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I applaud Paizo for the decision to update these products.
Offering the updated version to people who have already purchased the 3.5 version is very generous and appreciated.

That high level of customer service is one of the reasons why I continue to support such a great company.

Personally, I'd really like to see the set packaged with a real Owlbear.
I've always wanted one of those.
They look cuddly.

In the same vein as spring attack, they could use Vital Strike with Shot on the Run.

Vital Strike

So the "single ranged attack" of Shot On The Run qualifies as an "attack action" for the purpose of activating the Vital Strike feat?

I always get confused about the different action types.

Shadow13.com wrote:

Other than the chart on pg 183 of the Core Rulebook, is there someplace that explains this a little more clearly? Pgs 182 - 186 seem to concentrate on attacking and spell casting and don't really expand too much on oddball actions like Cleave.

Not that I have found. The way I look at is the list on page 183 is the list of default standard actions that pretty much anyone can do. Any other actions which are also standard come from special abilities granted by feats, class feature, racial features and such. Since everyone doesn't have access to Cleave for example it wouldn't be on that list. At least that's how I view it.

Also don't forget the chart is for attacks of opportunity. The text later on is what you want even though it's not all that clear.

My munchkin player is going to have a meltdown when I try to explain this to him. I should probably cast Mage Armor on myself before having that discussion.

Cool, that's what I thought.

One of my munchkin players is going to throw an absolute fit when I explain this to him. Wish me luck.

voska66 wrote:

Cleave is a standard action not an attack action. Attack actions are listed in the Combat section under actions. Cleave isn't listed there so you can't use Vital Strike on Cleave.

A little confusing if you take attack action as the dictionary definition and not the listed attack actions in the rules. I know it caught me the first time I saw this combo come up.

Exactly, while a single Attack is both an Attack Action and Standard Action, a Cleave is a particular another type of standard action from the attack action that just happens to be a standard action, just as casting a spell is another type of standard action (in most cases).

Ah. My confusion arose because I didn't understand the difference between the terms "attack action" and "standard action". I thought they were somewhat synonymous.

I assumed Cleave was an attack action since it involved making an attack roll with a d20 and "attacking" an enemy.

So Cleave is something totally different from an attack-action, more akin to drinking a potion or lighting a torch?

Other than the chart on pg 183 of the Core Rulebook, is there someplace that explains this a little more clearly? Pgs 182 - 186 seem to concentrate on attacking and spell casting and don't really expand too much on oddball actions like Cleave.

Can these 3 feats be used simultaneously?

Shot On The Run
As a full-round action, you can move up to your speed and make a single ranged attack at any point during your movement.

Rapid Shot
When making a full-attack action with a ranged weapon, you can fire one additional time this round. All of your attack rolls take a –2 penalty when using Rapid Shot.

Manyshot
When making a full-attack action with a bow, your first attack fires two arrows. If the attack hits, both arrows hit.

Here's my interpretation:
Rapid Shot and Manyshot can be used together as a full-attack action, but
since Shot On The Run is a "full-round" action and not a "full-attack" action, it cannot be used simultaneously with the other two feats.

Is this correct?

Can the Cleave and Vital Strike feats be used simultaneously?

Cleave:
As a standard action, you can make a single attack at your full base attack bonus against a foe within reach. If you hit, you deal damage normally and can make an additional attack (using your full base attack bonus)against a foe that is adjacent to the first and also within reach. You can only make one additional attack per round with this feat.

Vital Strike
When you use the attack action, you can make one attack at your highest base attack bonus that deals additional damage. Roll the damage dice for the attack twice and add the results together, but do not multiply damage bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), or precision-based damage (such as sneak attack). This bonus damage is not multiplied on a critical hit (although other damage bonuses are multiplied normally).

Here's my interpretation:
Since Cleave is a standard attack, you can use Vital Strike to double the damage of your attack. But, if that attack is successful, bonus damage is NOT applied to the additional attacks(s).

Does that sound right?

I'm not sure I understand the rules for the Ill Omen spell (APG pg 229).

Spell description:
Duration: 1 round / level
You afflict the target with bad luck. On the next d20 roll the target makes, it must roll twice and take the less favorable result. For every five caster levels you have, the target must roll twice on an additional d20 roll (to a maximum of five rolls at 20th level).

"On the next d20 roll the target makes..."
So if the target uses a full-round attack to make five consecutive attacks, only the FIRST of those five attacks is affected and he rolls normally for the other four attacks?

"For every five caster levels you have, the target must roll twice on an additional d20 roll (to a maximum of five rolls at 20th level)"
So if the Witch is lv 10, that same enemy would have re-roll three of those five attacks?

Am I understanding this properly?

Is there someplace online where artwork from the Bestiary and other Paizo books can be downloaded?

I use the artwork to create tokens for our online games.

Currently, if I want an image of a monster, I have to do a screen cap of the Bestiary PDF, open the image in Photoshop and then clip out the monster. Not only is it a tedious process, but it's also a little sloppy because bits of the surrounding text and background often get included as well.

It would be a huge benefit if these images were available online, with white or transparent backgrounds.

Does anybody know if such a resource currently exists?
If not, what is the possibility of creating a database of artwork?

Thanks!

It can be a whole line of compilations!

Big Fat Magic Item Book
Big Fat Trait Book
Big Fat Feat Book
Big Fat Spell Book
Etc....

I don't think "Fat" is the politically correct term.

If you're serious about a build shoot me an e-mail.

There's no email address listed on your profile.

Here's our email address:

PC wrote:

Embrace ingenuity and creativity. Let go of the rogue and buy a rubber ball, an eleven foot pole, and two chickens.

All of lifes problems can be sovled with a smoke stick and a brick.

Examples

1. Mother-in-law, smoke stick to blind her, brick is to ummm.

2. Tax collector/salesman, smoke stick distract and blind and a brick to...

3. Cops, they bring they own smoke sticks so all you need is a brick to break a window and pretend to be a hostage.

4. Nagging spouse...I think you get the picture.

So true.

That pedal is incredible.
You really did an excellent job, Tim.
That etching must have taken forever to complete.
d20's as knobs...genius.

Do you have any custom pedals for sale?
A Tube Screamer replica would be awesome.

Hey, great suggestions so far.
I'm feeling a little more confident.
I'll have to warn my player that this is going to be a "work in progress" that's subject to change if it gets out of hand.

One of my players wants to take the Leadership feat, but I have a few questions I'd like to clarify beforehand.

1) Is the cohort controlled by the GM or the player?
The book says the cohort is an "NPC with class levels".
Since NPC's are usually controlled by the GM, I'd guess that the cohort would also be controlled by the GM.
I really don't want the added hassle of having to control yet another creature.
Do you foresee any problems with just letting the PC control his own cohort?

2) When calculating leadership score, what constitutes as "causing" the death of the cohort/followers?
Here's the wording that's creating confusion (pg 129):
"caused the death of a cohort*" (*cumulative per cohort killed)
and
"caused the death of other followers"

My player interprets "caused the death..." to mean that he personally killed them or that his actions directly triggered an event that killed them (i.e. set off a trap).

I interpret "caused the death..." to mean that the cohort/followers were killed (due to monsters, traps, etc) while following his orders or because they followed him into a dangerous situation.

Which interpretation is accurate?

3) There's a -1 penalty for followers killed, but does it matter how MANY are killed? Is the death of 1 follower the same as the death of 100 followers? Is it a flat -1 penalty regardless of how many are killed? Or is there some sort of cumulative calculation like there is for the cohort?

4) A cohort is an NPC with class levels, so how would I create this?
Would I first create an NPC (Expert, Warrior, etc) and then just add class levels? How many NPC levels should he have? Would I use the ability scores for a "heroic" NPC or a "basic" NPC. I'm thinking heroic, but I want to make sure the NPC won't be way too strong.

5) The player in question is a Fighter and somewhat of a munchkin, so I'd like to discourage him from creating yet another melee character just to rack up the extra damage.
Any suggestions on how to handle this?

Sorry for the long post.
I appreciate your help!

Duelist ... I just think it's cool ^_^.

I'm playing a duelist right now and it #%&*ing rocks!

I guess what I really hate is that Elves are Vulcans. Pointy ears, unemotional, live for freaking ever, sexless. Not all obviously, but the majority of the ones portrayed in popular fiction.

So Vulcans are Space Elves?

WHAT SICK MAN SENDS ALL THESE BABIES TO FIGHT ME?

And if you kill an Elf, you're automatically labeled a "Baby Killer"

bards FTW!

I'm surprised there are so many Bard lovers.

It's been a while since I played a Bard, but I remember it as being a mediocre experience. The next time I roll up a character, I'll have to try the Bard again and see what all the fuss is about.

and Kender....

+1 to myself

You play with yourself?

What's your favorite class in Pathfinder and why?
Prestige classes and the new classes from the Advanded Players Guide are fair game.

I hate to say it, but I love fighter. With all those feats, so many options become available.

Each time I play with a fighter, it's a totally new, unique and exciting experience.

Ah young people and their questions. Now an old guy like me wants to know, "Do Elven women spend 40 years in menopause?" If they do the suicide rate for middle aged elven men must be off the charts.

Lolz

Elves are born fully mature, duh.
The Elven mother carries a 130 lb, 6'5" "baby" in her womb for up to 12 months.
Elven vaginas are like hula-hoops, so the "baby" just kind of steps out of there when it's ready.
Some are Elves are even born wearing mithral chainmail.

Yeah, we've been using the Magic Item Compendium, but it would be nice to have a more balanced book to work with.

Shadow13.com wrote:

The reincarnation of Demogordon should look like the "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" Chihuahua. But with fire.

Who's Demogordon? Does Demogorgon have a brother too? This is wild! I am learning so much? What's his email?

Demogordon (or just "Gordon"), demon lord of Civil Engineering, is the nerdy cousin of Demogorgon.

dgordon96@compuserve.net

The reincarnation of Demogordon should look like the "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" Chihuahua. But with fire.

you can tack both powers on the same ring, for 45,000 gold. they are 2 seperate +3 bonuses. not a lone +6.

I was under the impression that 3 + 3 = 6.

Classic Treasurers Revisited kind of fills that niche.

Except that there are only 10 treasures listed in that book, which is pretty limited.

I'd love to see a book that contains more enchantments, hundreds of unique weapons and armors, and magic item sets.

For people who are interested, we did a whole Blog post on the evolution of Paizo's troll.

Yeah, I remember reading that.

I'd love to see Paizo release a book of Magic Items, similar to the Magic Item Compendium.

What are the chances of that happening?

Actually I prefer Paizo's Troll and their goblins, they are more distinguishable from orcs.

I'm not a fan of the new troll.

But Paizo's goblins = epic win.

If a character has a high BAB, it allows him to make an extra 1-3 attacks as part of a full-round action.
The two-weapon-fighting feats also allow you to make additional attacks.

I'm confused as to how you would calculate the total number of attacks.

Let's suppose my BAB is +16/+11/+6/+1 and I have the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feat (with a light weapon in my offhand).
Would I be able to make a maximum of 7 attacks?

This is how I'm calculating Attack bonus. Is this correct?
Attack 1 (primary): BAB +16, -2 TWF
Attack 2 (offhand): BAB +16, -2 TWF
Attack 3 (primary): BAB +11, -2 TWF
Attack 4 (offhand): BAB +16, -2 TWF, -5 Improved TWF
Attack 5 (primary): BAB +6, -2 TWF
Attack 6 (offhand): BAB +16, -2 TWF, -10 Greater TWF
Attack 7 (primary): BAB +1, -2 TWF

So my attack bonuses would look like this: +14/+14/+9/+9/+4/+4/-1

Since I'm not making an offhand attack after my final primary attack, does the -2 TWF penalty still apply to that final primary attack?

Also, if I choose not to attack with TWF at any point, would the -2 penalties go away?
For example, let's just say that I only wanted to make an offhand attack once:
Attack 1 (primary): BAB +16, -2 TWF
Attack 2 (offhand): BAB +16, -2 TWF
Attack 3 (primary): BAB +11
Attack 4 (primary): BAB +6
Attack 5 (primary): BAB +1

If Paizo were to "reinvent" Demogorgon, hed have to be different from the D&D Demogorgon, which would probably make him unpopular.

Well, Paizo reinvented the troll and nobody seemed to notice, so why not reinvent Demogorgon?

The troll was definitely iconic, but Paizo didn't mind taking the gamble, so reinventing Demogorgon shouldn't be a big deal.

Shadow13.com wrote:

James, I appreciate the clarification.
But I have to ask: what in the world are you doing working on a Saturday evening?
It's the weekend, man!
You should be relaxing, not helping noobs like myself!

Actually, periodic breaks to answer messageboard questions are a nice break from working on the Advanced Player's Guide... (we have a LOT of work to get done in the next two weeks if all of these products we want to be at Gen Con are actually going to BE at Gen Con, since we're coming up on the deadline to get the files to the printer).

That type of dedication and commitment is what really sets Paizo apart.

They just need to happen on the same round; they don't need to be consecutive. You just need to hit once with your primary hand weapon and once with your off hand weapon. Doesn't matter which attack, as long as one of each weapon hits.

And don't forget the last line of the feat description: "You can only deal this additional damage once each round.

James, I appreciate the clarification.

I'm not sure I'm calculating BAB correctly for prestige classes.

If I am a lv 6 Fighter (BAB +6/+1) and I take two levels in Duelist (BAB +2), would my BAB be +8/+3?

I see.

So, if a character is allowed multiple attacks from the Improved TWF feat and a high BAB, any 2 of those attacks could trigger TW Rend as long as they are consecutive?

I'm not sure I understand the two-weapon rend feat.

The feat description says:
Striking with both of your weapons simultaneously, you can use them to deliver devastating wounds...If you hit an opponent with both your primary hand and your off-hand weapon, you deal an additional 1d10 points of damage plus 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier.

If you're fighting with two weapons, how would you attack with both weapons simultaneously?
Is there a special way to attack with 2 weapons simultaneously?
Or would you just roll two normal attacks against the same enemy?

Can somebody explain the process of attacking and using two-weapon rend?

Thanks!

No, it's not just for flavor.

This guy plans to min-max by taking weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc., all with "shield". He will also probably be a fighter with "close" as his first Weapon Training. If he fought with a longsword and shield, he would have to take each of those feats twice, or just take them once with his sword and settle for a crappy shield bash.

Yeah, this particular player is definitely a min-maxer, and somewhat of a munchkin too.

This is his reasoning for the two-spiked shields
1) Min-Maxing (though he's obviously overlooking much more powerful builds)
2)He wants to be spiky. Spiked armor, spiked shields, boots with toe blades, etc. He wants to be a giant pincushion.
3) I think he also wants to be something of a "Defender", so the idea of TWO shields appeals to him.

All in all, there isn't really a benefit to this other than the novelty of how it looks (though the toughs at the local adventurers guild will get a good laugh at the sight of a weaponless hero).

Yeah, there aren't many benefits. The shields would do less damage than other available weapons. I think it's just for flavor more than anything else.

Only the fact that they are both Shield bonuses and do not stack prevents it.

Ah, yes. Good catch.

A player in my group is interested in creating a Two-Weapon-Fighting character that uses 2 spiked shields.

Would his AC benefit from both shields?

I don't see anything about this in the book, so I'm inclined to believe that he would indeed receive AC bonuses from both shields.

Is there an obscure rule or detail that I'm overlooking?

That makes much more sense now. Thanks guys!

So, since $$$ enchantments do not have a +[#] value, you could potentially have more than 10 of them as long as you do not exceed the $200,000 limit?

Most armor enchantments range from +1 to +5, but some enchantments just have a dollar value. Ex: Slick is listed as $3750, rather than +1 or +2.

An armor's enchantments cannot exceed +10, so how do I calculate an enchantment who's value is in GP and not in +1 denominations?

For example, if I have a +1 Slick Wild Breastplate, would the total enhancement bonus be +4 or +5?

There's the mandatory +1 Attack/Damage enchantment, Wild is a +3 enchantment and Slick is $3750.

+4 or +5 total?

James, your 1-word blog entries leave something to be desired.

Vorpal only works on a confirmed natural 20 however.

Good catch. I hadn't noticed that it required a natural 20.

No love for earth with corrosive (acid) enchantments?

That would be awesome. All in due time. Muah ha ha!

So your structure works like this:
Mandatory +1 enchantment
Flaming (+2)
Flaming Burst (+3)
Flaming Immolation (+4)
Flaming Wildfire (+5)
Flaming Inferno (+6)

+3 Power: Flaming Immolation (+1 and special)...enemy catches on fire, taking 1d6 points of damage per enhancement bonus...

With this enchantment, the sword would be considered +4, right?

+4 Power: Flaming Wildfire (+1 and special).
opponents of the wielder that are adjacent to his target take 1d6 points of damage

I like it. It reminds me of chain lightning.

One of my players in particular really wants to freeze and shatter enemies with a frost sword. (I think he got the idea from Baldur's Gate or Diablo).

I know that Vorpal is instant kill and it's a +5 enchantment, so I figure an instant kill Frost enchantment would also be about +5.

An enchantment that freezes enemies is less lethal, so that's probably somewhere around +4.

Once I get that frost sword figured out, then I can come up with cool enchantments for fire and electricity.

I love the concept of giving each of the elements its own unique effects and I dig your idea about the fire spreading.

I like your recommendation about including the sword's enchantment bonus. Kudos.

Thanks for the input.