ThatEvilGuy's page

Don't jerk a bee.

Wait, what?

Patrick Renie wrote:

... how to play with lycanthropes on worlds with multiple moons

... holy crap. That's something I've never thought about before, but hot damn, I'm looking forward to it now!

Eberron had that problem. Essentially, it was full moon time, all the time.

From the Offices of Expectation Management:

There is no time travel in Mummy's Mask.

What about now?

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-Arthur C. Clarke

This should be the design mantra of the strange technology discovered in Numeria and even of the makeup of the "Iron Gods" themselves. Going beyond basic laser rifles and antigravity boots to truly hyperadvanced pieces far beyond today's capabilities that are limited only by the designer's imagination but that would have served a function aboard the ship(s?) and thus giving the PCs a glimpse into what their civilization, or at least the civilizations aboard the ship, was like. Remember, these items were scattered about Numeria due to the crash landing of a ship created by a civilization that is capable of intergalactic transportation using machines instead of magic.

I want a class that is swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire and, of course, mysterious as the dark side of the moon.

Be a man!

Inorite? If we don't take a stand against including the gays in our adventures, THIS will come to pass!

Alright, here is the first draft of the revision. Admittedly it is more powerful than the base fighter, but how much more?

Fighter
Some take up arms for glory, wealth, or revenge. Others do battle to prove themselves, to protect others, or because they know nothing else. Still others learn the ways of weaponcraft to hone their bodies in battle and prove their mettle in the forge of war. Lords of the battlefield, fighters are a disparate lot, training with many weapons or just one, perfecting the uses of armor, learning the fighting techniques of exotic masters, and studying the art of combat, all to shape themselves into living weapons. Far more than mere thugs, these skilled warriors reveal the true deadliness of their weapons, turning hunks of metal into arms capable of taming kingdoms, slaughtering monsters, and rousing the hearts of armies. Soldiers, knights, hunters, and artists of war, fighters are unparalleled champions, and woe to those who dare stand against them.

Role: Fighters excel at combat—defeating their enemies, controlling the flow of battle, and surviving such sorties themselves. While their specific weapons and methods grant them a wide variety of tactics, few can match fighters for sheer battle prowess.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Wealth: 5d6 x 10 gp (average 175gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

The fighter's class skills are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

The following are class features of the fighter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, light, and medium) and shields (including tower shields).

Bonus Feats

At 1st level, and at every even level thereafter, a fighter gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement (meaning that the fighter gains a feat at every level). These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as Combat Feats, sometimes also called “fighter bonus feats.”

By spending 5 minutes in complex exercises and martial drills for every bonus feat he wishes to change, a fighter can choose to learn new bonus feats in place of any number of fighter bonus feats he has already learned. In effect, the fighter loses the bonus feats in exchange for the new ones. The old feats cannot be ones that were used as prerequisites for another feat, prestige class, or other ability, and he must still meet the prerequisites of the new bonus feats. Though there is no limit as to how many times the fighter may change his bonus feats, he must wait at least 8 hours before doing so again.

Mettle (Ex)

Starting at 2nd level, a fighter gains a +1 bonus on all saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd.

Armor Training (Ex)

Same as Core fighter.

Weapon Training (Ex)

Same as Core fighter.

Armor Mastery (Ex)

Same as Core fighter.

War Master (Ex)

At 20th level, a fighter picks one weapon group that he chose for weapon training, such as the heavy blades, axes, or bows. Any attacks made with those weapons automatically confirm all critical threats and have their damage multiplier increased by 1 (×2 becomes ×3, for example) and he cannot be disarmed while wielding those weapons.

Feedback and criticism required!

I won't be impressed until he vlogs his way over several pedestrians without missing a beat.

Now that takes talent!

The gambit system should do more.

Let me explain. Take the magus class. It's signature ability is spell combat, letting it do something that no other class can do without expensive metamagic feats and rods: namely busting out a spell and then whomping someone in the same round. Sure, the spells are an integral part of the class but it's the ability to use them while swinging a weapon that's unique. It even has a limited recharge mechanic with spell recall. What's the warlord's spell combat?

The gambit system, flavor wise, is awesome. Problem is, it's only a method to recharge maneuvers with a slight risk depending on what gambits you choose. Still cool, but I'm guessing the other classes are going to be able to recharge their abilities in different ways as well. The gambit should stand out as something more and, I'd argue, the other recharge mechanics for the other classes should too.

The other problem is that, despite having a nice list of ways to recharge your abilities, people will gravitate towards a less risky action such as using Intimidate to demoralize. There should be some other incentive for someone to do something especially risky, like using Acrobatics to get through the threatened squares of a creature that has a high CMD while moving full speed for example. Mechanically speaking, using a gambit to successfully charge an opponent and using a gambit to move through a threatened square have the same result, though the first has a better chance to succeed.

Something simple like when you succeed on a gambit you get a point of some kind that stays for 1 round which can be used to recharge one of your maneuvers or you can risk it on another gambit to get a bigger payoff. Maybe allow more points for less assured gambits to encourage players to take those risks. Perhaps you can use these points to power some sort of cool ability, recharging even more maneuvers depending on how many points you have available, grant yourself some kind of bonus on a roll, etc. However, if you risk these points and fail, the results are more catastrophic depending on how many were wagered. Risk vs. reward.

Really make these classes as unique as possible! Take inspiration from the Bo9S but really make it different in the feel of the system, not just with the terms, disciplines and maneuver names.

I'm attempting a little tweak to the base fighter class to make it more, shall we say, attractive to my players, without completely overhauling the class itself.

To begin, these are the two additions I've made to the class itself:

Bonus Feats (Ex) At 1st level, and at every even level thereafter, a fighter gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement (meaning that the fighter gains a feat at every level). These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as Combat Feats, sometimes also called “fighter bonus feats.”

(1) By spending 5 minutes in complex exercises and martial drills for every bonus feat he wishes to change, a fighter can choose to learn new bonus feats in place of any number of fighter bonus feats he has already learned. In effect, the fighter loses the bonus feats in exchange for the new ones. The old feats cannot be ones that were used as prerequisites for another feat, prestige class, or other ability, and he must still meet the prerequisites of the new bonus feats. Though there is no limit as to how many times the fighter may change his bonus feats, he must wait at least 8 hours before doing so again.

(2) Martial Training (Ex) Starting at 1st level, a fighter is able to grasp the complexities of martial combat with more ease than most. He may treat his base attack bonus as his fighter level + 2 for the purpose of qualifying for feats with the Combat descriptor. For every five fighter levels he attains (5th, 10th, and 15th), he counts his level as 1 higher.

Now, martial training is simply designed to allow the fighter to pick up certain combat feats earlier than any other martial class by virtue of counting his base attack bonus as a few points higher. By making it 'fighter level + 2' as opposed to simply adding two to the character's base attack bonus, it makes it less attractive for dipping.

The change to the bonus feats section is where the "Vancian" part of this fighter comes from. Effectively, it gives the fighter a pool of bonus feats to change once in an 8 hour period. I know there is a more elegant way to do this however first drafts need to be plowed through. I was toying with an idea to have a 'floating' bonus feat that the fighter could change on the fly X/day, but it seemed needlessly complex.

I'd appreciate any comments, concerns and especially criticism with these changes!

The traits are way too specific and basically straitjacket players into coming from Mendev and also tying themselves to a mythic path, which, at this point, nobody really knows if that will be the best path to go for them. It's very probable that I'll have to replace them with more generic traits ( or add additional ones ).

Sorry, but from an RP point, so far these are the worst thought-out traits from all player's guides I've seen. Railroading to the max for character generation is not good.

Not necessarily. The only trait that pretty much forces you to have been in Mendev/the Worldwound as a child is the Chance Encounter one because

and even then you could have had it happen fairly recently without destroying the campaign.

With Child of the Crusade your parents could have retired and moved anywhere and you felt the desire to travel to Mendev to follow in their footsteps, Exposed to Awfulness... demons are everywhere. Riftwarden Orphan even says that you're raised by a foster family in Kenebres but that could easily be changed to anywhere in Golarion, Stolen Fury, again demons are everywhere and Touched by Divinity is so open it's crazy.

They're really not any more limiting than any of the other traits in the other Player's Guides and that they hook you up to one of the mythic paths, and events right in the campaign as it progresses, is part of what I think makes them the best thought out campaign traits in the APs. They not only give you some really solid reasons to be in Kenebres at the time of the big event that happens in adventure 1, but they lay the foundation for your destiny as a mythic hero. Pretty damn epic. APs require a certain amount of understanding between players and GM that you have to be in the area and willing to go on the rails of the adventure and if that means making an event happen in your backstory and means that you start in Kenebres, well, that's the assumption right?

The DRP Special Olympics...

Even if you win, you're still a monk or rogue.

:(

Man, I really want to play this Parhfinder. I'm especially giddy to find out what a Parh is! Maybe it'll be revealed at the banquet?

:D

In Old Country, tank cut through katana.

I am the original Pathfinder bard before Lem came along and stole my job.

You didn't write me!

Elamdri wrote:

Say you have just defeated the boss of a dungeon, but your noble Paladin/Cleric was brought down in the fight. You are the only other caster in the party and they are bleeding out. You have the ability to heal them...but it is Infernal Healing.

I want to hear everyone's thoughts about both RP consequences and mechanics consequences for it.

Would your opinions change if it wasn't so much a life or death issue, but rather simply a issue of "oh, I was hurt, can you patch me up?"

I could see some paladins smiting the fiend who defiles their sacred body with that evil magic. And as a GM I'd see such an attack as justified and thus not an evil act itself.

I'm reminded of the scene in Dragonlance where the High Theocrat had burned himself and Goldmoon cast a healing spell on him and he, in his zealotry, shoved his now-healed hand back into the fire to "purify the defilement". I hope your justified paladin whose body is defiled with the vile magic and is willing to murder the person that saved them is also willing to carve the tainted-by-black-magic flesh from their own bones, if it's that big of a deal.

GUYS! Don't call out the rakshasa... you know what happens to you when you discover their secret?!

Nothing at all! No "masks". HAHAHA! GOOD JOB GUYS! HOPE YOU GET TO GO TO GENCON NEXT TIME! HAVE PIZZA ON ME!!

pleasedon'teatme;-;

Now that it looks like the Worldwound is finally getting it's time to shine in 2013(?), my vote is on a campaign where the Technic League are the baddies.

My feeling, and I could be totally wrong, but I believe he did it out of a desire for Herostratic fame.

I remember a case study when I was in Law about Herostratus, a man who burned down the temple of Artemis in ancient Greece, solely to become infamous, and in response the Greeks executed him and tried to erase him from history. We can see how well that turned out since we, presumably, know his name but there was an interesting discussion about what to do about fame-killers.

The general consensus ended up being that the killers would have their names presented as part of newspaper articles and court documents but then changed to something generic and that it should be illegal for anyone to use, or refer to them in any way that could be construed as capitalizing on their infamy to mitigate their impact on history with the goal of people forgetting about "Lee Harvey Oswald" who would then become "ABVVVX111FD-33#4-ZXX32" of which we'd end up knowing nothing about except "XXX assassinated YYY". This, of course, presented a problem with the whole "freedom of speech" thing and then the consensus went bye-bye, but it is still an interesting idea as part of the punishment.

You want to go down in history? Tough. Your victims will be mourned and remembered but you will not. You no longer have a name. You never existed. You're just a long, complex serial number that few people will ever be able to associate with a face.

I'm wondering if there is any information as to whether there are elven families living in Nidal and how that has affected them (being a usually CG race in an LE country). I presume it is so, but anything "official", such as families, would be cool.

You know, Paizo does most of the work already, and if we're at a point in the game where a GM can't even make a call on what something does without having OFFICIAL PAIZO ERRATA for every possible interpretation of an ability, we've got a serious problem.

I mean, do we have an outcry among the player base for an official errata of the "dead" condition that states you cannot take actions?

I think some folks on these boards are far too obsessed with the minutiae and forget this is about having fun. Unless, of course, Robes and Gavels is your system of choice, then game on.

Sorta side stepping the topic, but for those who dig anthropomorphic tales. (HA Tales....get it.)

Check out Blacksad. A noir graphic novel that is sheer awesomeness.

There's Lackadaisy if you also like 20's ganster stories.

thomrenault wrote:

Quote:

Honestly, if I were to see any of the four NPCs as big darned heroes, I'd probably expect it from Shalelu. She's the one introduced as a badass from day one in Rise of the Runelords, while Ameiko basically tapped out of adventuring because it was too much for her. But to each their own, I guess.

Shalelu is definitely the coolest NPC imho. I have three PC's so I told them they could pick one companion everytime they leave the caravan (like you would in a JRPG), so far Shalelu is the most popular.

Her rack is bigger than Ameiko's, and she doesn't have the "Damsel in distress" thing Ameiko has

She loses at least two cup sizes in the second adventure.

Paladins are LG by design in Pathfinder so you're pretty SOL unless you hunt around for 3PP material or make your own.

So an inquisitor of Asmodeus is making tactical suggestions and telling other players what they should be doing and Asmodeus has a problem with this or does he have a problem with his inquisitor having pride in his abilities? I suppose if you're the god of pride you need to have followers that are meek and humble. Because nothings says "Asmodean" like meek and humble.

The few pirates who hadn't yet made their way on deck look a mixture of of annoyed and worried.

The muscular halfling woman the group saw last night swings herself off her hammock and picks up a hatchet. "Beggin' yer double-f@$+ing-pardon, ye fat, addle-brained whoreson, but if ye don't move yer two-ton arse outta me twelve pint way, I'll be makin' a eunuch outta ye, ye pig-faced, lard-brained, syphilitic gobshyte!"

Rosie rolls 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13 for Initiative.

I think this belongs on the Discussion board a bit more than the gameplay one.

Jobs on the Wormwood

Each day everyone will be assigned jobs depending on whether they are a cook's mate, a rigger or a swab. Each task represents a day's worth of hard work and there is a set DC to make to succeed at your job. Failing a task results in punishment that is doled out during the "Bloody Hour". Work takes place under the watchful eyes of Mr. Plugg and Master Scourge, and getting away from it is not easy.

In addition to your normal jobs, you can also use your time during the day (and night) to explore the ship, scrounge for gear, interact with your shipmates, or attempt to influence an NPC.

Each PC can normally take two ship actions every day, one during the day and one at night. You can also attempt to take up to two additional ship actions during the middle watch in the dead of night, but to do so you must succeed at a Constitution check (DC 10, +4 per extra ship action taken) or be fatigued for the next day.

Whatever Nick Logue did in regards to his business and how many customers are upset with never getting refunds (let alone products) it doesn't take away from the fact that he was one of the 6 original authors of the flagship Adventure Path that essentially put Paizo on the road to where it is today. He's not being honored for being a lousy businessman, he's being honored for being a great adventure writer.

While I got off lucky in the whole SA debacle, being that I only pre-ordered the AGC and I can only imagine how angry some people, like DitheringFool who unfortunately pre-ordered the whole slew of products, have become (BTW Lou Agresta put forth a very generous offer to those of you who have pre-ordered the Known Universe Gazetteer, details available by clicky clicky. Please don't abuse this offer by lying to the guy. It's pretty decent of him to do what he's doing.) and PaizoCon may be the only place you can "meet the person who wronged you", please people, try not to ruin it for everyone by making a scene and chasing the guy off the stage with pitchforks and torches.

The Inner Sea World Guide states that "Many Hellknight signifiers are magi, ..." (p275) so I would be disappointed if the PrC went completely counter that, or wasn't at least viable for a magus character.

A question of extreme importance.

the variant tieflings.

to choose one of them instead of the generic beastiart 1 tiefling/ possible advanced races teifling, is it going to be thesame as bastards of erebus where we must take it as a lvl 1 feat?

I hope thats not the case

It is, literally, the only rule in the Paizo books that I liberally ignore, and so does my GM. If I want to play a kyton spawn tief, I don't want to take a feat to do so, or rely on the luck of the dice. I do, however, rely on the luck o' the draw for the variant "replace darkness with one of these abilities". After all, some of them increase your stats further! My demon spawned tiefling bard got very lucky when I rolled that extra +2 Charisma instead of the SLA!

That being said, I hope that the book expands the options beyond just the stat layout. Different set abilities and skills would be a nice addition as well.

Now, we know that switching which hand you're using to hold something is a free action. Would it be possible for a monk with a single temple sword to pass that weapon from hand to hand inbetween attacks, thus using that sword to attack with both his left and right hands?

And you can't tell me that the concept of a monk juggling his weapons around while he attacks with them isn't cool.

Fixed it for you!

That being said, I'm pretty sure James Jacobs once mentioned that anything he really makes a comment on, rules-wise, is moreso whether he would allow it or not and is technically not official. I have no idea if changing a weapon to another hand is an action addressed in the rules.

So to it's a monk/fighter (weapon master)/magus (bladebound and kensai) with a bit of duelist all in a 20 level base class who can lose all of his powers if he ever dares to multiclass.

I'm getting the "dedicate yourself wholly to a weapon" vibe here but what does knowing how to wield any other weapon have to do with focusing on one? Does that mean that nobody can ever learn how to be a kensai if they just so happen to know how to use a knife as well?

"I would fight you with my Kung Fu but I never learned how. My katana gets very jealous. It won't even let me use other katana without punishing me."

It looks like a heavy handed way to balance the class and is more than enough for me to not bother playing one. The best part is, as far as I can tell, if you lose your bonded weapon at level 1, you die and cannot be brought back to life without someone finding your jealous blade and sticking it in your cold, dead hands. Even better, because the wording is vague, being disarmed can impart a negative level on you. Do not fight swashbucklers at first level. They will kill you by showing off.

Also, these are a few questions I ask myself when I ever think about introducing a new base class to my game, either through converting or creating:

• Is this needed?
  Considering we have the weapon master fighter, bladebound and kensai magus as well as the sword saint samurai archetype, the "master of a single weapon" niche has a good amount of representation.

• Does this class do anything unique that makes it stand apart from others?
  Besides being able to use a Japanimation-esque ranged slash, nothing that I can see. Fighter has armor and weapon training, magus has spellstrike, oracle has a curse mechanic that enhances them, gunslinger has grit and deeds, witches have hexes, etc... what stands out here?
  

From what I read on people's reactions to Numeria, it seems like they envision it as a place where there are high rise buildings, teleporters, hovercraft and ever-present Gestapo-like robots with laser canons.

I've always seen it as a blasted wasteland, more post-Apocalyptic in feeling than pure sci-fi. Dungeons made from pieces of the crashed ship, partially buried and seen as part of ancient civilizations, roaming bands of savage barbarians, the elite having imbibed the liquids of their nameless gods, found in the depths of some ancient wreckage of a futuristic civilization, giving them great strength and strange powers but at what cost? Where, yes, there are elements of the future, but employed by a primitive (in comparison) people who are trying to understand, and exploit, not knowing really what they do.

Starfall as a large city brimming with people, mostly poor, filled with ghettos and policed by the enigmatic Gearsmen. Gladiatorial, and pleasure pits, drug dens and markets that cater to every desire, no matter how foul, spring up everywhere in a place that I envision as resembling a horrific Middle Eastern bazaar. There would be futuristic weapons and other technology for certain, but not to the extent where you would be confused with being in something like Star Trek.

To be blunt, Numeria is damn awesome and I'm really looking forward to something, anything, be it AP or adventure, to really get a feel for the place.

TSR saved me from Palladium. I owe them my gaming life.

You know, for a people that had the end of the world down to a science apparently, they sure missed the arrival of Cortez. Kind of a huge oversight there.

Using the Advanced Races Guide playtest.

<INCUBUS BLOODED ELF> (Name needs to be changed, obviously)

Type
Outsider (elf, native): 2 RP
Size
Medium: 0 RP
Base Speed
Normal: 0 RP
Ability Score Modifiers
Standard (+2 Str, +2 Cha, –2 Con): 0 RP
Languages
Standard --- 1 RP
Racial Abilities
Darkvision 60 ft.: — RP
Elf blood: 1 RP
Elven immunities: 2 RP
Fiendish resistance: 2 RP
Skill bonus (Intimidate ): 2 RP
Skill bonus (Perception): 2 RP
Total RP: 12

<Incubus Blooded Elf>
+2 Strength, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution: <IBE> are physically powerful and have the magnetism of their incubus forfathers, but are as frail of health as regular elves.
Darkvision: <IBE> can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Intimidating: <IBE> receive a +2 racial bonus on Intimidate checks due to their innate brutality.
Keen Senses: <IBE> have a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks.
Elf Blood: <IBE> count as both elves and native outsiders for any effect related to race.
Elven Immunities: <IBE> are immune to magic sleep effects and get a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects.
Fiendish Resistance: <IBE> have cold resistance 5, electricity resistance 5, and fire resistance 5.
Languages: <IBE> begin play speaking Common and Abyssal. Fey'ri with high Intelligence scores can choose any of the following: Draconic, Dwaven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Infernal, and Orc.

///
Essentially, a tiefling variant, or perhaps "racial archetype", blending elven and demonic, more specifically incubus, bloodlines.

I obviously began with the standard tiefling and began to pull it apart to create what I was envisioning. First requirements were Elf Blood and Immunities, to help simulate the racial connection between the "IBE" and a regular elf.

Next, I removed Fiendish Sorcery as this particular racial archetype is far more specific than the general tiefling: you are related to an incubus. It didn't make sense to me to allow additional bonuses for taking the Infernal bloodline. Besides, having a +2 Charisma is good enough and it seems as if that racial ability was created to mitigate the "tiefling sorcerers somehow really suck at being sorcerers" phenomenon.

The ability score choices are based upon the demon-spawn tiefling variant (found in the Bastards of Erebus, Book 1 of the Council of Thieves Adventure Path) and then I strapped on the elven penalty, instead of the recommended one. I figure the elven bonus and demon-spawn penalty cancel each other out. I then ignore the Dex bonus to keep the race PC friendly.

I changed the default racial skill bonuses of the tiefling (Bluff and Stealth) to Intimidate and Perception. This seemed logical considering the incubus, in Bestiary 3, has racial bonuses to those two skills. Finally, I removed the darkness spell-like ability, as a true incubus doesn't even have it, and was contemplating what I should give him instead, if anything. My first thought was charm person, however the spell-like abilities available cannot "attack a creature" and, using invisibility as a guide, charming someone is considered an "attack" as far as a strict reading of the spell goes. Alter self is another option, of course.

According to the write-up at the back of the Advanced Races Guide Playtest PDF, this is hovering at 1 point below aasimar so I question the need for another ability if I wish to keep it relatively PC appropriate.

Suggestions, comments, criticisms and the like are all welcome.

I would submit that it's not that everyone will be able to do it, it's that people choose not to.

Then again, I rarely submit anything on any sort of message board without hitting the preview button compulsively.

I deffer to the oppinion of ThatEvilGuy .. I mean common he's ThatEvilGuy, he should know!

Of course. As the Ultimate Authority on Evil(TM), I DO know.

And while we are on the subject of soul selling.

If an Angel buys a soul through an agreement, is that considered a good act?

Many will say ANGELS DON'T DO THAT, but what if they did.

Selling your soul is not an evil act on its own.

It's whom/what you are selling your soul to and why.

Depending on the circumstances that you put forth, it could be a "good act", such as if the angel was purchasing the soul to save it from eternal damnation. Though things get murkier depending on what the angel "paid" for the soul with and, should it have been trafficking with creatures of evil, how likely is the payment going to create more evil in the world counterbalanced by the good of saving the soul/preventing the soul from being used to advance Evil(TM). Definitely a grey area that asks more questions than it answers, and would be an interesting thing to explore during a game with the right players/GM.

I would say that willingly empowering the forces of Hell for your own personal gain is evil.

If you're asking if the serial rapist who sells his soul to a devil to get out of paying his debts and to save himself from being punished for his numerous crimes is evil...

Of course not. He should be nominated for Sainthood. LG all the way.

ThatEvilGuy wrote:

What about the Honor Guard cavalier archetype?

Already mentioned, somewhere in page 2 I think. They defend specific allies. From what I've seen, they're better as NPCs, but could make for an interesting character in Escort campaigns.

Ah, see it now, on the first page too. Derp!

Thankfully Furious Focus doesn't apply to standard actions. But still. :)

Actually, it isn't limited to full-round actions. It just makes it so that you take no PA penalty on your first attack in any round, standard action or not.

Furious Focus (Combat)
Even in the midst of fierce and furious blows, you can find focus in the carnage and your seemingly wild blows strike home.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: When you are wielding a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon with two hands, and using the Power Attack feat, you do not suffer Power Attack’s penalty on melee attack rolls on the first attack you make each turn. You still suffer the penalty on any additional attacks, including attacks of opportunity.

If I were to do something similar to the Vital Strike chain, I would do the following:

(very rough draft)
Improved Vital Strike (Combat)
Prerequisites: Vital Strike, base attack bonus +11
Benefit: When you use the Vital Strike feat, you may double your bonus damage from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), precision-based damage, and other damage bonuses by taking a -5 penalty to your attack roll. This extra damage is not multiplied on a critical hit, but added to the total.

Greater Vital Strike (Combat)
Prerequisites: Improved Vital Strike, Vital Strike, base attack bonus +16
Benefit: When you use the Vital Strike feat, you may triple your bonus damage from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), precision-based damage, and other damage bonuses by taking a -10 penalty to your attack roll. This extra damage is not multiplied on a critical hit, but added to the total.

This allows you to choose how much of a penalty you are willing to take because it explicitly modifies the abilities of Vital Strike when doing so. So, with the full feat chain, you could take a -5 penalty to double those damage bonuses or a -10 penalty to triple them. It is still a pretty powerful feat, especially in the hands of a high level paladin, a rogue that fulfills the requirements for sneak attacking or anyone with the Power Attack feat in conjunction with Furious Focus.

Thoughts, anyone?

TEG, What's your opinion on mixing some of the TWF Feats and the Dodge/Mobility feat? Or at least giving them a bit more utility.

I've been thinking of houseruling the basic TWF feat chain into one feat and go about it in a similar way as I did with Vital Strike, essentially giving you more attacks as your base attack goes up (to a maximum of three extra attacks at +11). It's mostly wording things elegantly so that you gain these benefits only when your BAB and Dexterity are both at certain levels.

As far as Dodge/Mobility goes, granted a +1 dodge bonus to AC isn't all that impressive, but it is far better than the 3.5 version. If memory serves, I believe that dodge bonuses also apply to your CMD so there's that as well. It would be interesting if Mobility worked off of Dodge to increase the bonus to your AC in a round where you moved more than 5 feet (worded so that you couldn't just teleport or do something else that wasn't using a move action to move and lasted until the beginning of your next turn). Perhaps something akin to the 3.5 Scout's skirmish, minus the damage.

Mobility (Combat)
You are more difficult to hit while moving.
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Dodge
Benefit: When you move at least 10 feet in a round, you gain a +2 dodge bonus to your AC until the beginning of your next turn. A condition that makes you lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) also makes you lose dodge bonuses.
Special: Dodge bonuses stack with each other, unlike most types of bonuses.

So instead of getting a +4 dodge bonus against attacks of opportunity, you gain a blanket +2 dodge bonus to your AC while the conditions are met.