A Samurai that can ride a tiger mount WITHOUT having to be a Cavalier Beast Rider that is "reflavoured" as a Samurai... I can't believe with all the sourcebooks in Pathfinder, such a simple request isn't legal for the oft-ignored and under-sourced Samurai class. I weep silently, Paizo mocks me from afar...
Hi Mr. Compton, I've been researching the relationship between magic enhancement bonuses and overcoming DR. My question: what is the cosmological reason for why magic bonuses overcome DR for specific materials? That is:
Why in this order? Note: I read an article from 1977 (The Dragon Magazine Volume 1, Number 8) by Gary Gygax arguing that there was a relationship between a creature existing on varying planes simultaneously and the magical bonuses needed for cutting through that number of planes (so a +5 would cut through five planes of existence, thus touch all of the creature that exists contemporaneously on 5 planes). Is any of this true in Pathfinder still?
As an aside, WotC had a four part article series entitled: "All about Illusions" that does answer quite a few of the problems on this thread. For example, spending time poking around an illusion (like an illusory wall) would eventually be enough to allow for disbelief. But the action and time must be taken. It's not instantaneous. Also, hitting an illusion would automatically disprove the illusion, but illusions have AC, so you have to hit the AC of the illusion or else you'd fail to disbelieve. Please find parts 1-4 in the links below.
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20060207a
Note: as per the original question posed, the Spellcraft of an illusion spell being cast is not mentioned in the above articles. Interaction remains the prerequisite for almost all cases.
Nothing is stopping you from trying to move through every wall you see on the off-chance ones an illusion. I disagree here. If I failed my save (thus, I believe it's a real wall), I can't just say, "well, just in case it's not real I'll try walking through it anyway". Because I failed my save I believe it's real. By just deciding to try walking through it after I failed my save, I'm intentionally circumventing the rules and ignoring my saving throw failure. I've had rogues who buy chalk, and draw it down the wall in dungeons, both to prevent getting lost/backtracked, and because they will find a fake wall when their hand goes through it instead of drawing a line. But why are they drawing a line right up to the wall? :)And if they did, they'd still have to roll to disbelieve their senses because they have minds that can be fooled. If they failed their save, they'd think, "that was weird, I'm losing my mind" not, "It's an illusion!" because that would mean they're getting the benefit of a successful save instead of a failed one.
Here's the situation: A wizard casts "Silent Image". While casting Silent Image, the opponent does a "Spellcraft" check and identifies the spell as it is being cast. The Silent Image spell goes off, creating an illusory wall. Does the successful "spellcraft" check act as "proof" that the illusion is not real: "A character faced with proof that an illusion isn't real needs no saving throw." In other words, is identifying the spell as it's being cast(Spellcraft) act as proof that the illusion isn't real, thus eliminating the need for that character to have to make a saving throw? Help. :) Thanks!
It was an epic battle. I made one tactical mistake that really cost me. That said... spoiler:
The PCs surprised me. They entered the Anima Focus 1 by 1. In fact, one player went into the Eye of Avarice on his own for 1 round before the other PCs figured out he wasn't dead (by casting a divination spell). While that PC was solo in in the Eye of Avarice, he took damage from call lightning spells. Karzoug knew the others were likely to come, so he held off for a round but did cast a single defensive spell: Stone Skin. NOTE: all the PCs succeed in their saving throws and were not stunned. When the PCs came in, regular initiative was underway. Karzoug cast quickened timestop, had four rounds to prep:
The PCs saw the prismatic wall and decided to polymorphy any object to dig under the wall. The melee fighter had doubled moved the turn before, so he lept down to fight 1-on-1 with Karzoug...yes, the fighter did get through his repulsion spell. He whacked Karzoug good. The Ranger had arrows of dragon slaying and critted...the dragon was dead. On the battle went. Karzoug used quicked time stop again, teleported, cast wish to resurect the dragon, and ended up hiding behind one of the storm giants. Karzoug's glave was about to target the first PC who entered (and was now at 30 hit points!) the PC (a bard) used a Hero Point as a readied action to cast extended dimenion door (I think that was it) brought the entire party (except the ranger) up to the same floor as the Rune Lord. The ranger full attacked the dragon, the rune giant moved toward the party and used his 30 foot cone, the glave reaimed its fireball and hit the party (bring a PC to 2 hitpoints). Karzog (just prior to all the PCs teleporting to his side made a tactical error...and I could have kicked myself! He cast "Wail of the Banshee) instead of Wish (which would have healed him and anyone other injured BBEGs). Alas...I got "greedy" with the Wail of the Banshee...dumb move. It hurt but didn't slay the targeted PC. This oversight ended up giving the PCs a chance to dog-pile Karzoug (even with the giants doing (a) a full attack and (b) arrows (having already used chain lightning a bit earlier). In short: the battle was nearly two hours long. How many rounds? I'm not sure. About 8 rounds or so... Crazy. We all had to really look up spells, make sure the spells did what we thought they did, avoid conflicts etc etc. BUT the PCs felt very satisfied after such a long, complex and scary battle.
Thanks again to all of YOU for your advice. I took it seriously and it really helped my finale. Cheers! Good luck with your final encounters. If you have any questions, or wish for some advice/reflections on my errors, let me know.
Hi James. I have a question for you about the Planes: I'm trying to determine the following: 1)Can a demiplane exist in the Abyss? 2) If a demiplane did exist in the Abyss, would that demiplane be coterminus and/or coexisting with: the Ethereal Plane?
I'm having trouble sorting out my planar geography as you can see. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I'm with you there. That said - there are always practical limitations when it comes to designing encounter maps for RPGs. The dining-room table is only so big, right? :) I'm just saying: I'd like future maps to bear in mind those practical limitations. There's a happy-medium to be achieved between creativity and practicality. The maps in Dragon's Demand are creative enough - but not practical enough. Happy-Medium please. :)
I've been going over the Druid/Samurai stacking issue for PFS play and RAW home games. Check this thread about PFS legality for a very lively and informative debate: Go Here. The original question that sparked the debate (rephrased) was: If I take 1 level in Druid then 6 levels in Samurai do my Druid Animal Companion and Samurai Mount levels stack? Answer: yes. If they DO: does this expand my list of Mounts to include Druid animal companions? If so, could my Druid 1/Samurai 6 character now claim a Large sized Tiger as his mount? For PFS: No. Search for "Samurai". However, for RAW home games: Arguably yes (but not definitively). RAW states that the Samurai mount must be able to support the Samurai and must be from a legal source. A large Tiger Animal Companion can support a medium Samurai AND it is from a legal source (stacking druid/Samurai Animal Companion/Mount levels). Therefore, in theory: a druid 1 / Samurai 6 could have a Tiger mount. That said: the other players on the thread argued that unless a legal source EXPLICITLY states that the Animal Companion expands the Samurai Mount list..then NO. So that's the debate in a nutshell. Thoughts?
Here's my last "contribution" to the math of "The Storval Stairs". :) There are 25 squares designated as stairs (two are "half" so I grouped them as 1 to total 25). Each square is 10 feet long. If each step was 3.2 feet high (instead of 2 feet high RAW) and 2 feet wide: 3.2 feet high X 5 steps (2 feet wide) = 16 feet in elevation per 10 foot square. 16 X 25 = 400 exactly. Does this work? This is significant if the module was going to be reprinted and tweaked. Getting to area F is very difficult if the players can't fly. The relative elevation from, say, the roof of D becomes important if the players want to climb up and try to get to F from there. With the current published reckoning, the elevation on the roof of C is: 180 feet. With the new reckoning above,the elevation on the roof of C is: 258 feet. This is significant when you consider the statues are said to be 300 feet high. Anyway...I'm done with this. :) Just trying to help make the map fit the description. Cheers ya'll. |
