Teh Lurv's page

I finally saw mine in the second match-up after the culling.

I don't know about you, but I see the word "attune" quite a lot.

Yep, when I see the words attune or "worn for at least 24 hours" they inevitably are followed by some overpowered abilities.

13) If you have to include "For example" or any variation thereof, your item's mechanics are too complicated.

I wanted to chime in with feedback. When I reviewed my first two submissions, I was initially confused by the "This item breaks the contest rules" link at the bottom of each submission. I think the function of those links could be clarified a bit better. Something like "Click here if this item breaks contest rules" or something similar to that.

EDIT: Went back to voting and I noticed the language was changed.

Teh Lurv wrote:

Gunslinger's Hat of High Noon

*Joke item. Same with the name and its Hollywood spaghetti western visuals.

*On top of that, it's really not all that innovative mechanically either.

*Vote to Reject.

*Agreed. Reject.

*Rejected.

Yeah, I was worried in the back of my mind my item might be seen as a gag, but I thought I presented it seriously enough. I should have put myself more in the mind of the judges, I'll know better next time.

Hey everyone, this was my first year submitting an item. I decided to take a chance in the last week of December and submitted this entry near the close of the submission window:

Gunslinger's Hat of High Noon
Aura faint abjuration; CL 3rd
Slot head; Price 4,500 gp; Weight —
Description

This high-crowned, wide-brimmed felt hat bears numerous scuff marks but appears otherwise mundane. The only visible clue to its magical nature is often an arcane symbol embroidered on the inside hat band at the rear of the hat.

Once per day, whenever the wearer is hit by a firearm or ranged attack, he may spend 1 grit point to fuel the hat's protective magic with a portion of his own passion and resilience. The protective magic deflects the hit to strike the hat instead of the wearer. The hat takes no damage from the hit, but it is violently knocked off the head of the wearer and lands 15 feet away from him.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, bullet shield, protection from arrows, grit ability; Cost 2,250 gp

When I was brainstorming up ideas for this year's competition, I was reading the Gunslinger class when the thought popped into my head of that Western cliche of a cowboy getting his hat knocked off by a near-miss bullet during the climatic gunfight. I thought that image made into an item was a neat concept.

In the time between submissions closed and the winners were announced, I started noticing issues with this item upon further reflection:

1. The item as written could negate a +5 magic whatever arrow/bullet/other ranged attack shot by a high level monster or NPC once a day for only 4,500gp and 1 spent grit point. At that price, I realized in a rules-lawyer interpretation a high level gunslinger could buy a dozen hats and stack them on his head with the next hat powering up as the old one popped off. It would've been more balanced had I specified non-magical ranged attacks.

2. I noticed a conceptual issue where the attack is deflected when it hits the wearer. How do you deflect something that has already hit you? It would've read better imo had I changed it to wearer activating the item when targeted by a ranged attack roll but before the results are known.

3. It doesn't cost any PC action to activate the hat. I read on the paizo forum last week that Sean K Reynolds hates activated items that cost less than a standard action to activate. I don't know if that would apply to the spending of a class point pool, but if I had known that ahead of time I would've retooled the item.

Of course my item could've been tossed with the phrase SIAC. :) But I'm pleased with the item. I crammed in a week more item creation minutiae than I ever had known in all my time playing D&D and Pathfinder. I'll be better prepared for Superstar 2013.

EDIT: Forgot to add a thanks to the judges for their hard work. Just knowing my item got looked over by Sean K Reynolds, etc is pretty cool and worth all the effort.

1 week (minus 3.5e hours) to find out!

That's how I read that post, no lie. :)

Teh Lurv wrote:

At what time does Paizo typically post the results of Round 1 on the 24th?

"All events are at 2 PM Pacific time. Dates and times displayed above are in the US/Pacific time zone."

Ah, for some reason I thought that only applied to contest deadlines. Thanks for the clarification.

At what time does Paizo typically post the results of Round 1 on the 24th?

Hey everyone, I recently read up on the Gunslinger class and really dig it. I could use some clarification about one aspect of the consumption of grit points. Does the Gunslinger need to be aware of an action or effect that could trigger a deed? For example, Slinger's Luck lets the Gunslinger re-roll a saving throw. If a Gunslinger is caught unaware by something that requires a saving throw, can he still activate this deed?

Hey everyone,

Two of my friends and I are dusting off Council of Thieves book 2 to try and get back to finishing the AP (we puttered out near the end of that module). The party will just be me and my friend, and we decided to try out a new party for this reboot. My friend's PC will be damage oriented, so I decided to build a PC that can function as the tank & primary healer.

I want to play a class I haven't played with before which excludes Clerics & Paladins. An Oracle of Battle sounded like a fun class to try. I also want to roll a Dwarf despite the sub-optimal choice for this class.

The DM is starting us at 4th level with 25point buy to help offset being a small party.

Here is what I have so far:

Dwarf Oracle of Battle

Curse: Either Tongues or Haunted

Stats:

str:17(+1)=18
dex:12(-)=12
con:14(+2)=16
int:10 (-)=10
wis:8(+2)=10
cha:15(-2)=13

I'm having a tough time figuring out how my character should progress. From what I read from other Oracle threads, the popular strat for battle is to focus on Trip Maneuver Mastery. I'm wondering if that strat translates well to a small party like the one I'm in. I'm also wondering if it'd be worth sword & boarding with this PC or going two handed, especially with the ample use of Enlarge Person.

Finally, anyone have an opinion of the Dual Cursed Archetype. I read the Misfortune revelation, and the repeated ability to force a re-roll of everyone you meet 1/day sounds pretty sweet. Losing Enlarge Person as a bonus spell to me seems a bigger con than taking on an extra curse. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with that archetype.

I'm in agreement with you that the concept of the thrown weapon specialist just isn't viable with the rules that we have currently. I disagree wholeheartedly that it's an only issue with the range increments though. They're a minor issue. The big problems are the cost of enchanting thrown weapons (since you'd want more than one; the archtypical image is someone with a bandoleer of throwing knives), and/or the cost and significant drawbacks of the returning property. The small range increments comes well after those issues.

Solutions that I've always had bouncing around in my head include a magic item that temporarily bestows a fixed enchantment on weapons for throwing only (such as a bandoleer, or bracers). Once thrown, they'd have to be sheathed in the item for x hours to regain the effect....

My solution would be to just create a separate "Throwing Dagger" weapon using the same rules as the Shurikens. Treat the daggers as ammunition as well as weapons. The benefits are that the daggers can be drawn as a free action so Quick Draw isn't required. Like all ammunition, the enchantment cost will cover 50 daggers. Its still not as good as using a ranged or melee weapon, but IMO its better than enchanting three or more daggers separately with the Returning property.

Below is my quick stating of the weapon:

I wanted to make the weapon a little bit beefier than the shuriken at a slightly higher cost to purchase.

On varient ability

16 You have oversized limbs, allowing you to use Large
weapons without penalty.

Would this potentially allow a monk to deal unarmed strike damage as a Large creature?

Not unless the ability changed the Tiefling's size to Large.

A surprise round would cover that scenario. With Quick Draw, I would say the attacker would start the surprise round with a standard action. To determine if the opponent is caught unaware, I would roll a Perception check opposed to the slight of hand check the attacker made to hide the weapon. If the Perception check fails, the attacker gets a surprise round, otherwise the defender notices the weapon in time to put up a defense and initiative for regular combat is rolled.

First, the 3.5 Uncanny Dodge wasn't a 'blanket protection' against loss of Dex to AC. It simply prevented the loss of Dex to AC from two conditions: a) being flatfooted, and b) being attacked by an invisible attacker. A rogue with uncanny dodge could still be denied his Dex to AC from any number of reasons: stunned, paralyzed, running, grappled, feinted, etc..

You're right, my original post was lost and my rewrite was badly written. Thanks for correcting me.

I think what happened was that some person(s) involved in the redesign were using the terms 'flat-footed' and 'denied dexterity to AC' interchangeably in places.

That may have been the reason why the invisible attacker was left in the description. But regardless if it was accidental or intentional though mistaken, the Uncanny Dodge ability needs an errata re-write.

Re: Low ac-Why not TWF with a shield?

He'd take a -4 due to lack of proficiency unless he took a prof feat (bleh) or dipped in Fighter or Ranger for a level.

Could be an option with a dip in fighter but if i am not mistaken rogues arent proficient with shields. Plus i don't think sneak attacking with a a shield would fly with my DM. Heck, even i think it would be ridiculous

SHIELD BASH TO THE KIDNEYS!!

Not really ridiculous, a jab with the end of a shield probably would be just as effective as any other bludgeoning weapon a Rogue can SA with. If your DM still is wavering, throw some shield spikes on it if he has the mindset "Sneak Attack = stab".

So i took Fast stealth since aside from Bleeding attack (which is outlawed) its my number one choice.

Why is bleeding attack outlawed?

We have two choices that I can see: go with the clearer 3.5 wording (Uncanny Dodgers cannot lose the Dex to AC to an invisible attacker IN ADDITION TO never being caught flat-footed), or assume that they meant to change the rule (Uncanny Dodgers DO lose their Dex to AC from an invisible attacker, not because they are flat-footed, but because of the separate effects of the invisible condition).

My guess is the Devs did want to change the rule (maybe somehow being to uncannily dodge someone you don't know is there is just a little too uncanny), but didn't reword the ability well enough. Or there was a copy-paste hiccup, who knows.

The second choice is correct. Uncanny dodge was revised from providing a blanket protection against loss of Dex to AC in 3.5 to simply protecting the loss of Dex to AC when the Rogue is flatfooted in Pathfinder. The portion of text involving invisible attackers was probably left in accidentally during the revision and should be removed in errata.

I like the idea of taking Minor Magic keyed to detect magic. Aids trap finding and reveals the most valuable items in a room.

Any other nifty combinations out there?

Minor/Major talents are weak compared to simply using UMD + a wand or scroll. Still, you asked for combinations:

Major + silent image: Hide yourself inside the illusion of a barrel (no stealth check needed!), throw off pursuit by putting a fake wall behind you, your creativity is your limit.

Teh Lurv wrote:

He has no moral qualms or compunction against murdering for money which puts him on Team Evil.

The whole thing about Leon is that he is very childlike, leading me to think he may not know what he does is wrong. He's told time and time again the men he kills are evil.

Just playing devil's advocate. If killing without compunction, even killing others you think or KNOW to be evil, is a sure sign of being evil then all adventurers are.

From what we are presented with in The Professional, Leon murders people exclusively for money. Whether or not his targets are evil is irrelevant. If there wasn't a contract out on those people, Leon would have not expended the effort to go after them.

What about Leon from The Professional?

LE or LN?

(Same question for the Agent from Serenity.)

Leon is definitely LE. His highly structured personal life and meticulous execution of hit contracts indicates a Lawful alignment. He has no moral qualms or compunction against murdering for money which puts him on Team Evil.

Never saw Serenity, so I can't comment on the Agent.

I would also add to the LE character list:

Vic Mackley - The Shield
Jack Bauer - 24

Both characters have an "ends justify the means" towards serving law and order, and use evil tactics to achieve their ends.

CE-very tough, not many CE- spree killers,

Riddick

Lets drop the short sword from this because its not a slashing weapon.

Weapon types don't come into play for the majority of encounters, and most weapon type DR is either slashing or bludgeoning (another advantage the Kukri has over the Short Sword.) I agree with the previous posters that upping the damage dice of the Kukri would unbalance it over the short sword and rapier.

what if the kukri was a 1d4+2 instead of 1d6 with
smaller critical range?

That would make the Kukri even more overpowered:

The static 2 damage reduces the variability of the weapon damage and gives the weapon the effective avg damage of a d8 weapon at the expense of the very high or very low damage of a longsword. A weapon that a min/max dmg range of 3/6 is much better than a range of 1/8.

Note that it says "At 1st level, wizards form a powerful bond with an object or a creature." This suggests that it's automatic/mandatory - it may be necessary to do this in order to practice wizardry. YMMV.

I'd agree with you if the text read "At 1st level, wizards must form a powerful bond with an object or a creature." The text merely assumes a Wizard takes a familiar/bonded object when it becomes available at first level.

The player isn't required to choose a Familiar or Arcane Object, only that if he does make a choice the selection is permanent. The player can choose at a latter level to take a Familiar or Arcane Object. The disadvantage of not choosing at 1st level is that he will need to front the cost of creating a Familiar or Arcane Object, whereas the cost is free during the initial PC creation.

If you want to go the TWF path I would not waste a feat on gaining a Martial Weapon Proficiency for Kukris.

Ooo...yeah... For some reason I thought Kukris were on the Rogue standard weapon list. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll need to adjust my PC accordingly.

The teamwork feats sound interesting, I'll need to bring them up next session.

Thanks for the responses. I hadn't thought about a 2h Rogue previously, but I've already started with a TWF Rogue. From both responses, it sounds like improving mobility is a good bet. I'll need to take a closer look at the shield slam tree as well. Any advice regarding Rogue Talents?

Hey everyone, I'm currently playing the Pathfinder adventure path Council of Thieves. The group consists of the DM, myself, and one other player who chose to play a Paladin. I decided to roll up a Rogue for myself. We've so far done a far bit of the first module without too much difficulty, the DM has been generous with providing ample healing pots. After one session, I'm about 3/4 the way to the 2nd level, however I'm not quite sure what route to take my character. As it stands now, my Rogue is TWFing with Kukris. Here are his stats:

Human
str:20
dex:16
con:14
int:13
wis:13
cha:12

Feats:
TWF
Double slice

Traits:
Armor Expert
Shadow Child

My original concept was using Acrobatics to flank with the Paladin to trigger SAs. In addition, I'd pump up UMD to provide magic support with scrolls, etc. I'm still relatively new to Pathfinder coming from 3rd ed., so I'm not quite sure which feats, talents would suit my Rogue best, especially operating with a single companion. I would like to continue on with the TWFing theme. Dazzling display + Shatter Def. looks promising, but it kinda looks like it might have a too iffy success rate to be worth it.

I'm curious what people here have to say. Thank you for your suggestions.

Doh! I'm apparently still running on 3.5e mode. Thanks for the clarifications. I need to look up Create Water now...

Hey everyone, I'm currently crafting a character to run the Council of Thieves adventure path and I'm looking over the Player's Guide PDF. I'm reading through the traits section and I noticed something odd about the Infernal Bastard trait. This trait, which de-powers the base Tiefling stats, states: "Likewise, you do not have the ability to use darkness as a spell-like ability once per day—instead, you may choose any one 0-level spell that you can instead use at will as a spell-like ability."

I emphasized certain texts because from a straight reading of the trait, a Tiefling PC could replace Darkness with a 0-level spell from the Divine or Arcane spell lists. What's to stop a Tiefling PC from choosing Cure Minor Wounds and becoming an unlimited heal dispenser? Although it's utility in combat is minimal at 1hp per standard action, outside of combat the PC could simply spam at will CMWs at 10hp an in-game minute. This seems alot more powerful than the Darkness ability it would replace. Is my interpretation of the trait correct?