Writer's page

So without going into the bull that involves my GM throwing an effectively CR 33 green dragon at a 5th level character and a hundred and fifty commoners, I'm curious to know a few things:

-Does an Alkali Flask bypass the Acid Immunity of a dragon immune to Acid?
-Does an Alkali Flask inflict double damage on a Green/Black Dragon for it bein an "acid-based creature"?

According to Occult Adventures, Battle Host is an archetype of Occultist that focuses on combat in lieu of summoning & versatility. MY question, however, is if Battle Hosts get Focus Powers?

Panoply Bond (Su):

At 1st level, a battle host forms a supernatural bond with a specific weapon, suit of armor, or shield. This selection is permanent and can never be changed. The bonded item is masterwork quality and the battle host begins play with it at no cost. The bonded item is immune to the broken condition for as long as the battle host lives. If a battle host dies and is restored to life, the bonded item is also restored
if it was destroyed. Any magic powers associated with a battle host’s bonded item function only for the battle host; in the hands of anyone else it is only a masterwork item. The bonded item starts as an implement for any single school of magic at 1st level, and gains access
to additional schools of magic at 2nd, 10th, 14th, and 18th levels, granting the battle host access to base focus powers and resonant powers accordingly. The battle host’s bonded item serves as his implement component to cast occultist spells of all the schools that he knows. However, he must split his mental focus among the schools he knows for the purpose of determining resonant powers and using focus powers, even though he possesses only one physical item as an implement. This ability alters implements, mental focus, spellcasting, and implement mastery.

Alright here are the details:

In a campaign, got downtime, wanting to know how much capital I can generate with a trade ship, using the Ultimate Campaign Downtime rules. The ship in question is 200ft long by 40ft wide by 30ft tall, and moves using steam engine running off a permanent Heat Metal and two Decanters of Endless Water (it has coal backup if we sail into no-magic zones). It has 16 sailors and 4 ship mages (mages obtained via quest, most annoying npc villians ever), though it has room for 60 people (mostly to man the cannons). Other points are it's amphibious (can beach and maneuver out of water, albeit poorly) and about one fifth the coastal cities were devastated by tsunami recently (which may or may not be our fault) :P

Now here's my question: How do I figure out how much capital this massive thing brings in when it's not carrying us through the campaign? All other rooms are accounted for, but it has 78,750ft^3 dedicated purely to cargo, complete with it's own loading crane. How would this massive "room" translate towards Generating Capital?

Edit: corrected spelling errors

Alright, my gaming group is starting at level 3 in a story driven campaign with a fair chance of grueling combat. We have 4 members in our party: a twf rogue, a blaster sorcerer, a skald and a bear shaman druid. The sorcerer and rogue are new, I'm playing the skald, and the other guy needs some help making a wildshape focused druid for primary melee. i need to know what feats, stratagies, and builds would make an effective melee druid using the following stats: 16, 16, 15, 14, 12, 10

You've all heard it before. Unseen servants come in handy. Seriously. My question is: HOW handy? Better than Grease? More useful than a Bag of Tricks? So let us come together in the name of United Pathfinder Fans Against Boredom (UPFAB) and list 101 uses for a seemingly endlessly useful spell:

1-Caltrop Delivery System: Have it move 15ft forward and scatter caltrops

2-Potion Administration: It's only a standard action, and how hard can it be to pour a potion down an ally's throat?

3-Crossbow Reloader: Because I don't have enough BAB or Feats for Rapid Reload.

4-Weapon Holder: In case I need a free hand for . . . something

5-Door Opener: Sometimes you don't want to be the one to open that particular door.

So I decided to run a pathfinder game since I couldn't find one. My victims are starting out at level 2 with 1 negative level accrued (it's a story thing) and I'm contemplating throwing four of these guys at them first encounter:

Considering we have yet to have any mages sign up, would this be too cruel to throw at my party?

EDIT: Scrapped and reworded

I'm looking for two things here: First, anyone have any advice on some good, easy-to-use dungeon building programs (not randomly generated) for use by the pathfinder community.

Secondly, I want the biggest, best, scariest lairs you can think of within the limits of Pathfinder content. Assume people will be living here (with the word people being very loosely defined) and suggest accordingly.

I hear a lot that Reflexive shot is a lot like Snap shot, allowing you to make attacks of opportunity with a bow. However, people say it's limited to five feet. My question is, where in the rules is this indeed limited to only threatening five feet?

Reflexive Shot (Ex)

At 9th level, a zen archer can make attacks of opportunity with arrows from his bow. The monk still threatens squares he could reach with unarmed strikes, and can still only make one attack of opportunity per round (unless he has Combat Reflexes).

This ability replaces improved evasion.

Emphasis mine. So, can someone help me understand how this is limited to 5ft?

Yea, i have an idea. It might not be the best of ideas but i think it's genius so here goes: Two steps.

One, give the Rogue 10+int skillpoints per level (or possibly even more). Sound bad? Well, before you judge read the next point:

Two, Remove the skill limit caps for the rogue. Wow, suddenly too many skillpoints went to not enough huh? A hard cap will still be needed, but instead of being skillcap = character level it's skillcap = rogue level times x, with x being 2, 3 or 4. This lets rogues rock the skills area once more, no?

I'd have a few restrictions for this, though: It only applies to dex, charisma, and intelligence based skills on the rogue's skill list. not additional skills obtained via traits or multiclassing. Just the rogue skill list. Secondly, if you multiclass the new skill cap is Rogue level x3 plus character level. Unless you want to be a skillmonkey, rogue will be a very weak class to dip. And that's the idea.

Please discuss.

Alright I'll be the first to admit all my thread titles are sucky. Nobody ever wants to read them because of how sucky they are, so I'm just going plain generic now, which is a shame bacause I strongly believe I am a quite gifted writer. Also I seem to be dillusional and insane.

That said, has anyone managed to find a small spreadsheet similiar to the Character Sheet that works well for undead minions? MY google-fu seems to have failed me T_T any advice would be helpful.

There happens to be a Juju Oracle in a particular campaign who happens to be quite the gentleman. He's primarily a necromancer with a side of healing, buffing, utility and a tad of crowd control. Half of his spells are Wordspells, which benefit him very much and he has taken the feat Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) for a mockingbird familiar he uses to deliver touch spells. My predicament is this: should I take the Improved Eldritch Heritage Feat, what three wizard/sorcerer spells should I add to my list of spells known? (Disregard the Save or Suck spells please, as despite my high Charisma I prefer not to give my opponent the option of success). Other Suggestions, comments, and tactics welcome, shall provide additional information as required.

Long story short I live in a town far from any other, and the predicement I'm running into is this: How do I go about telling people I'm a necromancer without them all grabbing their pitchforks and burning me at the stake?

Town population is 200, and they have no magic users. They currently know me as a Priest of Sarenrae (long story), and apart from their local blue alien I'm the only one who can use magic. The sooner I can do this the better, before the town grows too big.

Okay and welcome to yet another thread by Writer. By now it should be obvious that I'm playing a Damage Reduction spamming Barbarian, and I want to get as much out of my build as I can. So here's the actual character Gale the Typhoon:

So the character itself looks fine, but I realized that at level 10 he only does ~30 or so damage. Is that a problem? Not really, except for the fact I'm a friggin barbarian and I should be putting out more. I'm open to all critisism, changes, and ideas on how to make him better; and I prefer he's done because 24 hours from now I need to submit a final build to the group.

Here's the situation. I'm in an urban campaign playing as a recently rolled up Invul Fighter 1/Urban Invul Barbarian 4. I currently have 2 Base DR, which i pump up to 4 with Combat Expertise, and then I can pump it to 7 with fighting defensively (or I can go total defence for 7). so far i'm not broken but we have yet to get in a fight with this guy. All he has is a breastplate and a +1 Bane (All Outsiders) Falchion. We also have:

-Archery focused Ranger
-Calvalier 4/Spy 1 going into MAster Spy PRestige Class
-Staff Magus 5 (optimized for defence)
-Cleric 5 (with Trickery and Luck domains) focused more on stealth and light armor.

My question is this: How powerful is Damage Resistance? I've been told by the Magus that DR 2/-- is huge at level 5, but how huge? I ignore 2 points of damage when I'm hit? Is it really that strong?

Please help me out Pathfinder community!
How strong is Damage Resistance?

Simply put, are there any magic items, potions, or feats that can negate exhaustion or grant immunity to exhaustion? Here's what I know of so far:

-Lame Oracle
-Tireless Rage
-Heart of the Fields

Also, spells would be nice too.

Alright so I'm playing this Archeologist in an urban campaign. My thing is I'm not too familiar with all the rogue talents in practice. So, honorable sages of the messageboards, can you help me? What Rogue Talents are Good, Bad, and Ugly?

Simply put, if i have a wand of Cure light wounds with 44 charges left on it and I am a bard who can cast Cure light wounds, can i expend my casts of cure light wounds to replenish the spent charges?

Alright my friends, I need youre help once more. I joined another pathfinder game that only allows Core rulebook and APG. I'm being allowed to play an Archeologist as we need a trapfinder in our group, and the DM likes the concept of the class. That said, I've run into a bit of a crossroads in the group: should I build Archer or Controller (using a whip or longspear)?

The group situation is this: We have a melee sorcerer, a "face" calvalier, a stealthy cleric, and a bows only ranger.

I was originally going to go archer, but the last session cast doubts in my mind as i did far better with my longspear than my bow (14 str, 18 dex, Arcane Strike and Point-Blank Shot feats used). After having obtained permission to rework my character I now come before you to ask your advice on the matter:

stats (rolled) 16,16,14,14,14,13; human, no spells or feats set in stone atm. As I'm rather inexperianced with casters, I'd like some advice and stratagies for using the builds and/or advice suggested.

Alright, under Improved Unarmed Strike it says you can choose as to whether you do lethal or non-lethal damage, correct?

And the Zen Archer gets the ability to use unarmed strike damage instead of his arrow damage, correct?

So would that mean a Zen Archer using this ability could easily choose to deal nonlethal damage with his bow?

As for the title, the story has to start somewhere:

I recently joined a pathfinder game that was started up by a group of friends. I am the newcomer. I needed a character concept quickly, so i grabbed the Ratfolk Eldritch Archer I had been playing around with and got ready for a game. Then i was told No Ratfolk, so i went with a human Zen Archer instead.

Here's the catch. As the players began arriving and we got ready to start our first session, and the characters wererevealed as follows:

- A Scholar (some kind of 3pp skill monkey) with no use in combat

- An Assimar Cleric (i think?) who is building for mystic theurge. Wears no armor and his only weapon is a bow.

- A switch-hitter Ninja with emphasis on stealth. Has no STR bonus, even though it's 31 point buy.

- A ranged fighter male-turned-female. Not wearing armor and also focusing on using a bow. Will go magus later I'm told

- My Zen Archer

After some taling after our almost disastrous first session in which our fighter nearly died, I asked my DM if i could rework my Zen Archer.
The answer was yes, as long as i didn't change race nor class.

Here is what I am asking. Assuming the others aren't going to optimize their characters to the situation, how would i build my archer to be able to take a lot of punishment in melee combat without skimping out on my archery?

31 point-buy, must be human, must be Zen Archer, starting at level 2, expect to be taking a beating often.

Go!

I know this is the third time in 10 days i've posted asking for advice on playing a magus but bear with me. Which would be better: a full Hexblade or a Urban Guide 2/Magus 18? I'm building for strength with a Scimitar, my race is teifling, we start at level 4. Here is the pro's and con's i have so far:

Hexcrafter 20
Pros:
more Arcana, sooner
more spells
Magical Lineage Trait (shocking grasp)
Full magus class progression

Cons:
Lower saves, BAB
One less feat
Less class skills/skillpoints

Hexcrafter 18/Urban Guide 2
Pros:
Higher saves, BAB
Extra feat, more class skills/skillpoints

Cons:
stunted magus class ability progression
cannot take magical lineage (must instead take magical knack for +2 caster level)
no capstone (negligable since the hexcrafter capstone is F****d)

the main problem is that we're in a 3 man party of a Paladin, an urban ranger (he's new, just looking to do damage right now) and me. I need to cover some skillpoint bases (plus i always make perception a class skill; Writer's unwritten rule no.1) Here's a list of what im trying to accomplish:

Good dps without trashing my AC/HP/Saves
Decent skillmonkey (even if most of them only got 1 rank)
*Minmizing party redundancy (main reason im going magus and not inquisitor)

While this is my main focus atm i am also considering:
Sensei 2/ Kensai 18
Half-orc Inquisitor 20
Half-orc Urban Guide 1/Cleric 1/ Inquisitor 18
???? Archeologist Bard

Rolled stats are:
18
17
16
14
13
13

Any help would be appreciated thnx in advance.

Alright We're starting at level 4 and here's the build i have so far:

“Void”
Half-elf 23 Male 5’6” 145lbs Staff Hexcrafter 2/ Sensei 2
Traits:
Reactionary: +2 to Initiative
Magical Knack: +2 caster levels

Ability Scores:
Strength 13
Dexterity 16
Constitution 14
Intelligence 20
Wisdom 18
Charisma 13

Defensive Stats:
HP 40
Base AC 17
Touch AC 17
FlatFoot 10
Fortitude +8
Reflex +6
Will +10
CMD 18

Attack: Quarterstaff +7
Damage: Quarterstaff D6+1

Feats:
Improved Unarmed Strike
Quarterstaff Master
Stunning Fist
Skill Focus
Weapon Focus
???

Gear: 6000
Master Quarterstaff 325
1st-level Pearl of Power x 4 4000

Spells:
0-Arcane Mark
0-Detect Magic
0-Light
0-Mage Hand
0-Read Magic
1-Burning Hands
1-Expedious Retreat
1-Feather Fall
1-Grease
1-Infernal Healing
1-Ray of Enfeeblement
1-Reduce Person
1-Shield
1-Shocking Grasp
1-Silent Image
1-True Strike
1-Vanish
2-Frigid touch
2-Mirror Image

What I've noticed is that both my AC and my to-hit are rather low due to the loss of BAB via multiclassing. How would you improve this character?

Alright I've decided on playing a half-elf Magus. Should i go Dervish dance or Strength? I was originally set on D. Dance, but now im considering using a Falchion and going with a two-handed strength build. Any suggestions?

Scores (4d6-lowest x9, drop lowest three)

18
17
16
14
13
13

Starting at level 4, with 6000 gp to spend.
Any advice or tips welcome.

Alright im in my first Pathfinder Game realizing a TWF ninja who is the sole inventor of the world's firearms (don't ask) is doing very poorly and is about to get himself killed. So I recall seeing a cleric smack my rogue around in a 3.5 game and thought: "hell, why not play a beast cleric to make me feel better about my ill luck?" What happened was as follows:

-My cleric had taken arcane armor training to reduce spell failure
-My ninja survived (so i put that cleric on the shelf for now)
-I noticed the other (full plate) clerics at the table weren't rolling for arcane spell failure chance
-I noticed in some posts here the cleric seemingly has no spell failure chance.

So my question is simple: are they right? Does the cleric ignore spell failure chances for wearing armor/shields?

Alright, Instead of fumming through a @#$%ton of pages wondering how to ensure my Ninja can pull his weight in my campaign, I've decided it's far more effective to turn to the experiance of the Paizo community to help me out. How do i make a well-rounded ninja that can not suck in melee, have generally useful abilities, and still do enough damage to feel like im actually roleplaying a ninja?

I'll be back in about 24 hours. Lemme know what works plz.

Alright im looking at my Ninja and im reading:
"By spending 1 point from her ki pool, a ninja can make
one additional attack at her highest attack bonus, but she
can do so only when making a full attack. In addition, she
can spend 1 point to increase her speed by 20 feet for 1
round. Finally, a ninja can spend 1 point from her ki pool
to give herself a +4 insight bonus on Stealth checks for 1
round. Each of these powers is activated as a swift action.
A ninja can gain additional powers that consume points
from her ki pool by selecting certain ninja tricks."
-Pathfinder Ultimate Combat pg13 by Paizo

My question: The extra attack. You need to spend a swift action to use it, and you can't do that on a full attack, as a full attack is a full-round action (to my knowledge). So im thinking you need to spend this the round before your full attack, but would like some validation. Is this understanding of the rules correct?

If so, does this mean i can chain together attacks via spending three swift actions (and likewise 3 ki points) for three additional attacks on the following round full-attack (sacrificing both standard and move for swift of course on the orund before?

THnx in advance!

Alright, this is a topical discussion about how integrated into a campaign characters usually are. This is my question: How well is your character integrated into the campaign?

Let me elaborate: How much role do you have in the gameworld? Are you an outsider watching the lives of others unfold (such as unknown person A doing X for important person Y) or does your character have their own goals, motivations, personality and does this affect your game? (Are you person A doing X for person A)

Here's an example: You are running a task for the Noble of Brenton; whose son has dissappeared near the Goblin's Cave and is presumed to be taken hostage. Would you be an outside party simply helping the noble? Or would you be a knight/wizard/rogue in the Noble's employ? Do you move from quest to quest at the mercy of the GM or does the GM work with the party to help formulate where the party is headed?

I'll elaborate more on this later but you get my idea, yea?