Lab_Rat wrote: Monster CMD out scales player CMB. Players who rely upon combat maneuvers will find themselves struggling against anything that isn't a humanoid at higher levels. I wholeheartedly disagree with this statement. Combat maneuver characters must invest in combat maneuvers like an AC centric character must invest in AC. I have played a lot of high level pfs with combat maneuver centric characters and never struggled. I have a lvl 14 tripper and 11th and 9th lvl grapple based character. Freedom of movement is the only hindrance the grapplers face and that is a rarity. I have a mid lvl dirty trick, overrun and sunder based characters as well, and only the overrun based character ever struggles but he also must beat CMDs by 5 to really shine and cant afford the more expensive boost items yet, but he will actually get more consistent at higher levels, not worse. I would add that people who dont learn to use combat maneuvers and just stand toe to toe and "take it" every turn are more likely to struggle at high levels. The pouncing barbarian cant always bail you out.
As long as you understand the trouble with ladders and fancy dinner parties you will be fine. As a pathfinder you will run into both. I would recommend adding hosteling to your armor as soon as possible (from Ultimate Equipment) and i would keep 2 to 3 scrolls of Carry Companion (from Knights of the Inner Sea) for teammates to cast until you get the expensive armor upgrade. And welcome to PFS.
Alex Greenshields wrote:
I know i only made the DC thanks to our bard, or i would have been rotisserie chicken after 12 hours under a heat lamp, all crispy and dried out. And Alex you earned a sticker for sure! We had to work for that one even if your dice betrayed the rune lord a few times.
June Soler wrote:
At least one group took on the hard mode 10-11 Saturday afternoon and we stomped some Rune Lord @$$. Only Pirate Rob went down. It was a great group and an epic triumph. I proudly wore my KRUNE'S GOT NOTHING ON THIS PATHFINDER" sticker in my badge holder afterwards. So thank you June, it was a nice touch, even if we didn't get the hard mode stickers or our gold stars. We know what we did.
I like the idea, assuming your intention is to max out Dex and take the dervish dance feat as soon as possible. There a several ways you can take the dervish idea that would have a lot of flavor and be effective. I particularly like the idea of a div spawn inquisitor, with the desert domain, from Thuvia. The biggest downside is, as a dervish you will limit the number of attacks per turn with just the one scimitar and thus lose the additive effect of bane in volume. I think you will hit hard enough even with just one attack most of the time.
I also like linking race boons to specific scenarios. I think it gives better reason for a races inclusion and makes the players responsible for the relationship that led to the new races exposure to the pathfinders. One problem I see with this system is a product of our local leadership, which discourages play of newer scenarios from around January through June. This is done so players can play the newer scenarios at conventions. I could see an out cry from local players clamoring for only the newest scenarios and hurting the scheduling efforts of our local leadership. The clumping of boons due to table based selection bothers me a little too but that may just be the biologist speaking. I am reminded of the fear surrounding the local Tengu epidemic that was supposed to materialize after PAX11, and ruin the local communities. But the flood of corvids never happened, I never saw more then one tengu at any table before they were opened for play without a boon. The current local aasimar infestation is another matter...
The best utility character would be a creation sub school conjuration specialist. I might splash one or two levels of Crypt Breaker Alchemist too. This is the ultimate problem solver. I might go halfling and take well prepared. High int for skills, spells and you have assess to both magical and mundane answers to almost any problem. Improved familiar and the pilferer familiar archetype would add another layer of versatility.
This is a case of exclusion due to publishing dates and not rules as written. The boulder helmet is in the ARG while the weapon categories were updated in Ultimate Combat. The designation of weapon groups is a function of the fighter class and not the weapon itself. All weapons must belong to one or more groups and as the boulder helmet is essentially weaponized armor the close group makes the most sense, as this is were other weaponized armor is categorized. Based on the most parsimonious classification of the Dwarven Boulder Helm i would say play it without much hesitation. The table variation on this should be extremely non-existent, except maybe in Minnesota, and saying no kinda feels like a case of wrongbadfun for the sake of absolute RAW.
LazarX wrote:
Forget Batman, he is easy to ascribe as a whatever-it-takes kinda hero. But in Finding Nemo Dorey holds a crab up to a horde of gulls in order to get the crab to talk, because the crab is being a jerk. This is the same thing Batman is doing but I don't think anyone has ever thought "man that Dorey is an evil b*#$%." Silbeg wrote:
So what about the spell confess? it deals damage if you don't answer truthfully, so is casting this spell evil? Or is it only evil if they don't answer you? This spell makes taking the damage the choice of the target and not subjective in the eyes of the interrogator. Does that change whether it is torture? And what about if you cast it while still in combat and hope you don't answer, i mean its not a bad combat spell as far as inquisitor spells go.
Some questions came up about the new bombard animal trick. Bombard Trick:
Bombard (DC 20): A flying animal can deliver projectiles on command, attempting to drop a specified item that it can carry (often alchemist's fire or some other incendiary) on a designated point or opponent, using its base attack bonus to determine its attack roll. The animal cannot throw the object, and must be able to fly directly over the target. Is it the intention of this trick that the AC only gets its BAB and that dex does not apply? Does this attack still suffer improvised weapon penalties for alchemical items or rocks? and if so would Throw Anything work to counter this? Similarly could Point Blank Shot or Precise Shot be applied?
My character concepts usually start with the combat schtick i want to try. This can be a feat or combination of feats and class abilities, or even just a theme. But I start with that cool thing I want to do. Next I try to find the best way to fit this idea in Golarion. Most characters that lack personality fail to do this. Ethnicity imparts a significant part of most personalities and gives a great base to roleplay from. next step is to find the class combinations that let the character do what I want it to and gives me the best opportunity to make the schtick work. This normally involves planning the first 6 lvls. I fit the class to the character not the other way around. I've even taken the Dragonmoon approach with one of my newer characters and I don't even tell other players my classes or stats, just that I am a monster relocation specialist. The last thing I do is plug in stats. I don't really agree with the ideas you must maximise saves, or that a high con is necessary for survival. I have a retired con 10 melee inquisitor/monk and a lvl 10 con 12 tengu barbarian. Neither are min maxed or even fully optimized but both are effective.
Some people don't like rules questions in the pathfinder section since there is a rules section of the general boards. I think not answering your easy question and telling you to go elsewhere is kinda rude. Anyway, as a monk you add both your dex (like normal) and your wisdom modifier to your AC, as long as you don't wear armor or carry a shield.
Any other monk questions?
Ive had a few "you did how much damage?!?" moments before and asked to see the monster after the game is over. I even caught a HUGE mistake by doing it. But i think tact is key in all this. Talking to your GM privately and in a non confrontational way is your best option. And if a mistake was honestly made and caused your character death, talk to your local VC together. More will get done if both player and GM are in agreement that a mistake was made then if you try to escalate your issue with acusations of illegal play and cheating.
i think you are better off putting this on an amulet of mighty fist. having all of your body parts count as an immovable rod, as a monk, all the time. but i dont think using it for an unarmed attack would change anything about how it works. if you use the effect on a strike, the body part used would be anchored in space just as any weapon would have been. you are not stuck just what you struck the target with, so dont use it with a frog splash.
I am very interested in doing some play by post and have yet to play silent tide. I would most likely make a new pfs character for online games but i could get whatever i play to second 2nd, if this is something that will continue for a few scenarios. Ill flesh out what i want to play and get it online.
Mazlith wrote:
+1
bugleyman wrote:
I gotta disagree with you Bugleyman. Every time I have left gencon i've felt like I missed something. Theres too much, and going once isnt enough. As fun as Gencon is it cant offer the same experiance Paizocon can. When I left today I was just smiling. Ive been to a lot of big tournaments and big conventions and never have I fet the high I felt leaving that hotel. I played 4 senerios run by the guy who wrote it. I met more great people and players then I can count. I had a beer with Eric Mona and had a nice conversation with SKR. Hell, I not only survived a Kyle Baird game, but he bought me a beer too. If you want to play some L5R or play some obscure minis game that none of your buddies will play with you the gencon is great but if you play pathfinder, nothing, absolutely nothing can compare to Paizocon. Plus the Stake and Shake at 2am is really sketchy.
To me the iconic thing about the hook swords is the linking of the hooks and the sweeps that follow. The Paizo folks tried to address this with the weapons trip rules but to me it falls a tad short. I would be tempted to build into combat patrol, but if you want to do this for PFS i would go strait 2 weapon or weapon master fighter. In order to get damage out of this character you need the fighters bonus damage and the extra feats.
So i played my witch from lvl 5 until the conclusion of my Kingmaker campaign. She was a mean elderly halfling woman, and the matriarch of a huge clan of halfling farmers. Because of her our kingdom was 25% halfling and everyone called her "Nana". I built her on the idea of being kind of swampy and rural and i went with bug theme. My favorite spell was vomit swarm. i spit more wasp swarms then you could imagine, i took favorite spell with it so i could lose any spell to cast it. I also used swarm skin a lot at higher levels. My favorite trick was to use agony hex with a quickened vomit swarm of army ants for instant consume damage. The quicken came from a metamagic rod we found. so i debuffed with evil eye and misfortune, spat bugs while flying around and made it rain when i had a bad day. I channeled a lot of Mad Madame Mim for role play material. There was even talk of me going litch for a while. It was a really fun character to play.
I would handle this in one of three ways or maybe a combination of them. The most fun way in my mind is the Awaken idea. This solves many problems. Each of the players could take their Allosaurus as a monster chort and as the players level the monster would be able to gain class levels and thus get feats and abilities to match the players style. This deals with the armor proficiency problem and offers great roleplay material as the dinos start acting according to the classes they will eventually go into. I would also play the dinosaurs off each other by giving them distinct personalities and maybe even alignments and do something like The Three Stooges or Alvin and the Chipmonks. An Allosaurus bard would be a sight to see. One feat, one spell and endless hours of fun. Another way i would deal with this situation is to write a prestige class and allow players to dip and deal with some of the issues you want to address or let them stay in it and really accel. This is more of an investment for the players but is sounds like they wouldn't be opposed to it. This is a very 3.5 way of dealing with this situation but if you think this would be a good way to go id be happy to help write out the class with you. If you tailored the prestige class to work with any cohort based mount or any really big exotic creature your dragon rider could join in on the fun too. The last way i would deal with is the magic item route. Its honestly a little lame. It feels like waving the hand at the problem and making it go away. Making magic items to augment the prestige class or to mesh with the Allosaurus' class choices would be cool and interesting but if you players want to make this a big focus of the campaign and are willing to invest in it. reward their investment and they will continue to have more fun. just my thought, sounds like a fun problem.
Id like to thank the judges for all the time you put into this, it truly must be a labor of love and I look forward to your comments. Bracers, Devilfish
I'm trying to report a PFS game and am getting an invalid ID message when I try to save the session. Should I just delete the offending ID and move on or ... The game is from a random pick-up game I ran at PaizoCon with some other people who couldn't get into the banquet. I have no hope of ever seeing the person who gave me the bad ID.
After playing in the Shadow Lodge event at PaizoCon I was inspired to write a scenario. I don't want to use the Shadow Lodge or any of the characters from the event but I would like to use the collateral damage from the event as the impetus for my adventure. I know most PFS adventures exist independent of each other so they can be played in any order. Is there any problem with writing an adventure that takes place after the special event. About Dante PholveTwice abandoned, Dante Pholve has taken up the mantle of Abadar to destroy the lake pirates who erased both of his families. He alone stands against the tyranny of Kozek Lodovka, but his lone crusade may be his undoing. Dante Pholve is the nephew of one of the Lake of Mist and Veils most powerful men-Lord Kozek Lodovka. Half-Ustalavian, Dante was born of a beautiful Ustalavian noble named Sapphirine Armanti. Wedded to Tomas Pholve--a bastard half-brother to Kozek--the arrangement was intended to bolster both of their holdings. Dante was the less than expected result of the marriage. Unfortunately for the couple, Kozek wanted no claims to his power, and a mere month after Dante was born, assassins were sent into Ustalav to "erase" the entire family. Tomas's spies warned him with barely an hour to spare, and he and his family fled to Chesed to escape, but not before Tomas took a poison dart to the neck. He died soon thereafter, leaving Dante entirely in Sapphirine's care. Sapphirine had no family she could rely on--she and Dante were the last of her line. Making a run for Chesed, she found herself lost in the Estrovian Forest. Eventually, she came across a temple to Abadar--which was being housed by both monks and clerics--on the western shore of the Lake. Fearing Kozek would not relent in his hunt, Sapphirine waited until nightfall, and left the infant Dante on the steps of the temple. She fled into the night, never to be heard from again. The temple readily took in the young Dante, and all helped in raising him. As he grew up in the temple, the only thing he retained of his past life was his name--something he kept out of a mixture of honor and mystery. Knowing only the church, Dante resigned himself to what would likely be a long life tending to the needs of the church. Life went on for Dante, and he gave his past little thought. Not even the clerics could help him unravel his past. During his 17th summer on the shores of the Lake, Dante's past caught up with him. An armada of ten pirate ships attacked the temple, the brigands systematically moving through the grounds and buildings, killing anyone who opposed them. Their numbers were overwhelming, and there was little the residents of the temple could do to turn them back. Cataloging the armaments in one of the storage cellars below an outlying building, Dante and his friend Jorzal avoided the main brunt of the attack. A female pirate--one particularly vicious Mirezma--found the pair in the cellar. Wielding a cutlass, she made quick work dispatching Jorzal, who was closer to the stairs. Relying on the sparse training he'd invested with the monks, Dante was quick to react to his would-be killer and grabbed the nearest weapon he saw: a crossbow. Unknown to Dante, the weapon was broken, and in need of repair. Dante aimed the weapon at the pirate, when the bolt which was jammed glowed blue for a moment, sprung free, and pinned the woman to the wall. Not waiting to see if she was dead or not, Dante found a hiding place in the cellar, keeping his weapon with him. When he figured it was safe to leave, Dante wandered through the hurricane of destruction. Everyone he knew was dead, the temple afire with no way to extinguish it. Collecting any equipment which was salvageable, Dante spent the next six years hunting the pirates in both the name of Abadar, and those who had been mercilessly slain. Dante Pholve
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