The Storm of Swords's page

Think it was meant to be well do you ban melee if someone is a melee beast. But it makes no sense because if you had said what if he had a Archer character who was just wrecking s~!% he would have to ban ranged due to being op.

Fighter//Investigator would work too.

If 3.x is allowed. Lost Tradition feat to change spell casting to str or con or something and enjoy. Sure his performance will suck but it will still be there.

I don't know the Magus getting Spellstrike with a supped up Shocking Grasp + Level to damage seems like it might do more damage.. and render the Swashbuckler moot.

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No it ADDS Int to damage in addition to Str (Or Dex), otherwise it would say Int in place of Str.

I am pretty sure there was a lot of hubbub a few months ago about an FAQ ruling that said +stat was a bonus type, and you can only add one +stat to any given thing. Some abilities get around it by saying "Add int bonus as an insight bonus" or whatnot, but in this case you are just adding int modifier, which would fall under that FAQ ruling.

That said I could be misremembering entirely, and don't even know how to navigate the FAQ if I wanted to go searching for it. I was just asking based on what I remember being talked about a while ago.

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I agree it does, so it would be 48+33+Str+Int

Okay so why is it only 48 and not 60? Vital Strike specifies on a crit that your extra weapon dice from vital strike are not multiplied, but the base weapon dice should still be multiplied. So you have 2d6(normal weapon dice) + 6d6(greater vital strike), on a crit the normal weapon dice get multiplied then added to greater vital strike (for 10d6 total), when then gets maximized, unless there's something I am missing.

Also interestingly the way the archetype reads, if you managed to get Sneak Attack or some other form of bonus damage, that should get maximized as well. Same for any +d6 weapon enhancements. After all it doesn't say that only some specific part of your damage is maximized, but your attack's damage is maximized. All of those other variable damage mods should be included if base weapon damage is.

You are right on the 60 not 48.

But no the bother about the Ability Bonus type is that people where trying to stack Wis twice to AC or something similar.

Str or Dex is not a bonus type, it is a default part of the equation for figuring out damage. They can be swapped out but the only time that ruling would come into effect was if you had an ability to change your Str for Int and then tried adding Int to damage as well. You could in theory if you had a way add Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha to something if you could manage to find appropriate ways to do so.

I agree it does, so it would be 48+33+Str+Int

So if I'm understanding the way these effects stack correctly:

Estoc with Lead Blades deals 2d6 damage.

Given the numbers the OP provided, base damage is 2d6+33+str

Greater Vital Strike makes that 8d6+33+str

A normal Greater Vital Strike crit would be 4d6(base weapon crit)+6d6(greater vital strike)+33+str+

And a Greater Vital Strike crit with the Archetype that all maximizes, to 93+str+int damage.

Actually with the FAQ ruling on stat stacking, wouldn't Int replace Strength? And if so isn't that a huge nerf since strength gets multiplied on a crit and the int does not?

No it ADDS Int to damage in addition to Str (Or Dex), otherwise it would say Int in place of Str.

TY

Virtual size, means not actual size changes, but meaning "Treated as if" in the wording right?

D'oh, you're right. it would be 12/18/24. Brain fog on the maths. If you were using an estoc, and had impact or lead blades on it, it could become significant.

I had completely forgotten about the estoc now. Can you only have Impact or Lead Blades, not both?

Just so you know, the archetype is actually called the Ustalavic Duelist.

For the Lepidstadt Thrust ability, the weapon dice damage is maximized. So if you were using a Rapier, Vital Strike would do 6 damage, Improved would do 12, and Greater would do 18. Then add your static bonuses, which are not modified.

Ok maybe I am dense, thank you by the way for giving me the link to the Nethys page,. but rapier is a d6 weapon.. if I roll the damage dice twice.. thats 6+6 potentially 12 damage right? I am assuming the Vital Strike would do 6 damage was assuming rolling a 3 on both dice, so the average? Sorry just some people say the average of 6 and not just 6 so I wanted to be sure I didn't massively confuse myself on something.

But if the rapier did crit.. it would be 12 for VS right? 18 for IVS and 24 for GVS?

Alright so while browsing the unofficial Srd I noticed the Learned Duelist

Now I have been wanting to build a powerful duelist character for awhile, one that is actually amazing with a single light blade.

Here is the link to the page in question.

Now I was thinking of a Magus VMC to take on the Arcana Deeds and get Precise Strike as a deed which would mean I am adding level to damage.

Now from what I can tell if you are wearing only light armor and wielding just the one weapon you gain a +4/+8 by level 17. That is not taking into account PA which adds -4/+8 So it negates the penalty of PA and adds a straight +16 to damage. Now if you add level that is +33 to damage not counting strength.

Using a higher crit weapon such as a Rapier would give you more damage output as you can pick up Keen or Critical Focus.

Now where it is muddling with my head is the Vital Strike talk. It says when you confirm a crit while using these three feats he deals maximum damage. So I count all dice roll as their highest possible before adding all the other things such as level to damage precision, str or dex, ect? Then I add Int or do I add Int for each of the damage dice rolled?

Does this make a good duelist? I mean know maxing out dice damage is sweet but, really it comes on line at level 9 which is lower-mid levels so a little late in the game.

I also considered just gestalting this fighter archetype with Swashbuckler (Rather then VMC) for the Weapon Finesse and free Critical Focus, maybe even Inspired Blade since Int to damage at level 9 is very nice and with a rapier I will be reaping a lot of Panache and critical hits to max out the damage dice.

I wonder.. could VMC be used with gestalt? Seems like it would be uber powerful.

One is a circumstance and one is insight so yes

Kasatha get 4 attacks at level 1 and and additional at 6BAB. You csn't duel wield teo handers. But there is a race in 3.5 from dragon compendium that can.

I will agree its not a death effect. But Ghorus Seed is kind of meh its not stated as a rejncarbated or raised effect by call out.

Ok I am not sure if you all remember the Diopsid from Dragon Compendium published by Paizo. But it was a mix of humaniod and beetle and it had four arms.

So while looking at this I thought this would be an interesting idea to add to the Kasatha, maybe in turn for trading out its normal Multi-Armed trait. Perhaps for members of the race who focused on holding items in this manner.

Extra Arms: Diopsids have four arms: their two

primary limbs and a secondary, weaker set of arms.
Their weaker limbs are poorly suited to carrying
weapons or shields, but they do an excellent job of
providing stability and support to the upper limbs.
The diopsid's extra limbs allow it to use
weapons one size category larger than normal
without penalty. The diopsid's secondary arms
must be free for it to gain this benefit. This benefit
does not extend to larger weapons. For example, a
diopsid can wield a Large longsword with a single
primary arm without penalty by steadying the
blade's pommel with its lower limb.
A diopsid can wield a pair of two-handed
weapons by using all four of its limbs. The diopsid
gains the full benefits of wielding a two-handed
weapon, such as 1-1/2 times its Strength bonus on
damage rolls. The diopsid suffers the standard
penalty for fighting with two weapons and carrying
a non-light weapon in its off hand.
A diopsid wielding a pair of two-handed
weapons is a fearsome sight. It shifts and twirls the
two weapons between its four hands, hammering its
opponent with tremendous strikes while defying its
normally clumsy, fumbling nature.
If a diopsid carries a weapon or shield in its
secondary arms while one or more of its primary
arms also carry an item, it suffers a number of
penalties. When using a shield, the diopsid takes the
shield's armor check penalty on its attack rolls and
skill checks even if it has proficiency with the shield.
When using a weapon, the diopsid gains only half its
Strength bonus on damage rolls. It takes a -4 penalty
on all attacks for each light weapon used in this
manner. This penalty increases to -8 for one-handed
weapons. The diopsid cannot carry a two-handed
weapon with just its secondary arms.
A diopsid with at least one empty hand can cast
spells with a somatic component.

Limb Symmetry: A diopsid's four arms allow it to
carry and use multiple items with relative ease. A
diopsid can use its third and fourth limbs to steady a
weapon held in its primary arms, shift its weight, and
maneuver it to attack or defend. A diopsid ignores
the Dexterity prerequisite, if any, for any feat that has
the words "two-weapon" in its name, such as Two-
Weapon Fighting. The diopsid must fulfill the rest of
the feat's requirements as normal.

Would these work if you made it Kasatha instead of the diopsid?

Dotted for interest.

I really have no experience with sword and board. Shield Slam, Shield Bash they are basically gibberish to me. I don't get why they are such a good thing so a shield can deal 1d6 with a shield bash and with the right feats you can send that foe back like a bull rush?

I just said it was a nice Archetype because you can one hand a reach trip weapon with one hand, allowing you to have a defense and offense at close range (5') and reach (10') which is a nice control option. The improper sized weapon thing is no big deal but doesn't really work for everyones feel also it gives other bonuses.

I dont mind the Two weapon fighting idea, but yeah a Shield and Sword combo is what I need for Alister type build.

Ranger might fit the feel of the alister but not much of a holy warrior style in there.

This is due to Ranger's Style feats right? So a slayer could get these as well but at a level higher?

The Phalanx Archetype is also insanely awesome from what I can see. Holding a Polearm/Spear with one hand and a shield in the other. That gives you reach and shield combat. Bullrush someone with the shield to knock them back to ten feet away and then attack them with the Polearm/Spear when they trigger AoO

Interesting builds for sure but not something I think fits Alister in that way. He is a sword and boarder and has a bit of the holy warrior feel.

I considered Warpriest and taking Weapon Focus Longsword as part of the class and Weapon Focus (Light Shield) to allow for the scared weapon bonuses.

There's a fighter archetype one of my players used in a campaign. It is shield based and eventually lets you make free bull rush attempts using the shield. The forced movement from bull rush causes AoOs as well.

The character was a dwarf using axe and shield, and he was awesome. We finished that campaign at level 16.

Can't remember archetype name but it's in the core books in the PRD.

The Shielded Fighter?

If they had a Paladin Archetype with the Deeds of a Swashbuckler it would be great.

Still not sure why I cannot use free actions during a special out of turn action.

you can't do free actions during the parry and riposte.

Really why can't I? Are you saying I cannot do a witty retort during my block and counter attack?

You could do it with a Cavalier who has only a good Fort.

I mean this, you have quickdraw as a feat for this.
The Cavalier goes to Parry and Reposte someone, the opponent must make an attack against his full AC which includes the shield, The cavalier declares a parry and rolls his attack, which beats the foe. Now he as a free action stows his quickdraw shield and attacks with his precise strike. As his shield is not being held in his other hand, he can add his level to damage and once done redraw the shield as a free action to make his AC go back up by the shield ac bonus (1 in the case of Quickdraw shields)

Cavaliers are proficient with all but Tower Shields.

And this can be done on normal attacks as well.

if that is the case, why not Swashbuckler? I mean with Precise Strike they are dealing level to damage with virtually every strike if they really want too. With that combo of using quickdraw Shields to stow the shield as a free action strike with Precise strike and then pull it back so when the opponent attacks back youhave the Ac bonus of the shield?

I know Cavalier has those as well I was just using it as an example.

The Storm of Swords wrote:

Ok so I am making a character based loosely on Alister from Dragon Age, He uses a Sword and Shield as many characters do.

But I do not know much about that play style.
I want to make a build focusing on the Sword and Board style of combat, I know its not the best but it can be fun and useful. I was thinking of either Paladin, Warpriest, Brawler (Shield Champion and picking up a Weapon Prof with a Flaw feat (House Rule))

Sword and Board works best in my opinion as a TWF build. Shield slam is a great feat and lets you control the battlefield a little bit. Do some search on the forum ad i bt you will find some fleshed out builds.Out of your list i like the paladin most bc it could really capitalize on TWF with Smite Evil, also gives me more of a Grey Warden feel. Another thing I see on the boards quite often are people who use a quick draw shield and on their turn stow the shield to 2 hand a weapon then quick draw the shield out at the end of their turn so they can have the defensive bonus form the shield. Don't forget about the bashing enhancement and for some extra punch with your shield and of course a shield spike. Good Luck!

Why is a Paladin best to capitalize on TWF with Smite Evil?

Ok so I am making a character based loosely on Alister from Dragon Age, He uses a Sword and Shield as many characters do.

But I do not know much about that play style.
I want to make a build focusing on the Sword and Board style of combat, I know its not the best but it can be fun and useful. I was thinking of either Paladin, Warpriest, Brawler (Shield Champion and picking up a Weapon Prof with a Flaw feat (House Rule))

Well to be fair it says you cannot attack with weapons in your other hand, or have something more then a buckler.

I was just noticing it does not say your Off-hand, it says your other hand. Which is a little odd.

So looking through I may just make the character take a CR 3 penalty and have 3 RHD (Outsider Native d10s with good Fort and Will saves)
The reason is looking at all the CR 3 monsters they all seem to have more then 2RHD, and of course we have the Drow Noble which is a CR 3, only because the example is a level 3 cleric, so CR 1 with all those At-Wills and Constant Spell-Likes seems to me to be way higher then what the Stonechild gets, immunity to Poison and Acid is nice... being able to de-spell magic once a day is better. At Will Deeper Darkness is better.

So a CR 3 with 3 RHD seems more fair then anything. Any problems with this idea?

Because in PF I think Stonechild might even be a CR 2, as he is mostly muscles and a few proficiency to make a fighter but nothing that would challenge even a low level party who was smart.

I was just wondering if it could work via raw or rai due to the loophole.

Ok so I noticed with Precise Strike Deed
Precise Strike (Ex) : At 3rd level, while she has at least 1 panache point, a swashbuckler gains the ability to strike precisely with a light or one-handed piercing melee weapon (though not natural weapon attacks), adding her swashbuckler level to the damage dealt. To use this deed, a swashbuckler cannot attack with a weapon in her other hand or use a shield other than a buckler. She can even use this ability with thrown light or one-handed piercing melee weapons, so long as the target is within 30 feet of her. Any creature that is immune to sneak attacks is immune to the additional damage granted by precise strike, and any item or ability that protects a creature from critical hits also protects a creature from the additional damage of a precise strike. This additional damage is precision damage, and isn't multiplied on a critical hit. As a swift action, a swashbuckler can spend 1 panache point to double her precise strike's damage bonus on the next attack. This benefit must be used before the end of her turn, or it is lost. This deed's cost cannot be reduced by any ability or effect that reduces the amount of panache points a deed costs (such as the Signature Deed feat).

The Italicized part is important, but the bolded part is the key wording.

If a Kasatha is a Swashbuckler, and he is using 3 blades and none in his 4th other hand.. could he use Precise Strike? I mean yes it is clearly abusing the loophole of them not thinking of a Kasatha during class design.

Yeah sorry posted this right before bed at like 5 am and had just put down RoW so got mixed up.

Indeed it is insanely powerful. But Proficiency and stuff make sense due to the 6 levels till class levels so you need to be able to fight with something more then unarmed strike.

By free +1 La I mean things like Half-Giant from Dreamscarred is now playable from level 1, Aasimar, Tiefling are both playable from level 1. It seems Pathfinder has basically made their races a little stronger, so +1 LA seems to be often ok for play with a PF game.

The Race builder is not exactly perfect as often you need to invent abilities with races to make a exact replica of them from 3.5
Powerful Build for example is not in there but useful.

The reason I brought this up was yes Stonechild has a monster class progression, like I said it seems normally you can drop a LA moving to PF which would allow LA buyoff by level 18 but at level 5 you have 2RHD of d10s if you use PF, but still 2d10+Con modifier twice is still very low HP for a level 5, doable maybe but still very low as well as skill points being low and so forth.

I was wondering if A direct conversion of the monster class minus 1 LA would be alright in terms of curbing power (so a player would have to wait till level 6 instead of 7 to gain a class level) or maybe filling out those LA with NPC classes like Warrior?
Or should I go straight RHD, 5 RHD with no buy off option, or 5 levels of NPC classes with the racial increases of the monster class run interlayed on with the NPC.

I know PF has no LA but I cannot find the Cr for a Stonechild.
EDIT: I found this, but I am not sure if it would work, it says its CR is 3
https://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/chainmail/Stonechild.pdf

Stonechild is a race from Race of Wild 3.5 Material. Pg 92 if your interested in seeing it.
But it has a 2 RHD and +4 LA, now I have noticed in PF anything with a +1 LA should be dropped as the average power level is increased.

So should a Stonechild be a ECL five race? 2 RHD and 3 empty levels or should the empty levels be filled with NPC classes or more HD

I thought the Hammer of Thunderbolts was suppose to be a mock up of Mjolnir, especially the 3.5 version but PF version is quite good too.
But it is a minor artifact

Alright, my group is in the process of setting a new game room and we want to christen the room and new gaming table with a new campaign. But there is only three of us and the DM wants it to be a Gestalt Game due to the limited numbers of players and that he may be using modules of higher level throughout his own unique campaign setting.

I wanted to play a Slayer//Investigator.
Slayer first because he is a warrior, just one who is capable of insight and knowledge beyond what a being trained to just kill can do.

I had to ask but got the approval for the Kasatha race, my character will simply be an odd outcast from a Kasatha settlement in the deep desert of the setting.

Now I want this understood, I did ask this and this is how we are playing. Kasatha have four arms, and thus can hold and use four weapons at a time, but with serious penalties same as twf without the proper feats. As such I am allowed to take the Monster/combat feat Multi-Weapon Fighting. I personally do not care how anyone else sees this working in the rules by RAI or RAW. This is how we are playing it. (Sorry for the rant but I have read a few threads about this and it always ends badly)

I rolled very well 18,13,11,16,10,14 are my scores. Kasatha gain a +2 Dex and +2 Wis.

They also have a +2 Dodge Bonus to AC so Light Armor is pretty good to start.
I want to focus on using Kukri in combat, four of them obviously.
Later I might pick up Laminated Steel Serrated Edged Kukri (3.5 3rd Party) to add a +1 to both Threat Range and Multiplier. So a 17-20/x3 Kukri, maybe with Improved Critical would make that 13-20/x3.

So aside from my first feat being dedicated to Multi-Weapon Fighting what else should I pick? What Talents? What gear?