Suliemann aziz Ammar's page

Just looking over the ACG and putting together a list of items or spells to be on the lookout for from the ACG. Hoping to get a gist of what to expect once these things start showing up in the game.

First thing that I expect to be an issue is the Ring of Elequence.
Giving every caster in the game access to slightly watered down Natural Spell feat for 3500GP is bad enough but giving every Familiar and Animal Companion the ability to speak and understand 4 languages (no matter it's Int) is really going to cause problems.
(Yes I know that most AC's don't have access to the ring slot normally but there are way to many ways to get around that issue long enough to get this item working for them)

Next is the Monstrification Staff is going to be on every melee alchemists list as soon as possible. 12,000GP seems like a lot but having access to a pretty much at-will Monstrous Physique spell at will with all the goodies that brings is pretty brutal. (There are enough forms out there with massive natural attacks and movements to make this an uber item).

As for Spells the Contingent action spells are going to be a problem. I fully expect every party melee'er to run around with half a dozen scrolls of Contingent action of charge X (where x is whatever name/creature type they expect to encounter). Since the target is limited to a standard action that falls under charge exception rule so it should work, otherwise it'll be a simple move.

If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed) and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. You can't use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action on your turn.

Relatively free Pounce for everyone now at 150GP a pop but technically superior then normal pounce since it gives you an extra attack since you charge and attack off turn then full attack when your turn starts.

These are just the ones that jump out at me but I'm sure more of them are out there.
Do you all see any that will cause GM headaches?

Since I don't see another GM thread regarding this adventure I thought I'd start one.
While prepping this for an upcoming con the inevitable questions about interactions and tactics have popped up.

Question #1

Question #2

Question #3

Overall I like the scenario but the combats are either going to be more lethal then expected or just bog down the story. Can't wait to find out.

For those of you who ran/played it at gencon what were your experiences with it?

First the spell: Blood Transcription

This spell makes specific reference to Witches using it to teach new spells to their familiars but there is a vagueness on HOW they actually do it. I used to be a firm believer that the witch would need to drink the blood and then scribe the scroll and THEN feed the scroll to their familiar to be able to cast it. Since there is no Scribe Scroll allowed in Society play it pretty much made this spell useless for Witches in organized play.

HOWEVER, in a recent game a new way of using the spell was presented to me that has made me re-think the use of this spell.
They simply cast this spell and then, with share Spell, applied it to the familiar and had it drink the blood instead. This way the familiar learned the spell not the witch. The knowledge of the spell will fade from the FAMILIAR in 24 hours but the spell itself will still be stored in the familiar since it did learn the spell.
(The familiar no longer knows how the spell works but the witch can still memorize it from the spellbook part of the familiar).

It feels right to me and I'll use it in my home games but wanted to see if this was a PFS Legal option to make use of this spell.

First things first, if this is the direction the scenarios are heading I highly approve. The increased difficulty and steps to curtail the rocket tag game most mid to high level scenarios have become is most appreciated.

Now with that said I do have a few clarification questions for this mod since there are a few encounters that will (but shouldn't) suffer from a bit of table variance.

First,

Second

Finally,

Overall, I like the changes this season has shown me.
More mooks to extend the duration of fighters, Bosses who won't drop from one hit from the optimized melee and a creepy factor that pushes the scale all the way through the floor.
I'm actually looking forward to running this one almost as much as Rats pt. 1.

The judges have gone above and beyond and told you exactly why they rejected your idea so what are you going to do now?

I'm still waiting to hear on mine but just posting it up showed me so many little places I should have tweaked it that I NEED to fix it and make it better for my own piece of mind. Anyone else have those ideas running through their head on what they should have done instead?

If you've re-worked your item to make it better and want to get the second draft a look see by the board members here (Judges are more then welcome but we know how busy those guys are) lets post it here and see if we actually "got" what the judges were saying.
I'll go first.

Here's my original item

After posting it three things really bothered me.
1. The description on how to use it was too vague and needed to address how the target could react to it.
2. It really should have been a Transmutation aura and used a different spell base.
3. The name was just crap (what was I thinking?)

My new version of the item

What do you think of the changes?

After dealing with 1 too many novaing, shocking grasp Magus who only work with the 15 minute adventuring day I wanted to try and build something with a bit more staying power.

We used Elf as the basis for those tasty Elven racial bonuses but you can also build it with Human to get to combat Reflexes a bit earlier.
We've also built it at 5th level which is really where the build comes together and gets all of it's benefits going at once.

This build SHOULD last easily till the early teens (well through PFS lifespan) before it stops being as effective but if anyone has any ideas on how to lengthen/improve it's effectiveness it would definately be appreciated.

The point is to use the high regular damage and hit chance from the Hex and augment it once or twice a fight with a low level spell while really keeping all your opponents from ever being able to do anything to you or your party.
This should seriously cut back on the need to nova every fight and allow you to contribute significantly more to your other party members.

Hairy the Hexcrafter
5th level Elven Magus

Str: 13
Dex: 14
Con: 12
Int: 19 (18 + 4th level bump)
Wis: 10
Cha: 10

HP: 38 AC: 18 (elven chain) Initiative: +4

Traits: Reactionary, Magical Lineage (Frostbite)

Skills: Intimidate +10 (+2 tools/mask), UMD: 8, Spellcraft: 13

Feats: Enforcer, Rime Spell, Power Attack

Arcana: Arcane Accuracy

Hexes: Prehensile Hair, Flight

Scimitar +1

This build functions like the normal basic magus build but uses Frostbite as it's default spell for longevity and focuses on Debuffing and Battlefield control instead.

Each combat begins like this:
Standard action: Activate Prehensile Hair
Swift Action: Arcane Pool +1 to beard
Move action: Move magus to take advantage of his 10' reach

2nd round use spell combat/spellstrike to channel (Rime Spell) Frostbite and make trip attacks against 1 or 2 targets within reach with Arcane Accuracy to guarantee a hit.
Since held charges are discharged on contact with anything as soon as the trip is attempted the target is affected by the 1D6+5 non-lethal damage from the Frostbite with the fatigue condition (no save) and the Entangled condition (no save) from the Rime spell metamagic. This also triggers the free intimidate check from Enforcer (at +10 the magus has a very good chance of succeeding) for the shaken penalty.

Depending on your GM all of this should be resolved before the actual trip attempt is resolved but YMMV.
The target(s) should be at -2 Strength & -6 Dexterity dropping his CMD by 4, vs Hairy's minimum of +8 CMB (+3 BaB +5 Int Bonus +1 weapon enhancement +4 Arcane Accuracy, -5 natural attacks mixed with manufactured weapons).
Against a single target The Magus follows up immediately with a regular attack with his beard for 1D3 +1D6+5 (frostbite) +4 (1.5*Int bonus) +1 (arcane Pool enhancement) then a 5' step to hit with the Scimitar for 1D6+1 (weapon damage + str) +1D6+5 {Frostbite {Spellstrike specifically states ANY weapon you are wielding not just one} and critting on a 18-20 (15-20 if you had the chance to arcane pool or cash to Keen the blade).
Routinely he'll also get an additional AoO when that target tries to stand or crawl away or someone else comes to help it.

Against multiple targets he'll do the trip attack on 2 of them but since he'll only have a +8 CMB (natural attacks mixed with manufactured weapons) he'll 5' step to the weakest one and use his Scimitar (keened as soon as possible) to attack. The target should be at -7 AC, -(9 to 12) to hit so hitting should not be a problem. He'll be doing 1D6+1 (weapon damage + str) +1D6+5 {Frostbite {Spellstrike specifically states ANY weapon you are wielding not just one} and critting on a 18-20 (15-20 if you had the chance to arcane pool or cash to Keen the
blade).
The target will NOT be able to hit you back with a -9 to 12 to hit so your own AC is not that important.
Routinely he'll also get an additional AoO when that target tries to stand or crawl away or someone else comes to help it.

The following round is all about bringing the pain, the target is prone, shaken and fatigued and probably been beaten on by your party members so you invoke Power Attack and spellstrike (Brand, Frostbite or Shocking Grasp depending on how much damage and available targets you need).

1D3 + 9 (int bonus *1.5) +3 (Power attack) + spell damage (+1 brand or +1D6+5 Frostbite) PLUS
1D3 + 9 (int bonus *1.5) +3 (Power attack) + spell damage (+1 brand or +1D6+5 Frostbite)

Is a LOT of damage to drop on a target that can't really be missed and he'll still probably be getting an extra attack via AoO since he threatens such a large area filled with prone targets.

In general your scimitar sees very little use and is more of a backup for when Prehensile hair is unavailable or the challenge is too minor to waste any of your daily uses on and may be replaced with something like a razor whip if you can find a way of getting proficiency in it.

The downside of this build is it will need Combat Reflexes to take advantage of it's reach to deliver AoO's and to avoid losing charges from Frostbite but won't be able to take it until 7th level (unless you play human which would cost you the excellent elven racials)

A fatigued, prone, entangled target is the best gift you can give to a melee character (while if you can put him to sleep sitting on on the toilet with his back turned that would be better but that's a little tricky to pull off), and I know all the Barbarians and Rogues I play with would be ecstatic at this gift.

Trying to get a handle on how a magus using spell combat with Natural Weapons would work.

first

To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty)

Whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If the magus makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks.

Special: Natural weapons are considered light weapons.

So now that Weapon Finesse considers a natural weapon a Light weapon it should be a valid choice for spell combat.

My question would be how would a typical Claw/Claw/bite Magus be affected by using spell combat to channel Chill Touch ?

A. Everything functions normally; he casts chill touch and does his full attack (claw/claw/bite) and the -2 penalty is ignored since Two weapon fighting doesn't affect natural attacks.

B. Everything functions normally; he casts chill touch and does his full attack (claw/claw/bite) with each attack at -2 and each hit applying a chill touch affect.

C. Everything functions normally BUT only one of his attacks is at -2, since spell combat only references a single weapon.

D. Some things are Different; Spell combat works normally but invokes the two weapon fighting rules and Natural Attacks are now flagged as secondary attacks and are at a -5 (-2 with multi-attack)

E. Spell Combat doesn't work at all.

Spell strike on the other hand looks like it works perfectly.
Once he casts the spell every hit will eat a charge from the touch spell adding it to the damage and at a higher chance to hit then the manufactured weapon using Magus since all natural attacks are at full BaB instead of Bab - X.
You'll be going through charges of Chill Touch a lot faster then a scimitar wielding Magus and you'll have a lower Crit chance but the Higher + to hit and the extra attacks per round should really keep the damage up.

Wanted to share an observation I’ve come across while playing a natural weapon ranger and researching it on this board.
Unless you are willing to dump an obscene amount of cash and magic into your weapons Natural Attacks are always going to be a better choice if you can get them.

We seem to have a system where for regular damage output the priority goes Natural Attacks ->Ranged ->Iterative attacks. (Ranged would be tops but it has dead zone issues, Multiple Attribute Dependencies and too many concealment/range penalties). Optimally ranged is better but normally it's harder to pull off the full damage it's capable off.

Before you say it yes Iterative scales better at higher levels (past 12th or so) but most of that is spent just playing catch up and still requires an enormous expenditure of effort to equal what natural weapons have been doing since the beginning.

Here's the understanding I've come to realize about Natural Attacks and why I think it's a superior combat choice.
It has the highest number of constants with the highest synchronicity between attacks.
It's the quickest build to get multiple attacks and any variables thrown at it affects them all equally so any damage/hit buff is multiplied by the number of natural attacks with no penalties.
a). Faster Resolution = All attacks are at equal values to track (primary or secondary)
b). Easier Damage Control = Only requires 1 stat to worry about for hit & damage
c). Quicker Realization = Almost immediately starts playing the way you want.
d). Cheaper = Weapons are free and any gear you buy affects all of them equally.

Iterative and ranged attacks are the exact opposite:
a). Slow Resolution = All attacks suffer from completely different penalties
b). Complex Damage Control = Require multiple stats to track, easy to miss changes
c). Slow Realization = Unable to play the character you want until after at least 6th lvl.
d). Expensive = constant weapon/gear upgrades, multiple sets needed makes this a High resource build.

Natural weapons give you more freedom to try out the "sub-optimal" feats/skills/items you can never find room for on the other 2 styles while still being able to match their DPR. It's a far more comfortable build style for early to mid-game (which honestly is where 90% of all games are actually played).
And the biggest draw is since it’s new it doesn’t suffer from the rules history of confusion that iterative attacks have.

Now I will admit that iterative attacks will have a higher POTENTIAL maximum damage and is more visually appropriate. But the same reason most UFC matches end in grapples and crotch punches it’s simple; You want to win who cares how pretty it looks.

Now that I've finally gotten my copy of Ultimate Magic I'm trying to understand the point of this spell.
Other then just giving the Furries something to do in their off time I fail to see any advantage of using this spell especially on an animal companion (familiar's maybe if you intend to make them max out UMD).

From the spell description you take a perfectly good animal, strip it of all it's special abilities, movement types & speed, and all it's attacks as well as the superior natural attack style (better then iterative attacks).
In exchange for this it gets thumbs (but no proficiency in weapons or tools), a single language and just enough brains to realize what you did to it and be PO'ed about it. Add to this it only lasts for a couple of hours and it seems kinda useless.

Unless you intend to throw your familiar out there with a wand and a bulls-eye on his back the only use I can think of for this spell is to make that Brothel in town really special.
./shiver

I'm getting ready to run the troll lair encounter and I'm rather concerned for my players survival here, especially once they encounter Hargulka. Please let me know if I'm overestimating the results for this guys actions.
edit: My party is a sorcerer, bard, barbarian + wizard/cleric all at the end of 5th lvl or beginning of 6th)

I foresee them being totally unable to sneak up on him (the sounds of combat getting to him and his Scent + perception makes that nearly impossible at their level) so no surprise round so the fight is going to start off fairly straightforward.
Him doing an Intimidate (Demoralize option) against the party and an average result of 30 is going to give my whole team a shaken condition for about 4 rounds (+16 intimidate +4 for size + avg roll of 10 = 30 against avg 14-16 DC for party = 1+3 rnds of shaken).

Then he'll use his attack action(reach is murder especially with that narrow hallway to get into his room) to trip the biggest melee player he can (his regen will let him recover from the AoO this provokes) and when they try to stand or retreat he'll power attack + Vital Strike for 4D6+15 against the downed tank or striker (-4 to his AC +4 to hit against him is going to hit).

After that it's just going to be Trip attacks leading into PA/VS against the downed melee characters and reach backed cleaves against the squishy casters as they try to get out of AoO range.

I really don't see how they could win this fight without getting obscenely lucky and surprising him.

I'm truly enjoying running my Kingmaker AP but I'm expecting to have a few problems working up the players interest in taking the reins of leadership. I know I can simply use the kingdom in the background rules but that kind of defeats the point of running an adventure to build a kingdom.

Mechanically I'm not seeing any rewards for the players to actually take responsibility for the growing realm. Other than being recognized by the populace (which my Rogue player hates) and maybe a free mansion/castle if they burn the build points there's nothing in the rules to really make a group of free wheeling adventurers WANT to settle down and take responsibility for protecting a bunch of farmers/townsmen. Some method of making it in their best interest to sacrifice their time protecting this town as leaders instead of mercenary adventurers would really help me sell it to them. At least as adventurers they get paid and can run away if it gets bad. All the same benefits with none of the headaches and they'll make more cash and grow more powerful FASTER as adventurers. Their needs to be a carrot on this stick big enough to make them want to sacrifice months of their lives here instead of dragon hunting and rolling in the spoils.

The other issue is in the mechanics for rulers. I'm a huge fan of the classic Feudalism setup for RPGS, and my players are going to definitely want their own titles, lands, etc under the PC King... but I'm really not seeing a way to make that work in the rules as their laid out. I've been toying around with the idea of letting the PC KING dole out hexes and titles to each PC and having each one of them run their own little kingmaker setup but I can see that getting complicated REALLY fast.

Also as the rules are written it feels less like a kingdom and more like a council of elders or elected statesmen in charge and I'm just having a problem working it around in my head so the players will feel like Kings, Queens and Great Nobles when half the people they share power with are barely a step up from dirt farmers. The PC's are doing all the dangerous work: claiming land, defeating monsters, protecting the weak, etc. and yet they are mechanically no different from the guy who sits in town and listens to folks complain about the size of the garbage dump.

Not trying to sound like I'm knocking the AP (I'm really enjoying the design) just looking for a little help making it feel more like a medieval world of Kings and Great Adventures and less like the Roman Senate meets C-Span.