See Vision and Light"

Since that is something you are born with. Yet both Low-light vision and Weapon familiarity are considered "traits" for all intents and purposes as rules as written for the "adopted" trait.

Seraph403 wrote:

meatrace wrote:

Seraph403 wrote:

Also, killing a demon or devil sends them back to their plane, you can't actually harvest their corpse...

You can if they were called, AFAIK. Summoned creatures blink, called creatures are there for good.

Hmm not sure about that, I always was under the impression the only true way to kill a demon/devil is on their plane.

Incorrect. Summoned creatures are only banished when defeated, called creatures can be killed on any plane.

Delicious....

Seraph403 wrote:

Also, killing a demon or devil sends them back to their plane, you can't actually harvest their corpse...

You can if they were called, AFAIK. Summoned creatures blink, called creatures are there for good.

Hmm not sure about that, I always was under the impression the only true way to kill a demon/devil is on their plane.

Also, killing a demon or devil sends them back to their plane, you can't actually harvest their corpse...

While Blake might dislike the use of halfling, my preferred tactics against the tarrasque does involve a bunch of those.

Have about 20 halflings armed with immovable rods walk up to the tarrasque as a snack. When he eats them, they activate the rods and he should be stuck in place.
While you might ask why they would willing be eaten, it is fairly simple: Beforehand you a lock of hair from each (or a finger to cause more pain) and promise to reincarnate them afterwards. An offer the would generally take to release them from their inferior existance.
All in all it takes a 100.000 gp (or 120 k if you actually are gonna revive the little buggers afterwards).

Otherwise you could just use the good ol' portable hole - bag of holding combo, and rid the plane of the bastard (and about 20 halflings if you stack the close to the implosion).

I actually laughed at this... I'm going to always carry around an immovable rod on my characters now for when they get swallowed ... :D

Either way is fine with me. PATHFINDER RPG is the very best, top-shelf, Dungeons & Dragons game. Because PATHFINDER RPG is backward compatible, I'm very comfortable inviting friends for a game of dungeons & dragons and letting them know we are playing PATHFINDER RPG. Its brilliant design leaves everyone happy, regardless of what you call it.

Conversely, when someone says they're playing 4e, I know they're not playing Dungeons & Dragons in anything but title.

When I explain CMB vs CMD, a lot of 3.5 players fall in love lol

Can't say I get all hung up on labels. Everyone calls it both, and we know what is meant.

This really. I say D&D half the time out of habit, but other times I call it Pathfinder, same with the rest of my group.

When I played Warhammer online, my favorite class was the Zealot. He was a quirky, evil priest for the Chosen. He held a skull in his left hand, and a dagger in his right. To cast spells he would stick his dagger into the skull and almost "flick" out energy... and when you just stood around he would turn the skull to his face like he was having a conversation with it and I LOVED it, here is a pic of the concept art from their website, just to get an idea of what they look like, but IMHO it would fit in perfectly..

http://mythicmktg.fileburst.com/war/us/home/images/armiesofWAR/chaos/Zealot /zealot-concept-01.jpg

Seraph403 wrote:

OP : If the DM told you to be annoying as possible , think what he told the rogue pc ;)

And you guys saying he should become a fallen paladin because he is traveling with an evil companion...

No one has directly said that. Please read the posts carefully.

In my games if you were willingly travelling with someone you knew was evil and not taking serious steps to redeem or slay him, you'd be a fallen paladin in no time. YMMV.

Uh huh... so if there is a paladin and a LE rogue your options for the paladin are:

a.) Kill him
or
b.) Try and convert him , if that fails, see option "A" ?
c.) become a fallen paladin
?
Clearly you've never heard the expression "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" , good and evil can work together, albeit the evil character likely has some hidden motivations (ie. overthrow a tyrant, only take take the place for his own).

Also, drop the condescending attitude, doesn't contribute well to the forum. I'm sick people with the holier than thou attitude on this forum, I did read your post, I disagreed with it in a thoughtful post.

OP : If the DM told you to be annoying as possible , think what he told the rogue pc ;)

And you guys saying he should become a fallen paladin because he is traveling with an evil companion... thats a bit harsh. Yes the rules TECHNICALLY say that, but you can't penalize a PC because another PC wants to play an evil character. After all he is LAWFUL evil, the paladin just has to keep on him as much as possible to make sure he is more LAWFUL than evil ;)

Now if the paladin witnessed him doing evil acts, or KNOWINGLY turned a blind eye while the rogue did evil acts then yes there is an issue... however if the rogue sneaks away and does his own thing, you can't penalize the paladin for that at all.

My old 2e group had a Paladin, a CG Cleric, a CE Rogue/Fighter, and my CN Ranger(who went insane and was CN with evil tendencies, a blast to roleplay lol) and the paladin had his hands full as the CG cleric was going against the law to do the right thing, had to keep my insane guy in check, and the entire time had to monitor the CE character. Granted myself, the cleric and the rogue/fighter did a lot of cloak and dagger stuff while 1-2 of the other PC's would distract the paladin, but this was all done through notes/aside from the paladin so he literally had no idea we were doing it (not even metagaming).

Associates: While she may adventure with good or neutral allies, a paladin avoids working with evil characters or with anyone who consistently offends her moral code. Under exceptional circumstances, a paladin can ally with evil associates, but only to defeat what she believes to be a greater evil. A paladin should seek an atonement spell periodically during such an unusual alliance, and should end the alliance immediately should she feel it is doing more harm than good. A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are lawful good.

So , clearly if they are working towards the same goal you can't penalize the paladin... i think that rule mostly applies to say the paladin cant high five a lich and say "we're homies right?" and turn a blind eye as the lich is amassing his undead army lol

They are releasing an updated setting book this year, it's bigger but will have no class variants inside as what they are updating will be in the AGP.

Aw damn! I just bought the campaign setting book about 2 weeks ago! Oh well , its great reading material in the mean time (my group is about to start the kingmaker campaign so I wanted to get familiar with the setting since we're drifting away from forgotten realms and making the full switch to pathfinder)

The campaign setting is 3.5, so ignore it. Think of it as an earlier version of the pathfinder one.

AH well that makes sense... thanks

...soooooo can we get an errata for the campaign setting to have an updated variant? ;)

So from the players handbook, the rangers hunters bond 2nd choice says:

The second option is to form a close bond with an animal companion. A ranger who selects an animal companion can choose from the following list: badger, bird, camel, cat (small), dire rat, dog, horse, pony, snake (viper or constrictor), or wolf. If the campaign takes place wholly or partly in an aquatic environment, the ranger may choose a shark instead. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the ranger on his adventures as appropriate for its kind. A ranger's animal companion shares his favored enemy and favored terrain bonuses.

This ability functions like the druid animal companion ability (which is part of the Nature Bond class feature), except that the ranger's effective druid level is equal to his ranger level – 3.

Now on page 48 on of the Pathfinder Chronicles: campaign setting the variant says:

Enhanced Compainion(Ex): Upon gaining an animal companion at 4th level the ranger must choose a single type of animal. the ranger cannot call a differnt animal compainion. The ranger's effective druid level is equal to the ranger's level -2 (instead of the normal 1/2) for that type of animal. This animal must be on the basic list of companions that can be chosen at 4th level and canot be changed.

So , lets clear this up - in the players handbook it says the pet acts as druid level , -3, yet the campaign setting says it is "normal 1/2" ?

*scratches head*

I'm inclined to go with the players handbook since its, well, the core rules. So, that basically makes the ranger variant almost completely useless. Or am I just misreading something?

Oh the hilarity of cleric vs martial classes...

Let me start with the original topic, then I'll address the cleric vs fighter discussion.

I don't believe a cleric or druid are MANDATORY, but your group has to play a whole heck of a lot smarter if you don't have these classes. UMD is almost a must, and I would strongly recommend somebody picking up the "Dangerously Curious" trait (UMD class skill , +1 bonus on UMD checks) , that way it opens up the use of wands and staffs.

Wizards will come into their own right with certain spells to cripple their opponents such as ray of enfeeblement, or crowd control with wall spells to slow down the hordes of enemies.

I'm currently in a campaign with a wizard (myself) , another wizard (conjuration specialist who took evocation and necromancy as his restricted schools), a cavalier, a summoner, and fighter.

The summoner & conjuror creates enough summons to be our meatshields in most fights, the fighter has specialized in bullrush/shield slams to pin and crush opponents, i nuke, and the cavalier has his obscene damage charge attacks (hit and run = little damage taken).

- - - - -

Now the semi off topic discussion - is a cleric better than a fighter?

Yes and no. This isn't 3.5 anymore where you can stack ridiculous buffs as a cleric.

Lets break it down to the basics

Armor: Fighter > Cleric - Fighter wins, gets heavy armor proficiency automatically, cleric has to burn a feat.

Weapon proficiency: Fighter > Cleric - Sky is the limit with fighter - you have a concept, you make it. You can even dip into some bow skills along with melee skills. As a cleric you are limited to whatever weapon your god prefers (which can be restricting on character concept) , also with the limited feats you are quite tied down to a specific chain of feats.

Hit die: Fighter > Cleric - d10 vs d8, nuff said. Also fighters dont have to worry about MAD as much as clerics do (Multiple attribute distribution). A figher can stack CON and STR and be very successful, whereas a cleric will have watered down stats and spread out (Str, Con, Wis, and Cha are all important for the cleric).

BAB: Fighter > cleric - Full BAB vs 3/4 BAB , nuff said.

Skills: Fighter < Cleric - The knowledge skills are quite nice for the cleric.

Feats: Fighter > cleric - This is really simple, fighter gets more feats - rawr!

Now it comes down to spell casting. Is it fair that the cleric can cast magic weapon (greater) and be running around with a +2 sword essentially for "free" at level 8 ? Well at level 8 , a fighter should probably have his typical +2 sword.

I have to also reiterate , this isn't 3.5, the fighters got a bunch of nice abilities.

So lets look at a typical level 20 fighter.

+5 weapon

Lets say he has a 18 on his strength score at level 1. 5 stat increase bonuses on his way to 20 puts that at 23. Get a manual of gainful exercise +5, so that puts his str at 28, and now he has a belt of physical might, +6 so he has a 34 str. That is a +12 bonus to attacks and damage.

Also the fighter will have Weapon Training of his favorite/prefered weapon - so that is another +4 hit , +4 damage.

Now feats, Greater weapon focus, Greater Weapon Specialization (+2 hit, +4 damage).

So lets add it up:

To hit:
20(bab) + 12(str) +5(weapon) + 4(weapon training) + 2(Greater weapon focus)
= +43

Damage (assuming the fighter is using a 1 handed weapon)
12(strength) + 5(weapon) + 4(weapon training) + 4(Greater weapon specialization)
= +25

Now lets look at the cleric

Lets say he has a 16(and that is being generous...) on his strength score at level 1. 5 stat increase bonuses on his way to 20 puts that at 21. Get a manual of gainful exercise +5, so that puts his str at 26, and now he has a belt of physical might, +6 so he has a 32 str. That is a +11 bonus to attacks and damage.

+15 BAB (3/4 progression)

Divine Favor and Divine Power are now "luck" buffs. In 3.5, Divine power used to make the cleric have the same BAB as the fighter, and you could also stack Divine Favor on top of that (which was a total of +6 bonus, not +3). So with Pathfinder, You now only get a +6 luck bonus on attacks and damage from Divine Power - no point in casting divine favor anymore since its only a +3 luck bonus, so Divine power overrides it.

Weapon +5 (Greater magic weapon)

Righteous might grants a size bonus to str of +4, however you also get a -1 to hit since you are a size category larger, so realistically its only a +1 bonus to hit.

Now lets add it up

15(bab) + 11(str) +6(luck , divine power) + 5(Greater magic weapon) + 2(str size bonus) - 1(Size)
=+38

Damage (assuming the cleric is using a 1 handed weapon)
11(strength) + 5(weapon) + 6(divine power) + 2(Righteous might strength size bonus)
= +24

Overall the hit bonus on the fighter is superior, however the bonus to damage is relatively the same - however I would give the edge to the cleric simply because his weapon will be 1 size category larger, so that would make up the difference between cleric to fighter.

Lastly , what gives the fighter the final edge, they don't require preparation to do this. A cleric will require 2 rounds to do these buffs and by that time, a lot can happen - perhaps a party member takes a heap of damage and actually requires a heal spell , that puts the cleric far behind.

I've played my fair share of clerics, in fact cleric & paladins are my favorite classes - so i'm not discounting them in anyway - I think pathfinder did an extraordinary job in giving the fighters the buffs they need, and toning down the clerics.

One thing all of your players have in common: poor reflex saves. ;)

They all likely have terrible touch ac's too.

If you're a rogue, I'd personally say to just forget Strength and go all Dex. The + to damage doesn't matter that much, your damage should be coming from sneak attacks, bleed, and other things. Or just get a 13 Str and take Power Attack, that's still a damn fine feat even with just a one-handed weapon.

Bingo.

Take a level 20 rogue, greater two weapon fighting, weapon finesse daggers, flanking...

Sure your dagger may do 1d4+5(enchant)+3(str of say 16), but you also add 10d6 damage per attack.

That is 6 potential hits, dealing 1d4+8+10d6 EACH. (potentially 6d4+48+60d6)

Weapon finesse is viable, just has to be for the right class. Ranger who focuses on a bow is forced to draw a melee weapon - chances are their dex is cranked and their str is .... meh.

Just wondering if there is a consolidated list of all of the PrC's in Pathfinder and which books can I find them in? I get my work bonus this month, wouldn't mind shopping a bit to get some more content for my games :)

Lokai wrote:

good policy but do know what problem is? putting a CR 11 monster on a random encounter chart for level 4 characters... most you guys should be facing is maybe a CR 8 at the most. a CR 11? thats over the top and silly, your not winning that fight regardless of what you do.

No, no, no, no.

Some of the encounters need, nay, MUST be way beyond the party's capability to handle.

However, the DM shouldn't force them to be straight combats, either. Diplomacy, hirelings and whatnot should be perfectly valid options.

IMHO, there should be encounters PC's should just turn around from. Bottle the pride, you won't win as level 4-5 characters vs a CR 11 creature (if it's played right...).

Just wondering - is the entire party evil? How did the gold dragon fail a sense motive check with +22 when the PC would have +12 tops (assuming 20 charisma, max points into bluff, class skill)

That being said, he has detect evil at will - so why is he trusting the evil PC?

That's right.

I am swearing off 4E. You heard it first here.

I'm about to start up a new RPG campaign and you want to know what I am playing? What Clark Peterson the President of Necromancer Games is playing? PATHFINDER.

Why? Because Pathfinder is D&D--its the D&D that I love.

Now don't get me wrong. There are lots of things I like about 4E. But when push comes to shove and I have to choose a rules system to use for my home game its Pathfinder. 4E may work for you, I am not criticizing. But for me, its Pathfinder.

And I am going to run the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path (updated to Pathfinder) from Paizo and with a first adventure by my pal Erik Mona.

Clark

Glad to have you on board friend! :)

Seriously, folks, the Core Rulebook has been out for seven months.

A massive revision of the rules is not even on the horizon.

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

Come on guys, seriously? ;) This isn't really a concern is it? Paizo stuck with 3.5/d20 rules and didn't convert to 4e for a reason...

With how DR works (with generic +'s standing in for special materials)

You may as well just get an adamantine +3 weapon and it will work the same and have the same + equivalence, but be more effective a weapon and be 2 steps closer to overcoming Alignment DR as well.

from my original post

edit: I'll add, I am aware that pathfinder has changed how damage reduction works and now a +5 weapon will bypass all types, however I'm thinking more in line with a druid using an amulet of mighty fists - so he can have the +3<insert name of enchant here im looking for> , +2 holy then cast greater magic fang on myself.

;) Was looking at something more adaptive for a Druid.

Seraph403 wrote:

but any combination of googling of the words "enchant" "3.5" "D&D" "admixture" always brings up 4e stuff,

Can't help you with the spell you're looking for, but I can help you narrow your Google search. ;)

When looking for words or phrases (words inside of quotes) add a prefix of "+" directly in front of the word or phrase (no spaces) to force Google to require that particular string as part of the page (normally it uses a ranking of each individual word).

When looking for words that you definitely do not want, add a prefix of "-" directly in front. Just like the "+", the hyphen means that the following string cannot appear in the page anywhere.

You might try searching for "+spell +admixture -4e" and since you think it's a 3.x spell, you can add a word or phrase from the spell header that doesn't occur often in normal text, such as +"casting time".

Good luck.

Nice! Thanks for teaching me the google hack :D

I found one in the magic item compendium which is quite potent , if anybody has it look up Transmuting (+2 weapon enchant)