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I would assume as soon as one is able to prepare spells one could "lose" a prepared spell. Any player who is casually glancing at a table to figure out their class features might want to look into a less involved game.
I consider Lawful to mean a code that you adhere to, with your actions deciding if you are Good or Evil. A Chaotic person is just that: chaotic and going through life without any real long-term goal other than the next adventure. To oversimplify things, Lawful/Chaotic = why you do things, Good/Evil = how you do things. Could very easily be seen the other way around. Fairly long and very slightly related material re an evil paladin I drew up recently:
Statik the Bleeder is a (un)holy crusader for Zon Kuthon. I wanted some sort of battle healer who focussed on melee but could heal and also buff/debuff a bit. Started with a LN Cleric who prestiged into Holy Vindicator but didn't like that very much, too much casty buffy and not enough slicey bleedy. I wanted a paladin for an evil god and didn't understand why you couldn't have one; I didn't want an Anti-Paladin, I wanted a paladin of Zon Kuthon, someone who clearly represents the church and leads the battle. What I did was take the Anti-Paladin base and instead of channeling negative energy he channels positive energy. He is also LE, not CE. He doesn't use cure spells, but due to his calling, he is granted the ability a few times a day to make sure everyone doesn't die via his healing burst. He prefers using Touch of Corruption to using it for Channelling Energy. He uses a Vicious spiked chain (the cleric had the Murder subdomain and a conductive spiked chain) and a number of bleed effects to keep the blood flowing and Anti-Paladin 6/Holy Vindicator 2 gives him stigmata to carry on the blood.
PS: I think the opposite of Lawful Good is Lawful Evil, not Chaotic Evil but again it comes down to interpretation of alignments.
Me: Playing Pathfinder for maybe 6 months now and seriously into it. Making characters way more than necessary, I've probably made 10 in that 6 months and only actually used 3 or 4 of them. Anyway, I am moving to Courtenay BC from Nanaimo at the end of the month and really don't want to stop playing. I'm going to try to make our weekly game if I can but it's an hour's drive each way and I work graveyards so really it's probably not going to work out. To the point: Looking for a group in Courtenay to play with. Would prefer Pathfinder but I'm open to anything. Statik
A two part "does this make sense" question: I don't see anything in the rules that would prevent the first part other than common sense, but what's to stop me from using my greatclub with a Scabbard of Vigor (apg 309)? Are there any kind of limitations on what can and can't be put into a scabbard? There are references in other scabbard items to what can be put in them (ie Scabbard of Keen Edges, core 529) so can I assume if there are no limitations listed in the item that there are none? The second part: As a druid I can't use shillelagh on a magical club so my thought was this would be a nice way around it. The only thing I can find regarding this is "A magic weapon is enhanced to strike more truly and deliver more damage. Magic weapons have enhancement bonuses ranging from +1 to +5. (core 467)" Which reads to me that a magical weapon has an enhancement bonus, not that any weapon with an enhancement bonus is magical. So the question is, does the enhancement bonus provided by the Scabbard make it a magical weapon? Statik
Sounds great, let me know when you get it all done up :) And thanks for saving me a lot of hassle lol. I like the idea of sorting by environment, I had been mostly using it for utility but I just hit 6th level so I have a few more options that might come in useful as far as combat. Will keep an eye out here. I may get bored enough (been sick for like a week and a half) and just do it myself, if I do I will post here. Statik
I don't suppose anyone has made up or knows where I can find a list of creatures from the Bestiary that I can Wild Shape into? Can't find any via Google. Ideally it would be organized by the level of Wild Shape and what is available at each. I may just rip apart the pdf myself but I figured someone out there may have already done it. Statik
Hurr, awesome point lol. I forgot we basically houseruled I can use vermin in place of animal for all that stuff. Thanks :) Statik
I'm just hoping to convince my DM who is a friend of mine to somehow get another character to ask my spider shaman for assistance in becoming one, opening with the question "How do I shot web?" :) Statik
Forgot to post that finalized version.. oops. Still looking for any criticism or suggestions. With the holidays putting our gaming on hold, I haven't had a chance to bust this out yet so if there's anything unbalanced or incomplete please let me know.
A shaman of this totem calls upon the giant spider, woodland stalker and feared hunter. Nature Bond: A spider shaman who chooses an animal companion must select a spider. A companion chosen this way gains an Intelligence score of 1. If choosing a domain, the spider shaman must choose from the Trickery, Insanity, Night and Spider* domains.
Wild Empathy (Ex): A spider shaman can use wild empathy with insects as a full-round action with a +4 bonus. Totem Transformation (Su): At 2nd level, a spider shaman may adopt an aspect of the spider while retaining her normal form. She gains one of the following bonuses:
Totemic Summons (Su): At 5th level, a spider shaman may cast summon nature’s ally as a standard action when summoning spiders, and summoned spiders gain temporary hit points equal to her druid level. This ability otherwise functions as the bear shaman ability. Wild Shape (Su): At 6th level, a spider shaman’s wild shape ability functions at her druid level –2. If she takes on the form of a spider, she instead uses her druid level +2. Bonus Feat: At 9th level and every 4 levels thereafter, a spider shaman gains one of the following bonus feats: Agile Maneuvers, Blind Fight, Improved Blind Fight, Mobility, Spring Attack. She must meet the prerequisites for these bonus feats. This ability replaces venom immunity.
Deities: Calistria, Lamashtu, Norgorber, Pharasma Granted Power: Your closeness with arachnids has made you a friend to all things that creep and crawl. You gain Vermin Heart as a bonus feat. Poison Touch (Sp): At 4th level your bond with spiders has given you an intimate knowledge of the biomechanical workings of a spider's offense. You gain the ability to infect a creature with a withering poison as the Poison spell a number of times per day equal to 1/2 your Druid level. Con damage increases to 1d3+1/round at 10th level and 1d3+2/round at 16th level. Web Shot (Su): At 6th level your knowledge of spiders has grown and you gain the ability to shoot a small glob of web. This ability has a range of 10 feet/druid level. An affected target is encased in a 5 foot square of web. A successful Reflex save avoids this webbing entirely. You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wis modifier. Spider Domain Spells: 1 Jump: Subject gets bonus on Acrobatics checks. 2 Accelerate Poison: Hastens targeted poison’s onset. 3 Strong Jaw: Natural attacks damage as two sizes bigger. 4 Giant Vermin: Turns spiders, centipedes and scorpions into giant vermin. 5 Insect Plague: Locust swarms attack creatures. 6 Swarm Skin: Turns your body into a swarm that can attack. 7 Creeping Doom: Swarms of centipedes attack at your command. 8 Animal Shapes (Spiders only): Polymorph one willing creature/level into monstrous spider. 9 Shapechange: Transforms you into certain creatures, and you can change forms once per round.
For your second question, you can only make on AoO per round, unless you take the Combat Reflexes feat. But if you take that I see no reason why everything else shouldn't work. As far as the first one I am not great with barbarians but a quick glance over those rage abilities it looks sound. Statik
Alright, I've made the last few changes I wanted to make and I think it should be done. I've changed the Web Shot domain ability to 3 + Wis mod per day and Poison domain ability back to 1/2 druid level per day. Deities are now Calistria, Lamashtu, Norgorber and Pharasma. Any input on whether or not those make sense or some other suggestions is appreciated. Also wondering what sort of status ailment to give the encased subject. Thinking entangled or maybe flat footed? I'll post up a finalized version once I get those last couple things nailed down. Statik
I checked out the spirit shaman Ruggs, very much along the same lines as what I was thinking, without the focus on spirits of course. Nice pointer. So this thing should be pretty near done, the only thing left is coming up with some deities which I will dig through later for something appropriate. Also the lack of capitalization in the books makes me crazy, but I've changed this to match. Changes:
A shaman of this totem calls upon the giant spider, woodland stalker and feared hunter. Nature Bond: A spider shaman who chooses an animal companion must select a spider. A companion chosen this way gains an Intelligence score of 1. If choosing a domain, the spider shaman must choose from the Trickery (48), Insanity (92A), Night (94A) and Spider* domains.
Wild Empathy (Ex): A spider shaman can use wild empathy with insects as a full-round action with a +4 bonus. Totem Transformation (Su): At 2nd level, a spider shaman may adopt an aspect of the spider while retaining her normal form. She gains one of the following bonuses:
Totemic Summons (Su): At 5th level, a spider shaman may cast summon nature’s ally as a standard action when summoning spiders, and summoned spiders gain temporary hit points equal to her druid level. This ability otherwise functions as the bear shaman ability. Wild Shape (Su): At 6th level, a spider shaman’s wild shape ability functions at her druid level –2. If she takes on the form of a spider, she instead uses her druid level +2. Bonus Feat: At 9th level and every 4 levels thereafter, a spider shaman gains one of the following bonus feats: Agile Maneuvers, Blind Fight, Improved Blind Fight, Mobility, Spring Attack. She must meet the prerequisites for these bonus feats. This ability replaces venom immunity.
Deities: Granted Power: Your closeness with arachnids has made you a friend to all things that creep and crawl. You gain Vermin Heart (173A) as a bonus feat. Poison Touch (Sp): At 4th level your bond with spiders has given you intimate knowledge of the biomechanical workings of a spiders offense. You gain the ability to infect a creature with a withering poison as the Poison (323) spell a number of times per day equal to 1/3 your Druid level. Con damage increases to 1d3+1/round at 10th level and 1d3+2/round at 16th level. Web Shot (Su): At 6th level your knowledge of spiders has grown and you gain the ability to shoot a small glob of web. This ability has a range of 10 feet/Druid level. An affected target is encased in a 5 foot square of web. A successful Reflex save avoids this webbing entirely. You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Wis modifier. Spider Domain Spells: 1 Jump (303): Subject gets bonus on Acrobatics checks. 2 Accelerate Poison (201A): Hastens targeted poison’s onset. 3 Strong Jaw (247A): Natural attacks damage as two sizes bigger. 4 Giant Vermin (290): Turns spiders, centipedes and scorpions into giant vermin. 5 Insect Plague (301): Locust swarms attack creatures. 6 Swarm Skin (248A): Turns your body into a swarm that can attack. 7 Creeping Doom (262): Swarms of centipedes attack at your command. 8 Animal Shapes (241)(Spiders only): Polymorph one willing creature/level into monstrous spider. 9 Shapechange (341): Transforms you into certain creatures, and you can change forms once per round.
Good advice Oliver, I had a look around but the only ones I could come up with were Scare or Darkness from the Sor/Wiz 2nd list but just didn't really like the feel of those. I ended up putting Strongjaw in there after some consideration. I had wanted to have Lockjaw in the 2nd level spot but thought Accelerate Poison was both more useful and more appropriate, and adding Strongjaw gives the Domain at least 1 buff spell. It is a 4th level Druid spell but a 3rd level Ranger spell so I figured what the hell, it's all homebrew anyway. Working on the last few details and intend to have it all ready for when I level next session (gods willing and work allowing) and reveal that I've been a Spider Shaman the whole time :P Will post the completed version soon, thanks for the input everyone, helped me think out a lot of things and consider different angles to approach this from. Statik
Ok, reworked a bit of the Shaman abilities and the Spider Domain. Still looking at a few small things. Here's the whole works with my comments at the bottom:
A shaman of this totem calls upon the giant spider, woodland stalker and feared hunter. Nature Bond: A spider shaman who chooses an animal companion must select a spider. If choosing a domain, the spider shaman must choose from the Animal, Darkness, Madness and Spider* domains.
Wild Empathy (Ex): A spider shaman can use wild empathy with spiders as a full-round action with a +4 bonus. Totem Transformation (Su): At 2nd level, a spider shaman may adopt an aspect of the shaman while retaining her normal form. She gains one of the following bonuses:
While using totem transformation, the spider shaman may speak normally and can cast speak with animals (spiders only) at will. Using this ability is a standard action at 2nd level, a move action at 7th level, and a swift action at 12th level. The spider shaman can use this ability for a number of minutes per day equal to her druid level. These minutes do not need to be consecutive, but they must be used in 1-minute increments. This is a polymorph effect and cannot be used while the druid is using another polymorph effect, such as wild shape. Totemic Summons (Su): At 5th level, a spider shaman may cast Summon Nature’s Ally as a standard action when summoning spiders, and summoned spiders gain temporary hit points equal to her druid level. She can apply the young template to any spider to reduce the level of the summoning spell required by one. She can also increase the level of summoning required by one in order to apply either the advanced or the giant template, or increase it by two to apply both the advanced and giant templates. This ability replaces a thousand faces. Wild Shape (Su): At 6th level, a spider shaman’s wild shape ability functions at her druid level –2. If she takes on the form of a spider, she instead uses her druid level +2. Bonus Feat: At 9th level and every 4 levels thereafter, a spider shaman gains one of the following bonus feats: Agile Maneuvers, Blind Fight, Improved Blind Fight, Mobility, Spring Attack. She must meet the prerequisites for these bonus feats. This ability replaces venom immunity.
Deities: Granted Power: Your closeness with arachnids has made you a friend to all things that creep and crawl. You gain Vermin Heart as a bonus feat. Poison Touch (Sp): At 4th level your bond with spiders has given you intimate knowledge of the biomechanical workings of a spiders offense. You gain the ability to infect a creature with a withering poison as the Poison spell a number of times per day equal to 1/3 your druid level. Con damage increases to 1d3+1/round at 10th level and 1d3+2/round at 16th level. Web Shot (Su): At 6th level your knowledge of spiders has grown and you gain the ability to shoot a small glob of web at a creature. This ability has a range of 10 feet/Druid level. An affected target is encased in a 5 foot square of web. A successful save avoids this webbing entirely, however a random square adjacent to your target becomes difficult terrain for 3 rounds. You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Wis modifier. Spider Domain Spells: 1 Jump: Subject gets bonus on Acrobatics checks. 2 Accelerate Poison: Hastens targeted poison’s onset. 3 Phantom Steed*: Magic horse appears for 1 hour/level. 4 Giant Vermin: Turns spiders, centipedes and scorpions into giant vermin. 5 Insect Plague: Locust swarms attack creatures. 6 Swarm Skin: Turns your body into a swarm that can attack. 7 Creeping Doom: Swarms of centipedes attack at your command. 8 Animal Shapes (Spiders only): Polymorph one willing creature/level into monstrous spider. 9 Shapechange: Transforms you into certain creatures, and you can change forms once per round. *Steed takes the shape of ethereal spider
Really not sure on the number of use type mechanics. Considering having Poison Touch be 1/2 level/day for use. Seems like too many uses at low levels but 1/3 seems like too few. Also really unsure on the Web Shot number of uses. Wording on the Web Shot writeup seems a bit verbose at the end but I'm a stickler for rules and the holes that can be poked in them so I wanted to be clear. Still to be done: more appropriate domains, domain deities, uniform capitalization, tidy up wording on Web Shot, find a 3rd level spell appropriate to spiders, number of uses per day on domain abilities, levels at which domain abilities are gained Statik
Bertious and Paris, Vermin Heart has been addressed in both my posts. Improved Initiative is definitely an option I've considered, as well as something like a modified Spider Step. Also Bertious I was going to have a poison and a web ability as the 2 domain abilities once I get that finished up. Daedrin don't be a stalker. :) Here is my modified Spider Domain so far. Basically took the one from 3.5's Spell Compendium, adjusted the caster levels to what the spells are in Pathfinder and replaced a few with Pathfinder only spells as well as swapped some wording around to make it more flavor appropriate.
Granted Power: Rebuke or command insects as an evil cleric rebukes or commands undead. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wis modifier. (poison ability)
Spider Domain Spells: 1 Jump: Subject gets bonus on Acrobatics checks. 2 Lockjaw: Creature gains grab ability with natural attack 3 Phantom Steed*: Magic horse appears for 1 hour/level. 4 Giant Vermin: Turns spiders, centipedes and scorpions into giant vermin. 5 Insect Plague: Locust swarms attack creatures. 6 Swarm Skin: Turns your body into a swarm that can attack. 7 Creeping Doom: Swarms of centipedes attack at your command. 8 Animal Shapes (Spiders only): Polymorph one willing creature/level into monstrous spider. 9 Shapechange: Transforms you into certain creatures, and you can change forms once per round. *Steed takes the shape of ethereal spider
Not sure how it'll all work out when balanced so might scrap that and leave the spells as is. Still need to work out the 2 abilities obviously. Statik
Travel and Repose were 2 domains I considered but rejected based on the spells not feeling like they fit with what I was trying to accomplish. I just found that spider domain in the spell compendium today actually and was thinking about modifying it. Will probably do that and put it up later on. Interesting about the "insect wars" Firest, doesn't really fit with the theme I'm kinda going for though. I'm basically trying to make a druid who is harmonious with nature (all nature) but who focuses on spiders as a bear shaman would focus on bears, and further to that, a bear shaman wouldn't gain an intimidate bonus to other animals just because bears are big and scary. There's room for us all in the forest :) My DM mentioned sword spiders to me if that's what you're getting at Dan, still looking into them. For rp purposes I don't intend to change my pet though. Poison Resistance seems a bit redundant since you replace Venom Immunity for the bonus feats when using the shaman template. Granted it does push the point at which you get immunity back but it just doesn't feel right. I think it doesn't sit right with me because if someone is NOT using the shaman archetypes they would still be getting the regular Venom Immunity as per levelling a druid sans said archetype so no need to have it as part of a domain as well. Still trying to come up with a 5th feat or maybe a short progression to replace one already down. Considering blind fight -> improved blind fight instead of lunge. Could just stick vermin heart in there but that's a pretty low level feat to be picking up at 9th (or later). Thanks for the input so far, sounds like it's not far from completion. Statik
Something I'm working on for our campaign. Introduction/backstory etc at the bottom. The Spider Shaman A shaman of this totem calls upon the giant spider, woodland stalker and feared hunter. Nature Bond: A spider shaman who chooses an animal companion must select a spider. If choosing a domain, the spider shaman must choose from the Animal, Darkness, Madness and Strength domains. Wild Empathy (Ex): A spider shaman can use wild empathy with insects as a full-round action with a +4 bonus. Totem Transformation (Su): At 2nd level, a spider shaman may adopt an aspect of the shaman while retaining her normal form. She gains one of the following bonuses: movement: +20 enhancement bonus to climb speed
While using totem transformation, the spider shaman may speak normally and can cast speak with animals (insects only) at will. Using this ability is a standard action at 2nd level, a move action at 7th level, and a swift action at 12th level. The spider shaman can use this ability for a number of minutes per day equal to her druid level. These minutes do not need to be consecutive, but they must be used in 1-minute increments. This is a polymorph effect and cannot be used while the druid is using another polymorph effect, such as wild shape. Totemic Summons (Su): At 5th level, a spider shaman may cast summon nature’s ally as a standard action when summoning spiders, and summoned spiders gain temporary hit points equal to her druid level. She can apply the young template to any spider to reduce the level of the summoning spell required by one. She can also increase the level of summoning required by one in order to apply either the advanced or the giant template, or increase it by two to apply both the advanced and giant templates. This ability replaces a thousand faces. Wild Shape (Su): At 6th level, a spider shaman’s wild shape ability functions at her druid level –2. If she takes on the form of a spider, she instead uses her druid level +2. Bonus Feat: At 9th level and every 4 levels thereafter, a spider shaman gains one of the following bonus feats: Agile Maneuvers, Lunge, Mobility, Spring Attack. She must meet the prerequisites for these bonus feats. This ability replaces venom immunity. Things I am looking for advice/criticism on:
Had a hard time coming up with 4 domains that were spiderish, any suggestions? Not a big deal for me since I have the companion but I wanted to make something others could use if they so desire. Might be a bit easier if this was a generic vermin druid. Same with the feats; I'm pretty happy with them the way they are but if anyone has any alternate or additional suggestions, I'm open. I do need a 5th feat to round out the bonus list at least. Was thinking something along the lines of blind fight or something related. Considering adding vermin heart as a bonus feat (like in the 1-3 level range somewhere) for flavor, and depending on how broad this ends up. (ie full out vermin druid) Instead of tremorsense maybe a +4 racial bonus to perception. I had written down to make the poison deal Con dmg but decided to just go with the bestiary spider's poison which does Str dmg. Was trying to stick to Pathfinder core book for simplicity. Yes I know that doesn't make any sense since the whole shaman thing comes from the APG, just work with me :P
Just getting back into gaming after about 10 years, wasn't really serious about it back then but I've met some gamers in the last couple months and it's just kinda happening now. Our DM informed me that Pathfinder is fully compatible with 3.5 stuff so I started looking at the millions of 3.5 books as well as homebrew stuff as our DM is quite flexible. His main rule is we are epic adventurers and we could be from any background, so non-core stuff is ok. As long as things are balanced he'll pretty much let anything go. So I found a homebrew prestige called the Spider Rider and got inspired. I've always been drawn to the druid-type classes, a nature's ally/defender style character. So I wanted to basically play a druid by the rules except have a spider for a companion and ride her around for the majority of the time. He worked with me to work out the spider as a companion (just reworked stats and attacks from the bestiary) and we just follow the mounted combat rules. Now that's all going fine and we've got everything working but I got really interested in the idea of a "spider shaman" a la the shaman types from the APG. Mentioned it to the DM and he said he's down for whatever but wanted it posted on the forums so it could be picked apart, and that takes us to here.
Any input is appreciated, Statik |
