Simkiria's page

Hi there,

now that the product is out (and now that I have spent quite a few hours browsing through it) I first want to say that I really like the Kineticist, it seems like a quite interesting class.

I found some of the wording and some of the categories confusing, though.

Has there been a final verdict if gather power (and supercharge) can reduce the cost of metakinesis? Sorry for asking something that was asked before but this thread is way too long to find my way through.

Thanks

I loved his books and still do. Be at peace Mr Banks.

"Oh no, some characters will spend money and time retraining to increase their hit points above the average amount, which some lucky rolling-players get FOR FREE, INSTANTLY!"

Kind of an ridiculus answer I think. No one complains if this happens once. The problem only comes up if this happens all the time and the law of averages more or less guarantees that some of your rolls will be sub-par and will cancel out the good ones. And if there is a small difference thats fine.

But the last campaign is was in was a Kingmaker campaign that we finished at level 16. Time and money was not an issue. Most of the fights were not that hard but have been laughable if our characters had 55-80 HP more at the end.

And I do not think that the argument: But you can still fail a saving throw really adresses the problem.

Hi there,

in the Trait Section of Ultimate Campaign there are quite a few new ones. One that caught my eye is:

Fate’s Favored: The fates watch over you. Whenever you
are under the effect of a luck bonus of any kind, that
bonus increases by 1.

Do you think that works with the Half-Orc alternate racial trait?

Sacred Tattoo: Many half-orcs decorate themselves with tattoos, piercings, and ritual scarification, which they consider sacred markings. Half-orcs with this racial trait gain a +1 luck bonus on all saving throws. This racial trait replaces orc ferocity.

I am not sure that this could be considered an effect?

I think Raging Vitality is a must. Not only +2 CON per rage but also the ability to rage when unconcious or dying. Not exactly what you were looking for because you can still rage in diehard-mode but still a good feat I believe.

I think both work fine but having Quick Channel is a real advantage IMO.

I probably would not use Combat Casting, especially for the first build. If I see it correctly, you have a 12 (level) + 7 (Wis) + 2 (Trait) Bonus already. So spells lower levels should be no problem and even higher levels have only a small chance of failure and then only if you HAVE to cast them while threatened.

Me again,

any feedback if the candle could be used more than once or not would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi there,

me and my fellow adventurers are midway through the Kingmaker campaign and have defeated one of the baddies. This brought us quite a large amount of gold that we are now able to spend, around 20K for each charakter.

I play a neutral priest of Abadar and wondered how to spend the loot. I looked up the wondrous items in came aross the Candle of Invocation.

Each of these special tapers is dedicated to one of the nine alignments. Simply burning the candle generates a favorable aura for the individual if the candle's alignment matches that of the character. Characters of the same alignment as the burning candle add a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks while within 30 feet of the flame.

In addition, burning a candle also allows the owner to cast a gate spell, the respondent being of the same alignment as the candle, but the taper is immediately consumed in the process.

I do not care much for the first ability and would not use the third one. I am pretty sure my DM would disallow it anyway and I consider it to be too much of a game-breaker (or a quick suicide).

But I have a question about the second ability. As I read the ability

a)the candle can be used more than once

b) the candle only needs to burn while preparing and casting the spells. The spell effects still remain, even after the candle has been extinguished/snuffed out.

Do you agree with this?

Preparing divine spells takes one hour or less. The mininum is 15 minutes. Does this mean that my character would be able to spend 15 minutes preparing the spells from the new spell level(say Wind Walk and Find the Path for a normally 10 level Cleric) cast the spell in a few rounds round and then frolic around in the air for a few hours? And essentially do this on about 15 days using the candle in 15-minute-segments?

Thanks

The title says it all.

In the longer threads about the Heirloom Wepaon trait from the Adventurer's Armory being too powerful (or not), the designers said that there would be a revision for that trait coming up soon.

These threads being a few months old I started looking for any revision but could not find anything. Has there been a ruling?

We will start a Kingmaker campaign soon and my cleric could use a fancy weapon.

If this is from an AP I might know where they are. I suggest running away and coming back later. Take the AoO and hope for the best on your way out.

It is from one of the "old" ones. And believe me, we certainly would like to. :-)

Why is there a possible TPK? What is going on within the game?

One character is already dead, my char (the one who can teleport) still has eight hit points left the rest of the group is doing better but does not have that many options to escape the monsters.

To make matters worse only one other char is standing next to my rogue/wizard, the three others are about 30-50 feet away and there is an unholy number of incorporeal creatures in between. The have to get to my position in one round to have any chance to escape.

We had to stop in the midst of combat and next week we will see if we (or some of us) can escape.

But most of the monsters can act before we can try to get away so the most likely outcome is that it will be over once they take away my last eight hit points.

Dearest Masters of Lore,

I have a few questions regarding incorporeal creatures and interactiong with them. I had a quick look at the archives but could not find a thread that was dealing with my questions. If these questions have already been asked I apologize.

My group is at the moment a round or two away from a TPK. The only way to escape for some of us would be to somehow make it through a crowd of incorporeal undead and evil outsiders to rally around the character which can teleport away.

My questions:

1. Are there any special rules for moving through incorporeal creatures?

2. Are there any special rules if incorporeal creatures grant cover differently from corporeal creatures.

I know that there is nothing in the incorporeal description and that I am grasping at straws but hey, any port in a storm. :-)

Thanks in advance
Simkiria

enervation: You point your finger and fire a black ray of negative energy
polar ray: A blue-white ray of freezing air and ice springs from your hand
ray of enfeeblement: A coruscating ray springs from your hand
Ray of exhaustion: A black ray projects from your pointing finger
Disintegrate: A thin, green ray springs from your pointing finger.
Dimensional anchor: A green ray springs from your hand.
Searing light: you project a blast of light from your open palm

Good points, all. I did not think about looking at the despriptive text. But there are also despriptions the other way around.

scorching ray: you blast your enemies with a searing beam of fire
disrupt undead: you direct a ray of positive energy
acid splash: you fire a small orb of acid at the target

elemental ray: you can unleash an elemtal ray as a standard action
acid dart: you can unleash an acid dart targetin any foe

Most of the examples follow the finger/palm/hand way. Still I find it strangely inconclusive and unsatisfying

Okay forget realism...D&D combat system ain't realistic, period. It's there for balance. Ranged attacks become TOO good if you can full attack at melee range with no AoO.

I agree completely, it is not about realism. I personaly do think it makes casters to powerful but obviously the makers of the rulebook thought differently.

Still, is it possible to fire rays without using, for example, arms and hands?

In game, you have to point your arm out at the thing you want to blast.

I would like to see that passage. It would also clear up if a bound wizard could use his/her acid dart or a creature with no arms (lets say a wizard in ooze form) could use rays. I personally think it rather strange that a beholder (not open content I know) should incur AoO for using his eye rays.

Any idea where I could find this passage?

As I read it, a ranged touch attack is still a ranged attack, and as such does provok an attack of opportunity (possibly two, if you're threatened and you don't cast defensivly).

My logic is that when you make any ranged attack, whether it be with a bow, a sling, or a spell, you must take a moment to aim at your target, and this focus causes you to give less attention to your immediate surrounding momentarily. Nearby foes can exploit this and take a quick shot at you, since you aren't on active defense while aiming your shot.

Thanks for the quick answer, as you can see I had to revise my post. Comes from reading to fast and not far enough. :-(

I do not really like the aiming/concentration argument that much as you must focus on your opponent making a melee attack as well. For me the AoO is more connected to a physical action.
Being blind, stunned, helpless, are all states that do not allow you to "pay attention to your surroundings" so they would incur AoO as well, wouldn't they?

Hi,

mmh had to edit my post, sorry.

Sorry to come up with this old topic. I looked around on the message boards and came up with a few posts about the topic "AoO yes or no".
As I understand it the wording is a very claer on this topic.

p.186

Some spells allow
you to make a ranged touch attack as part of the casting
of the spell. These attacks are made as part of the spell
and do not require a separate action. Ranged touch
attacks provoke an attack of opportunity, even if the
spell that causes the attacks was cast defensively.

I can understand reading the rules in that way and of course the DM is always right. :-)

I just do not understand WHY there should be an AoO. All the other actions like standing up or firing a bow in melee put you in a positon where you are (more or less) hard put to defend yourself.

I found no indication of how you must behave to "shoot" a ranged touch attack. As with every ranged attack it depends on DEX, so in same way it is a physical act but I can find no reference that it involves an act that leaves you open to attack. I can't even find a passage that firing a ranged touch attack such as a ray involves your hands, tentacles, whatever. It seems to be possible to shoot them from your eyeas, knees, elbows,... The only passage I found is rather short.

p. 214

Ray: Some effects are rays. You aim a ray as if using a
ranged weapon, though typically you make a ranged
touch attack rather than a normal ranged attack.

Thanks
Jan

So, when are Paizo going to give this lady a full novel to write?

+1

Hi there,

tomorrow I will leave my home country Germany on a holiday trip to Canada and the US. Starting in Vancouver my friends and we will travel to Seattle and drive down to San Francisco. All in all our trip will take three weeks and I think that is plenty of time to sightsee some "special interest" sites.

My friends are not into gaming/SF/F at all but I would love to hear some suggestions for shops, museums, historical sights, etc.

So were should I go to? Is the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle any good?

to answer the other question, about Epic damage reduction, No, a +4 or +5 Bane weapon (couting at +6 or +7 effective enhancement) would NOT overcome epic DR.

The reason for this is that Epic DR is specifically designed for weapons that can only be crafted using Epic Crafting feats and created by Epic crafters. These weapons do not appear in the Core rulebook. The Core rules actually provide for weapon "effective" bonuses as high as +10, and the Epic Level Handbook provides for "actual" bonuses as high as +10 and "effective" bonuses as high as +20. Any weapon created using acceptible CORE rules is not epic and doesn't bypass Epic DR.

By way of comparison, a +5 Bane sword costs 72,000 GP and is perfectly allowed in the Core rules. On the other hand, a +6 sword costs 720,000 GP, 10x more than the...

I like that way of thinking and I think the numbers support your argument. It would be rather cheap to create a weapon to challenge Demon Lords/Archfiends/Demigods that way. This does not seem to be the way it was intended to be.

I am of the opinion Bane does increase the effective enhancement bonus of a weapon, so it would qualify for improved DR penetration when used against an appropriate target.

However in your example, the ranger would have failed to overcome the DR because the effective enhancement bonus would only have been a +4, not the +5 to overcome alignment based DR.

Yes, sorry I obviously made a mistake here and mixed up the adamantine and aligment numbers. But back to the basic question, it seems as if most of you think that the extra +2 bonus for the bane quality can help overcome damage reduction, right?

Would be worth to find a spellcaster who could enhance the bow from +2 bane to +3 bane, being level 14 now the next evil outsider is probably just around the corner.

Thanks
Jan

A little Search-Fu and here are your answers...

Celestial Armor is not made of mithril but rocks and bard or rogue armor

Celestial Armor requires Light Armor Proficiency to use

Thanks for the Search-Fu, I did not find that. Now that I have it straight from the horse's mouth (or dinosaur's) in this case I just have to convince the rest of the group to let me wear it.

Hi there,

and here is another question for those of you wise in the rulings of the game.

The last two gaming sessions our group fought a quite powerful demon that was not only hard to hit but had also Damage Reduction 15/good and cold iron (at least this is what the GM said after the fight).

One of our characters was a ranger with a +2 evil outsider bane longbow. The DM ruled that this weapon did not overcome the demon's damage reduction.

I was of a slightly different opinion thinking that the increased enhancement bonus of +4 would take care of the cold iron and good prerequisites.

We won in the end, but I think this was not the last demon we are going to face and I hope that you can clear this up before our next fight.

Would do you think?

On a similiar note: Would a +4 evil outsider bow also overcome epic damage resistance? I found nothing in the rules that stated that the enhancement bonus of a bane weapon would stop at +5 (which would make +4 and +5 bane weapons slightly less useful).

Thanks
Jan

Hi there,

last gaming session, somewhere deep in the Savage Tide AP, our group found some treasure including a Celestial Armor.

Celestial Armor
Aura faint transmutation [good]; CL 5th
Slot armor; Price 22,400 gp; Weight 20 lbs.
Description
This bright silver or gold +3 chainmail is so fine and light that
it can be worn under normal clothing without betraying its
presence. It has a maximum Dexterity bonus of +8, an armor
check penalty of –2, and an arcane spell failure chance of 15%.
It is considered light armor and allows the wearer to use fly on
command (as the spell) once per day.
Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, fly, creator must be
good; Cost 11,350 gp

I would like my character (Wizard/Rogue/Unseen Seer/Abjurant Champion) to wear this armor. There ist still a 15% spell failure, but I clould live with that.

But there is this small niggling piece of rules that makes me uneasy. :-)(PFRG 154/155):

Mithral: Mithral is a very rare silvery, glistening metal
that is lighter than steel but just as hard. When worked
like steel, it becomes a wonderful material from which
to create armor, and is occasionally used for other items
as well. Most mithral armors are one category lighter
than normal for purposes of movement and other
limitations. Heavy armors are treated as medium, and
medium armors are treated as light, but light armors
are still treated as light. This decrease does not apply to
proficiency in wearing the armor. A character wearing
mithral full plate must be prof icient in wearing heavy
armor to avoid adding the armor’s check penalty to all
his attack rolls and skill checks that involve moving.

Yeah, I know the Celestial Armor is not made out of mithral, but still it seems very close. If this passage applies I can't really use the armor, my character does not have medium armor proficiency and a -2 to attacks is not really helpful.

Looking at the specific magic armors on page 465 I I found:

Elven Chain
Aura no aura (nonmagical); CL —
Slot armor; Price 5,150 gp; Weight 20 lbs.
DESCRIPTION
This extremely light chainmail is made of very fine mithral links.
This armor is treated, in all ways, like light armor, including when
determining proficiency. The armor has an arcane spell failure
chance of 20%, a maximum Dexterity bonus of +4, and an armor
check penalty of –2.

And in contrast another mithral armor that directly refers to the mithral rules:

Mithral Full Plate of Speed
Aura faint transmutation; CL 5th
Slot armor; Price 26,500 gp; Weight 25 lbs.
Description
As a free action, the wearer of this fine set of +1 mithral full plate
can activate it, enabling him to act as though affected by a haste
spell for up to 10 rounds each day. The duration of the haste effect
need not be consecutive rounds.
The armor has an arcane spell failure chance of 25%, a maximum
Dexterity bonus of +3, and an armor check penalty of –3. It is
considered medium armor, except that you must be proficient in
heavy armor to avoid taking nonproficiency penalty.

So thats clear. I have no problem with specific rules overruling the more general rules, so that certain specific sets of armor have slightly different rules.

But the wording in the Celetial Armor passage is ambigious:

It is considered light armor and allows the wearer to use fly on
command (as the spell) once per day.

It could be read both ways. My interpretation, perhaps a bit subjective, goes like this:

Comparing Elven Chain and Celestial Armor (both being chainmails) ine can see that they both weigh the same (20 pounds), but the Celestial Armor has a lower spell failure chance (15% vs. 20%) and a higher max. Dexterity Bonus (+8 vs. +4). It seems to be even more "comfortable" than the Mithral Armor. So I hope that the armor proficiency ruling of the Elven Chain (light proficiency being enough) also applies to Celestial Armor.

But as I said, I am not really impartial here. I would really like to read your comments.

Thanks a lot
Jan