Sergeek The Mad's page

A dispelling weapon functions like a spell storing weapon, but it may only store dispel magic; however, the caster level check to dispel gains an additional bonus equal to the weapon’s enhancement bonus. This bonus also applies to a magus’s dispelling strike arcana or a barbarian’s spell sunder or sunder enchantment combat maneuver check

So how do I get this bonus on my spell sunder check? I already add weapon's enchantment bonus to sunder maneuver, will I get it the second time, only as an untyped one? Should I discharge the stored dispel magic, or is this bonus constant?

I'm currently homebrewing some items:

The first one lets you grow small scales on your body to protect vital areas. Acts like the shield of fortification spell. Should this item have abjuration or transmutation aura?

The second one lets you harden your skin to make melee attackers reel from resonating vibrations. Acts like the jarring armor enhancement. Should this item have evocation or transmutation aura?

Give me a rule of a thumb - should I base auras on spell effects emulated or on their general flavor?

Do plus bonuses from those feats apply to my combat maneuver check when I spell sunder?

you receive a +2 bonus on checks made to sunder an item

But I'm not sundering an item, I'm sundering a spell effect.

the barbarian can attempt to sunder an ongoing spell effect by succeeding at a combat maneuver check

Not spell-like effect, spell-like ability effect, but spell effect.

the barbarian must make her combat maneuver check against a CMD of 15 plus the effect’s caster level

Moreover, it only specifies the "effect's cater level", but doesn't say anything about "CR of the effect’s creator" as in Eater of Magic, which works against spell-like abilities also.

Since there rules for alchemists lab say that you can't get the plus 2 bonus without them, then this is a case where you can't use the generic Masterwork tools to sub for them.

Actual tools for a craft or profession supersede generic ones for being requisite for the task.

To clarify myself - I'm not talking about Masterwork Tool - I know that Alchemist's Lab is the equivalent.

Ah... You quoted the answer. "Without this lab, a character with the Craft (alchemy) skill is assumed to have enough tools to use the skill but not enough to get the +2 bonus that the lab provides."

Artisan tools are in fact inferior as they actually weigh something and they give the same bonus as the assumed 'tools'. Now if you had NO ranks in Craft (alchemy), then you'd have to buy some tools.

Ah, I'm sorry, I meant Masterwork Artisan's Tools.

Artisan's Tools: These special tools include the items needed to pursue any single craft. Without them, you have to use improvised tools (–2 penalty on Craft checks), if you can do the job at all.

Masterwork Artisan's Tools: These tools serve the same purpose as artisan's tools, but masterwork artisan's tools are the perfect tools for the job, so you get a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft checks made with them.

Cost 55 gp and weights 5 lbs.

Alchemist's Lab: This lab is used for making alchemical items, and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks. It has no bearing on the costs related to the Craft (alchemy) skill. Without this lab, a character with the Craft (alchemy) skill is assumed to have enough tools to use the skill but not enough to get the +2 bonus that the lab provides.

Costs 200 gp, weights 40 lbs.

Masterwork Artisan's Tools are clearly superior - is there anything that stops me from using those to craft alchemist things? To clarify myself - I'm not talking about Masterwork Tool - I know that Alchemist's Lab is the equivalent.

When fatigued character gets more fatigue - he becomes exhausted.
But what happens when exhausted character gets more fatigue/exhaustion? Can exhaustion become more severe?

Avoron, Doki-Chan thanks a lot!
There are enough things to work with now.

what do you need it for?

To make someone unconscious :^)

Besides Sleep (spell or Hex)?

Isn't sleep just helpless?

Is there a way to make a person unconscious without lethal/nonlethal damage? Like an effect? Maybe a spell or poison.

Sergeek The Mad wrote:

Here is this critical strike maneuver feat.

rules wrote:

Whenever you score a critical hit with a melee attack, you can sunder your opponent’s weapon, in addition to the normal damage dealt by the attack. If your confirmation roll exceeds your opponent’s CMD, you may deal damage to your opponent’s weapon as if from the sunder combat maneuver (roll normal damage to the weapon separately). This does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

I can't really understand how it goes. If I crit successfully - I can roll for sunder also. But if my confirmation roll exceeds CMD - then what?

You don't make a new attack roll for the free sunder; you use the confirmation roll you already made for the crit to see if it (the sunder) succeeds. Does that make more sense?

Yes, thank you!

Here is this critical strike maneuver feat.

Whenever you score a critical hit with a melee attack, you can sunder your opponent’s weapon, in addition to the normal damage dealt by the attack. If your confirmation roll exceeds your opponent’s CMD, you may deal damage to your opponent’s weapon as if from the sunder combat maneuver (roll normal damage to the weapon separately). This does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

I can't really understand how it goes. If I crit successfully - I can roll for sunder also. But if my confirmation roll exceeds CMD - then what?

Does HP loss in ferocity state is the same as when dying?

A creature with ferocity remains conscious and can continue fighting even if its hit point total is below 0. The creature is still staggered and loses 1 hit point each round. A creature with ferocity still dies when its hit point total reaches a negative amount equal to its Constitution score.

Can I stabilize to end the HP loss?

Sergeek The Mad wrote:

One quick question though

Casual Viking wrote:

an item that provides a bonus to a single save should be priced like a Cloak of Resistance with a discount for only affecting one save; that discount should not be 66%, but more like 50 % or 33 %.

Why not 66 %?

First, what would be the purpose of making such an item?

Magic item creation guidelines are there to make items, not min max.

Eh? Why do you consider having item that grants bonuses for single save minmaxing? I want to craft a neckslot charm shaped like boar - figured it shouldn't be too expensive.

One quick question though

an item that provides a bonus to a single save should be priced like a Cloak of Resistance with a discount for only affecting one save; that discount should not be 66%, but more like 50 % or 33 %.

Why not 66 %?

Ah! That makes sense, thank you.

This article is pretty straightforward, formulas in pricing table are simple enough. BUT when I try to compare calculated prices with already existing items - it gets confusing.
Looking at example in this exact table - Cloak of Resistance +5 - grants +5 for every save.
Why is it only 25,000? I mean, cloak of +5 to fortitude will cost as much, according to the table (5 bonus squared multiplied by 1000).
What am I missing?

Thank you, indeed, should've checked Monster Rules.

How do you figure out the bonus to it?

When you make a concentration check, you roll d20 and add your caster level and the ability score modifier used to determine bonus spells of the same type

What to do if my levels are non-casting?

Can this spell fix, say, beads on bracelet of second chances?

This bracelet is adorned with seven coral beads carved in intricate designs. When a critical hit or sneak attack is confirmed on the wearer, as an immediate action before the damage is rolled, he can choose to convert the critical hit into a normal hit. Each time the wearer negates a critical hit or sneak attack in this manner, one bead shatters. When all seven are used up, the bracelet itself crumbles into powder.

I'm not talking about repairing hp, since it works like mend. But if a caster twice the level of this bracelet casts it - will it restore the beads?

So I saw the formula for wand prices

level of the spell × the creator's caster level × 750 gp

Does it mean that wands can be bough in more powerful forms?

Thank you all for your valuable input.
I didn't know there were this much of valuable spells to be wand'ed.

Greetings! So I'm currently toying with a pretty wealthy character who has ranks in UMD, and I thought about getting some wands.
He'll use it out of combat, so it is either long lasting buffs, or utility/after combat care.
I thought about "False Life, Greater", but it is only handful of temporary HP, so I'm not quite sure.

That's great! Thank you for clarification.

If I'm turning from medium to large creature, I'm getting +1 size modifer to my CMB/CMD. But at the same time, I'm getting -1 size modifer to my Attack Bonus and Armor class.
So this means, maneuver wise, those bonuses cancel each other out?

I see, thank you.
I was thinking about doing it with Come and Get Me, to avoid enemies 5-stepping out of my reach before attacking me, but oh well.

So there is this bodyslot item from Melee Tactics Toolbox, page 29:

This stylish silk shirt has a loose and flowing fit except for the sleeves, which cling snugly to the wearer’s arms from elbow to wrist. The sleeves guide the wearer’s attacks to take advantage of brief gaps in a foe’s defenses. Five times per day, the wearer can make a lunging melee maneuver and extend his reach by 5 feet for a single melee attack. If the wearer has the Lunge feat, he can instead use that feat five times per day without taking the normal –2 penalty.

So how do I make this maneuver? What kind of action do I spend? Can I use it for attacks of opportunity?

If I give you a dollar and tell you that you can buy two candy bars, but each candy bar costs a dollar, are you going to make the clerk sell you two for a single dollar?

I understand from where you're coming from, and I would agree, if ability description didn't say outright that it grants you more AoOs.

Getting a free attack from speed is a +4 right? 2d6 from holy is a +2, so I don't feel that it can be too strong.

And there is dueling ability. So, yes, as I said before - ruling things buy powerlevel is not a wise thing to do.

Mighty Cleaving is a good example.

It specifically calls for the Cleave feat though.

That's like saying if I provoke twice by doing something like trying to trip you then trying to disarm you (without having the feats to not provoke), that you get an AoO against me for each even though you you don't have Combat Reflexes. They both specifically provoke. Does that negate the rule about you only get one AoO per turn because they both specifically provoke?

No, it doesn't negate the rule, because it is specifically stated in trip/disarm rules that those maneuvers provoke, not allow your enemy to make an AoO. But I see nothing about "the target you hit with Fortuitous weapon provokes additional attack of opportunity". You're just making it, and only the initial attack must be provoked.

Once again, your interpretation falls into the 'developers are idiots' category, whereby they created an enchantment utterly useless to a large majority of PCs.

I'm not implying anything, but there is a huge amount of situational abilities, as well as abilities which are more of a hindrance than help. You can't really judge mechanics like that, it's 3.X after all.

You are limited to one AoO per round unless you have Combat Reflexes (or something similar).

But won't specific rules trample the general ones?

Here, read THIS thread about it.

It supports both points well.

So lurking around these forums I stumbled upon a fellow who said that you must be able to make additional AoOs, like per Combat Reflexes, to benefit from Fortuitous ability.
Why? It says that it grants you more AoOs. It doesn't say that enemies you hit with your AoO provoke additional AoO, it says you can make a second AoO.
Can someone explain? Because I can't really interpret it that way.

you know, I'm curious if your overall DPR is going down by doing this buffing. Also is quickened SLA allowed? It's a monster feat, but can be picked up by players in some games and it'll make that buffing a swift action.

It is allowed - but it's only 3 times per day and I already have raging brutality as swift.

community minded has the buff only apply to allies for an additional 2 rounds, so you can't buff yourself every 3 rounds, it'd still be 1 round duration with that feat.

Community Minded wrote:

Any morale bonuses you confer upon your allies through your own abilities or spells last 2 additional rounds.

*Cough*

Um... why are you needing a standard action to buff every two rounds?

Touch of Rage with Community Minded.

Battle Cry is a great feat to use a swift on, assuming you have some charisma.

Hm. To hit bonus is wasted and I don't know about saving throw against fear - can general and specific bonuses to saving throws stack even if they are of the same type? The ability to reroll a failed saving throw is always good though.

Otherwise, there might be some good magic items that have swift action abilities.

Yes, I mainly thought about those - I can max UMD if required, but I don't think there is a way to use wands and potions as swift.

So my Barbarian build will have to rebuff after every two rounds as standart action. It leaves open move and swift actions in that buffing turn - how can I utilize those to benefit as a melee damager at high levels? I have an empty featslot and aren't restricted in ammount of gold.

In addition to a reach weapon, you can always also Enlarge Person (with a potion) if necessary.

It is a hit to my action economy.

If every enemy steps out of your reach before attacking, that's a bit metagamey on the part of the GM.

The first baddie may not realize that, but when he goes down in his own turn - his friends will take notice.

Though if an enemy with superior reach hits you on the first attack, then 5' steps back before the rest of its attacks because you damaged them . . . that's totally legit.

Yes! Never thought about that - another issue.

snowstride regional trait lets you trip/bullrush 2 sizes larger than you. step up feat lets you move with 5ft steppers. use drag reposistion manuevers to keep the enemy where you want them. overrun them maybe knocking them prone and set up a nice flank on them with your frontline ally.

Spending another featslot and traitslot. Also reliance on combat maneuvers will force me to use ragecyclicng more often for strength surge - and this is dangerous. I'm not saying you can't work around the reach issue - I just don't think it is cost-effective at high levels.

It's me again, with my dreamy (he has nice charisma score after all) Barbarian.
Riding through high CR bestiary I couldn't help but notice that a lot of creatures are huge+, which means 15+ reach.
I can pounce right into them and if it won't kill them outright - I do the whole CaGM thingy. But they can use 5-foot step before full attacking me and avoid it completely.
And what if baddies will actually come for me, like engaging me first? I mean, with 15+ ft reach they can maul me from a safe distance without getting those counterattacks.
I saw the suggestion of using a reach weapon - but I don't think it will help at all. If I pounce them - they still can 5-foot step back if I don't pounce with claws (horrible idea, since way less bonuses and no DR penetration). You can go full stand still and unexpected strike, yet it will burn all those more useful powers and feats and nerf my DPR. And even then - enemies still will be unharmed if they'll engage first.
Summing everything up - should I pursue CaGM on high levels at all? Most of creatures will die in one pounce anyway.

There's a variety of good reasons why this rule exists.

Like what? I find this faq very disappointing - I'm paying for a very narrow enhancement that will lose most of its appeal in the long run anyway.

The spell storing effect requires that your weapon deals damage. Spell Sunder doesn't deal any damage. It just uses lets you perform a combat maneuver check to dispel a magical effect.

So dispelling ability will let me to add weapon enhancement bonus to spell sunder check without spending stored dispel magic? It is somewhat strange, though, since I will benefit from enhancement bonus anyway, because sunder maneuver adds all attack bonuses to its check anyway.

You can have a +5 Bane Keen Flaming Frost Shock weapon, and it will become a +7 weapon that does another 2D6 against the designated type when Bane is active. Even with Bane active, it's not breaking the +10 cap.

Are you sure about that? It seems the last bit of the faq above was written precisely to keep the bane under the ten.

Dispelling and Spell Sunder are separate effects

the caster level check to dispel gains an additional bonus equal to the weapon's enhancement bonus. This bonus also applies to a magus's dispelling strike arcana or a barbarian's spell sunder

First question - according to this faq bane/furious won't work past 10 effective enhancement? And if I want to benefit from those abilities on highly enhanced weapon - I must leave an empty +2 slot? If I'm getting this right - it is somewhat silly and underwhelming.

Second question - how does dispelling ability work with Barbarian spell sunder? I store dispel in it, and when I spell sunder - it is used up as per spell storing ability, so I need to "restore" dispel again?

Increased DR from Rage powers and Stalwart, I'd imagine.

Then I'm good with my 10 DR.

You can buy a Defiant heavy Shield +5 for another total +9, and if you make it a +5 Defender, potentially another +14 pts...which means you're now rocking AC 54 (56) and are pretty good against all but his primary attack.

But I'm using two-handed falchion and I can't really drop those 2H bonuses - they are just so huge.

Many thanks for all the input! After rethinking my shopping list and dumping reckless abandon I managed to get AC up to 38 points - 11 from +5 Mithral Breastplate, 5 from Dex Bonus, 6 from Beast Totem, from 5 Amulet of Natural Armor, 5 from Ring of Protection, -4 from Rage and Pounce.
Yet still - If I'll also decide to use my CaGM, my AC will offer protection only against very last iterative attack of that Balor Lord baddie, and I'll probably either maul him to death before that happens, or will die myself. Taking that into account - should I even bother to improve AC?

A well made Invulnerable Rager should have at least DR 20/- by that level

Teach me your secrets! How do you do that? Flesh Wound? Guarded Life?

Hrm.

Mithral BP+5, AC 21.
Dex +5, AC 26.
Nat Armor +5, AC 31
Deflection=5, AC 36.
Jingasa, Luck +1 = 37
Ioun Stone, +1 Insight, = 38.

Rage powers for Nat AC, Dodge??
Why are you having problems hitting a 30 AC again? Just because you didn't buy the typical defenses?

==Aelrynth

I just don't have those bonuses from amulet, ring, jingasa, stone.

Worked with a plan for Barbarian build of my dreams and stumbled upon this problem - AC is really low. And I mean REALLY. I can barely hit 30 notch at level 20.
How lethal it will be? I mean, I will have lots of hp, better DR from Invulnerable Rager. But still, even if I can cut down a Balor Lord with one pounce, what about his friends?
What are your thoughts? Can Barbarian survive without relying on AC?

I have a really neat idea of utilizing cornugon smash with hurtful, but the main problem is - intimidate doesn't work against a lot of enemies.
Maybe there is a feat or trait that will help to work around it? An item perhaps? I know about "Unnatural presence" trait, but it helps only against animals and swarms.

Magic Weapons and Critical Hits: Some weapon qualities and some specific weapons have an extra effect on a critical hit. This special effect also functions against creatures not normally subject to critical hits. On a successful critical roll, apply the special effect, but do not multiply the weapon's regular damage.

So I don't add those 1d10 of fire from Flaming Burst to my additional damage rolls, but I swap them?

At 10th level, a Hell knight can grant a weapon he wields or touches the axiomatic, flaming burst, or unholy weapon quality.

A single weapon cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents, including those from character abilities and spells) higher than +10

So if Jolly the Hell Knight will touch +10 greatsword it won't become axiomatic because too much magic?

So I'm trying to build crafting stronghold via "Leadership" feat, so here is two questions:
1) What is the maximum level Cohort can achieve? 17 or 18?
2) Is there more rules other than those about custom items creation? What if I want to build an item with luck skill bonus? Or with a bonus to critical confirmation?