The favored class bonuses listed on d20PFSRD.com are all 3rd party items,
I somehow did not see that. We dont use 3rd party materials. Never mind then :-) Thanks a lot!
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Hi, for the Skinwalker, the favoured class bonus reads: "Fighter: The fighter adds ½ to his number of change shape uses per day" However, the description of the change shape ability, does at not point list any limitation to the number of changes per day. This is deeply confusing: "Change Shape (Su, 5 RP): A skinwalker can change shape to and from a bestial form as a standard action. In bestial form, a skinwalker gains a +2 racial bonus to either Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. While in this form, a skinwalker also takes on an animalistic feature that provides a special effect. Each time a skinwalker assumes bestial form, she can choose to gain one of the following features: - 2 claw attacks that each deal 1d4 points of damage
These benefits last until the skinwalker returns to her humanoid form as a swift action. A skinwalker must first return to her humanoid form before changing to bestial form again to change benefits. Different skinwalker heritages allow skinwalker characters to select from different sets of bestial features." Can anyone explain?
Hi, am i reading this correctly that boot of levitation allow you to fly without any time limitations? Best regards,
Well. Spellcasting doesnt start until lvl4 so its not all that impressive in the end - and useless for the 1lvl-dip that was discussed here.
The reason I have zero qualms about using this trick is because I see no reason why a Personal spell should be worse at self buffing than a Touch spell. But it's not. What you try to do here is basicly making a spell that is inteded to be standard action into a swift action and you do that by mincing words. This is a clear RAI vs RAW situation and personally, i would not allow it as a GM and i would not use it as a player, because its cheesy and not at all what role playing games are about. For me that is. I fully aknowledge that everyone can have a different approach to playing this game. I usually develop an image of my character first and then try to make it fit with the game rules, but the image is what counts. Your effectivity in combat is, after all, not your problem, but the problem of the GM. Because it is not his job to kill you, but to tell a story.
I dont understand what you mean by the familiar holding the charge on the spell. There is nothing in the rules that suggest that a familiar could cast spell on you?
As far as i understand it, weapon enchantments will only count for trip attempts if the weapon actually has the trip property. Which means i would potentially miss out on a +5 here. Thje whole glaive thing is only of relevance if i used a tempered champion archetype, as those have to use the sacred weapon of their deity. If i use another archetype i could also go with Guisarme. No self-respecting Paladin would ever wear a Horse-Chopper. :-)
I see your point. From my point of view, purchasing such a Ring is just a trip to the nearest Mage and paying some Gold between missions. There is absolutely no need to craft that ring myself. As for the prestige class - the class is definetly nice, but i basicly sacrifice my divine bond for the ability to enlarge myself for 2 rounds per day as a swift action (maybe even 4 rounds later in the game) and adding enlarge person to my spell list. In my view that is not a good trade-off. Also, i am not a big fan of Erastil. I'd prefer to worship Shelyn. The main problem being that the glaive has no trip...
I dont understand some things: Urban Bloodrager and Blood Conduit Bloodrager are two different archetypes, i cant mix those, can i? What is bloodline Familiar? The main reasoning behind Weapon trick was not haft bash, but close sweep.
What item would that be? I cannot find anything nor know of any There are specific tables that allow you to craft almost anything and determine a price for it: click here The price for a ring of enlarge person with 3 charges (command activated) would be: (1 (spell level) * 3 (caster level) * 1800) / (5/3 (number of charges per day)) = 3240 gp
Fighter types rely on feats and Brawler has 3 interesting abilities; Brawler's Cunning, Martial Flexibility, and Martial Training. Yeah, i was considering that too. Brawler would allow me to skip Dirty Fighting entirely, which is nice. I have always thought a Sacred Servant Paladin of Erastil for the Growth Domain would be pretty good for a Area Defender Paladin. Swift Action Enlarge, as well as Enlarge Person on your spell list True, but in the end, a ring that allows me to cast Enlarge Person 3 times a day, is quite cheap, and thats really the only benefit i see in that Build. Especially losing the divine bond hurts a lot. Used a dwarven dorn-dergar. The real beauty of the Stonelord archetype was that by taking Halting Blow as his 12th-level defensive power, he was able to use that to stop creatures that couldn't be tripped (flying opponents show up a lot by that level). Actually i like the concept a lot, especially the Weapon used. My only problem is that the Stonelord loses some major selling points of the paladin class - losing Smite Evil, Mercys and Divine grace hurts a lot. Also the fact that the defensive powers can only be used in defensive stance is not good on a lot of battle field we encountered so far.
In this case, specifically, I’d argue that defense and offense go hand-in-hand. It’s just active defense (preventing someone from getting to you) than passive defense (shield bonus). But thats just it: For the investment of just 2 feats i am immidiately getting +3 AC with no drawback (a mithril shield is not that expensive) and potentially up to +8 AC for an highly enchanted shield. Thats nothing to sneeze on. Also, and i cant stress that enough, it looks badass.
We are currently at lvl8 and i want to take a human anyway since i like the +1 skillpoint/lvl. That being said i was considering starting out with 2 levels of Fighter with Drill Seargent archetype, which gets me 2 bonus feats and 1 teamwork feat.
Hi, i want to build a paladin tank. Since there are almost no ways to actually tank, i thought, why not protect the party by just tripping anything that moves. So the basic idea is, get a weapon with reach and then: 1. Dirty Fighting (to remove the need to have 13INT for combat expertise and +ATT from flanking)
also there are a lot of other nice feats that could play into the style (fury's fall, felling smash, Stand Still and many many more.). The whole thing is quite feat heavy. Now here's the problem: I really like the tempered champion archetype for paladins, which does not only give additional feats but also access to some feats usually reserved for fighters. The only problem: apparently there is not a single weapon with trip and reach that has a deity, fitting a paladin. Do you have any ideas? Can i somehow get the trip property on a Glaive or something?
Thanks a lot guys, i wasnt aware of shield brace, that helps a lot. Just fyi, you get access to all the Polearm Tricks when you take Weapon Trick: Polearm. Don't know if that was unclear to you. Oha, thats very nice, i think i just misunderstood the whole "take this multiple times for different trick options" line, in the feat description. Then it'S even better than i thought.
Hi, i am considering playing a tank character that protects his group by using a reach weapon (glaive) and either trip or otherwise engage the enemies. At the moment, a Tempered Champion Paladin is my favourite choice, as he can select numerous weapon tricks... starting with close sweep to trip enemies directly adjacent to me, i think that Choke up sounds incredibly cheesy. Therefore my question: Does the Choke Up Weapon trick actually allow me to use my Glaive together with a Shield? I also consider taking 2 levels of Battle oracle to get access to enlarge Person (as well as some nice revelations), to increase my thread range to 20'...
Well, both abilities state that they function as the druid animal companion, thats why i wondered.
Transition from lawful neutral to lawful good is not much of a problem, RP-wise
Hi, if i stared to play a Grippli Hunter with a Velociraptor Animal Companion and after level 3 Hunter, i would multiclass into Paladin. Could i use the Velociraptor as mount at Paladin lvl5? The rules state that the paladin mount functions as the druids animal companion and the animal companion rules state that the levels of all classes that allow the animal companion are added up. Which means at lvl 8 (Hunter 3/Paladin 5), i should have a lvl8 Velociraptor that is large enough to serve as a mount, correct?
You _can_ take Accomplished Sneak Attack more than once No, you cant. Unless it is explicitely stated that you can take it multiple times, you cant. The whole "Your number of sneak attack dice cannot exceed half your character level (rounded up)" is to prevent you from using it as a rogue to get even more sneak attack damage than 1d6 per 2 levels. You should definitely take the Stalker Talent Advanced rogue talent and choose Cunning Feint with it. Then you get the benefit of Improved Two-Weapon Feint and Greater Feint all at once, allowing you to retrain both TWFeint and Combat Expertise. Retraining isnt actually a thing in our campaign and i was actually planning on either double debilitation or crippling strike. I would actually suggest sticking with rogue till 12, or at least say you don't lose much sticking to 12. I like that idea. I think i will go for rogue 12 and weapon master. Thanks a lot :-)
Hi, i am currently playing an unchained rogue (CG) at lvl8 - feats and rogue tricks so far are more or less the standard stuff (TWF, Weapon training Short sword, combat expertise, Canny Observer, TWFeint, Trap Spotter, Outflank, combat trick: ITWF). I figure, once i hit lvl10 Debilitating injury gets better but beyond lvl10, i see little reason to go further down the Rogue-route. So i was thinking of dipping into another class, especially since i need to get at least 1 attack in to get debilitating injury going. I considered 2 classes: 1. Slayer (deliverer?) + study target
2. Fighter (two weapon fighter) + full BAB-progression
which one would you chose? Any other suggestions?
I am curious: The item description of the Robe of the Resplendent Thespian reads: "These magnificent vestments disguise the presence of armor as normal clothing." Well now, since the Robe itself occupies the body slot, wearing armor along with the robe should be impossible anyway. So how is that statement to interpret?
Thats why i first came here. I was wondering if my take on the paladin on the whole was off. I thank all of you for the input :-) I shall now try to find a way to adress this, without pissing of the Paladin player and my GM.
I am currently playing a pathfinder campaign and we have a Paladin of Torag in our group and the way he plays the Paladin bugs me. I came here to find out if i maybe just misunderstand the paladin class or if Paladins of Torag are just a special bunch. In our last sessions 2 thing happened i was wondering about: During an encounter, the Paladin was killed and his soul subsequently transferred into a clone of a runelord. When we later encountered an Avatar of Nocticula (Nocticula as CE demon lord), he attempted to deceive the Avatar by acting as the rune lord (using his new body) and later agreed to set the Avatar free (through a portal of unknown destination). Both of which doesnt seem very Paladin-like to me. Later in the dungeon, the rogue set of a trap and was subsequently dominated and attacked the group - attacking the Paladin first. The monk of the group hit the rogue with a stunning fist (and several more attacks of unlethal damage), causing the rogue to drop his weapons and becoming more or less defenseless. The Paladin, however, still went full round attack on the rogue on account of "being attacked and having to defend himself". That also seemed a bit off to me, wouldnt a paladin at least try to subdue a party member first, especially when that party member is unarmed? Or is it just me being to picky?
Thanks a lot for all the input! I have to say, i strongly dislike the idea of class dipping from an RP-point of view. While class changes can usually be explained quite well, 1 lvl class dips usually appear to be a litle forced. The idea of using a buckler with the Glaive, @Chell Raighn mentioned, is really intriguing, but i somehow think that i might need the feats later on. I think i will go the route, @MrCharisma suggested. Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts!
Hi, i was thinking about making a Paladin of Shelyn, wielding a glaive. The idea is to be the tank of the group, but to do so by tripping enemies left and right by using a glaive. Of course that means that will need a lot of feats and attributes (e.g. INT13 for combat expertise/improved trip) One issue is that reach also means i am a bit in trouble when the enemy is right next to me and, of couse, the lack of defense from missing a shield. To mitigate the reach problem, i figured i could either take "weapon trick: close sweep/heft bash" or "Bladed Brush". Which is more viable and are there other options? Are there any pole-arm specific defensive feats i could chose? (i am aware of dodge of armor focus) Is this viable at all?
Thanks a lot @Darklord - that is way more than i was hoping for, but it gives me a solid base for developing that char :-) We will go for unarmed with dragon style - while weapons may be more effective - the whole group is more RP-centered anyway so, style matters...^^
"Throat punch" is the Unarmed Strike allowed by Panther Parry before the enemy's AoO caused by your movement... Ah ok :-) so you just made up a name for that... i see.^^
You are quite right, that doesnt help at all... also i wonder, what "throat punch" might be... and that build sure needs a lot of feats (9 feats for the style feats alone - even with your 4 bonus feats, thats quite a lot).
Hi, i am basicly in charge of developing the monk character of my wife. First i had planned a very elaborate intimidate-centered build which would most likely have resulted in a s*#*load of dmg every turn... but well... all that dice rolling prove to be quite tedious in actual play (we have 6 player characters and we really should try to keep the turns fast). Anyway - its a STR based build with 18/14/13/10/18/6, which means she is a bit behin in defence, and i was wondering which style might be able to use without too much hassle and effective to play. I had taken 2 styles into consideration: Crane-Style - basicly a lot of defense to offset the lack in DEX
What do you think? Are those viable? Or is there another style that works even better (i had also considered Panther Style and Dragon Style, but ultimately they didnt cut it).
My unchained Rogue + Hunter build was OP (my Pet and me were doing more attacks and considerably more damage than the rest of the party combined) and pissed everyone off. So i decided to forget about the Hunter-Part and do a regular a bit toned down UC Rogue. So, what i want to do now is the regular Two-Weapon-Fighting route, including TW-Faint and improved TW-Feint and maybe TW-Defense. However, since Ninja Tricks give me access to style feats, i was wondering if there is any Combat Style that is especially gratifying for a DEX-based rogue with Short Swords. So far i found the Swordplay Style, which seems to be pretty nice, albeit rather defense and i was wondering if there is a more offensive style that would suit my character?
Hi, i have got a rules question concerning the interaction of the feat "Swordplay Style": "While using this style, wielding the chosen weapon, and fighting defensively or using either the total defense action or the Combat Expertise feat, you gain a +1 shield bonus to your Armor Class." And the feat "Two-Weapon Defence": "When wielding a double weapon or two weapons (not including natural weapons or unarmed strikes), you gain a +1 shield bonus to your AC. When you are fighting defensively or using the total defense action, this shield bonus increases to +2." Does that mean: Fighting defensively: -4 ATT / +2 AC
Well. It's cute.
Hi, i want to use a Velociraptor as companion. Until lvl7 it gets +1 Natural Armor and is Small, from lvl7 it gehts +2 Natural Armor, +4 STR, -2 DEX, pounce and is medium. The rules also state: "Instead of taking the listed benefit at 4th or 7th level, you can instead choose to increase the companion’s Dexterity and Constitution by 2" Questions: - Until lvl7, does it get +1 Size Modifier from being small to AC?
Hi, i am currently planning on multiclassing into Hunter. Since this is going to be mid-campaign, there will not be much downtime between adventures. Im currently lvl4 UC-Rogue and plan on going Hunter with Boon companion feat on lvl5. The question is, how is this usually handled with regards to the animal companion and his tricks? Without tricks, the companion is pointless and doesnt do anything. Have you been in the situation? How did you implement the sudded appearence of the animal into the game? How would you handle the problem of tricks for the animal?
Hi, i am confused: The class description of the hunter states: "A hunter may teach her companion hunter’s tricks from the skirmisher ranger archetype instead of standard tricks. The animal companion can use skirmisher tricks when commanded, a number of times per day equal to half its Hit Dice plus its Wisdom modifier." However, all the hunters tricks of the skirmisher archetype refer to something the Ranger does. Some, not all, tricks do include the animal companion as target, but the trick itself is still always performed by the Ranger. Can anyone clarify, how this is supposed to work?
Hi, is there a feat or some other way to increase the speed of a skinwalker change shape?
Hi, i am currently playing a lvl3 UC-Rogue Fanglord with 18 DEX. I am dual-wielding Kukri's with Weapon Focus and Two-Weapon-Fighting feats. Does that mean i in a full round action i get to make 3 attacks? Kukri (Mainhand) Attack +5 (2+4+1-2) 1D4+4 DMG
Hi, 1. I have a question regarding the bestial form of the skin walker. When i (Skin walker Fanglord) change into bestial form i can chose between several bestial features (bite attack, increased base speed, dark vision, claw attack). What is, however, unclear to me is, how my exterior shape changes. Do i only get the exterior features that correspond to the chosen bestial feature (long snout for bite attack, a tail for increased base speed, claws for claw attack and yellow eyes for dark vision) or do i get all of the cosmetic changes, regardless of the bestial feature? 2. If i understand that correctly, Skin Walkers are not Lycanthropes and therefore not influenced by the moon, right?
Combat expertise is a prerequisite for Pack Flanking which you definately want. There it is! Thanks!
Accomplished Sneak Attacker at level 3 will be a bit of a waste for a few levels, it cannot raise your sneak attack above half your level, so you won't get any benefit from it until level 6. It's actually rounded up, so accomplished sneak attacker will kick in at lvl5. The point is that i dont actually plan on unsing Dazzling Display, it is more or less a prerequisite for violent display later on. Since the lvl5 feat has to be boon companion i would otherwise have to delay accomplished sneak attacker to lvl7. I agree that going for 5 levels of rogue is a good idea. That will also give me another D6 of sneak attack dmg :-). Hm. I wonder if i actually need combat expertise at all. Maybe i should just swap combat reflexes for combat expertise. I though combat expertise was a prerequisite for something, but i cant figure our what. Maybe i wanted to go down the feint tree...
Taking in a lot of the suggestions i have decided to focus on the tracker/trap finding path of the role. Seeing that the rogue gets many of the really great abilities in the first 4 levels and the capstone isnt really that impressive i decided to go with Slyme's concept of dipping into Hunter. So this is my Vishkanya Fanglord (i basicly had to stick to Vishkanya because we had already started the campaign): 10 / 19 / 12 / 14 / 13 / 8 Character Progression: Rogue (1) Finesse Training; Sneak Attack +1D6; trapfinding; [Feat] Two-Weapon-Fighting
What do you think? Is this viable?
The OutSlug Style feat chain gives you 10 ft. 5ft-steps and Lunge. But... outslug style only works with weapons of the "close" group, right? Is that why i should get Brawler's Flurry with only 1 Kukri?
I think you also forget the half-dex on the off-hand attack.... No, i did not :-) that part i knew and i didnt include the "double costs for the enchantment" since there is no enchantment on the weapons i used for the calculations (not really sure, which enchantment you are talking about). The "Rogue = thief" thing is one of the most overused and annoying cliches of roleplaying games, anyway. Well, as i said, this is the first time i play Pathfinder as an actual P&P role playing game. So far, all i know is that the Pathfinder society specifically hired me for scouting and trap disarming and that i come from a somewhat shadowy background being Ex-Szarni and even if the "Rogue Thief" may be a fantasy trope, i dont see why playing as such is such a big problem for you. Is this really some "good role players play like me"-stuff you are pulling on me here? I played a URogue 4 / Hunter 7 in PFS that turned into an absolute beast in combat using 2 keen kukri. I think this sounds absolutely great and a lot of fun to play. Unfortunately, with my choice of attribute distribution and race, i won't be able to go that direction. But in case my rogue croaks i shall certainly take that build under consideration. Seing that the rogue cap stone is not that impressing, i was considering dipping into some other classes anyway - even though i am having quite a hard time to decide for anything :-)
Wow. Once again i have to thank you for your insights. *sigh* so many, many options :D
@ErichAD Crap, you are right. I did indeed forget about the 1,5 DEX. Hm. That actually changes things, like, a lot. At least for normal Attacks. But what about sneak attacks? Even with only 1D6 SAD, 2 attacks with the Kukri give me 2*3,5 DMG, where the elven blade only gets 1*3,5 DMG. This gets even worse with more SAD-Dice. Are full round SAD-attacks so uncommon that this isnt really a factor? Doesnt 'violent display' require me to be a weretiger or were-tiger kin? I could work that into my backstory somehow, but this does sure smell like power gaming to me. Dont get me wrong, the feat is absolutely great but kinda hard to acquire. @Scott Wilhelm OK, you convinced me. Dirty tricks do have a certain charm, where the whole intimidation route did feel a bit clunky. But what i dont get is that you would still need to do a combat maneuver check right? And that check would still be based on the STR-Modifier, which is 0 for my char. In the "cavalier"-dip: Cant do that. How would i ever work that into my rogue career? "Oh yeah, i have been known to sneak, steal, and attack from the shadows, but now i aspire to serve on the battle field with my valiant steed, at least for a few days"? Also: A general question: is there a nice way for rogues to move and do a full-attack on the same turn?
OK. Thats a lot to take in, but i would like to clarify some points: 1. Why Kukris? Well, because i could get them from my race, which is Vishkanya. Most of the other "good" weapons, especially Wakizashi would have forced me to go Tengu or Human, which i didnt want to. Concerning the damage, i think you miscalculated. If i hit with a Elven curved blade and my DEX of 20 i do, on average, 12,075 ((5,5+5)*1,15) DMG per hit Now, the Kukri does, on average, 8,625 ((2,5+5)*1,15) DMG per hit. However, there are 2 of those, which means i do on average 13,513 DMG per Hit ((2.5+5)*1.15+(2.5+2.5)*1.15)*0.9 (--> the 0.9 is to factor in the worse to hit chance, which is really only an approximation). So, in a full-attack, dual kukris substantially outdamage the Elven curved blade (and most other weapons). All the other weapons you mentioned are not light so either they cant be used in DW or you can use weapon focus only for one of them, which will reduce the maximum damage. So most of them will do even worse. The only weapon that is certainly more effective is the Wakizashi, which i would have chosen if the weapon type would fit the campaign. 2. Dirty Trick vs shatter defense Now there is something i dont understand: According to what i see, performing a dirty trick, even with improved dirty trick, takes a standard action, which effectively means you cant attack in the same round unless you have quick dirty fight. So, for 3 feats i get the chance to blind a foe by sacrificing one of my attacks. While i can see the appeal, it seems very situational to me. 3. Martial Dominance "You are planning to take Martial Dominance. That tells me that Dazzling Display is important to you, not just as a prerequisite to take Shatter Defenses. " I dont understand that statement. I didnt actually plan on using Dazzling display at all. The idea was to get a chance to intimidate on Crit and then use shatter defense to flat-foot the enemy. Since the intimidate check happens as an immidiate action, i would not have to sacrifice an attack to make the check and could even intimidate them on an AoO. Now, i can understand why this may be very ineffective. Not only do i need a total of 4 feats/tricks (Combat Expertise, Martial Dominance, Dazzling Display, Shatter Defenses), i also need to crit and then i need to pass the intimidation check. But most of these feats kinda do stuff on their own. 4. Feint Well this is, without a doubt the situation where a 2H-weapon like the elven curved blade and the falchion shine. Since you sacrifice your move action, all you can do is a single attack and thats were those weapons rock. But this is only viable, when you are not able to get your SAD by flanking and i really dont know, how often this actually happens. 5. I have no idea what i am doing. Unlike you guys i have never actually played Pathfinder in a P&P-Setting before. Maybe i am overlooking something and maybe i have a completely wrong idea of how combat in P&P works. In my imagination i will be able to flank all the time and therefore will have little problems on getting my SAD and have the whole intimidate/shattered defense as icing in the cake. Please tell me if i am completely wrong here.
Yeah, Gemsoul Scaled Fist is a bit out of the question. My wive specifically likes the "I am a rock. I am an intimidating rock"-part of the Oread race. After all this game is a role playing game. Besides: The rest of the party is an Oracle, a Paladin, a Bard and a UCRogue - so most of them are CHA-based and we are a bit weak on the WIL-side. In our first session it was her perception checks that saved the day (and my 20 dice roll on a use magic device roll). However, your thoughts are very appreciated and i will remove the Dragon roar from the list.
@ErichAD - Thanks a lot, i didnt know that! @avr - the gang up is actually for the Paladin and the rest of the party. Now i dont care if we can actually flank - 2 other team members attacking the same target is sufficient. Obscuring blow is only in there as a prerequsite for Blinding critical. But i am afraid, you are right about the BAB, i will consider if there are better options. Thanks a lot for the input!
Presently i am thinking about this build: LVL Class: Rogue 1 0 BAB
The idea is to utilize the skill unlock for the UCRogue to get intimidate unlocked and then try to intimidate via Martial Dominance. Since Martial dominance requires me to crit a lot, i am taking in the obscuring strike/blinding strike combo as permanently blinding opponents sounds really powerful. What do you think? Am i just too optimistic here?
Well now, after long discussions and a ton of different and weird character concepts i settled for a simple and straightforward Vishkanya UCRogue. He is dual wielding Kukris and his role in the Party is most likely going to be melee dmg and trap disarmer/scout. Now i face a problem - i have no idea which Rogue tricks to take beyond level 4. The first 2 i think are "Weapon Training --> Weapon Focus (Kukri)" and "Ninja Trick --> Pressure Points". I was thinking of taking minor and major magic trick, but i wanted to ask here, if i overlooked some really great rogue tricks, which i should absolutely take. |