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We are looking for 2 players to join our Serpent's Skull AP. We are are starting the campaign from the beginning. 15 pt buy. When: Monday nights starting October 28th / 6PM - 9/9:30 (Central Time)
How to get in: Apply here!
The build I'm working on is less unarmed damage & geared around the vivisectionist. So far, to 16 levels I've got (the order does matter somewhat):
Feats (so far, subject to change)
Alchemist discoveries:
Animal Companions & Effective Levels
That is freakin' sweet. I don't see how such a dude would ever draw his sword... backhanded slaps with his meaty hands will solve most conflicts! :)hmmm... what about the Monk's Robe? would that stack with that cavalier thingy?Makes sense to me, for non-lethal damage only. Same way a Robe of Arcane Heritage works on those who have the Eldritch Heritage feat line. Get something that has sneak attack, add in Sap Adept, Knockout Artist, & Sap Master.... :)
You count as having monk levels equivalent to your cavalier level. So, that means if you have 2 cavalier levels, you have 2 monk levels. Multi-class into monk for 2 levels, and you have 2 monk levels + 2 monk levels = 4 Monk levels when dealing non-lethal damage. Don't forget this is a Player Companion, which often notoriously leave off intended text that would indicate it working in the intended way.
Comparing large weapon + large weapon and saying that doesn't make you able to wield a huge weapon is in no way comparable to saying "treat these levels in Cavalier as levels in Monk when determining unarmed damage". The reason Unarmed Combat Mastery needs a specific stacking clause is because Ninja & Monk are two different classes. Levels in the same class stack, no?
The cleric that gains bard levels doesn't actually have bard levels. Sermonic performance says nothign about having any number of bard levels, just "equivalent to". What makes this different, in my mind, is it actually says "treated as having the monk levels" in regards to unarmed strike. But I've been wrong before.
Order of the Hammer states:
If a character has 2 levels in Cavalier/Order of the Hammer & Two levels of Monk, does that make him level 4 in Monk for unarmed damage, therefore giving his unarmed, nonlethal damage 1d8 ? It makes sense that it would, but RAW doesn't always make sense. Thanks!
I don't get the hostility for asking for a source, but OK. Thank you for the clarification. As I said in the other thread, the rule doesn't make sense from a time slice perspective. The most a spellcaster with quickened spells could cast is 2, not 3+, the exact same they would be able to cast if you can't replace a standard with a swift.
It's silly to say that taking 2 swift actions instead of a standard and a swift would break game balance. The action economy in Pathfinder is based around the standard action. It's the most expensive combat action that lets you still take a move and a swift. The example with Quickened Spells is not an issue because of the high cost of Quickening spells. For that to work, you have to be a high-level spellcaster. Giving up two level 7 slots (for 2 level-3 quickened spells) takes care of the balance issue right there. Why is it unreasonable that a high-level spellcaster will be able to do some amazing things? Giving up your standard action to do a move or a swift is almost always less optimal than attacking or casting a spell. You give up an entire round of attacks/spellcasting to do something that is usually a minor effect. The inquisitor balance example also doesn't break balance because reason that class's swift actions are swift is because they are assumed to proceed attacking or spellcasting. Giving up that standard action for 2 swifts harms you more than it helps you. Every GM I've played with allows swift actions in place of a standard for these reasons.
Source? I've never played in a game that wouldn't let me use a standard action to take a swift.
Reading the Core Rulebook, it says a Swift Action takes less time than a standard action but more time than a free action, hence the once per round vs (practically) unlimited free actions. An immediate action takes as long as a swift action. There is nothing in the rules preventing you from using your standard action to take a swift action. You could take 2 swift actions and move action instead of swift action. Don't forget the rule about common sense. If a swift action takes less time than a standard action, you can take it in place of a standard.
Not to be picky here, but the set of all integers is countable and infinite. The set of real numbers is uncountable and infinite. Infinite does not mean countable - they are two different things. Countable is only relevant when dealing with sets. Foundations of Math FTW!
Here is your Recon Sniper build to level 16 4 Slayer (Stygian)
Your key stats are DEX, INT, and CHA, CHA needs to be 15 before Improved Eldritch Heritage can be selected. A good racial choice here is Vashkanya, with bonuses to dexterity and charisma, and negatives to wisdom (your dump stat anyway). You also get free poison. Underground Chemist + Quick Draw feat lets you draw poison and any alchemical item as a free action. Poisoner lets you take any poison and convert it to any type you want. Take your own poison or one you craft and make it inhaled, use mage hand to deliver it up to 30 feet (Ranged Legerdemain) Feats and class abilities:
Traits:
Feel free to change the order of the Toxicological Timing feats and the Eldritch Heritage feats to suit your needs. MAX OUT STEALTH! This build gives you several things: First, it lets you move at full speed for stealth. It also lets you move at half speed while prone. All poisons can be changed to any type, and onset and frequency can be changed down to one round, making cheap ingested poisons viable as inhaled/injury/contact types. The Eldritch Heritage feat line gets Hide Aura, hiding you from all detect spells as a constant ability. Divination focus lets you truly be the scout for the party. This build also results in a +10 BAB, a 2/3 progression with 7d6 sneak attack. The heavy repeating crossbow, with the Gravity Bow spell deals damage at 2d8. Magical Items:
(edit: didn't put Quick Draw in the list. Can replace the exotic weapon proficiency if that suits your needs and go with a regular heavy crossbow)
Bolt Ace is pretty cool, but I'm not really a fan of pure martial classes. I enjoy having some flexibility. (Of the full BAB classes, Slayer and Cavalier are the most interesting to me.) If you want to make a sneaky, sniping inquisitor that uses poison, dipping into Rogue for 3 levels as a Poisoner + Toxicological Timing + Improved Toxicological Timing + (optionally, Poison Focus) lets you convert any poison into any other, change the onset time down to 1 round, and change the frequency down to one round (even from a day!). All your poisons are +1 DC, and you can make them all injury (or inhaled for added fun) including the powerful and cheap ingested ones like Oil of Taggit. Bonus feat if you are a dwarf: Brewmaster to increase the DC of injested poisons by 1 and then convert to whatever type you need. Poisons are finally viable when crafted at 33% of cost and converted from a powerful, cheap (but slow acting) to a one round onset.
Reading comprehension fail on my part on the proficiencies. When something wrong gets stuck in my head, my brain skips over contradictory information in text. Sigh. Ah, I see your point. In the past, I have played a more sneak-oriented Inquisitor, with a couple levels of Rogue to qualify for Rogue Crawl and Evasion. Sniping while prone requires a crossbow. Manyshot also works with the repeating crossbow, although you need another feat, Clustered Shots, to deal with DR. With Vital Strike, that's only one feat to help with DR vs two to fire multiples against DR. I like to use poison on my ranged attacks, so a -2 to accuracy for Manyshot often means I miss the target and waste a dose. Focusing all my effort into making that shot hit is what matters to me. The repeating crossbow gives me the benefit of the higher damage and saving me reload time by making it once every 5 rounds. In addition and if you have the money, repeating crossbows actually work with the Endless Ammunition magical enhancement, whereas my GM ruled it does nothing for regular crossbows. Is a bow more ideal than a crossbow? Certainly. Even Sean K. Reynolds admits on his blog that focusing on realism with the crossbow broke the flexibility and fun element. The heavy repeating crossbow works well with a sneaky sniping inquisitor. It's not ideal for all builds, but that is what makes the Inquisitor so flexible. You can be whatever you want to be.
Reading comprehension fail on my part on the proficiencies. When something wrong gets stuck in my head, my brain skips over contradictory information in text. Sigh. And regarding the repeating crossbows, it negates (almost all) the penalties on the heavy crossbow. Instead of a full-round action after every shot, you only have to take a full-round action after 5 shots. That makes the d10 damage worth it, especially if you can use a wand of Gravity Bow to get 2d8. Couple that with Vital Strike, and you get a single shot at 4d8 at your highest attack bonus for 5 rounds. That sure helps overcoming DR, especially combined with judgments.
Half-orc inquisitors don't get Falchion or great axe because they are martial weapons for half-orcs, and inquisitors don't get martial weapon proficiency. I would also argue that giving up judgments makes your inquisitor far less flexible. Judgments do much more than just dealing extra damage. Fast healing, aligned weapons, overcoming spell resistance, and AC bonus are just some of the abilities judgment gives you. This is the defining characteristic of the Inquisitor class because it lets you adapt to any situation. Don't forget inquisitors are the only class to get repeating crossbow proficiency, effectively wiping out all the negatives for a heavy crossbow.
Yes, but they might count as a higher level than their class levels would indicate because of racial HD. You'd need to check with your GM. For followers, I'd just leave the Racial Hit Die and not take any class levels. A level 4 (or 5, if your Leadership score is high enough) Anthropomorphic Awakened King Cobra would make a great guard or minion. Combine with a Ring of the Ecclesiarch to double the number of followers and voila! Army of King Cobra Snakemen. (If you have the coin, that is.)
Awaken can't be used on a familiar. I'm also not sure what Anthropomorphic Animal does for you on a familiar. Perhaps you can elaborate? An awakened animal gets 3d6 Intelligence, +1d3 Charisma, and +2 HD. Its type becomes magical beast (augmented animal). An awakened animal can't serve as an animal companion, familiar, or special mount. Still looking for positive uses of baleful polymorph, though.
Under the Torturous Transformation, it lists the Vivisectionist gets Baleful Polymorph at 9th level. Perhaps it's my lack of imagination here, but I'm not seeing how this would be useful to the Vivisectionist. Why would a vivisectionist want to make something weaker by using this spell/extract? What are some positive uses for this extract? All suggestions are welcome and requested.
Okay, so Craft Ooze requires a caster level of 5, but is listed in the Alchemy Manual. According to the Advanced Class Guide FAQ (In March of 2013), alchemists don't have a spell level and don't qualify for crafting feats. Master Craftsman won't work for Craft Ooze, either. The picture in the Alchemist guide (page 22) is obviously an alchemist, but Alchemists by default can't qualify for this feat! Is there an updated ruling, or is Paizo toying with us in the Alchemy Manual? ;) They can't qualify for Craft Construct either with Master Craftsman, and the same issue with caster level applies for this feat. Am I mistaken by RAW? Or is this just the way it is?
Mounted Combat rules are in desperate need of clarification. Perhaps we could get a Player's Companion or Campaign Setting that helps deal with all the issues of rider vs mount. In our campaign, we play with a house rule that the rider occupies all spaces occupied by the mount, to simplify reach issues.
The way around this is the Horsemaster's Saddle + Escape Route feat. Since you are always in your mount's square, you never get an AoO while mounted.
Amplified Rage specifically says both have to be raging AND have the feat. If your mount can't rage, it doesn't matter if it has the feat or not. That example doesn't make sense. The plain text of Escape Route says that the square you are in and the adjacent squares do not provoke attacks of opportunity. You are in the square your mount is in. Any movement out of that square does not provoke. Moving out of the next square also wouldn't provoke. The benefits of the feat are the same as having the feat; otherwise the saddle would have no benefit whatsoever. |
