Socinus's page

Ah, my error.

I'm looking at creating a Dex based fighter and I'm not sure it's really a workable build.

Your first issue is weapons. You can use light weapons in order to take advantage of Weapon Finesse but then you're trading off damage potential. You also are at somewhat of a disadvantage with protection; armor has a max Dex bonus which seems to mean you're going to end up with mediocre armor with a mediocre Dex bonus and no real protection.

So what gives? How could you make an agile, Dex based fighter that isn't going to get basically stomped on in every fight?

I can understand that, but it leads to situations where I just flat dont know how to create a basic magic item because the rules are so confusing. I dont really want to pepper the forums with bonehead, basic questions.

I've read that, many times. I cant say it's terribly clear.

I'm having no small bit of difficulty with the item creation. Are there any tools or programs available that will help you create a custom item, giving cost breakdowns and such.

I've found quite a few tools that will create random loot, but I'm looking for something that will break down the creation of an actual custom item.

I can see the point on balance but...it just seems wrong that ONLY Rogues/Ninjas can Sneak Attack. Why can a Wizard not pull out his dagger and try to creep up behind someone and jam it through the back of their neck?

As I said, I take the point on balance but there's got to be a better way without erecting such arbitrary barriers.

That makes little to no sense at all. If I catch someone unaware, even with a dagger, I should have a chance to hit them somewhere vital.

I might have to make a custom houserule for this.

I'm going to be running a game soon and I was curious if there was a mechanic or houserule that someone had devised that dealt with killing/incapacitating someone in a single hit.

For instance, a guard who is unaware of the presence of a character. The character wants to down the guard in a single hit (dead or otherwise unable to raise alarm). If they cant do enough damage in a single hit, the guard can use his turn to call out and surprise is lost. How would/could a character remove the guard and remain undetected?

I'm just trying to get a general sense of how they play, what potential problems they have, what they're useful for, etc etc.

I was looking at the Priest class from Tome of Secrets and wondering if anyone else has played it or has experience with it.

Priest

For flavor purposes, I'm more interested in the walker.

40 grand seems like A LOT for a platform/chair with a pair of legs with virtually no other function.

A lot of the Constructs have attacks and special abilities. That's a little more than what I'm going for.

I'm trying to get a rough idea for stats for a special creation I had in mind for a character.

The character is a ratfolk wizard and I'm trying to build for him a small walker. Essentially a small chair with legs, all it will really do is move the standard 30ft per round and give my character something to sit on and stand a little taller.

Any ideas?

I'm a little confused on something.

I'm wondering why anyone would choose to use unarmed combat with any class other than a Monk. Even an Unarmed Fighter variant, that is supposed to be directed for unarmed combat, will only ever do 1d3 damage unarmed and that is all he will ever do with his bare hands. Even a 1st level Monk does 1d8 and it only goes up from there.

So that in mind, if you're going to go unarmed combat, why do anything other than a Monk?

Yes a Fighter gets more feats, but does that make up for the fact that you do 1d3 and will only EVER do 1d3? Plus as a Monk you still get feats and a lot of your bonus feats go to improving your unarmed abilities.

This is driving me crazy. Is there a feat that allows a character's non-Fighter class levels to count as Fighter levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats?

I could have sworn I remember seeing it and there's already a similar one for monks (Monastic Legacy).

Hold on, did you say his girlfriend is part of your usual group? This isn't one of those things where she spends a lot of time with you guys so he started playing to see what shes up to but he feels like he has to compete with your group for time spent with her is it? Subconscious jealousy issues on the part of the DM could explain quite a lot of your problems. Maybe its not a DM Vs Players problem, maybe its Him Vs His Girlfriends buds who are taking away all her time from me I hate those guys...?

She's actually a gamer too so I dont think its that. She enjoys the combat much more than the roleplaying but she DOES enjoy playing and hanging out with us.

A couple questions that I didn't see an answer to yet:

Does your GM ever play, or is he always the GM?

He does play. We were talking about switching off for a while and having another person GM another Path.

If your GM does play as a player, is he fun to play with or does he only have fun when he is fully optimized, dealing the most damage, or best / toughest / most successful person in the party?

Yes, unfortunately that is his playstyle. I dont think he deliberately sets out to break characters but his characters always seem to end up with something they're ridiculously good at via a combination of certain items and abilities. He tends to subtly break things as a player but he is absolute death on players even seeming to break things as GM.

Are you friends with the people in your group, or did you become friends because you're in the same group?

About half and half, half of us were friends before and the rest came into the game and became friends. It was sort of a fusion of two separate gaming groups.

If you aren't friends with each other outside of your game time, and your GM isn't fun as a player either, then ejecting him from the group could be another option. "Look, we appreciate that you run the game, but none of us are having fun anymore. Why don't you look into playing a PFS game for a few months?" Changing a group dynamic can have a vastly positive impact on game enjoyment, I know from experience!

While I understand that, I dont want to try to mutiny. He does put a lot of heart into this and it means a lot to him plus, on a more practical level, some of the group (such as his girlfriend) has to be around him A LOT outside of game and we dont want to sour the friendship on something like this,

We talked to him a little bit and he seems to understand why we're not really enjoying the game. Part of it is the adventure path itself and he's open to changing it up a bit.

He says he sticks with what is written in the book and we've pointed out that he tends to take things a little too literally.

Part of it has been sheer luck. Virtually every session, the GM consistently rolls high and we tend to roll very low. That's not really anyone's fault but it does drag down the enjoyment level.

Another big part of it has been our GM. He's very inflexible and has an...interesting interpretation of certain rules. IE:

I'm sure part of it is we're not using "the correct" tactics as much as we should be and we're not as efficient as we could be, but its starting to feel like we're playing AGAINST our GM.

The adventure path itself is also seeming very "meh."

I've been kicking this around for a few weeks with a couple other players and I wanted to see if anyone here had any ideas.

We've been playing the Jade Regent adventure path for a few months now and we're about level 8. We're finding that we kinda hate it. We're not sure if its the path itself, the way our GM is running the game (he's a touch inflexible), or if we're just massively borking strategy, but bottom line; we're really not enjoying the game.

The problem is when anyone of us brings up a problem, our GM tends to get a little upset. How would you recommend dealing with this?

I'm reading the Ultimate Equipment and I've stumbled across Boots of the Burglar and am a little fuzzy on what they do.

The description reads

"[...]grant their wearer a +5 competence bonus on Perception checks to spot or locate traps[...][...]This bonus also applies to AC and on any Reflex saving throws against such traps."

Now, is that a +5 AC in general or a +5 ONLY vs those traps? RAW seems like it could be interpreted as +5 in general but RAI seems like it could go either way.

I was considering creating a weapon for a character that was a spear that could magically be lengthened or shortened depending on the needs of the user. So it could be a shortspear, a spear, or a longspear if commanded by the user.

What would I have to put on a weapon to achieve this effect?

If I have a character with Gliding Wings, can I use those wings to achieve flight over long distances using wind and updrafts? Similar to how many birds fly long distances or how gliders are able to stay aloft for hours and cover long distances.

After speaking with the GM, he is interpreting Stab and Grab as basically the Steal combat maneuver with the added benefit of being able to attack as well. Hence, an attack of opportunity without the right feat.

It doesn't strictly say it triggers an attack of opportunity in the description.

"At 3rd level, as a full-round action, a cutpurse can make an attack and also make a Sleight of Hand check to steal something from the target of the attack. If the attack deals sneak attack damage, the rogue can use Sleight of Hand to take an Item from the creature during combat; otherwise this ability can only be used in a surprise round before the target has acted. If the attack is successful, the target takes a –5 penalty on the Perception check to notice the theft."

However I'm playing with a GM who has stated that it does. I'm not terribly familiar with Pathfinder rules as of yet.

Does the "Stab and Grab" ability of the Cutpurse Rogue Archetype trigger an attack of opportunity when it's used against an opponent?

Thank you.