TheJrade's page

Combat Style Mastery does not have the same prerequisite that Weapon Style Mastery does. It actually works out nicely that Improved Unarmed Strike is required as the reach of a fauchard prevents attacks against adjacent enemies. A dip into Brawler worked nicely, as well as giving me the ability to counter a lot of unexpected shenanigans with Martial Flexibility. I imagine him kicking the legs out from under any baddies who try to sneak by, while still chopping them up with his polearm.

Quite right about the difference between 'switch with a free action' and 'use both at the same time', my OP was a bit unclear. My question about that was more about what happens when I switch from Mobile to Vanguard at the end of my turn? I would lose the immediate total cover reaction ability but would the total/full cover benefit to adjacent allies remain? I took the original action that granted the bonus with the style in effect...?

I have a tank fighter that I am looking to be able to make him actually tank in an MMO sense, rather than the standard "hope they attack you" that many 'tank' fighters go with. To that end I want to run about the battlefield blocking attacks against recalcitrant allies not smart enough to believe me when I tell them to stay adjacent to me.

My question is do the various ideas I have for him work in concert or do they conflict in some fashion? Can Style Mastery allow me to use both Mobile Fortress Style and Vanguard Style together? If I use a fauchard with Shield Brace how does that interact with Combat Patrol/Stand Still/Vanguard Style?

Makes perfect sense. After all, remember how clumsy the T-Rex was after he gobbled the lawyer off the toilet?

In my neverending quest to do interesting things in a system dedicated to being as boring as possible, am looking to make a character who can talk to anyone he meets in PFS. What are all the ways I can do this? Comprehend languages with UMD is not my preferred technique, are there items that will let me do this without a roll?

Ah, so that movie in the 90s with Sinbad as the genie must be real too then... right?

There are a zillion feats available to enhance Stunning Fist, and a similar number of abilities one can swap it out for. Can one take a feat like Stunning Fist Adept to enhance the DC of say, the knock-prone ability of Punishing Kick?

Also, am I hallucinating when I remember a feat that gives additional uses of Stunning Fist per day? Did the 90s Sinbad genie make it vanish or something?

Is there a list of "weapon qualities that can be applied to Unarmed Attacks"? Ultimate Equipment has a table that is supposed to detail this in reference to the AMF, but the chart seems to say that almost any melee weapon quality can do so, excepting ones like Keen that require slashing. Is there a footnote I am missing?

TheJrade wrote:

Generally when an archetype replaces an ability it, well, does something. When the Armor Master archetype replaces Weapon Training 1 it gives a small amount of DR and when it replaces Armor Mastery is gives a quite substantial amount of DR, quadruple in fact. But when it replaces Weapon Training 3 it does absolutely nothing. Is this an oversight or typo? Should it perhaps provide a moderate amount of DR at level 13, perhaps double the initial amount?

Not sure what you mean. The one ability (armored defense) replaces Weapon Training 1, Weapon training 3, and Armor Mastery.

And regarding the DR gained, the strong point to the ability is that this DR stacks with that gained from Adamantine Armor. So, really, at 5th you gain DR2/- for light armor, DR4/- for medium Armor, and DR 6/- for heavy armor. It's not a weak amount of DR provided you are wearing heavy adamantine armor.

That said, the cost of Heavy Adamantine armor is not cheap, and unlikely something you will have at 5th level when you get the ability. So if you need equivelent exchange, consider that your character will unlikely be able to take full advantage of this ability until you can afford adamantine full plate (at closer to the level of weapon training 3..).

Well as ong as you as assuming a 5th level character is also shelling out 15000 gold then yes you do get DR6. But I am just going off f what the archetype abilities are, and wonder why one goes straight from 3 at 5th level to 12 at 19th when an intermediate bump to 6 at 11 makes sense. Particularly considering a very useful offensive ability is traded.

I have been thinking about it for a minute, and I don't know if the RAW prevents tower shields from being made out of things other than wood. It does indeed say "this wooden shield" in the fluff text, but every item is stated to be made out of a material in it's fluff text. Where does it specifically state that tower shields cannot be made out of anything else? Particularly since we have numerous examples of them made out of non-wood materials?

Pretty sure there's not a way to make one with a better max dex. However, there are some feats and archetypes that specifically do increase the max dex of a tower shield.

Specifically the Tower Shield Specialist fighter archetype and the Tower Shield Specialist feat.

The TSS feat is good, but you have to be a level 8 fighter to get it. And weirdly the TSS archetype only modifies the max dex of your armor, and not the tower shield. It has always looked suspiciously like a typo to me, but that is the RAW.

TheJrade wrote:

avr wrote:

Since the base material is wood, try darkwood.

That would be the most logical option, to simply assume that darkwood, offering an 'almost as good as mithral' armor check improvement, would offer a similar benefit to max dex, say a +1 or something. But alas, the RAW is not that prescient and it offers no benefit to max dex.

If I were a GM and someone asked about a material allowing better Max Dex for a tower shield I would answer "Forget about it, it will never happen, and if there is an official rule allowing it, then there will be a houserule in my campaign disallowing it".

But thats only my standpoint, tower shields are small portable walls that you hide behind. Not much point in moving a lot if it takes you out of cover from the shield. If your Dex is high, use another kind of shield instead.

If I were a GM and someone asked about a material allowing better Max Dex for a tower shield I would answer "Forget about it, it will never happen, and if there is an official rule allowing it, then there will be a houserule in my campaign disallowing it".

Mithral and adamantine specifically say you can't make wooden items out of them, and a bit of fluff text on the description of tower shields talks about them being wooden. While there are numerous examples of tower shields being made out of both, a stringent RAW interpretation assumes the fluff text is actually rules text and applies to all tower shields. Obviously this requires players and DMs to ignore basic logic and common sense but hey, this is a game with wizards.

No where in the text for either noqual or singing steel does it have the admonition against wooden items and in both it also says shields can be constructed of these materials. There is no interpretation of logic or the printed rules that forbids noqual/SS tower shields. They are just super-expensive.

Since the base material is wood, try darkwood.

That would be the most logical option, to simply assume that darkwood, offering an 'almost as good as mithral' armor check improvement, would offer a similar benefit to max dex, say a +1 or something. But alas, the RAW is not that prescient and it offers no benefit to max dex.

How can you make a tower shield with a higher max dex bonus? Because RAW is dumb I understand you can't make them out of mithral despite the fact that there are several mithral tower shields in various books. What other materials can you use instead? Noqual and Singing Steel seem to be usable, albeit at a cool 7000 gold for either of them. Non-magical Noqual is of course cheaper but lets assume magic is necessary.

While the lack of normal mithral tower shields in RAW-only play has been established, making a tower shield out of noqual (a special material lacking the verbiage regarding not affecting items being made primarily out of wood) will work if you are willing to shell out the hefty price increase. +2000 for the base material, and an additional +5000 when you first enchant the item. The benefit is +2 vs spells, +2 additional max dex, and 1 better armor check penalty. There are much cheaper ways to get these benefits but if you are interested in the thematic aspect this is the way to do it.

So basically, you can out-badly-written-rules a RAW weenie with some other badly written rules if you are willing to pay the gold for it.

Vanguard Hustle is a fairly neat ability with a massive seven-feat requirement. Bad enough, but when you consider three of these are blatant feat taxes it gets pretty awful. Especially when you consider Saving Shield is an objectively inferior version of Bodyguard and both are required. What gives?

Generally when an archetype replaces an ability it, well, does something. When the Armor Master archetype replaces Weapon Training 1 it gives a small amount of DR and when it replaces Armor Mastery is gives a quite substantial amount of DR, quadruple in fact. But when it replaces Weapon Training 3 it does absolutely nothing. Is this an oversight or typo? Should it perhaps provide a moderate amount of DR at level 13, perhaps double the initial amount?

Is a fighter able to select more than one Advanced Weapon or Armor Training option? The description of Armor Specialization would seem to imply that they can, but the fact that each ability scales would seem to imply not.

In the case of say, Armored Confidence and Armored Juggernaut, which case is correct:
1. Select Confidence at 7th, Juggernaut at 11th, get full 11th level bonuses for both.
2. Select Confidence at 7th, Juggernaut at 11th, get only 7th level bonuses for both.
3. Can only select one at 7th, which scales according to the description.

If #1, it would be a nice way to buff the power of the fighter at the higher levels where it needs it when compared to casters and zany basic classes from the various power bloat books that have come out in the years since Core.

One of the best, and absolutely vital for multiclass casters who have really gotten the shaft in Pathfinder since the old 3.5 'Improved Caster Feat' went bye-bye.

The only other ways to raise your caster level broadly is the Bifurcated Magic trait and the Multidisciplined racial ability swap for half-elves.

Howdy all, long time player first time poster.

Currently playing my first character ever, originally an OD&D elf famous for having a sword that cast cure spells, who I have converted numerous times over the decades until now. His first level was an Inspired Blade Swashbuckler w/ Fencing Grace, and will be adding levels in Draconic Eldritch Scrapper Sorcerer and Warsighted Ancient Lorekeeper Oracle until he is ready to become a Mystic Theurge. Double-dipping into differently-worded versions of Martial Flexibility gets me two feats that I mostly use for defensive purposes while I cast spells.

If I am feeling really silly, I might change over to Evangelist with Theurge as my Aligned Class, which will increase both my hit points and skill points. I figure I will have plenty of Will Save so the extra Reflex save will just leave me with only Fort as weak.

Good idea or bad idea?