Taja the Barbarian's page

The question that needs to be asked is: What are you actually looking for, OP? You want to play a Kitsune Samurai, but that is awfully specific without any actual specifics as to what you want from the character.

Do you just want to be a fox wielding 'Japanese steel'?
Is this just a combination that tickles your fancy?
Did you lose a bet???

Typically, the easiest effective Dexterity builds are:
Unchained Rogues (who get sneak attack immediately and 'Dex to Dmg' at level 3)
Human Swashbucklers (who get Weapon Finesse for free and have two feats at creation to get 'Dex to Dmg')
Inspired Blade Swashbucklers (who get Weapon Finesse and Weapon Focus with the Rapier for free and can spend their starting feat on 'Dex to Dmg')
Dawnflower Dervish Bard (who get 'Dex to Dmg' with the Scimitar immediately)
Human Fighter (who get three feats at creation to get 'Dex to Dmg')

All of the 'not-human only' options seem like they would work great with a Kitsune (maybe even as just a 'starting dip' for inspired Blade or Dawnflower Dervish), but that isn't worth much if they aren't what you want to play...

Belafon wrote:

If attempting a Will saving throw isn’t a “purely mental action” then nothing is.

Circumstances force me to disagree with you. You can make saving throws when it is not your turn (that's the usual case...) so if it were an action at all it would have to be an immediate one. But you are not restricted to only one, nor does it use your next swift, so making a saving throw cannot be an "action" at all.

"Some activities are so minor that they are not even considered free actions. They literally don’t take any time at all to do and are considered an inherent part of doing something else, such as nocking an arrow as part of an attack with a bow."

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat/ "not an action"

In the specific case of Hold Person, "The subject becomes paralyzed and freezes in place. It is aware and breathes normally but cannot take any actions, even speech. Each round on its turn, the subject may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. This is a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A winged creature who is paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A swimmer can't swim and may drown."

Since 'making a (Will) saving throw' is a full-round action in this specific case, it is presumably a 'purely mental' action as this both makes sense and those are the only actions one can actually take while under the effects of this spell. As such, Belafon's point is that this spell actually works as written while the original version of Hideous Laughter (which required a full round action while denying you the ability to make any actions) did not.

Making a Saving Throw is not an action, except when it specifically is...

The following youtube clip might help your understanding of the general idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz-Yw0c7cF0

Beyond that, it is important to remember that each author's view on Asmodeous (or Satan, for that matter) is just that: Their view. It has no bearing on anyone else's view or actual reality (in the extremely unlikely scenario that one of them actually 'real'). Looking at brief description of the book you mention, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with Golarion and therefore is presumably a completely different 'interpretation' of the Asmodeous character.

Diego Rossi wrote:

Hideous Laughter: "On the creature’s next turn, it may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect."

Hold Person: "Each round on its turn, the subject may attempt a new saving
throw to end the effect."

I think the target gets to try a save only during his first turn after the spell has been cast, not every turn. If the RAI was to have him save every turn the Hold Person text was way neater than the Hideous Laughter text.

This is an odd post saying that Diego is more clearly correct than he says he is.

A fuller quote from the current version of Hideous Laughter is-

"On the creature’s next turn, it may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. This is a full round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If this save is successful, the effect ends. If not, the creature continues laughing for the entire duration."

There is no need to say I think, there is nothing unclear about what the rule means. Technically the last 2 sentences of the last quote don't need to be there, the rule would mean exactly the same thing if they were absent.

As Diego noted in his first response, this is NOT the correct spell text: It is the text per AoN, but the site appears to have missed a revision from the 5th printing.

The 'correct' text (as I included in my original post) drops the line about the effect running the full duration if the second save is failed, thus being more ambiguous than the original version.

As I see it, this line was probably dropped because:
a) It was just considered redundant, or
b) It was thought to be too powerful for a level 1 spell (for some casters, at least) and they wanted to change it to a 'make a save each round' like most other 'incapacitating' spells but they neglected to alter the 'next turn' part of the text.

Considering how powerful this spell is when compared to Hold Person (since it knocks your target prone, prevents them from taking any actions, and can be used against intelligent non-humanoid targets (albeit with a saving throw bonus)), I'm guessing they did intend to nerf it, but RAW I think the use of 'next turn' in the spell text means you don't get a save every round.

Just started playing a Halfling Mesmerist in the Hell's Vengence AP and I am looking at picking up this particularly nasty seeming spell at level two or three, but the saving throws have me a little confused.

To start with, I am seeing two slightly different versions of the spell:

Here is the spell test as per Archives of Nethys:

Source PRPG Core Rulebook pg. 296

School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]; Level arcanist 2, bard 1, medium 2, mesmerist 1, psychic 2, skald 1, sorcerer 2, wizard 2
Casting
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (tiny fruit tarts and a feather)
Effect
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature; see text
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
Description
This spell afflicts the subject with uncontrollable laughter. It collapses into gales of manic laughter, falling prone. The subject can take no actions while laughing, but is not considered helpless. After the spell ends, it can act normally. On the creature's next turn, it may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. This is a full round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If this save is successful, the effect ends. If not, the creature continues laughing for the entire duration.

A creature with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower is not affected. A creature whose type is different from the caster's receives a +4 bonus on its saving throw, because humor doesn't “translate” well.

School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]; Level bard 1, sorcerer/wizard 2

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (tiny fruit tarts and a feather)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature; see text
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
This spell afflicts the subject with uncontrollable laughter. It collapses into gales of manic laughter, falling prone. The subject can take no actions while laughing, but is not considered helpless. On the creature’s next turn, it may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. If successful, the effect ends and the creature is treated as if it spent a full-round action on its turn.
A creature with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower is not affected. A creature whose type is different from the caster’s receives a +4 bonus on its saving throw, because humor doesn’t “translate” well

The major change between the two versions is the clarification that making a saving throw does not actually take an action (which the spell specifically denies you) and removes the 'otherwise, the spell runs the full duration' line. I should note that my 'Sixth Printing March 2013' physical copy of the CRB matches the PDF text.

First off, am I correct in assuming that AoN.com has the 'non-current' spell text and needs to be updated? I guess it is possible there was an errata after the last actual printing of the CRB, but that seems less likely...

Secondly, is "next turn" supposed to be read as "on the first turn of the spell duration only" or as "on every turn of the spell duration"? The AoN.com text definitely supports the former interpretation with its "If not, the creature continues laughing for the entire duration" text, while the CRB version is a bit more more ambiguous. RAW, I'd lean toward toward "you only get an initial save and a second save on your first turn under its effect" but given how powerful this seems, I'm guessing the RAI is likely 'you get an initial save and another save each round under its effect' for the sake of balance.

Please note that applying a Weapon Blanch is technically more than a Full Round: The 'full round' part of the description is just how long you need to hold the weapon over an open flame after you pour the blanch on it.

Source Ultimate Equipment pg. 103, Advanced Player's Guide pg. 184

Price [PFS Legal] 100 gp (adamantine), [PFS Legal] 20 gp (cold iron), [PFS Legal] 5 gp (silver); Weight 1/2 lb. (adamantine), 1/2 lb. (cold iron), 1/2 lb. (silver)
Description
These silver, alchemical powders have a gritty consistency, appearing at first glance to be simple metal shavings. When poured on a weapon and placed over a hot flame for a full round, however, they melt and form a temporary coating on the weapon. The blanching gives the weapon the ability to bypass one kind of material-based damage reduction, such as adamantine, cold iron, or silver. The blanching remains effective until you make a successful attack with the weapon. Each dose of blanching can coat one weapon or up to 10 pieces of ammunition. Only one kind of weapon blanch can be on a weapon at one time, though a weapon made of one special material (such as adamantine) can have a different material blanch (such as silver), and counts as both materials for the first successful hit.
Construction
Craft (Alchemy) DC 25

As noted by previous posters, applying a weapon blanch is basically something you do while sitting around the campfire outside of battle as you need an open flame and two otherwise free hands to do it, making the precise action economy largely irrelevant...

Merellin wrote:

TxSam88 wrote:

I quite often run dex based melee types with little or no armor. Once you get the dex high enough, you actually start not wanting the negatives associated with armor. Rogues, Magus, Ninja, etc.

I do wanna try a unchained rogue sometime... I just worry a lot about finding myself unable to get a flank and thus not doing anything in the combat due to lack of sneak attack... And I dont know if the two weapon fighting to Two Weapon Feint feat line will be good with their lower BAB....

there are lots of ways to get sneak without using flanking. You need to definitely try to get a way to use Greater invisibility. with that alone, you attack against flat footed, and get a +2, if you flank, its +4.

look at all of the rogue tricks. there's a couple that you just get sneak attack damage for a round. some that let you use a wall, or an enemy as a flanking partner, and be sure to look at the ninja tricks (invisible blade).

Just keep in mind that the Invisible condition will become less and less reliable as you level up as more and more foes will just be able to ignore it...

A few general comments:
a) 5-6 x 32pt+ build characters in an AP balanced around 4 x 15pt build characters seems a little silly...

b) With only about half the characters built, you are presumably already focusing on the same skills as another character (the necromancer), which might lead to "stepping on each other's toes" issues...

c) Your party is starting with two 'terrible at first level' melee characters: You don't have Weapon Finesse and the Warpriest can't actually use Weapon Finesse with a Scimitar (but has to take it by level 3 as a prereq for getting 'dex to atk/dmg' from Dervish Dance), so both of you will have issues hitting and won't do much damage when you do actually land a blow. This should get better as you level up, but first level might be very annoying...

Where you are going 'wrong' is in mistaking the pricing guidelines for actual rules: Pricing tends to be more of an art than a science when an item doesn't exactly duplicate a spell (note the Arrow of Charming has a potentially much greater range than Charm Monster and has the additional ability to 'charm' on behalf of another person).

Items that don't exactly duplicate a specific spell (and some that do*) are priced based on the effect it delivers (as compared to other magic items) rather than the spell used to create it.

*An item that effectively produces a continuous Mage Armor effect will not be cheaper than Bracers Of Armor(+4), regardless of what the formulas say...

Is there a specific objective for this idea? In my limited experience with item crafting, a free formula each level will almost certainly be more than I will actually use if I have enough foresight to plan ahead a bit, as the major limitation on crafting is actually the amount of downtime the campaign* allows.

I suspect my Oracle from Wrath of the Righteous could count the number of items she actually crafted over maybe 10 levels on the fingers of one or maybe two hands..

*My group plays Adventure Paths, so it might be that other campaigns have more downtime than I tend to see (My Bloodrager literally took a trainer with her on a boat trip to retrain a feat in Return of the Runelords as I didn't see her getting a solid week of downtime any other way).

Arkat wrote:

Dragonchess Player wrote:

"half-breed"/"cross-breed"/"mongrel" slur with the half-elf and half-orc.

These "slurs" never even entered my mind.

Really? "cross-breed" is offensive??

Sounds like some folks need to relax if that was their actual fear.

I suggest you speak with some Japanese people with a gaijin parent. They are called Hafu (japanese pronunciation of Half, word used because of the post-war US influence).

AFAIK they do not enjoy being called that.

While terms like these may be technically neutral in nature, routine usage in a derisive, derogatory, demeaning, and/or insulting fashion will tend to give them a rather negative tone that will infect any other usage however it is actually intended.

While I can't really speak for Japanese of 'non-pure Japanese ethnicity' I can imagine the time spent on their childhood playgrounds could easily make them despise terminology like this for the rest of their lives (children can be so very cruel) before even considering how conformist Japanese society is supposed to be...

It's quite possible that Hallit actually fell out of use in Nidal long before Earthfall, with the people of Nidal finding the languages of their neighbors more practical for their current environment...

It should be noted that most forms of Hallit do not have a written form, so written records would either require creating a written form for Hallit from scratch (and getting everyone to agree on that one form) - or = adopting another language for this purpose (preferably from a neighbor).

As you point out, Nidal has a very long history, and it really doesn't take a lot of time for a language to disappear...

I'm not up with 2nd ed lore or rules, but what happened to all the half-orcs and half-elves that used to live on Golarion? Were they all wiped out by Tar-Baphon because he wanted to be the only one with hyphen? Half-horse and half-fish people are okay but half-elves are not? They were lucky not to have hyphen in their names, I guess.

Lore wise, it's just an official 'name change' in the Remaster, though it is noted that the old names are still commonly used. No one died or disappeared...

Mechanically, these two heritages were officially changed from 'human' heritages (You are a human with a few traits from your Elven or Orcish heritage) to 'versatile' heritages (you can be nearly any ancestry with additional Elven/Oricish heritage), which was previously suggested as a possibility in a sidebar but not an official rule.
2e's Half-Elf(Human Heritage) is now 2e Remastered's Aiuvarin(Versatile Heritage)
2e's Half-Orc(Human Heritage) is now 2e Remastered's Dromaar(Versatile Heritage)

Addendum: It should probably be noted that the major motivation behind the remaster was WotC's leaked (and later abandoned) changes to the Open Gaming License that could best be summarized as 'I Am Altering the Deal, Pray I Don’t Alter It Any Further...' that made being as distinct as possible from PF's D&D ancestry a legal/financial necessity: While the concept of 'half-breeds' (for lack of a better term) is pretty much as old as time, the specific 'half-orc' and 'half-elf' names were probably too tightly tied to D&D for comfort as they don't have a strong classic mythological basis like 'elf' and 'dwarf' do...

I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier, but Alchemist(Vivisectionist) fits your medical theme pretty well, but mechanically it would be a bit rough:

• No baseline proficiency in non-simple weapons or Stealth, so your traits will probably be spent here
• No innate 'dex to attack rolls' ability, so you either need to get the Weapon Finesse feat or boost your strength
• You get the ability to use the Knowledge(Nature) skill instead of the Heal skill so you can dump Wis and boost Int (which you need for alchemy) instead, but this only kicks in at level 3.

...

As you can see from all the advice on the thread, money and magic are your primary options to alleviate low strength encumbrance. Convincing party members to take up part of your load is another option, I suppose. Hopefully, as you lag behind with your 15 ft speed (from medium or heavy load, respectively), they will reconsider helping out.

...

• a) Some characters might not have the spare capacity to actually help if they didn't pump up their Strength (remember that armor and weapons are proportionately heavier for medium sized characters), and
• b) A character who dumped their strength score so low they essentially can not carry their own weight is a situation where I just wouldn't be surprised to see a 'no mercy in this dojo' attitude give that you created the issue yourself*...

*Yes, not realizing the necessity/weight of your alchemy gear is a really easy mistake to make, but dumping your Strength to 5 is just begging for trouble...

Actually, upon further thought, you really need to ask your GM for permission to reallocate your stats: A 5 in strength is just too low and while there are magical ways around this, they will eat up precious resources at low levels (gold or extract slots)...

Keep in mind that every 50 coins is another pound of encumbrance, so just gathering enough gold to purchase a magic item to help with your carrying capacity is going to be problematic for you (2,000g to purchase a low end item is 40lbs* of gold coins, or 4lbs of platinum coins).

Buying a riding rat as a pack animal is still a good idea, but that is more for stuff you just won't need in a hurry (rations, waterskin, camping supplies, and loot).

*Note that your heavy load caps out at 37.5lbs...

Just to restate your potential item options for helping your carrying capacity:

The traditional items for increased personal carrying capacity are:
Backpack (Masterwork) - 50g / 1lb: Adds 1 to your strength for carrying capacity calculation
Backpack (Masterwork) [Darkleaf Cloth] - 425g / 0.5lb: Adds 1 to your strength for carrying capacity calculation.
Muleback Cords [Shoulder Slot] - 1,000g / 0.0625lbs: Adds 8 to your strength for carrying capacity calculation
Heavyload Belt [Belt Slot] - 2,000g / 0.75lbs: +200% to your carrying capacity
Burdenless [Armor Quality] - 4,000g / 0lbs: +50% to your carrying capacity

Traditional extradimensional storage options are:
Bag of Holding, Minor - 1,000g / 3lbs: Holds 50lbs of stuff.
Bag of Holding (Type I) - 2,500g / 15lbs: Holds 250lbs of stuff.
Bag of Holding (Type II) - 5,000g / 25lbs: Holds 500lbs of stuff.
Bag of Holding (Type III) - 7,400g / 35lbs: Holds 1,000lbs of stuff.
Bag of Holding (Type IV) - 10,000g / 60lbs: Holds 1,500lbs of stuff.
Handy Haversack - 2,000g, 5lbs: Holds 80lbs of stuff
Portable Hole - 20,000g / 0lbs: Holds as much as you can put in its 10' depth.

Diego Rossi, please note that 'Ounce' has two separate measurement meanings:
1/16th of a pound for weight, or
1/8th of a cup for volume (sometimes referred to as a 'fluid ounce').

While I believe the two are roughly equivalent for water, your mileage will vary greatly with other materials...

When measuring a liquid, an 'ounce' is typically a measurement of volume...

JamesWTGames, consider buying a Riding Rat for your character: It goes with your racial theme, and generally won't have to be left behind when the terrain gets awkward (as it is medium size and has both climb and swim speeds, it can go anywhere the rest of the party can).

Source Monster Codex pg. 177

Price [Legal only for Ratfolk PCs] 75 gp (combat trained), [Legal only for Ratfolk PCs] 50 gp (common); Weight 50 lbs. (combat trained), 50 lbs. (common)
Description
Horses, ponies, and other draft animals are ill-suited to living underground for long stretches, so the ratfolk bred a particularly strong type of dire rat to assist in pulling their wagons and serving as mounts for caravan scouts. As rodents, riding rats respond favorably to ratfolk’s commands, and the animals’ hardiness and omnivorous diet make them very easy to care for even on long journeys through inhospitable terrain. Use the statistics for a dire rat with the giant simple template (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 232, 295). A ratfolk with the animal companion, mount, or similar class feature can select a riding rat as her mount.

Upon further reflection, you could use the Heirloom Weapon trait to gain proficiency with a light hammer, but I believe this is literally for one specific weapon (not all light hammers, but this one specific heirloom light hammer only).

This means duel-wielding hammers isn't going to be an option, and you'll need a Masterwork Transformation spell to upgrade it before you can add any magical enchants, but it would otherwise work and leave your level 1 feat slot open...

Honestly, the Slayer class ahs most of this

I'd say slayer with an earthbreaker, maybe with the turncoat or velvet blade archetype

The issue with this is you need

This seems like it is stretching your point buy a bit thin: Going with a Dex build saves you a bit here.

Going with a Halfling build, a 20 pt buy could work like:

Statistic [Pts] Score +Racial =Final
Strength [2pts] 12 - 2 = 10
Dexterity ]10pts] 16 + 2 = 18
Constitution [2pts] 12 = 12
Intelligence [-1pts] 09 = 09
Wisdom [5pts] 14 = 14
Charisma [2pts] 12 + 2 = 14

With the size modifier and racial bonus from the Secretive Survivor alternate racial trait, you have +14 Stealth (before any Armor Check penalty), so you don't really need Skill Focus right away.

You don't get Heal as a class skill automatically, so you'd need a trait for this, but there are a couple of options here (like Caretaker, Mwangi Herbalal Tradition, Venicaan Medic, or Imperial Soldier).

Taja the Barbarian wrote:

As a starting point for getting the most at first level specifically, consider:

Human (for the bonus feat) or Half-Elf (for the bonus skill focus feat)
Rogue (Unchained)
Starting Feats: Martial Weapon Proficiency (since the proper 'hammers' are martial) and Skill Focus (Stealth).
Wield an 'Alchemical Silver' Light Hammer
Emphasize Dex and Int.
Spend skill points as desired (you should have plenty to go around)

Alternately, you could go Halfling (for the bonuses to stealth) and delay taking skill focus.

Most of the rest of your 'items' seem more like roleplay than game mechanics (the antipathies are very specific)...

you can get hammer proficiency a lot better.

theres an alternate ability for humans that gives 2 martial or exotic weapon profs, thats better than wasting a feat on 1 weapon.
"Military Tradition
Source Inner Sea Races pg. 214
Several human cultures raise all children (or all children of a certain social class) to serve in the military or defend themselves with force of arms. They gain proficiency with up to two martial or exotic weapons appropriate to their culture. This racial trait replaces the bonus feat trait."
half elves can also trade skill focus for a weapon prof IIRC

Perhaps, but the second weapon is largely irrelevant since your only light 'proper hammer' option (for 'finesse training' purposes) is the Light Hammer, so either way you 'lose' a level 1 feat to get proficiency with the one weapon you want...

If you expand the definition of 'Hammer' to the entire weapon group, you could grab proficiency with the exotic Aklys (which is described as more of a club), but that's pretty much the only other non-simple light 'hammer' option out there...

As a starting point for getting the most at first level specifically, consider:
Human (for the bonus feat) or Half-Elf (for the bonus skill focus feat)
Rogue (Unchained)
Starting Feats: Martial Weapon Proficiency (since the proper 'hammers' are martial) and Skill Focus (Stealth).
Wield an 'Alchemical Silver' Light Hammer
Emphasize Dex and Int.
Spend skill points as desired (you should have plenty to go around)

Alternately, you could go Halfling (for the bonuses to stealth) and delay taking skill focus.

Most of the rest of your 'items' seem more like roleplay than game mechanics (the antipathies are very specific)...

Rule of thumb for Polymorph spells/abilities: If an ability isn't specifically listed in the spell text, you don't get it.

The only exceptions for this are the abilities specifically listed in the Polymorph rules.

Polymorph abilities have a long history of being completely broken (the 'D' in 'CoDzilla' is for a wildshaped Druid) and inherently impossible to balance if able to grab nearly any ability*, so they are now highly restricted in what they give.

*Polymorph abilities tended to get more powerful as more creatures were added to the game for the PCs to fight, as that just gave the PCs more (and often better) form options: In D&D3.0, you could grab a nearly permanent Haste bonus (back when haste meant two spells per round) with the right feat selection (because they accidentally gave one monster a permanent Haste effect as an extraordinary ability), and even I played a character who abused Alter Self to get the Troglodyte's +6 natural armor bonus...

Be certain to familiarize yourself with the actual Polymorph Subschool rules: They are important.

These abilities tend to be a bit complicated in actual play, so it is generally advisable to pick a small number of useful forms and do all the math for them before your actual game session...

Most likely, Halflings just don't care what other ancestries call them, and don't really feel the need for a term to refer to themselves other than 'us'...

After all, why make things more complicated than they absolutely have to be?

Via the Spell Mindscape door, do players PHYSICALLY enter a known mindscape or do they just slump on the floor after "passing though" the mindscape door?

The answer is (indirectly) in the spell text:

Source Occult Adventures pg. 177

School illusion (phantasm) [mind-affecting]; Level arcanist 4, medium 3, mesmerist 3, psychic 3, sorcerer 4, wizard 4
Casting
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Effect
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect one illusory portal
Duration 10 minutes/level
Saving Throw Will negates (see text); Spell Resistance no
Description
You or other creatures enter into or escape from a mindscape (see page 234) through an imaginary doorway. This doorway takes on any form of your choosing, but can be no larger than a 5-foot cube. This spell has different effects depending on whether you are inside a mindscape when you cast it.

When you cast this spell outside a mindscape, the doorway connects to one mindscape inhabited by a creature of your choice within close range (25 feet + 5 feet per 2 levels) of the door. That creature becomes the door’s conduit, but can attempt a Will save to deny access to the mindscape. You must be aware of the mindscape to connect a mindscape door to it. If you connect to the mindscape, you designate any number of creatures to be able to see and pass through the door as though it were a normal doorway. You can name specific creatures or categories of creatures, or allow all creatures access. Creatures other than those you designate can’t perceive or use the door, nor can mindless creatures or those immune to mind-affecting effects. Once anyone enters the mindscape through the door, a duplicate of the door appears inside the mindscape next to the creature you used as a conduit. Anyone inside a mindscape is able to perceive and use a mindscape door within that mindscape. Anyone who enters is subject to all rules of the mindscape, but is aware she is in a mindscape if you informed her where the portal leads.

When you cast this spell inside a mindscape, a duplicate of the door appears next to your body in the real world. The creator of the mindscape can attempt a Will saving throw to prevent you from creating the door if she is within the mindscape. The two doors operate as if you’d cast the spell outside a mindscape. You still designate who can use the door from the real world to get into the mindscape, but you can’t prevent creatures within the mindscape from exiting to the real world.

Typically, a mindscape door operates in both directions, but you can create it as a one-way door if you so choose. Unlike with other spells, you can cast this spell as a full-round action while engaged in a psychic duel. This spell can be used to exit a binary mindscape, but not to enter one. If you successfully cast mindscape door within a veiled mindscape, you learn that you are in a mindscape, but other creatures observing the door don’t automatically realize they are.

Your mind can go through the door, but your body doesn't leave the real world...

What are some great items/methods for increasing the amount of bulk a character can carry?

Sadly, when I search AoN for "bulk" it quite nearly returns everything. XD

Try searching for:

I'm guessing this won't catch everything, but it will be a good start if you are looking for items that allow you to carry more items than normal.

Melkiador wrote:

While you can see the light pretty easily from far away, you'd have difficulty seeing what is around that light. There are no actual rules for this

There are, though. Perception covers the DC to be seen at all. By default, a perception check to notice a visible creature in normal or bright light has a DC of 0 which is why you we don't typically roll for it. But the rules say that for every 10 feet you are from that creature, the DC increases by 1.

If the light source they are in is bright light, they are visible as normal. If the light source they are in is dim light, then they get concealment from attacks, and can make stealth checks to hide. You could also apply the "unfavorable conditions" rule to add 2 to the DC.

So if a creature is 300 feet away next to a bright light source, it's a DC 30 check to see them. If that same creature is in dim light instead of bright light, it's DC30 (or optionally DC32). If the creature is trying to hide using stealth, then the DC becomes their stealth check + 30 (or 32).

Just note that by these rules, you have a roughly -51,744,000,000 penalty to your Perception check to notice the sun, and that penalty is peanuts compared to ones for the stars in our night sky*: The general rules just don't cover every situation.

*At a distance of roughly 433 light years, the penalty to notice our 'readily visible to the naked eye at night' North Star should something like 19 digits long...

On a sidenote, my group is currently playing Everday Heroes (5e) and their simple 'flashlight' rules are:

Flashlights and headlamps project light in front of you up to 60 feet. This negates the penalties for low light and darkness within reach of the device but makes the user visible up to a mile away in clear terrain.

I'm under the general impression that this sort of issue was deliberately ignored by developers as it has the potential to make 'that one character without special vision' a serious detriment to party.

So I'm thinking of building my ninja around Ninja stars but need to know a few things before I fully commit to the build

Can I trigger sneak attack with the two extra attacks.

If not then what is point of this ability

At 1D2 per hit i just don't see the use unless it dose.

Throwing builds generally don't work very well, or at least take additional resources to get working: Typically, some method of getting your thrown magic weapon to return to your hand after each throw is mandatory after a few levels, and this is on top of the typical heavy feat requirements for any ranged build.

That being said, Flurry of Stars works just like a typical Flurry of Blows ability so each attack can get Sneak Attack damage if you still meet the sneak attack requirements (flanking doesn't work with ranged attacks, so you need to keep denying your foe his/her Dexterity bonus somehow, which can be difficult for an entire full attack routine as both stealth and basic invisibility are broken by your first attack):

A ninja with this ability can expend 1 ki point from her ki pool as a swift action before she makes a full-attack attack with shuriken. During that attack, she can throw two additional shuriken at her highest attack bonus, but all of her shuriken attacks are made at a –2 penalty, including the two extra attacks.

If a ninja can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage.

The ninja's attacks deal extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the ninja flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and increases by 1d6 every two ninja levels thereafter. Bonus damage from sneak attacks is precision damage. Should the ninja score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this precision damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet.

With a weapon that deals nonlethal damage (such as a sap, whip, or unarmed strike), a ninja can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, even with the usual –4 penalty.

The ninja must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot, and must be able to reach this spot. A ninja cannot sneak attack while striking a creature that has concealment.

The most likely usages of this ability are when:

As a general rule of thumb, you just do not use wands (or scrolls) for offensive combat spells as they typically don't perform very well and generally are not worth the gold to acquire.

Applying Empower or Maximize metamagic is typically not a particularly good idea in general (either for items or actual spell casting): Empowering an Acid Arrow spell in particular is pretty much just boosting its damage from 'squat' to 'squat and a half' at a significant cost (there is almost certainly going to be a better option for that 4th level spell slot).

Wands are typically used for spells you will need to cast a lot and don't require more than minimal caster level and casting stats to be effective: Low level 'healing' spell wands are very common for this reason as they don't scale well with caster level and you are pretty much guaranteed to use all 50 charges in a campaign of any decent length.

TxSam88 wrote:

yep - never had a bad guy in an AP with those either.

Its entirely possible you've never played the adventure paths with such tactics built in. I don't have the entire library of Pathfinder works, but I've got a good bit on searchable PDF (missing a few adventure paths). Leaving out the bestiaries and standard creatures you'd fight in those adventure paths, here is a list of what I could find in the PDF's that are pretty much a guaranteed encounter. This list in not exhaustive and only includes the exact spell 'wind wall' or the feat 'deflect arrows'.

** spoiler omitted **...

Just note that there is a huge difference between 'has Wind Wall as a Spell-Like Ability' and 'Actually has a reasonable opportunity to use Wind Wall in battle' as once the casters and melee party members engage, the archer probably isn't the primary concern anymore: Yes, it would be nice to shut that archer down, but using your standard action to activate the ability with melee already in your face might be rather awkward at best.

Additionally, Wind Wall is one of those spells that most GMs probably just ignore when looking over the stat blocks: It's just so very situational for the limited number of actions that NPC will get...

As for the Tower Shield tactic, it seems like this would actually take up all the NPC's actions, so you can just let your melee party members kill him/her at their leisure.

I'm not entirely certain what you are asking: Generally speaking, areas don't move, so relative movement is irrelevant.

For instance, spells like School Spirit read like "Enemies who begin their turn within the effect or who enter it must succeed at a Will saving throw or be shaken for 1 minute" and play exactly as written: The spell has a distinct non-mobile area (in this case, a 30' spread within close range of the caster at time of casting) and foes need to make a save against its effect whenever they start your turn in this area or you enter this area after the start of their turn. If the area of effect does somehow move, then any foes in the new area would presumably now fall into the 'Enemies who begin their turn within the effect' category.

Could you provide an example of when you think relative motion might come into play?

Missile weapons have a higher cost when you need to bypass DR (something that I think most people overlook):

FAQ wrote:

Magic Ranged Weapons and Ammunition: When a ranged weapon shares its enhancement bonus with its ammunition, does this count as “true” enhancement bonus or more like a temporary bonus like greater magic weapon? In other words, does the shared enhancement bonus allow the arrow to bypass damage reduction as if it was cold iron, silver, adamantine, and aligned?

No, other than the ways indicated in the Core Rulebook (if the ranged weapon is at least +1, they count as magic, and if the ranged weapon is aligned they count as that alignment as well) the enhancement bonus granted to ammunition from the ranged weapon doesn’t help them overcome the other types of damage reduction. Archers and other such characters can buy various sorts of ammunition or ammunition with a high enhancement bonus to overcome the various types of damage reduction.
posted May 2017 | back to top

Clustered shots alleviate that problem, but it becomes another feat you need.

Typically, an archer should have a supply of Cold Iron Arrows with Weapon Blanch (Silver) applied to them to cover the most common DRs: This brings the cost of 20 arrows up from 1g to 12g (1g for the base arrows, doubled to 2g for being made of Cold Iron, plus 10g for enough Blanch for all 20 arrows), but that is still an inconsequential amount after your first few levels...

DR/Adamantine is a bit tougher but is also fairly uncommon, so a small reserve of the more expensive Weapon blanch (Adamantine) would be a wise investment: If you are encountering this DR frequently, Archery might not be the best combat style to play in that particular campaign (though 10g per arrow for the Blanch still isn't that expensive by the time Adamanitine weapons or high enough enhancement bonuses to bypass this DR are typically available to PCs as long as you know that you will need them ahead of time).

DR/Alignment is best covered by getting Holy or one of the other aligned qualities on your Bow: Unless your character is evil or is rarely fighting actual evil foes, the Holy quality is pretty good before even taking DR into consideration...

So, yes, DR is a bit more of an issue for Archers, but it should be generally manageable with a little attention paid to logistics.

When your blind can you Step?

No, you can not Step while blinded unless you have a specific ability that says otherwise.

To elaborate:

Source Player Core pg. 442 2.0

You can't see. All normal terrain is difficult terrain to you. You can't detect anything using vision. You automatically critically fail Perception checks that require you to be able to see, and if vision is your only precise sense, you take a –4 status penalty to Perception checks. You are immune to visual effects. Blinded overrides dazzled.

Source Player Core pg. 423 2.0

Difficult terrain is any terrain that impedes your movement, ranging from particularly rough or unstable surfaces to thick ground cover and countless other impediments. Moving into a square of difficult terrain (or moving 5 feet into or within an area of difficult terrain, if you're not using a grid) costs an extra 5 feet of movement. Moving into a square of greater difficult terrain instead costs 10 additional feet of movement. This additional cost is not increased further when moving diagonally. You can't Step into difficult terrain.

Movement you make while jumping ignores the terrain you're jumping over. Some abilities (such as flight or being incorporeal) allow you to avoid the movement reduction from some types of difficult terrain.

TxSam88 wrote:

Chuck Mount wrote:

The DM has started maxing out HPs or, in a couple of cases, adding 300+ to the HPs and increasing AC so combat will last longer than one or two rounds.

we've been doing this in our "normal" games, plus adding some Advance's to the bad guys for years. Pathfinder AP's (and normal CR rules) seem to be built around 4 low to moderately experienced players, playing non-optimized characters, and still being able to win most of the time. Any level or player experience and/or character optimization, seems to really swing the power level far into the players favor.

It's not hard to build Normal characters that can do some of the things you list. A Magus can use any of the various teleport spells and make a full attack, a Monk can get his speed up to 100. Confirming every crit is a bit more difficult, but you can make it pretty easy to confirm. there are some Rogue Talents that allow the "loki" trick.

I haven't played Mythic yet, but it's coming up in our list, so I've been reading over the rules, and it seems to me that quite a few of the things you can get from Mythic, are already available to other classes. I just finished a campaign with an exploiter wizard, who could change the element of any spell, something he can do with this first exploit, but there's a mythic talent that allows the same thing.

So while I see lots of people say mythic is broken, I see that a lot of normal characters can do quite a bit of the same stuff.

I haven't seen the magus ability that lets him teleport and then do a full attack. If that's a thing, it's ridiculous. LOL

A monk can get his speed up to 100, but I'm talking about a paladin with mythic smite moving 100 feet and then hitting 3-5 times and doing around 40-60 damage with each hit.
Both paladins have the ability to reroll 1's and one of them can make an opponent reroll. Next tier, one of the paladins is taking the mythic ability that makes it so you don't automatically miss on a 1.
I haven't...

I'm guessing the 'teleport and full attack' ability is the Walk Through Space spell with the Mythic boost: Honestly, it feels kinda lackluster when you consider the non-mythic Dimensional Dervish feat chain that uses a lower level spell slot and offers multiple teleports but only lasts one round (as if anything is still alive in round 2 of a mythic fight)...

The 'teleport away' ability is probably:

When hit by a melee or ranged attack, you can expend one use of mythic power as an immediate action to replace yourself with an illusory duplicate and teleport to any open square within 30 feet of your current position. You take no damage from this attack, which instead destroys your illusory duplicate (similar to mirror image). Using this ability requires a line of effect to the teleportation target square.

No one I know has used a d4 weapon in the end game...or ever for the most part. One downside of the striking rune system is it puts a lot of damage on making sure to use the highest damage die available to your class.

If you feel like doing it, have fun. Most of your damage will come from your extra runes and class abilities.

d4 weapons are 'fine' for classes like the Rogue that are generally balanced around using d6 weapons: The Light Mace and Poi were useful bludgeoning options for my (pre-remaster) Thief...

Yeah, mythic is basically broken: My GM tells tales of running WotR with the standard mythic rules and a 'solid but not ridiculously min-maxed' group and only actually getting to roll for the NPCs two or three times in the entirety of the last two modules (which is about the point you are at I think).

WotR certainly does not help things by being so Demon focused: When you are constantly fighting Demons, it's really easy to decide to gear up against them (If your martial characters don't have cold iron holy weapons by the time they hit double digits, they must not be paying any attention at all).

When I played WotR, we used watered-down mythic rules (some baseline mythic boosts and stat buffs, but no actual mythic spells or feats) and it was just very ridiculous levels of rocket tag (if your foe actually gets a chance to act, you probably did something very wrong)...

Taja the Barbarian wrote:

Diego Rossi wrote:

zza ni wrote:

top-right, the lower left is targetable from the attacker lower left corner.

(or did you mean the attacker lower left goes through the wall to get to the target's top right?) we're dealing with ranged cover so the best corner the attacker can pick to attack from is his lower left.

anyway, in this case they BOTH have ranged AND melee cover from each other. both have a top right corner which has cover from all the other's coroners, neither can reach said corner of the other without going through the wall's border and corner.

The LOS e LOE runs along a blocked border. It there is a wall on the border, the border is blocked.

So fighting in a 5' wide corridor gives cover to everyone???

I have to read this as 'through' a border not being the same as 'along' a border.

Technically, for ranged attacks, yes.

Not for melee.

Most GM would rule that there is no cover if the attacker and the target are in the same, straight corridor.

But that isn't the situation in the OP post. The attacker and the target are in 2 different corridors at 90° of each other. In RL people moving along two narrow corridors like those will see each other at the last moment.

The issue is that even if you move the attacker one square down, he still is likely to use the exact same corner to determine cover (bottom right corner from his current position, or top right corner in his new position) so the answer to 'does the target have cover?' should be the same.

I'm reading the 'through a border' rule to cover situations were something blocks the border but not the actual neighboring square (like a thin interior partition wall, maybe a curtain, an open door, or any one of the solid 'wall' family of spells) which otherwise would not technically grant cover. This just makes more sense to me than a reading that needs to be ignored periodically for the game to make sense...

It looks like this particular item has been long debated on these forums:
https://paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/search?page=1&what=&a mp;forum=v5748dmtyzkl3&thread=&person=&includeUnrated=false& ;includeUnavailable=false&sort=1&q=%22through+a+border%22%2B%22cove r%22&forum=v5748dmtyzkl3&sort=0

zza ni wrote:

top-right, the lower left is targetable from the attacker lower left corner.

(or did you mean the attacker lower left goes through the wall to get to the target's top right?) we're dealing with ranged cover so the best corner the attacker can pick to attack from is his lower left.

anyway, in this case they BOTH have ranged AND melee cover from each other. both have a top right corner which has cover from all the other's coroners, neither can reach said corner of the other without going through the wall's border and corner.

The LOS e LOE runs along a blocked border. It there is a wall on the border, the border is blocked.

So fighting in a 5' wide corridor gives cover to everyone???

No. It's easy to miss, since it isn't mentioned in the Attack of Opportunity section. You have to look at Cover.

Cover

Cover > Cover and Attacks of Opportunity wrote:

You can’t execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with cover relative to you.

Source PRPG Core Rulebook pg. 195

To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target’s square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC).

When making a melee attack against an adjacent target, your target has cover if any line from any corner of your square to the target’s square goes through a wall (including a low wall). When making a melee attack against a target that isn’t adjacent to you (such as with a reach weapon), use the rules for determining cover from ranged attacks.

...

Cover and Attacks of Opportunity: You can’t execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with cover relative to you.

Either of the 'bottom' corners of square 'A' has unobstructed lines to all four corners of square 'T' so 'T' does not have cover against ranged attacks from 'A', but 'A' does have cover against any melee attacks from 'T' (since the right-most corners do not have unobstructed lines to all corners of square 'A').

As previously noted, you just get the damage die upgrade.

Source Weapon Master's Handbook pg. 18

The fighter selects one weapon for which he has Weapon Focus and that belongs to the associated fighter weapon group. The fighter can deal damage with this weapon based on the damage of the warpriest’s sacred weaponACG class feature, treating his fighter level as his warpriest level. The fighter must have Weapon Focus with the selected weapon in order to choose this option.

A key thing to note is the 'Choose a common ancestry or another ancestry to which you have access' restriction: Andi are rare in the baseline game, so you can only select them if the GM says you have access somehow.

Before adding anything 'extra' the GM allows, a Halfling character is effectively restricted to the following 'common' ancestries:

• Dwarf
• Elf
• Gnome
• Goblin
• Halfling
• Human
• Leshy
• Orc

Taja the Barbarian wrote:

Chuck Mount wrote:

This is actually the PF1 forum. The link you shared leads to the Pathfinder card game forum.

The thread was started in the PF2e Rules forum before being moved to the PF1e Rules forum

Ah. Gotcha. Is there a way I could see that or did you just see it over there and then over here?

i just happened to see it when it was originally posted: I don't think there is any way to tell after it has been moved...

This is actually the PF1 forum. The link you shared leads to the Pathfinder card game forum.

The thread was started in the PF2e Rules forum before being moved to the PF1e Rules forum

Can a Warpriest select Weapon Focus with their 1st level feat, or if they are Human, with their Human Bonus feat?

The Warpriest class feature "Focus Weapon" grants Weapon Focus as a bonus feat at 1st level.

The Warpriest class feature "Bonus Feats" states that at 3rd level, and every 3 levels thereafter a Warpriest gains a bonus combat feat.

The Warpriest must meet the prereqs for these feats but treats his Warpriest level as his BAB for the purpose of qualifying for these feats and he can also treat his Warpriest level as a Fighter level for satisfying that prerequisite.

But I am guessing that doesn't come "online" until 3rd level, otherwise that text could have been included under the Focus Weapon class feature.

Does anyone know for sure if that language from "Bonus Feats" which is gained at 3rd level applies retroactively to 1st level?

The 'Bonus Feats' text applies only to feats taken via the Bonus Feats class feature (and the Focus Weapon class feature): For any other feat, you need to satisfy the prerequisites normally, so a first level Warpriest can not take Weapon Focus as either a level 1 feat or as a Human bonus feat, nor can they take a 'fighter only' feat (like Weapon Specialization) with any of your 'normal' feat slots.

Source Advanced Class Guide pg. 60

...
Focus Weapon: At 1st level, a warpriest receives Weapon Focus as a bonus feat (he can choose any weapon, not just his deity’s favored weapon).
...
Bonus Feats: At 3rd level and every 3 levels thereafter, a warpriest gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement. These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as combat feats. The warpriest must meet the prerequisites for these feats, but he treats his warpriest level as his base attack bonus (in addition to base attack bonuses gained from other classes and Hit Dice) for the purpose of qualifying for these feats. Finally, for the purposes of these feats, the warpriest can select feats that have a minimum number of fighter levels as a prerequisite, treating his warpriest level as his fighter level.

Two key things to note:

• Diamond Spray appears to be a D&D3.5 era spell that was never republished in PF1, so its availability is completely up to your GM, and
• Creating any item not found on the existing magical items list would be a custom item and therefore completely up to your GM to determine if it is even possible. There are guidelines for pricing such an item, but many campaigns don't allow them at all...

A few quick thoughts regarding your Rogue:

• The Gang Up feat is basically mandatory for a melee Thief build,
• Be certain you max or nearly max out your character's attack stat (meaning a +4 Dex mod at level 7), and
• Melee Rogues tend to get the s...tuffing kicked out of them on a routine basis: Durability is just not a strong point for them...

Hi everyone, with flanking I know it has to pass from the center of each character through 2 opposite sides or the diagonal but does it have to pass through the center of the opponents square as well?

Is this image correct for flanking a large creature with the green lines being flanking and the red not?
https://i.imgur.com/1bHF4Za.jpeg

When flanking a large creature but PC F in this case has a reach weapon would they be considered flanking with PC B and PC D?
https://i.imgur.com/nFeewL5.jpeg

Thanks for any help!

Source Player Core pg. 425 2.0

When you and an ally are flanking a foe, it has a harder time defending against you. A creature is off-guard (taking a –2 circumstance penalty to AC) to melee attacks from creatures that are flanking it.

To flank a foe, you and your ally must be on opposite sides of the creature. A line drawn between the center of your space and the center of your ally's space must pass through opposite sides or opposite corners of the foe's space. Additionally, both you and the ally have to be able to act, you must be wielding melee weapons or be able to make an unarmed attack, you can't be under any effects that prevent you from attacking, and you must both have the enemy within reach. If you are wielding a reach weapon, you use your reach with that weapon for this purpose.

The 'line' does not have to pass through the center of the target's space: All the green lines in your example are flanking, while all the red lines are not. All the Orange lines are flanking as well assuming 'f' has a reach weapon.

Yeah, not really familiar with the inspiration, but this kinda sounds like a good place for my 'Taja the Bloodrager' build: 'Urban' Bloodrager (Arcane Bloodline) with a (optional, but nice) one level dip in 'Fractured Mind' Spiritualist (Dedication Focus) at level 2 to shore up her will saves and boost her social skills (focus in both Diplomacy and Sense Motive skills).

You don't get a lot of actual spell power, but the spells you do get are easily buffed with Rod of Metamagic, Extend (Lesser) and Runestones of Power due to their low levels and you get a free Haste every fight at Bloodrager level 8+...

...

NGL I argued this with her, but she argued she was dragon when the flesh was taken. However she's one of those players that reads all the alternative rules (especially the construct rules) and argued it was possible until I gave in. But I can't take it away from her at this point since its been a year IRL and kinda hard baked into the story at this point. We've also had a talk about her doing s%~@ like this, and she has stopped, but its hard to deal with a character like this:
It does bother me however that she saw fit to add 25 HD to her character and add it to her caster level, and throw the dragon's stats onto her own.
Str 48
Dex 34
Con 26
Int 34
Wis 30
Cha 28
How she got these stats? She added the dragon's stats to her own. a young dragon, but still a dragon. She also gets a big buff from her wayfinder of the stars giving her a massive buff to everything (and we're talking like 28 ioun stones in the Wayfinder)
-...

• Directly adding base stats and HD is not something you are allowed to do (seriously, this should never have got past the initial sniff test as it absolutely reeks of trouble),
• The Wayfinder of the Stars (which only holds ONE Ioun Stone as per the standard Wayfinder since any exceptions (like the Ebon Wayfinder) are specifically stated as such) shouldn't add any real power: It just points toward the nearest portal or teleports you to another planet, and
• The Stargazer prestige class doesn't seem to add any real power here either (beyond the AC bonus from the 'coat of many stars' at least).