Stratos's page

Good day!

I've a few questions which have popped-up over time, yet their answers were either not discernible or of questionable resolution.

If you're feeling up to it, please have these a go. Sources would be great!

Spells with attack rolls

1. I recall reading somewhere Weapon Focus (Ray) was a valid choice. In the case this is true, is Weapon Focus (Ray) also a valid choice?

2. As in #1, could the feats be applied to melee touch attack (MTA) spells? Such as Weapon Focus (Touch). It's a bit kinky, albeit confusing.

3. Not restrictive to the scenarios posed in #1 and #2, do abilities such as Inspire Courage boost the damage of ray/MTA spells?

4. Do boosts to damage (perhaps from sources as per #1 and #3) from rays/MTA spells include ability damage?

5. Specifically, when is a held MTA spell discharged? On a sleeve if your finger brushes by it? On the hilt of a two-handed weapon? On tangible "objects" such as aqueous orb/wall of force?

Requisite wording

6. I saw numerous contradictory answers regarding the following question: Do half-elves (for example) fulfill the requirement of being "human" and/or "elven" for the purposes of taking feats that require one of those two races, traits that require one of the two races, or archetypes that require one of those two races?

7. As an extension of #6, would abilities/effects that target a race (not subtype) of partial ancestry to the target function as if that target were of that race?

8. Does the ability to cast spell-like abilities of a particular level qualify characters for certain prestige classes that require "Ability to cast spells of X level"?

9. Does proficiency in weapons such as "Longbow" or "Whip" extend to a more specific type, such as "Longbow, Composite" or "Whip, Scorpion"? Does the reverse apply? I ask mainly because while the inverted comma notation is used there, we do not have "Sword, Short", "Sword, Long", and "Sword, Bastard"

10. Is combining archetypes with "selective" alterations to abilities (such as a vivisectionist's choice to take a bleeding attack rogue talent instead of a discovery) and archetypes with "mandatory" alterations to abilities (such as the Preservationist's Bottled Ally VI replacing the discovery at 18th level) valid?

General

11. Can a snag net be used to trip an entangled "flying" creature if the creature is plummeting (perhaps due to an effect such as entanglement)?

12. For exactly which d20 rolls is a natural 1/20 considered automatic failure/success?

13. Can abilities such as the versatile evocation power of the admixture subschool be applied to spells not of their parent class?

14. How many rerolls can a creature under the influence of a cackled fortune hex chose to take? In essence, what does "benefited" mean?

15. As full plate encases nearly a humanoid's entire body, does it grant improved cover?

16. How large does an object need to be to grant partial cover? If it is with respect a creature's size, is this comparison made with only the surface area of the creature visible to the target?

17. Could an internal alchemist "sleep" for 1000 years via breath mastery?

18. Is it possible to have a caster level higher than a character level under certain circumstances, such as the Sorcerer's Arial bloodline?

19. How good (or evil) of an act is using a merciful (as per metamagic) disintegrate spell to "incapacitate" a foe?

The last one is a doozy:

19. Suppose the following centaur-like creature possesses the following:

2 arms wielding a greatsword
2 additional arms via alchemist discoveries wielding daggers
2 hoof attacks
1 bite natural attack

With a BAB of +8 (with other melee modifiers totaling +0), multiattack, TWF, improved TWF, and under the effects of haste (whose bonus to ATK is negated by other modifiers), what are:

A. The maximum # of total attacks able to be performed in a round?
B. How many of the attacks in A are natural/manufactured?
C. What would the attack bonus on each of the attacks in A be?

Many thanks!

During the moment of blindness, a powerful lurch throttles the ship, rocking you all portward.

DC 17 acrobatics check please, -2 modifier if you have ranks in Profession(Sailor). Failure results in 1d6 bludgeoning damage and you being knocked prone.

A din of collision can be heard, but not by all of you*. Screams this way and that are audible, though less than you might expect for the number of people present last you could observe.

*Those wearing magic items are currently deaf.

Welcome to the discussion thread! You may wish to dot it for yourselves. Feel free to ask plenty of questions - whatever comes to mind.

I actually have one for you; do you know of a good online resource for doing maps on a hex grid? Generally, I do combat via description, though I find with a relatively large group, such a grid may help.

Nothing was heard from the vessel, my lord. It's as if it vanished into thin air. – Counter Darronis.

Welcome to the recruitment for Genesis, a setting and story of my creation. As the name implies, it is a scenario of beginning, of creation, but many will meet their end in this adventure. The predicate of the tale is in Golarion, where a trading vessel vanished in a Bermuda triangle of sorts. However, instead of being capsized, the ship is transported … somewhere by magical means. The discovery of the new setting is inevitably a large part of the early story, but what the party does with the knowledge of this place is up to it. It is possible to leave the location; I do not “airplane mode” my players into linear stories. Rather, I let them make their own victories – and defeats. Players are expected to post daily, and they should expect the same of me.

Speaking of whom, a bit about me before I continue with the campaign specifics. While I have run many campaigns on tabletops, this would be my first run online. Currently, I participate in a few PBPs as a player, but I felt it was time to give back; the site seems to have a deficit of GM stock. I also wanted to give this custom setting a try with people I do not know. The group of people with whom I played it enjoyed the campaign immensely, and it was second only to my Sacrifice campaign, based-on the obscure game of the same name. Some notes about my style as a GM. I am:

• Libertarian when it comes to player choice; live or die, it's up to you. I won't throw you a safety net unless I feel I made a mistake as the GM.
• Authoritarian when it comes to rules. Talking with me about them is fine (you might even teach me the specifics of some grappling rule with splash weapons underwater), but my verdict is the law.
• Prone to making long, substantive posts instead of short snips. The notable exception is NPC interactions, of which there will be many.
• Averse to ret-conning. Unless I feel the action was a misunderstanding due to some mistake of mine, a rollback is unlikely to occur. This isn't Wal-mart.
• Not the NSA. While I may look at your crunch/inventory from time to time, I'm not skimming through how many copper pieces every character has nightly nor checking to see if the FF CMD of your pet is what it's supposed to be after it accrued a negative level. However, if I do happen to see a pattern of selective “mistakes,” that's bad news for Bonzo.

Back to the setting. The actual start of the campaign will be on a trading vessel en route to Sargava from Absalom. It isn't the most reputable ship, though it's a strong one; a privateer hired by a private (go figure) party to work their way across the inner sea and South to the colony. Somewhere along the way, the vessel will vanish with your players, though this hasn't happened yet.

There will be opportunities for discussions, combats, intrigue, brothels, cheesery games … whatever directions the party decides to take. The world NPCs aren't necessarily pushovers though, and insulting a fruit vendor may have unexpected consequences at a later date. Therefore, in a party, you are not being short-suited by making a talky-talk bard, nor would you be handicapped be introducing a hulking hurler. However, if the bard keeps getting your party introduced to nobles' dances, the barbarian might have a choice rock or two for that party member.

Submission-wise, the recruitment will go in two stages. First, the guidelines below should allow you to complete stage one, which must be completed by 23:00 Eastern Time, June 27th. I will then select the applicants which I feel satisfied the criteria below and showed capable writing skills to proceed to stage two, the details of which I will reveal later. However, I will say while there may be any number of applicants remaining at the end of stage one, only 6 will remain at the end of stage two. The second stage has less work involved than stage one though, rest assured. The campaign will begin on July 1st.

Application Crunch!

• 3rd level with appropriate gold & story experience. This means you haven't just discovered you could shoot magic missiles as a sorcerer, nor does it mean you are a demigod of swordsmanship.
• 20 point buy.
• No experience points, no hero points. I will level you up by accolade (doesn't need to be combat), not by giving myself an exercise in the order of operations with CR levels and experience values.
• All Paizo material can be used (excepting Ultimate Campaign for now as I haven't had a chance to look at it), but no 3rd party.
• Any class and/or archetype. One exception: Synthesist summoners are banned; you know why.
• Core, featured, and uncommon races are allowed as per the d20pfsrd website categories. Note: I will be bringing effective RP on races into line if there is a large spread.
• Your submission should include an avatar with a profile having a basic stat block, but you don't need to compute the FF CMD, inventory, or the like for now. As long as I have an idea what the foci of your characters are, that's what I need at this point.
• However, you should include a background detailing a (possibly) brief history of your character, their personality, appearance, and reason for being on a trading vessel heading from Absalom to Sargava.

If there are any questions or comments you have, let me know.

- Jon

I was just wondering if anyone was doing playing Pathfinder using a sort of internet medium. Currently, I'm finding it difficult to entice people to attempt something new, unreleased, with fixes still in the works.

That is why I'd like to try Pathfinder out over the internet if some people were doing it. I hear programs like Fantasy Grounds and Maptools can aid this sort of endeavor.

If anyone is running some play online, let me know! I'd love to try it.