Swish!'s page

Yo Pathfinders!

Roughly 2 years ago I created the following thread: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ui5k?High-Level-Campaign-Character-Ideas

The summary: I joined a high level campaign where the party started at level 16. My initial character was a Druid, who unfortunately headbutted a Sphere of Annihilation VERY early in the game. Because I didn't have a back up concept, I turned to the masses for suggestions.

What I eventually ended up playing was a Half-Orc Alchemist who focused on blowing stuff up. The problem is that I went WAY too hard into bombs. Most fights would start with me dropping 48d6+126ish of whatever energy type I want into a room and causing all of the survivors to be nauseated, prone, and staggered. It was impressive...but made fights very boring. So much to the point where I would try and find in-game reasons to not fight for a couple turns just to make them more interesting.

Long story short my character caught a minor case of death, which is entirely not a permanent issue at this level. But the first thing our Cleric asked me is "Do you want to be resurrected?" and to be honest, the answer was no.

So here I am; 2 years later, asking the same question. What should I play?

Perameters:
Character is 16th level
Standard races
Only allowed books are the CRB, APG, Ultimate Equipment, and relevant Bestiaries.
Current party includes: Trapfinding Rogue, Cleric/Wizard Mystic Theurge, Witch hex/debuffer, Paladin Boss-killer, two-weapon Fighter.

I'm looking for something that is fun, and has an impact on the game without dominating it or invalidating another character. Any suggestions?

Ho Pathfinders!

So I just joined in a campaign that is starting at level 16. 3 game sessions in, my Druid headbutted a Sphere of Annihilation...

I wasn't planning on having to make ANOTHER level 16 character so I'm a little tapped on ideas, so I turn to the masses for advice.

Party makeup consists of:

2-hander Paladin "Boss Killer"

2 weapon sword/shield Fighter "cuisinart"

Rogue who does a little damage, but just invalidates any trap in the dungeon

Wizard/Cleric Mystic Theurge with a binder full of spells that aren't 8th level

Witch who focuses on Hexes and debuffs

And a Dragonblooded Sorceress who isn't great at blowing stuff up, but has a lot of fun doing so.

Suggestions?

Hey Pathfinders,
I'm building a Cleric for an upcoming Reign in Winter game. So far I know I want to be an Aasimar, and I want to worship Abadar. I've been thinking on Eldrich Heritage to pick up a familiar. I've heard wondrous things about Oracles with familiars and I don't see why the same wouldn't work for a Cleric (as long as I meet the CHA requirements). I'm just not sold on spending so many feats for a bird that can deliver touch spells. Skill Focus in a Knowledge skill is mostly a throw away feat, so I won't pick up the familiar until level 3. Level 5 I know I want Divine Protection. At some point I want to take improved Familiar (probably at level 9) so I can take a Lyrakien (High CHA so it can use magic device).

I also wanted to be able to do some summoning, but that requires a long feat tree as well, so I don't think I can do both. Does anyone have any experience building a cleric with a familiar and if it's honestly worth it?

Rules question up front: If a creature has a base damage of say: 1D2-4, but they get bonus moral damage from a source, say from a Desecrate spell
for undead, do you add the bonus damage after you subtract the -4 from the dice roll, or before?

Backstory:

I am designing an encounter for my party where they will be tasked with killing a corrupted Treant known as the Squirrel Lord. In his good aligned days, he was known as a safe haven for Squirrels, however due to a demonic incursion across the land, he was corrupted by Orcus.

I am using a Gnarlwood as the basis for the boss. Because of his Animate Dead SLA, and his caster level of 14, he can control 56 HD worth of Skeletons or Zombies. He also has Desecrate and Unhallowed, as well as an alter to Orcus.

My idea, is that he can control up to 56 skeletal squirrels, will the skeletal squirrels be doing 1 damage per hit, or 3 damage per hit (with the Desecrate spell)?

I want to get a GM opinion on the Trip combat maneuver. One of the changes they made in Pathfinder from DnD 3.5 is that it is possible to make a Trip combat maneuver instead of an attack of opportunity. Now I've never played with it this way in my games, because I remember how awful it was in DnD 3.0 when a character would trip lock someone (you trip them, they try to get up>provoke an AoE, then get tripped again). I don't see much on the boards or in optimization guides about Trip locking so I'm curious as to how effective it really is, and if I should open it up in my game.

Do any GMs or players have any experience with allowing Trip combat maneuvers during attacks of opportunity?

Hello Pathfinders,
Trying to find a clarification on the Despair power that Mummy's get:

from the SRD:

Despair (Su)

All creatures within a 30-foot radius that see a mummy must make a DC 16 Will save or be paralyzed by fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by the same mummy's despair ability for 24 hours. This is a paralysis and a mind-affecting fear affect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

My question is what happens if there are multiple Mummies within 30 ft, do you have to take a saving throw for each one? The way its worded, it says that the first time you see a Mummy and its within 30ft of you, you make a saving throw. Regardless of the outcome, you are immune to that mummy's despair ability for 24 hours.

The issue is I have a party that's about to be ambushed by a trio of mummy's, which is going to result in the party seeing all 3 at the same time. Does each party member make 3 separate saving throws or just 1? I feel like if they have to make 3 saving throws, then the likely hood of anyone not being paralyzed on the first 1d4 rounds is pretty small, which would result in some mummy slam coup de grace.

Hello Pathfinders,
I am a long time dungeon master, and I've recently started posting stuff about my home brewed campaign on my blog. I thought I'd share it here. Let me know what you think.

http://killmonstersandtaketheirstuff.blogspot.com/2013/05/knights-of-tor-ch aracter-profiles.html

Hello Pathfinders,
Recently I have started a gaming blog to just talk about the games I am currently playing. (and rant about the ones I hate). Specifically, Wednesdays I am posting about my ongoing Pathfinder campaign: Knights of Tor. I'm posting a link here for those who are interested in reading my campaign material. Today's post is all about the world, its countries, and cultures. Next week will be a character bio of my PCs.

Enjoy

http://killmonstersandtaketheirstuff.blogspot.com/2013/04/knights-of-tor-my -pathfinder-campaign.html

Hello Pathfinders,

So a few months ago, I wrapped up my last Pathfinder game, which ran about 3 years, having players go from level 1, to level 17-18. It was a fun, high magic campaign set in a homebrewed world that had elements of Eberron and Spelljamer. When it ended, I wanted to take a break from GMing, and let one of my players steer the ship for a while. About 6 weeks rolled by, he had come up with his game, and we rolled new characters. (I had a sweet gunslinger with a majestic mustache who was a mix between Teddy Roosevelt and Ron Swanson). Anyway, his game fell through because he didn't have the time to plan for games. (Not his fault) Unfortunately, there isn't anyone else in the group interested in running a game, so rather than just having no game, I've decided to start GMing again.

So now I'm a bit stuck on what to run. Some might think that my lack of inspiration is coming from the fact that GMing was forced upon me, which isn't entirely true. I've had a pretty solid break, and I'm looking forward to being behind the screen again. I've thought about doing something opposite of my last game; something really low magic, perhaps something akin to Numeria, but more stand alone (IE: the rest of Golarion doesn't exist). Maybe with some Dark Sun elements thrown in (replace spellcasting entirely with psionics). Anyway, I'm looking for good ideas.

Hit me with your best shot.

Dear Abby,

I'm starting a Wizard for a friend of mine's game. I'm debating splashing 3 levels of Pathfinder Savant (Levels 6, 7, and 8).

Upsides:
Expanded Skill list- This game is going to be more investigation, role-playing and problem solving than combat, so having Perception, Survival, (and to a lesser degree UMD) Will be very helpful.

Spell Completion- The ability to use scrolls (and wands if I'm not mistaken) at my level with my DCs means I can really stock up on scrolls and not cry at the reduced effect. I feel like at 8th level when this gets unlocked, I will never have to worry about running out of spells, or not having the right spell prepped ever again.

Spells outside of my spell list- With 3 levels of Savant, I can add up to 2 spells from outside the normal Wizard/Sorcerer spell list. The real trick is which two spells would I want? Freedom of Movement is the first that comes to mind (its hard to cast spells when you've got a big ugly fighter grappling you). I'm not sure what the other one would be though.

Downsides:
Caster Level Lost- You lose a caster level at level 1. This basically puts me on par with a Sorcerer as far as spell progression.

Magic Aptitude- This feat is fraking awful. I don't need to be that good at Spellcraft (I'm starting with an Int of 20). UMD does require a pretty high roll to keep your wands rocking, but I don't really intend on using a lot of scrolls and wands that arn't on my spell list. In addition, the class lets me take 10 on UMD checks, and adds a bonus to UMD, Spellcraft, and Know: Arcana. Basically this feat just adds numbers to stuff I'm already going to be good enough at.

I'm taking the bonded object instead of familiar (part of the campaign is going to require that the party has no companions, so no familiars, animal companions, bonded mounts, leadership followers etc.) so I don't have to worry about having a familiar fall behind because of the lost 3 levels of Wizard.

So I'd like to know everyone's opinion. Is the spell completion bonus worth the loss of caster level? Are the extra class skills worth the loss of a feat (bear in mind, that I won't be able to make use of the new class skills until level 6). What 2 spells should I select as my esoteric spells?

So in the description of the spell Rage, it says "The effect is otherwise identical with a barbarian's rage except that the subjects aren't fatigued at the end of the rage."

Does this mean that the target of the spell can end the rage as a free action (just like a barbarian can end his own rage)?

I ask specifically for the Oracle Heavens Mystery: Mantle of Moonlight. The spell is specifically designed to send an unwilling target into a Rage (great way to mess up spell casters), but according to the spell, they should be able to end it as a free action (so basically no effect, other than that they'll be in a rage until their next turn, meaning that they couldn't cast spells as an immediate action....say to cast feather fall).

Does anyone have any input into this one?

So when I started my current campaign, I had a player immediately want to play a druid. I knew right off the bat that he would eventually have the ability to summon Cyclops, and I already had a feeling that it would be a bad thing. I'm sure it's been posted on here before, but I would like to just reiterate the math

Character drops a 6th level spell to cast Summon Nature's Ally VI to summon 1d3+1 (with superior and augment summoning) Cyclopses. (Cyclopsi?)

Each chooses to roll a 20 on its initial attack, and gets +13 to confirm its crit (It could also power attack, getting a +10 to confirm). If it confirms, it does 9d6+27 damage, or 9d6+54 on a power attack. Lets assume a scenario where you roll a 3 on your d3, that would give you 4 such creatures, who could surround a target, flanking it (which would increase your chance to confirm the crit by 10%)

If all 4 summoned creatures confirm their crits, and were power attacking, that means you would be doing 36d6+216 damage, or an average of 342 damage.

Now, the minimum level to cast a 6th level druid spell is 11, so lets assume you are fighting a CR 11 creature (which should be a tough but manageable encounter). Lets just pick a monster that is about as classic a monster in the genre that you will ever face:

Juvenile Red Dragon

The dragon has an AC of 35, meaning that barring any other buffs or debuffs, if its being flanked by 4 cyclopsi, you would need a 13 to confirm your crit, or a 35% chance to crit. This means you have a little over 1/3 of a chance of confirming your crit, which is like rolling 4 dice, and having them all come up 5's and 6's. (an event that many of us as regular gamers, have seen frequently).

Lets assume the law averages works, and 1 out of three of these monsters crits, but the rest get normal hits. The monster that crits would do an average of 85 damage, and the three that got regular hits would do 28 average damage, totaling 84 damage (in all scenarios, I round down any fraction). for a total of 169 damage. The dragon has 149 hit points. Dragon has a Con of 21, meaning that would leave it at -20 hit points, and one hit point away from instant death.

____________________________________________________________________

This is a lot of quick math, and I'm sure somebody will find my scenario flawed in some way, but my basic point, is that every time the Druid in my party has cast this spell (which has been precisely twice) it has ended the fight with little to no trouble. In both cases, he only summoned 1 Cyclops, but did confirm the crit, doing singly enough damage to ruin whatever monster I threw at them.

So my question is poised thusly: Am I right to nerf this? Am I just a whiny DM who needs to think harder about how to challenge his players? If I nerf this, should I just remove Cyclops from the list of summonable creatures, or should I change the Cyclops Insight ability to something more manageable?

Comments, criticism and sarcasm all welcome.

The Swish

Hey Pathfinders,
I've got a weird rules question here:

OK, with snap shot, you count as threatening with a bow up to 5ft (allowing you to take attacks of opportunity with a bow.) Now, does this mean you also threaten for the purposes of flanking? IE: You are standing on one side of an enemy, and a party member is on the other, do you give the flanking bonus to your ally? Do you get the +2 bonus to hit as well? (Your not making a melee attack, but you are threatening the opponent). Do you get sneak attack damage?

thoughts?

Ok, So I'm building an NPC for my regular game. He's got a level of Bard, and I am understandably confused with Scorpion whips.

What I understand:
If you have proficiency with whips (IE: you took the feat, your a bard, or your a cleric who's deity is a fetishist) then you can use scorpion whips.

My Confusion:
According to the Ultimate Combat guide, Scorpion whip is listed as such:

Whip, scorpion 5 gp 1d3 1d4 x2 — 3 lbs. S disarm, performance, reach, trip

Benefit: It deals lethal damage, even to creatures with armor bonuses. If you are proficient with whips, you can use a scorpion whip as a whip.

Weapon Feature(s): performance (plus disarm, reach, and trip if you are proficient with whip.)

(this is all taken from the srd, which admittedly may be different from the book, I don't have the book on me to check atm)

What this means to me anyway, is that the scorpion whip is not really a whip by itself. This means to me that it would work differently depending on what feats you had:

Just the Scorpion Whip EWP: Is just a regular one handed light weapon, that does lethal damage, doesn't have reach, trip, or disarm, but does threaten AoO (and does get the performance ability, for gravy)

Just the Whip EWP: Means you are using it as a whip, and thus has all the stats of a whip (no lethal damage, 15ft reach that provokes AoO, but doesn't threaten, and gets trip and disarm.)

Both Whip and Scorpion Whip EWP: Means you use the weapon as its printed. It has Reach (but not the 15ft reach that regular whips have, and thus does not provoke AoO, and does threaten AoO)and gains the trip and disarm abilities.

In addition, if you have both feats, does that mean you have the option of using it as a regular whip and a scorpion whip with the benefits whip prof gives you?

Am I missing something? I tried digging through backlogs of forums, but I couldn't find a straight answer. Anybody know whats up?

Mucho Gracias!
The Swish

It says that if you have the deaf oracle curse, you add the silent metamagic feat to any spell you cast. (of which I'm finding out, is pretty sweet with the spell Silence) Does this only include Oracle spells, or does it extend to spell-like abilities (in the case of say a gnome oracle using prestidigitation) or if you multi-class into another spell casting class, like sorcerer or bard?

Taken from the Pathfinder SRD:
"The special size modifier for a creature's Combat Maneuver Bonus is as follows: Fine –8, Diminutive –4, Tiny –2, Small –1, Medium +0, Large +1, Huge +2, Gargantuan +4, Colossal +8. Some feats and abilities grant a bonus to your CMB when performing specific maneuvers."

This means that small size characters, such as halflings and gnomes, get a -1 penalty to CMB (and CMD)

However

When you attempt to perform a combat maneuver, make an attack roll and add your CMB in place of your normal attack bonus. Add any bonuses you currently have on attack rolls due to spells, feats, and other effects. These bonuses must be applicable to the weapon or attack used to perform the maneuver. The DC of this maneuver is your target's Combat Maneuver Defense. Combat maneuvers are attack rolls, so you must roll for concealment and take any other penalties that would normally apply to an attack roll.

Since small sized creatures get a +1 bonus to attack rolls, wouldn't they get a +1 bonus to combat maneuvers? If so, wouldn't this cancel out their size bonus? I'm sure this cannot be the way it works, because by this rational, regardless of what size you are, the bonus or penalty you receive to combat maneuvers would be the same as the bonus or penalty you usually get to attack rolls. Is there any documentation on this?

Quick question: With stigmata, it says you take bleed damage equal to half your vindicator level. But for the bonus, it just says your class level. Does this mean the bonus is equal to the amount of bleed you are taking, or your entire class levels (IE: if i'm a 5th level paladin, and a 3rd level Holy Vindicator, is the bonus +4?)

Taken from the srd:
Traits: An outsider possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry).

* Darkvision 60 feet.
* Unlike most living creatures, an outsider does not have a dual nature—its soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don't work on an outsider. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection to restore it to life. An outsider with the native subtype can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be.
* Proficient with all simple and martial weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry.
* Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types. Outsiders not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Outsiders are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any form of armor.
* Outsiders breathe, but do not need to eat or sleep (although they can do so if they wish). Native outsiders breathe, eat, and sleep.

The one i'm most focused on is the Proficiency with all simple and martial weapons. Does this mean that if i play a Aasimar or a Tiefling, then I get all the simple and martial weapon proficiencies, as they are of the native outsider type?

Hello friends,
I am in an interesting situation. I rolled up a character for a friends campaign, and well....i rolled really high. I have the freedom to put the stats anywhere I want. My problem is, I want to make a character that makes use of such epic stats. So, please post ideas for multiple-high stat characters.

For reference, the stats from highest to lowest are 18,17,16,15,14,14

Thanks,
The Swish

Greetings Pathfinders,
I'm sure this has come up on here before, but i'm trying to figure out the proper way to handle a mounted character with a lance and the feat vital strike. Obviously both abilities multiply the amount of damage you do. I've heard two arguments. The first is that like many things in pathfinder (bonuses mostly) they wouldn't stack, so you would choose the better of the two multipliers. The second, is that you would multiply the amount of damage dice for the lance by x4, and the rest of your damage (strength, power attack etc.) by x2 Personally, i don't believe the first argument has any basis on actual rules, just one person expressing an uninformed opinion. But the second ruling rather bothers me, as its very easily a formula for silly amounts of damage on a charge. Now i know one counter to this problem is that you really can't bring a horse into a dungeon, and charges aren't always easy to pull off, but in this situation, the character is a halfling paladin (i know!) who rides a dog, who is medium. (therefore, its perfectly reasonable to bring him into the dungeon). the halfling has a str of 14 (so +2) and he has a smallsize lance (1d6) with spirited charge and vital strike alone, he is doing 5d6+9, and with power attack and smiting, its just insane. Pretty mostly, if i have an undead, evil outsider, or a dragon in my campaign, he's going to run it down like a frackin possum. Anywho, if anyone has heard an official ruling on this, i'd love to hear it

PS to the game designers, while i love everything about pathfinder, word to the wise; Anything in a game that involves multiplication, is a target for powergaming.

Thanks, and happy adventuring!

I have a minor disagreement with Orisons. Being able to cast any spell forever as many times as you want has its abuses. A little Tidbit for your reckoning:

A level 1 cleric can create 2 gallons of fresh water with each use of Create Water

There are 7.48 gallons of water in a cubic foot

There are roughly 3280.84 feet in a kilometer

The Caspian Sea (the worlds largest sea by volume) has 78,200 Cubic kilometers.

If it takes a level 1 cleric 4 castings of Create Water to make a cubic foot, then it takes the same cleric 13123.36 castings to make a cubic kilometer. That being said, it would take the same starting level adventurer 1,026,246,752 castings of create water to fill the largest sea in our real world (according to wikipedia, the Caspian sea is larger than the next 6 largest lakes put together.)

A level 1 cleric can cast Create Water once every 6 seconds (a single round). There are 10 rounds in a minute, 600 rounds in an hour, 14,400 rounds in a day, and 5,256,000 rounds in a year. Thus, it would take our humble starting level adventurer 195.25242617960426179604261796043
years to fill the worlds largest land locked body of water. This number is divided every time our hero goes up a level, at 20th level, it would only take him 9.7626213089802130898021308980213 years. Thats less than a decade. Less than a decade to radically change the landscape with a 0-Level spell. Granted, he couldn't sleep or eat in that time (he'd need a ring of sustainance or something).

food for thought...personally, i'm going to go get a glass of water.