Cyrus Lanthier's page

Why does a 20th level fighter even bathe? I mean, a magic item to cast Prestidigitation at will would cost him basically nothing, let alone 1/day. He also doesn't sleep, given that new Stand Watch spell or whatever it's called. But, sure, let's assume he's naked and alone (two things that, by 20th level, he knows he should never be unless he's in a lead lined room in the middle of his castle). Let's further assume that he's utterly mundane.

He could, uhh... Swim for it? Don't laugh - it's one of the Fighter's skills, he could potentially be amazing at it, and in this situation it's actually potentially viable to save his life.

Anyway... You could spend your traits getting good skills like Stealth and Perception. If I recall correctly, there's even a feat to get two more traits... Fighters have a lot of traits. So... Ninja vanish into the water and murder anyone who follows you in? Then murder them one by one...

By the way, with traits, a Fighter can be totally viable at stealth even in full armor - what with Armor Training and such - so it's not even like this is a totally improbable build. Also, Improved Unarmed Strike is actually a really good feat for a fighter to take, and Stunning Fist isn't exactly a bad choice, either... Oh, and Unarmed Strike is in the close weapon group, which is a very strong group that should be picked second or third (third if you want to be "viable" at range) for weapon training, if not first (and basically always first if you are a shield guy). I'm not exactly bringing in shiny new options, either.

It seems pretty clear, I think, that doubling includes all bonuses, unless otherwise specified.

Do you mean that the halfling is slinging a bullet while also flying through the air with the momentum of the giant's slinging him like a bullet? Rule of cool says that this deals essentially infinite damage. :p

Sometimes objects not crafted to be weapons nonetheless see use in combat. Because such objects are not designed for this use, any creature that uses an improvised weapon in combat is considered to be nonproficient with it and takes a –4 penalty on attack rolls made with that object. To determine the size category and appropriate damage for an improvised weapon, compare its relative size and damage potential to the weapon list to find a reasonable match. An improvised weapon scores a threat on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a critical hit. An improvised thrown weapon has a range increment of 10 feet.

Improvised weapons aren't "crafted to be weapons," but that doesn't mean that they aren't weapons. All "penalties" for using improvised weapons seem to be in this paragraph, as far as I can tell. Apart from this paragraph, improvised weapons seem to do everything else a weapon does. Improvised weapons very much seem to be weapons, as far as I can tell. Wait, I've got it...

Any creature striking you with its body or a handheld weapon deals normal damage, but at the same time the attacker takes 1d6 points of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +15). This damage is either cold damage (if you choose a chill shield) or fire damage (if you choose a warm shield). If the attacker has spell resistance, it applies to this effect. Creatures wielding melee weapons with reach are not subject to this damage if they attack you.

Bold mine.

Okay, is an improvised weapon a weapon?

Hmm... I would think that Emily's actions are neutral, very appropriate for a neutral character, especially if she knows/suspects that "Richard" was ultimately behind the death of her loved one.

If it's "the only way" to stop the spread of illicit drugs that are killing people, one might consider it a good act, depending on character motivation.

If Emily now goes on a campaign to clean up the streets, becoming a vigilante, she might even end up CG... But if she goes too far and starts killing dealers even when she could have brought them to justice, she would probably slide toward evil, as hatred consumes her (good implies respect for life, after all).

Cyrus Lanthier wrote:

Also, why the "slow burn" over the knife in the kidney?

For the same reason you can shoot an enemy soldier but gassing him is a war crime.

I'm just what makes it so much more practical in the OP's situation to use a disease/curse. And how they can insure that the evil guy in question can't get it cured/removed somehow (if they merit this sort of thing, they can probably pay for a spell to be cast)... And if the evil guy is in their power (thus ensuring it isn't cured), then deciding to use the drawn out, painful method of killing a prisoner is probably at least borderline evil.

Cloudkill isn't an evil spell, and it's sometimes imminently practical... And Cloudkill almost certainly would qualify as a war crime.

And... The fact that RAW says nothing about a mount needing to be willing is ignored once again, despite it's importance to the topic and the fact that it shows how important houserules actually are (it's impossible to make rules for everything PC's might try ahead of time, so your options are to reduce creativity *or* make GM rulings- house rules). RAW you can ride the dragon and it's somehow compelled to obey you with a relatively simple skill check, but that's madness so we'll just apply a rule that does exist but doesn't really work for what is being attempted and just say "that's what your doing, because it's similar on some level."

There's a fundamental difference (in the real world) between holding something down (restricting it, Grappling) and holding onto something (CMD for holding onto your stuff, Climb for holding onto cliffs, vines, ropes, etc... Dragons?).

All that being said, whatever other rules you decide on, it should definitely provoke when you attempt to grapple/climb on/fast mount a foe, as you are moving into their square.

You use it all. The "at your full BAB" is just saying that your attack bonus is calculated using the full bonus (as opposed to when you have multiple attacks for a high BAB, in which case those attacks use progressively lower BAB values).

So, your fighter could have +1 for BAB, + say 4 for strength, and let's say +1 for weapon focus. So you would make both attacks at +6 (for example), assuming that the first attack hits.

UMM bastard swords are better than a falcata. The D10 compared to the D8 is actually pretty big. By the time you get a crit the extra 1-2 points of damage per hit makes up for the smaller crit multiplier.

This is for 100 attacks, I use max damage and improved crit here but it scales exactly the same if you use average and no imp crit.

BASTARD 10 max damage, 20% crit change, 800 non-crit damage, 2X crit mult, 400 crit damge, total damage 1200

FACATA 8 max damage, 20% crit chance, 640 non-crit damge, 3X crit mult, 480 crit damge, total damage 1120

if my math is right, this would make the bastard sword the best 1 handed weapon (had this in excel but it doesnt format properly)

That's all true... Assuming that you have a 10 Str and never get a magical weapon or spend any feats for specialization or use power attack or face a creature with DR, or take a feat like Weapon Specialization or Improved Critical, or have Fighter Weapon Training, and also you hit on literally every attack (though to be fair, you also assumed that you confirmed every crit). Also, the maximum damage assumption helps the bastard sword more than the Falcata.

The more your damage goes up from Strength, magic, etc, the more of a difference your crits make, and the less important large damage dice become.

Back to Bastard Swords:

I thought you were serious for a moment when I read your earlier post, Malachi Silverclaw, but re-reading it, I think we actually agree that it makes no sense how the bastard sword proficiency operates. Especially since the text of exotic weapon proficiency says "Normal: A character who uses a weapon with which he is not proficient takes a –4 penalty on attack rolls."

My conclusion; there should be a separate (not "weapon proficiency") feat to use it in one hand... And of course it should be a martial weapon two-handed weapon, as discussed above. Otherwise, we have to ask crazy questions like "If my Wizard takes Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword, is he proficient in using it two-handed or only one-handed?"

You can't permanency Wall of Stone, because wall of stone is Instantaneous. Let that sink in.

You can't permanency it- you can't even dispel it. Once it's there, it's a real wall. So... Over a relatively short time span, it creates the Great Wall, or a Castle, or an awesome mage tower that would have been impractical/impossible to create by mundane means. Heck, you could make stone ships, in theory (especially with Fabricate to thin the hull and cut down on excess weight). House the poor, change the courses of rivers, put quarries out of business...

Oh, you want actual adventuring uses? You can always entomb the party to give you a few rounds to buff up (assuming you have a way out, but Dimension Door is lower level. Some method of knowing what you are jumping into is helpful, though- who knows if *they* buffed up), or cut off the enemy's charge, or retreat, or divide the enemy group in any number of ways the benefit you- not all characters can break through a stone wall, and even those that can will waste at least one round, very likely more. You can entomb a mundane foe who isn't a human battering ram and they are basically dead for lack of air. Depending on your GM's reading of the spell, you might be able to "shape" it more closely around foes, so that they can't really move if they fail the reflex save and at that point even Bill the Barbarian is dead of suffocation, since he can't actually *swing* his adamantine maul. But that would make it a mass Reflex save or die spell, which should probably not be allowed. GM's should allow you to halve the walls area to double it's thickness (since it's "any shape you desire"), which makes it a better spell to get rid of a troublesome (low reflex save) opponent for a few rounds. Trap basically any swarm or ooze (Bad to terrible reflex saves, by the way) under a wall of stone and... Well, if it's not dead, it's not getting out. Bonus points if you then lure a troubling foe to the same spot and break open the wall. Vampire turns to gas? Why follow it back to it's coffin- we'll just trap it in/behind a Wall of Stone and it's dead.

Does your enemy have a castle because *he* has Wall of Stone? Use your Wall of Stone spells to make a ramp to get up the wall. He also has Fabricate, so amazing moats? Enough Wall of Stone will clear that problem. Are catapults breaking your Walls of Stone? you should cover them in Walls of Stone- that will keep the crews baffled for a while. If you get really desperate, you can make a really tall tower outside his Catapult range, make some Catapults with Fabricate (also level 5, also awesome), and out-range them due to height, making any actual siege between sufficiently magically backed opponents into a contest of who can cast Wall of Stone the most (unless someone actually has a spell that roasts the whole castle alive or something, which is totally a thing, I suppose. That and summoning an outsider with some silly sort of DR. Oh, wait, back to Wall of Stone!).

Enemy likes Fireball, or has similar evocation "blasting" powers? Prepare action to cast Wall of Stone. You'll find that breaking Line of Sight, even with a little 5' wall, will negate a whole lot of things your fellow spell-casters are trying to do (this is also an important reason to have high Spellcraft, clearly). Breaking Line of Effect is even better. In the case of Fireball in particular, you should be able to cut it off and cause a premature detonation, with hilarious results.

Basically, Wall of Stone is amazing. It creates something permanent (not to mention highly malleable) from nothing, and it even has some pretty great combat utility. What more do you want from a 5th level spell?

Edit: Aww, ninja'd about the whole "can't be dispelled" thing. :p

Hilarious. Though, Paladins like to dual-wield, more smite damage. That said, am I the only person who thinks that the TWF chain has ludicrously high DEX requirements? Like, unreasonably high...