Hold on, to argue for the OP, I thought one could not take a five foot step in the same round he uses a move action to move. Specifically, if he uses that move action to cast a spell, fly, shift, teleport, or any other version of movement. Since DD is an ability that moves you, you should not be able to 5 foot in the same round. Is this correct?
Edit: This is copy and pasted from the Paizo website concerning 5 foot step.
Spoiler:
Take 5-Foot Step You can move 5 feet in any round when you don't perform any other kind of movement. Taking this 5-foot step never provokes an attack of opportunity. You can't take more than one 5-foot step in a round, and you can't take a 5-foot step in the same round that you move any distance.
You can take a 5-foot step before, during, or after your other actions in the round.
You can only take a 5-foot-step if your movement isn't hampered by difficult terrain or darkness. Any creature with a speed of 5 feet or less can't take a 5-foot step, since moving even 5 feet requires a move action for such a slow creature.
You may not take a 5-foot step using a form of movement for which you do not have a listed speed.
You cannot take a five foot step in any round where you move from your current spot, regardless of how you do it or what action you take that moves you. Special abilities that specifically say you can move, override this rule and are usually accompanied by the text along the lines of "even if you have made a 5 foot step this round."
Sadly, no. Regardless of Titan Mauler or not, elven curve blade is a two-handed weapon. The feat specifically says it applies to a one-handed weapon. Just because you can wield a two-handed weapon in one hand, does not make it a one-handed weapon.
The only way around this is to find the text "may treat two-handed weapons as one-handed for the purpose of taking feats" which doesn't apply here.
As far as improvised weapons go, use common sense and your best judgement. The commonly accepted rules for them are as follows.
1. The damage an improvised weapon does normally is equal to a like-item of the same size.
Example: You are wielding a normal sized frying pan for medium creatures. It's about the length of a shortsword or shorter, and it's blunt, so it'll probably do the same amount of blunt damage as a mace of equivalent size would do.
2. Almost always the improvised weapon will deal blunt damage unless specifically noted otherwise. Obviously if you use something with a cutting edge or point the damage would be different, again using common sense.
3. The improvised weapon is always a 20x2 weapon. Natural 20 to crit, roll twice for damage just like most natural weapons.
4. Normal penalties apply unless otherwise negated.
The illusion will not hide the creatures alignment. He is detecting evil on the creature, even though the paladin thinks the creature is one thing, his detect evil power is not fooled because no hide alignment spell is in effect. These scenarios are quite common in the life of a paladin and are tools often used to test him. If he comes across an innocent looking boy and he detects as evil, the paladin might have cause for suspicion and vice-versa for evil looking things that don't detect as evil.
The way this would play out is
"Paladin: I detect evil on said creature."
"GM: Said creature detects as evil."
"Paladin: Really? Huh..odd..it looks like an elderly elven woman..surely she can't cause us any harm..still, this is quite strange...hmm..."
etc, etc, etc.
Detect evil(along with smite evil) are incredibly powerful, god bestowed abilities given to a mortal being. They are amazingly powerful tools but must he used wisely and correctly else the user fall victim to it's own power/abilities.
Paladin detect evil is a) not a cone and b) does not take 3 rounds.
The paladin has to concentrate on a single item or creature. So basically paladins have to see the target.
The Paladin's Detect evil and The Detect evil spell I quoted are both word for word from the Paizo website.
You may be thinking of smite, possibly, which does require line of sight. Fun little side note, because detect evil doesn't need line of sight, you can use it to pinpoint an invisible evil creatures exact location. This is of course assuming the correct conditions are met and that the creature in question has no way of hiding their aura from you. Do note however that if the target is in fact outside of your line of sight at the moment you are detecting on your third turn, then you cannot discern it's exact location, but you can still sense it's direction from you.
Detect Evil (Sp): At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell. A paladin can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds. While focusing on one individual or object, the paladin does not detect evil in any other object or individual within range.
Detect evil via the paladin ability is a 60 foot cone in the direction the paladin is facing when used. First round simply tells you if there is something with an evil aura within the cone. Second round tells you how many evil things are in the cone, and which one of the evil things is the most powerful. Third round pinpoints the power and location of each aura. Additional effects may apply depending on the HD of the aura and the Paladin's own HD.
The reason I ask what you're trying to accomplish here, is because unless the paladin takes a turn and a half to make 3 move actions to pinpoint the object with an evil aura, he won't be able to notice anything lurking in the shadows. He'll only be able to tell "Yeah, something's definitely within this 60 foot cone..."
Make sure to look at the table to see if the paladin can actually detect the evil presence in the first place. Anything which has an HD of 4 or less and doesn't apply to any other part of the aura table will not be detected by the paladin's detect evil ability.
Also, as a player who loves playing Paladins I can sort of understand your pain. I don't blame the players for the way they play paladins, but there are many people more often than not world wide that play the "lawful stupid" paladin. The kind that spams detect evil and pursues the nearest villager with murderous bloodlust. Not saying your player does this, but you can hopefully understand the type of game play I'm trying to convey here.
As a good rule of thumb when I play a paladin..If there's no good in character reason why I should or would use the ability, then I don't.
What is it you're trying to do specifically here? Detect evil shouldn't stop you from using jump scares or anything. I mean, Paladin's are immune to fear and all, but they can still be surprised as much as the next person.
Spell Combat (Ex): At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. 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). If he casts this spell defensively, he can decide to take an additional penalty on his attack rolls, up to his Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on his concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but if he has more than one attack, he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks.
By definition of the spell combat trait, it says "from the magus spell list" not "the magus's spell list."
You can only use spell combat with spells off of the magus spell list. If the spell is being casted via another class, but is still in the magus spell list somewhere, it counts. So yes, your bard with the same spell as a magus can use it with Spell combat. No where does it say it must be from an expenditure of a magus spell slot, only that it must be a standard action casting timed spell.
Edit: I choose A. The reasoning is that just because a spell is cast through a spell slot, does not make that spell a spell off of that spell slots spell list. There are things in this game that lets other classes cast spells not on their own spell list, in place of one of their spell slots.
Well, by browsing around this Paizo forum and some other pathfinder discussions about the rope dart in question. I have come to this conclusion.
Things that are generally accepted about the rope dart.
1. It is a ranged weapon, even if held by the rope within 10 feet.
2. It has the blocking attribute, but fighting defensively is not restricted to melee only.
3. The dart can be thrown up to 100 feet, and despite the flavor text can be retracted within 20 feet or less. Any further and you must willingly let go of the rope and cannot retract the dart.
Things you should discuss with a GM that could change game to game.
1. The rope dart can only be retracted within 10 feet as per the flavor text.
2. The rope dart is either a two handed because you must retract it, or one handed because unlike other two handed ranged weapons, it does not say it requires two hands in it's description.
3. Adding rope to the Rope dart should be okay, but you might incur other house ruled penalties, such as retracting taking a swift or move action rather than it being free.
All in all though, it really comes down to what you and your GM agree upon.
As stated in the UE book, "This deceptively complex weapon appears to be nothing more than a 12-foot rope attached to a 6-inch-long, conical metal spike. Similar to a meteor hammer, it can be whirled at great speeds, then aimed to strike and pierce opponents with great reach. Once it strikes, the wielder can quickly retrieve the weapon with a tug of the rope as a free action."
It is in fact a ranged weapon, but it also a thrown weapon. You use your dexterity to make attack rolls, and add only 1x your STR to damage rolls. Think of this item as having a free built in returning quality to it. It also has the monk property which means you can flurry with this weapon. Don't ask me how it's possible, but monks can do it. They're monks. They're cool like that.
As far as the ranged feats go, because the rope dart is a thrown ranged weapon, some ranged feats such as point blank shot, or rapid shot will work with the weapon as they do not specify the type of ranged weapon needed to use the feat. They simply say "ranged weapon."
Other feats such as many shot which specifically say "When making a full-attack with a bow ... " cannot be used with the rope dart.
A small thing to note as well is that nowhere does it say that the rope dart is a two handed weapon. However, because of the free action retrieval wielding a rope dart in both hands is essentially useless in terms of offensive output. This does mean though that you can hold another item in your other hand while attacking with this weapon.
