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Greetings, i have a question regarding this order shipped in Italy.

I've received a couple of months ago (14th December 2010) an email saying that the package with my order was about to ship; since I'm in Italy I was expecting to wait about a month (my previous orders took from 2 to 6 weeks to come), however after two months it still hasn't arrived.

Can you please provide me the tracking number of the shipment itself, or some other ways to help me track it? I fear that the package could be stuck somewhere between the customs and the postal office, but without the tracking number I have no means to check for it by myself...

Thank you.

No, this is not a joke - although, after 13+ years, people has the right to be full of doubts (myself included).

The game has finally been announced at Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle to be released on 2011 on PC and consoles.

THIS is the official announcement, and THESE TWO are the videos from the playable demo.

I still cannot believe it !

Hail to the King, baby !!!

While speaking about the new Errata for the Core Rulebook, a question regarding the modifications to Smite Evil was made:

Are wrote:

The Wraith wrote:

On the following round, rinse and repeat.

The new text does NOT say "this round". It simply says "the first successful attack".

So, only the very first successful attack after you start the smite will have 2x damage. Every subsequent attack, this round or any other, will have 1x damage. That's how I read it, anyway.

Hmm, the text indeed seems to indicate so.

Maybe it is a case of poor wording, maybe not. It should be addressed somehow.

"Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a paladin can call out to the powers of good to aid her in her struggle against evil. As a swift action, the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is evil, the paladin adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her paladin level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. If the target of smite evil is an outsider with the evil subtype, an evil-aligned dragon, or an undead creature, the bonus to damage on the first successful attack increases to 2 points of damage per level the paladin possesses. Regardless of the target, smite evil attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess.
In addition, while smite evil is in effect, the paladin gains a deflection bonus equal to her Charisma modifier (if any) to her AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. If the paladin targets a creature that is not evil, the smite is wasted with no effect.
The smite evil effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the paladin rests and regains her uses of this ability. At 4th level, and at every three levels thereafter, the paladin may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on Table 3–11, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level."

Effectively it is not crystal clear if the ability 'resets itself' every round or not.

Basically, the text seems to say that a Paladin would benefit from the empowered abilites of Smite (2x Paladin level bonus damage against Evil subtype, Evil Dragons and Undead) only for ONE single successful attack for the ENTIRE fight.

Is this right? Or does this mean that every round the first successful attack against 'Team Evil' is Paladin Level x2, all others x1, and then the next round the ability resets itself (and so, first successful attack 2x and so on) as I initially thought?

Which is, if a Paladin is fighting against a Vampire and hits him 9 times during 3 rounds, how many hits would benefit from the improved damage, 3 or 1 ?

Yesterday, my group faced an unusual (but legitimate - at least I believe so) circumstance.

Basically, one of the characters (the Fighter) was hit and grabbed by an advanced Large Crab and subjected by his Constrict damage (on top of being grappled).
On the Monk’s turn, he decided to try to grapple the Large Crab – and succeeded.

Now I was facing a situation where the rules are silent about. It's true that the rules say that "Multiple creatures can also assist another creature in breaking free from a grapple, with each creature that assists (using the Aid Another action) granting a +2 bonus on the grappled creature’s combat maneuver check.", but this was not exactly the same case - the Monk didn't want to help the Fighter escaping the grapple, he was actively trying to grapple (and subsequently damaging or pinning) the Crab by himself, since he had a fair chance of succeeding (as effectively happened).
I decided that, since the Crab was not holding the Fighter only with the Claw attack (the rule that says ‘it takes a –20 penalty on its CMB check to make and maintain the grapple, but does not gain the grappled condition itself’ rule) but was effectively conducting the grapple normally, the new condition of being grappled didn’t allow it to continue holding the Fighter, thus effectively allowing the Monk to free his comrade, while grappling the Crab himself.

Is this a legitimate interpretation of the rules? I figured this situation akin to that of ‘Mr. A is trying to strangle Mr. B , but suddenly Mr. C comes out and makes a full nelson to Mr. A, freeing Mr. B in the process.’ Would you have done the same?

What if the Crab was instead ‘holding’ the Fighter with his claw (effectively taking –20 to his Grapple check and not being considered Grappled himself) ? In that kind of situation I would have allowed the Crab to try continuing grappling the Fighter (albeit at –20 and with the –2 to his CMB for being grappled too). What do you think about this ?

This is a strange question that sometimes pops up into my mind when reading spell descriptions - and sometimes even my players ask them 'What happens if I cast XXX while I'm on a moving cart/ship/whatever ?'

It's true that the rules already imply that such spells are 'immobile' only relating to the heavenly body where they are cast - we all know that Earth moves into the space at an amazing speed, and that if we think that a spell like Globe of Invulnerability, Rope Trick or Prismatic Sphere is totally fixed into a point in space relating to the Universe itself, all those spell would be simply unplayable (a Prismatic Sphere would easily be on the other part of the globe and beyond just after being cast, due to revolution and rotation - killing A LOT of creatures on its apparent route) (as a side note, since Universe is moving by itself - expanding and so on - I really wonder where such spell would go, by such strict reading of the word 'immobile').

However, would you define 'immobile' a spell cast on a sailing ship, or on a moving cart? That is, a Wizard casting Lesser Globe of Invulnerability while on a ship would still be protected if he doesn't move from his very spot, or the Globe (being 'immobile' on regards of the planet and not on regards of the ship) would be left behind? And what about a Rope Trick? I can easily imagine a party of stowaways who jump aboard a ship during the night and casts Rope Trick among the riggings of the mast - only to be left into OPEN SEA the following day because, well, the ship moved and the spell not...

What is your opinion?

These are some others typos I noticed searching throughout the PDF:

page 63:

"Once per day, as a full-round action, a paladin may magically call her mount to her side (...)"

There is no mention on how much time the Mount remains with the Paladin (rounds? hours?) and which kind of action is required to dismiss it before time (if possible).

Skills, page 87-108 (PDF only):

the hyperlink underscore for Ability names (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) is placed in the middle of the name instead that on the bottom - it seems that the word has been canceled instead that underscored (Adobe Reader 8.1.6)

page 136:

"Weapon Finesse: With a light weapon, rapier, whip, or spiked chain made for a creature of your size category (...)"

Add Elven Curve Blade to the list.

page 144:

"A double weapon can be wielded as a one-handed weapon, but it cannot be used as a double weapon when wielded in this way"

There is a contraddiction with the rules on page 141:

"The character can also choose to use a double weapon two-handed, attacking with only one end of it. A creature wielding a double weapon in one hand can’t use it as a double weapon — only one end of the weapon can be used in any given round"

The reference to 'creatures wielding a double weapon in one hand' is obviously for larger creatures who can wield (albeit with a -2 penalty) a smaller Double weapon as a One-handed weapon - and in this case, since they are not using the second head of the weapon, they cannot benefit from wielding it for Two-Weapon fighting. However, the first part ('a character can choose to wield it two-handed') falls in contraddiction with the rule on page 144 - unless that rule has a typo and should read 'A double weapon can be wielded as a two-handed weapon' (etc.)

Page 155:

"Type of Alchemical Silver item"

The spacing between the definition of the last entry and the price modifier is a little messy - it reads 'Two-handed weapon, or both heads of a +180 gp double weapon' (the item cost modifier is not in line with those above)

page 183-184 (cross-reference with Bestiary Preview, page 22):

"In addition, all of your attacks made with melee weapons and unarmed strikes (...). Feats such as Two-Weapon Fighting and Multiattack (see the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary) can reduce these penalties."

However, the sample Human Skeleton from the Bestiary Preview shows this Melee Attack pattern:

"Broken Scimitar +0 (1d6), claw -3 (1d4+1)"

The primary attack has been calculated as if the Skeleton had Two-Weapon Fighting (+0 BaB, +2 Str, -2 TWF with One-handed and Light Weapon), the secondary attack has only the -5 penalty for attacking with a Secondary Natural Weapon and no TWF penalties at all (+0 BaB, Str +2, -5 Secondary Weapon)

So, either the Bestiary Preview or the Core Rulebook have a typo.

page 548 (PDF only):

It is erroneously placed after page 552 (originally noticed by Ploppy here)

EDIT: deleted a reference, since I noticed the table was right.

I've just found out (after years of playing at 3.x) that this horrible (IMHO) rule that was present in 3.0 is still present in 3.5 (and subsequentially, in Pathfinder).

Page 344:

"Hardness and Hit Points: An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck. Each +1 of enhancement bonus also adds 1 to the weapon’s or shield’s hardness and hit points."

This rule basically throws out of the window the possibility to use effectively Sunder against PCs at all.

Let's take some examples: a Frost Giant is a CR 9 with the Improved Sunder feat and no magic weapons (by SRD). A party would start reasonably to find Frost Giants around 7th level. Now, at 7th level, any character would have at least a +1 weapon; conclusion is, a Frost Giant cannot sunder characters' weapons (or shields, for the matter) at all.
Worse yet, a Frost Giant Jarl (CR 17) has a +2 Frost Greataxe. The enhancement bonus of the weapon is +2; a 15th level character (again, a reasonable moment of his career to find such a creature) has at least a +3 weapon, right? So, no sunder again.

I could go on indefinitely; a Balor (CR 20) has just a +1 Vorpal weapon !!! Again, no Sunder possible !!! And so on, and on, and on...

The thing is even worse for creatures that do not use manufactured weapons, but instead fight with their own body (because a GM could give some share of the treasure a monster has to boost his equipment...). What is the 'enhancement' bonus of a Great Wyrm, a Tyrannosaurus, a Purple Worm - the Tarrasque !?!... Nothing ! At best, we can consider the DR of such creatures; and again, a Great Wyrm has DR 20/magic (which can be considered +1 at best), and cannot cast Greater Magic Fang without using Limited Wish or Wish, since it's not on his spell list! Only the Tarrasque has DR 15/epic, so a GM can consider it +6 (but not as per RAW...)

And, icing the cake, a Monk who fights unarmed cannot sunder a magic weapon at all !!! (what is the 'enhancement bonus' of a Monk's Unarmed Attack ? +1 when he has Ki strike magic ? and then ???...)

This rule COULD have some reason to be in 3.0, where monsters had a DR of X/+1, X/+2, and X/+3 (and later, X/+X in Epic). It could be reasonable to allow them to bypass weapon enhancements as if their natural weapons had an enhancement bonus equal to that of their DR. Now, this is not possible anymore.

I think that it's ridicolous that an hydraulic press can squish an Iron Golem (Terminator-like), but a wooden Quarterstaff +1 blocks it completely. A Storm Giant can break (with some efforts) an Adamantine Heavy Shield, but he cannot break a lousy +1 (Steel )Longsword ? A raging Barbarian can (giving him enough time) dig into the walls of a dungeon, but cannot break with his own hands a lousy +1 Dagger ???

I know that Jason has stated more than once that he hates absolutes, and so do I, so I think that if we are off-time to fix this problem in the final rules, we have to decide either:

1) to eliminate this rule completely

or

2) to add an additional value to the hardness of the item if somebody tries to break it without a weapon with an adequate enhancement bonus (something akin to DR). An additional value of +10 hardness or similar could do.

I personally would go for option number 2) (it seems the most balanced to me).

What are your opinions on the matter?

The Playtest time is already over and so this (sadly) cannot be taken in consideration anymore...

But:
"Camouflage (Ex): A ranger of 12th level or higher can use the Stealth skill to hide in any sort of natural terrain, even if the terrain doesn’t grant cover or concealment.
"Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): While in any sort of natural terrain, a ranger of 17th level or higher can use the Stealth skill even while being observed."
(page 38)

Basically, this cuts out Urban and Dungeon environments, doesn't it?

A friend of mine (who is currently playing a Ranger) has pointed out that it sounds strange at best that those abilities cannot be used in some Favored Terrains at all.
His precise words were: "Come on, if I take Urban Favored Terrain or Dungeon Favored Terrain I cannot Hide in Plain Sight, but if I try to hide in a desert or on an empty beach I can disappear, even if I didn't took them as Favored Terrain at all? What a great training I have..."

Don't you feel that it would have been better if the Camouflage and Hide in Plain Sight abilities could be used only in all your chosen Favored Terrains (and not in ALL natural terrains, preventing a Urban Ranger or a Dungeon-Crawl Ranger to hide)?

A NEW OPPONENT INTERRUPTS THE TOURNAMENT !!!

My players decided to change some of their characters, so the new party consisted of:

Paladin (LG)
Barbarian (CN)
Fighter (N)
Cleric (LG)

The situation was exactly the same; walking in the wasted wilderness of a Lower Outer Plane, the Arena shoots the group high in the sky.

The group started to buff:
Paladin: Bless Weapon on Barbarian
Fighter: Potion of Fly/ Potion of Haste
Barbarian: Potion of Fly/ Potion of Haste
Cleric: Magic Circle against Evil/ Align Weapon (Good) on Fighter

The player took Cleric mainly for the horrible Greater Planar Ally – Planetar combo (seriously, an 8th-level spell which conjures a 17th-level Cleric with Spell-like at will at the punching force of an army for mere 1400 gp…); fortunately, the casting time of 10 minutes disallowed the combo…

Enters the king of the pit, the Pit Fiend !!!

Obviously, the buffing rounds of the Pit Fiend were:
Summon Cornugon/ Summon Cornugon

After rolling initiative, the order was the following:

Cleric
Pit Fiend + Cornugons
Paladin
Fighter
Barbarian

The heroes made a defensive line (the Martial characters) with the Cleric in the background; on the other side of the Arena, the Cornugons made a defensive line, with the Pit Fiend behind.

Round 1) Cleric cast Greater Dispel Magic against the Fiendish party, dispelling Cornugon 1 (the left one) !!!; Pit Fiend start to nuke the group… Meteor Swarm on the Fighter + Quickened Fireball, then flies 60 ft. high
Damage output:
Fighter: 119 hp from MS + 14 from Fireball
Barbarian, 13 hp !!! (Ring of Major Fire Resistance 30, Save against fire from MS succeeds, no need for the save against Fireball – 28 hp only)
Mount: 42 hp (Thanks to Improved Evasion)
Paladin: 99 hp
Cleric: 99 hp
Things are starting to look bad…; Cornugon approaches to the group, Aura of Fear useless against all BUT THE MOUNT !!!
I totally forgot of the Protection from Evil, but the first round Cornugon missed, then all characters started to attack him, so no harm was done…
The fact that a Paladin’s Mount shares the spells of the Paladin but not the immunities is a bit silly… although he had a good Will save, and the Aura of Courage helped it, it failed miserably…
It’s worth noting that, in the heat of the battle, we made the Horse run away only the following round…
Paladin hits with only one attack, but decides to spare his Smite Evil attempts for the BBEG – and inflicts only 9 hp…, then uses Lay on Hands on himself as a swift action for 18 hp; Fighter takes a 5ft step to flank Cornugon, full attacks and hits for 62 hp; Barbarian, on the front, rages and takes a full-attack action (including his Bite), but hits only twice with the Axe – enough for 68 hp, though
The new DR system works well at high level… all characters had +4 weapons, and had only to align their weapon to bypass the DR and Regeneration of Devils
Round 2) Cleric takes a 5-ft step and casts defensively a Heal to Fighter, who regains all hp; Pit Fiend, from above, unleashes another Quickened Fireball + Power Word Stun against Cleric
Fighter: -27 hp
Barbarian: no damage, still only –13 hp
Horse: Save failed, Imp Evasion halves damage; -55 hp
Paladin: -94 hp
Cleric: -112 hp, stunned for 9 rounds !!!
The party is doomed…; Cornugon makes a Vital Strike Full Attack against Paladin, misses with his attacks, but the Tail Slap is a CRITICAL !!! Paladin takes another 39 hp (-133), and has Infernal Wound…; Horse, after 1 round of unbelievable effort, flees due to the Fear Aura (…) and provokes an AoO, taking 19 hp (-74 hp); Paladin succeeds in a fast dismount, takes 2 hp from Infernal Wound (-135) and tries to heal himself with Lay on Hands – but the pernicious power of the curse of the Cornugon fizzles the healing powers !!!; Fighter kill Cornugon with his 2 first Iterative attacks (an Improved Standard Attack Action) and flies against the Pit Fiend; Barbarian flies as well, but decides to reach a height of 55 feet (in order to be slightly outside of the reach of the Pit Fiend)

Round 3) Cleric is stunned (1° round); Pit Fiend, Quickened Fireball on party (all but Barbarian and Mount), 5-ft. step flying and full attack on Barbarian
Paladin: -170, dying
Cleric: -130
Fighter: -62
Full Attack on Barbarian: all hit, Improved Grab misses thanks to Strength Surge activated by Barbarian as Immediate Action, 95 hp damage; -108
Fighter flies and reaches Pit Fiend; Barbarian makes a flying full attack, hits twice (for 40 hp damage) and falls on ground (since he CANNOT make Fly checks to hover), taking 17 hp damage (Barbarian: -125)

Round 4) Pit Fiend uses Quickened Fireball on dying members (42 hp !!! Paladin and Cleric killed) then full attacks Fighter, hitting him only once for 22 hp (Fighter: -84); Fighter takes a flying Full Attack, hits only once for 24 hp (Pit Fiend: -64) and then falls too (see above…) for 21 hp (Fighter: -105)
This sounded a bit silly, but the group insisted on a full attack followed by a ‘drop-like-a-stone’ technique… After the fight was over, they admitted that a non-trained flying character should make a ‘hit-and-run’ technique, instead – especially when the iterative attacks miss anyway
Barbarian flies again near the Pit Fiend

Round 5) Pit Fiend casts a Quickened Fireball on Fighter (really? what an interesting and new strategy…) for 16 hp (Fighter: -121), then takes a full attack on Barbarian – all hit, Improved Grab + Constrict too (Barbarian must wait another 9 rounds before using Strength Surge again…), for a grand total of 113 hp
note that Barbarian had DR 4/- against all attack, and Pit Fiend didn’t even use Power Attack !!!
(Barbarian: -238); Fighter begs Pit Fiend for mercy
the player was already aware that the fight was over, and didn’t want to waste time anymore…; Barbarian tries to escape – and fails… and as a swift action tries to bite him – and fails again…

Round 6) Pit Fiend casts YET ANOTHER Quickened Fireball on Fighter for 38 hp (Fighter: -143), then makes a Grapple check to damage+ Constrict Barbarian – succeeds, -36 hp, Barbarian is dead; Fighter, screaming like a madman, cleaves his skull with his axe while throwing himself off the Arena…
I allowed him a Coup de Grace, for 75 hp damage plus bleed…not counting 20d6 from falling…

…and the Forces of Evil yet triumph again !!! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!

Final considerations: I seriously thought that the Balor fight would have been more difficult; but again, the second fight was without Arcane Casters, so it’s difficult to make a comparison between the two fights.

Yesterday, one of my groups and I had the possibility (and the time) to playtest some of the high-level challenges proposed by Jason in these Forums. One is posted here, while the other is posted here.

The group was composed by a Paladin, a Monk, a Druid, and a Wizard (I used the pre-made characters posted by me here). I used also the proposed ‘Improved Standard Attack Action’ (on BaB +11 or more, a character can make two iterative attacks as a standard action)

The group was scattered into the marsh, trying to find an Old Black Dragon and kill him.

Entering Bhetah-Thezz’t , Old Black Dragon:
Skills: Fly +24, Intimidate +30, Knowledge (Arcana) +30, Perception +34, Sense Motive +34, Spellcraft +30, Stealth +20, Swim +45
Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Lightning Reflexes, Multiattack, Power Attack (+9), Toughness, Weapon Focus (bite), Weapon Focus (claw)

Spells Known: 0) Acid Splash/ Dancing Lights/ Detect Magic/ Light/ Mage Hand/ Read Magic/ Resistance; 1) Charm Person/ Mage Armor/ Magic Missile/ Protection from Good/ Shield; 2) Blur/ Mirror Image/ See Invisibility; 3) Dispel Magic/ Stinking Cloud

Preparations:
Druid: Barkskin (on himself), Resist Energy (Acid) (on himself), Magic Fang (on the Wolf companion), Animal Growth (on the Wolf Companion), Freeedom of Movement (on the Monk)
Paladin: Shield Other (for the Mount), Divine Favor (on himself), Protection from Evil (on the Mount), Resist Energy (Acid) (on himself)
Monk: Potion of Displacement
Wizard: Fly (on himself), Protection from Energy (Acid) (on himself), Mirror Image (8 images present), Enlarge Person (on the Druid), Summon Monster VI – summoned a Large Air Elemental
Dragon: Shield, Mage Armor, Mirror Image (3 images present), Protection from Good, Blur

Initiative count: Monk/ Wolf/ Paladin/ Wizard+Elemental/ Dragon/ Druid/ Horse

Before combat, the Dragon was hidden in a large pool 60 feet away from the group. His Stealth check was a 38, plus modifiers from being partially submerged (a +2), plus the distance (a +6). The Monk realized a grand total of 44 on his Perception check, which was not sufficient to notice the Dragon.

Surprise round: Dragon makes a move and soars up in the air, to a total distance of around 150 feet from the party (in order to breath the next round)

Round 1) Monk draws the bow and fires two arrows – miss; the Wolf howls in anger; the Paladin draws the bow and fires two arrows – miss; the Wizard casts Confusion SR 22 for an Elf Wizard with Spell Penetration is a joke – ST succeeds, Elemental moves and strikes – miss on a side note, due to the presence of Protection from Good, until the spell is not eliminated, the Elemental cannot strike anyway – but with only +12 vs. a 40 AC plus Blur plus Mirror Image…; Dragon Frightful Presence (only the Horse fails the Save) a Mount shares the Spells but not the immunities of the Paladin ? how lame…, moves (AoO from the Elemental, useless) and Breathes on Monk and Druid – Monk saves (0 damage), Druid fails (36 damage, reduced to 6), 4 rounds to wait for the Breath; Druid starts to cast Call Lightning Storm one of the keys to victory; Horse does nothing

Round 2) Monk makes a charismatic move (this particular player is known for his almost-suicidal maneuvers); Abundant Step on the back of the Dragon the rules do not clearly forbid to use Dimension Door on a space such as the back of a flying creature, plus the Dragon is sized like a small backyard, Acrobatics check to stay in balance, Standard action to attack with Gorgon Fist – the miracle happens, a natural 20 (not critical), on the real target, bypass Blur – the Dragon makes the save but takes 13 hp; Wolf does nothing; Paladin full attack with bow (useless); Wizard casts Horrid Wilting – Save succeeds, 29 hp only – Elemental flails without effect; Dragon takes vengeance on the Monk nothing prevents a creature to full-attack somebody who is riding him, but I (reasonably) prevented the Wings attacks (the Dragon had to fly anyway) , Full attack with Power Attack – Bite and 2 Claws strike, 75 hp damage the player reminded me 3 rounds later of his Displacement – oh, well, too bad for him…; Druid starts with his rain of Lightnings, SR bypassed, save failed – 21 hp damage this was a well-placed move… since the spell bypassed SR the first time, it was no more necessary to check SR again, as on page 397-398; Horse still does nothing

Round 3) Monk decides to withdraw with Abundant Step again, appears where he started, and drinks a Potion of Cure Serious Wounds (12 hp); Wolf does nothing; Paladin fires with bow – useless; Wizard makes the best move, Greater Dispel Magic – all buffs on Dragon go away, AC is 32 again, Elemental flails without result tough; Dragon Casts Defensively Stinking Cloud on the (relatively) clustered party – all make their save; Druid moves (even with only 15ft of movement, he managed to exit from the cloud), another Lightning – Dragon saves, 10 hp; Horse moves out of cloud with the Paladin Horseshoe of Zephyr are the key to victory in this fight…

Round 4) Monk moves out of the cloud, sees the Paladin, and moves near him (80 feet without being influenced by terrain, thanks to Freedom of Movement, are very much), using Wholeness of Body in the meantime; Wolf comes out of the cloud; Paladin uses lay on Hands for 30 hp on the Monk; Wizard moves out of the cloud (15 feet – he was barely inside the cloud from the beginning) and casts Disintegrate on Dragon – Save made, 27 hp (LUCKY roll), Elemental starts to realize his uselessness missing again; Dragon casts Shield again; Druid goes with ‘Da BOMB’ (Fire Seeds) – hit succeeds, 50 hp damage; Horse delays to the Initiative of the Paladin

Round 5) Monk moves around the cloud, near the Druid this involuntary is the doom of the Dragon… lined up are the Monk, the Druid (one near the other) and, past the edge of the cloud, the Wizard… Dragon starts to think where his recharged Breath goes…; Wolf does nothing; Paladin (with the Horse) moves a bit and fires with the bow – again, useless; Wizard casts Hold Monster (although the Dragon is immune to paralysis !!!), Elemental misses again; Dragon decides to move in order to Breath the characters (AoO from Elemental, miss), but in order to hit all 3 targets must lower his altitude this is his doom… to 10 ft, Breath on Monk (ST failed – 20 damage thanks to Improved Evasion), Druid (ST failed, 40 reduced to 10 thanks to Resist Energy), Wizard (ST failed, but Protection from Energy soaks all the damage); Druid throws another Lightning for 10 hp total

Round 6) Monk moves, tumbles across the threatened area (succeeds !), jumps (succeeds) and makes a Flying Kick with Quivering Palm included – and misses…; Wolf does nothing; Paladin ‘Drop da REAL BOMB’, Smite Evil Spirited Charge with the Lance (since he is mounting his Horse, he is able to reach the Dragon who is slightly hovering at 10ft from ground) move action to take the Lance, the Horse is charging… is this legit ? I don’t know, but yesterday I didn't notice this anyway – 85 hp with a single hit; Wizard makes ultimate combo, Bonded Item casts Clenched Fist although it was not a memorized spell, it was a known spell written on his spellbook, so I thought it was legit - hit for 16 hp, Dragon FAILED ST vs STUN !!! - , casts Empowered Fireball for 21 hp, Elemental sadly misses again, Attack of Opportunity from the Paladin the Dragon, stunned, cannot fly anymore and splats prone into the swamp; falling in front of the Paladin, he is currently moving out of squares of his threatened area… – misses; Dragon is stunned and Prone into the swamp (AC 30, thanks to Shield); Druid decides to make Monk the hero of the day, and casts Greater Dispel Magic (…)

Round 7) Monk makes Kenshiro (from Hokuto no Ken) pale in comparison… ‘Hokuto Shinken – HyakuretsuKen’ (a.k.a. Vital Strike Medusa’s Wrath plus extra attack from Ki pool = 7 attacks) – 5 hits, 2 misses (on AC 26, with a 6 attacks at +21 and one at +16… how sad…) and makes for a grand total of 104 hp of damage, killing the beast !!!

Final thoughts: for a CR 16, I expected a bit of more challenge… although the Dragon made a terrible mistake (although a realistic one), he was already about one-third hp damaged without being a real threat up to the moment… perhaps a bit of Flyby Attacks with the Bite could have made more damage, but after the second round he was already stripped of his buffs, and Flyby Attack does not avoid AoO, like Spring Attack instead does…
16d4 Breath Weapon are really lame, the Dragon died without damaging the party (except the kamikaze Monk)

My players however were so much enthralled by these two fights that asked me for an ‘over the top’ fight when we have spare time; they agreed to meet an ‘impossible fight’ – a CR20 Balor – with these 15th-level characters, to see if with the current rules they are too much powerful or not…

The table for Disguise Check Modifiers on page 56 lacks a fundamental variable: the Size of the creature.

It's almost unbelievable that a Cloud Giant (a Huge creature 18 feet tall) can disguise as a frail old lady with only a -2 to his modifier if she's a female Old Cloud Giant, and a -4 if he's a male Old Cloud Giant; what, a difference in age imposes a cumulative -2 penalty, a difference in gender imposes a -2 penalty, a difference in race imposes a -2 penalty (only), and a difference in size does not ?

It's true that there are spells that can change size to creatures (and so, our lovable old lady COULD have been bumped in size by someone), but some penalties should be added to the table anyway, IMHO.

Perhaps a -4 cumulative per different size (and so, a Huge that wants to impersonate a Medium creature has a -8 to his Disguise check)? A -8 cumulative ? What do you think ?

Of course, this should impose a Bluff check anyway - something along the line of 'impossible lie' "Wait Billy, it's me, your old, lovable granny May... Don't be fooled by my Huge size, my cavernous voice, and the wrinkles on my face that seem drawn with black ink..."

From the Magic Items Web Enhancement, page 18:
"The DC to create a magic item increases by +5 for each prerequisite the caster does not meet. The only exception to this is the requisite item creation feat, which is mandatory."

This is a good mechanic that allows - for example - a Fighter to create his own, personal Flaming Sword thanks to the feat Master Craftsman and a lot of ranks in Craft (Weaponmaking), without the need to have a Wizard available each day to provide him the needed Fireball spell. However, there is also a strange side-effect...

Magic Items Web Enhancements, page 22:
"To create a scroll, a character needs a supply of choice writing materials, the cost of which is subsumed in the cost for scribing the scroll—12.5 gp x the level of the spell x the level of the caster.
All writing implements and materials used to scribe a scroll must be fresh and unused. A character must pay the full cost for scribing each spell scroll no matter how many times she previously has scribed the same spell.
The creator must have prepared the spell to be scribed (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) and must provide any material component or focus the spell requires."

Following the rules written at the top, a Wizard can technically scribe the scroll of a spell he doesn't know simply adding a +5 to the DC for creating any scroll for which he has all other prerequisites (in this case, caster level and Intelligence score). Then, after he has completed to craft the item, he can easily scribe it on his Spellbook and gain it permanently, without having to find an external source, and for only half the price.

Of course, this can be easily translated as a 'magical research' (and this is good... finally a Wizard CAN research obscure spells without having to find a copy somewhere), but the cost is rather cheap...

Let's take a more, radical example.
Take a Sorcerer.
Take a Sorcerer, and give him Scribe Scrolls.
Take a Sorcerer, give him Scribe Scrolls, and pump up his Spellcraft (or Craft-Calligraphy, or Profession-Scribe) skill.
Now, you have a caster who can create scrolls of spells that he doesn't know, and can easily bypass the 'Sorcerers are not versatile like Wizards' thing.
Want to cast Knock? You can easily create a Scroll (the DC for a caster level 3 item, one prerequisite missing is 13). Sure, it costs money, but it can be done. And this is more difficult to understand than the Wizard example above.

Am I missing something? Am I understanding wrong? Does anybody noticed it before?

From the SRD:
"Iron, Cold: This iron, mined deep underground, known for its effectiveness against fey creatures, is forged at a lower temperature to preserve its delicate properties. Weapons made of cold iron cost twice as much to make as their normal counterparts. Also, any magical enhancements cost an additional 2,000 gp.
Items without metal parts cannot be made from cold iron. An arrow could be made of cold iron, but a quarterstaff could not.
A double weapon that has only half of it made of cold iron increases its cost by 50%.
Cold iron has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10."

From the Official 3.5 FAQ:
"I’m unclear about the exact cost of adding enhancements to a cold iron weapon. Page 284 in the DMG says any magical enhancements to a cold iron item cost an additional 2,000 gp. I am unclear as to whether this is a one-time cost or if it applies to each enhancement. For example, would a +1 cold iron frost longsword cost the same as a +2 cold iron longsword (10,330 gp) since both are “+2” weapons, or would it cost 12,330 gp (2,000 extra for the +1 enhancement, and 2,000 extra for the frost enhancement)? Also, is the extra cost (whatever it might be) added to the magic item’s base (so that it takes longer to make a cold iron item), or just to the total price?
You pay +2,000 gp each time you enhance the item, not for each magical property. When you first create the item, you add +2,000 gp on top of the cost of all other enhancements you add to the weapon, and that 2,000 gp increases only the item’s market price. So your example +1 cold iron frost longsword would have a market price of 10,330 gp
(30+300+8,000+2,000). The cost to create the sword would be 6,330 gp (30+300+4,000+2,000) and 320 XP (1/25th of the 8,000 gp cost for the enhancements). The sword would take 8 days to make (the 8,000 gp divided by 1,000).
If you later went back and added another +1 enhancement, you’d have to pay the extra 2,000 gp again."

This is extremely complex, and also a bit silly. What, you find a +2 Cold Iron Long Sword and you do not know its exact value (you can easily Appraise most magic items with a high Appraise check) because it has a 'fluctuating' value ? Worse yet, you create you own +1 Cold Iron Long Sword (because it's the maximum bonus you can enchant it with), pay the extra price, and then you power up the item later and pay the extra price again?
IMHO, this is extremely unnecessary, and forces the GM to extra-bookkeeping (and the players to pay unnecessary amount of gp for nothing). Is this going to change in Pathfinder? What are your thoughts about it?
Isn't perhaps better to create a fixed table (like crafting Adamantium or Silver items) and get rid of this annoying mechanism?

In the past, the Official 3.5 FAQ said that the extra damage from 'burst' weapons was activated every time a critical hit was scored and confirmed, even if the creature was immune to critical hits (it was reasonable - the creature is immune to the extra damage from the critical hit, not to the energy damage 'triggered' by the critical hit itself)
More recently, however, the last version of the Official 3.5 FAQ changed this, saying that the 'trigger' of the burst is the DAMAGE that the creature takes, not the d20 roll (and so, a creature immune to critical hits does not take the extra damage UNLESS the bonus specifically says so - like some bonuses in the Magic Item Compendium splatbook).

So, my question is, how burst weapons work now in Pathfinder? Do they actually have to damage a creature with extra-damage from critical hits in order to activate their burst ability (and so, work only with creatures vulnerable to critical hits)? Or is sufficient to score a critical and then confirm it in order to activate the extra Energy damage they would deal (and so, affect even creatures immune to critical hits, since you can score and confirm a critical even to such creatures - only thing, you normally cannot add the additional critical damage to them) ?

Since it seems that not a lot of people are currently playing a high-level campaign, I've just created some 'ready-to-use' characters for the high-level playtest, in order to try the challenges Jason asked us to test here.

Some considerations:

- all these characters are built with the 15-points method (Standard Fantasy), with starting characteristics (before racial adjustments) of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
- hp are calculated as: 1st level, maximum HD plus Con modifier; all other levels, average hp for HD plus Con modifier. Which is, basically: 55 hp (d6), 71 hp (d8), 87 hp (d10), 103 hp (d12)
- equipment value of 240,000 gp, maximum value per item 120,000 gp (but the threshold is way lower for each of them)
- Core only (Races, Classes, Feats, Magic Items, Spells)
- Barbarian uses the Alternate Rage System here
- Ranger uses the Alternate Animal Companion here
- Druid uses the Alternate Animal Companion here
- Paladin uses the Paladin Upgrade features here and here
- Most characters use Feats from the New Feats Playtesting here
- Magic Items are given with some ranges, but my style of play (permanent items instead of a lot of consumable items) is obviously visible in these builds
- These characters are created with a - somehow - credible array of skills (Sense Motive, Diplomacy, some Knowledges...); not all characters are 'ready for the rumble', and a 15th-level character would not have skills useful for EVERY situation...

I'm doing my homeworks and all the Core classes will soon be completed (including a 'gish' build)

Here they are.

Barbarian

Bard

Cleric

Fighter

Monk

Paladin

Ranger

Sorcerer

Hope this can be useful.

Historically, the roman legions ruled the world thanks to a simple yet efficient idea: the combined forces of wall-shields and thrusting weapons (such as the gladii).
In 3.x, this is a suboptimal choice at best, thanks to the -2 to hit given by Tower Shields.
My idea is (well, actually, this comes by a friend of mine who was always bothered by this): why not dropping the -2 to hit with piercing weapons only ?
I mean, the Tower Shield was actually made to work exactly in this way... wielding it you have a massive defense but you are not very efficient to make swings with a weapon. But with a piercing weapon you actually thrust, not swing...

First of all, I apologize if a similar thread is open elsewhere, but I was not able to find it anywhere. The only one was from Alpha 1 (I wrote there before realizing it, and I don't know if it's a post still active; if still active, I apologize for doubling my post).
My concerns regard the Universal Wizard abilities: specifically, can a Wizard with Metamagic Mastery apply a metamagic effect to a spell whose level would ordinarily be too high to gain the metamagic effect from his metamagic feat? A similar problem arose with the Divine Metamagic feat (from Complete Divine), which gave the possibilty to "burn" Turn Undead attempts to cast a metamagic spell without changing the spell slot, and the official answer from the FAQs was "YES", giving even an example of a 9th level cleric casting an Empowered Flame Strike with the feat - normally an 8th level spell !
This was obviously an horrible broken ability, and I hope this is not the case for Metamagic Mastery too (Universalists already have too many advantages, IMHO...).
Any official anwer ? I truly hope that a Wizard MUST still be able to spend the slot where the metamagic spell would go, but instead of spending it he uses the Metamagic Mastery feature. No 17th level Wizards who can cast Quickened Stilled Silent Time Stop (15th level spell), please !!!

Looking at the description of the Confusion spell, there is one property of the spell that basically can create a nasty problem.
From the SRD :"Any confused character who is attacked automatically attacks its attackers on its next turn, as long as it is still confused when its turn comes." This is reprinted without changes in the Beta version.
Now, basically this was made in order to avoid a "slaughter the babbling people" effect that Confusion could create; if a confused character is attacked, the next round he immediately retaliate against his attacker.
But, if we have TWO confused characters who are very near? Confusion has a 25% chance to make a confused victim to attack its nearest target, without distinction. And that's the real problem.
We basically could start a chain reaction of attacks between former allies who cannot end until the Confusion wears off (either with Dispel magic or end of the spell). Since a team of characters ususally travels VERY CLOSE together, a well placed Confusion spell could basically wipe off the entire party without any extra effort from the foe !
Suddenly, my BBEG Sorcerer with Confusion spell known starts to look VERY menacing against my player's group...