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Sorry, that's my issue. I meant Finesse Training! Not Rogue's Finesse. You thought correct right away Isabelle! You answered my questions right on the nose.

@Zarius

As I said in the original post, I'm going into Westcrown devil. I need to use long swords. Secondly, I'm dual wielding them, so Finesse training is WAY more efficient and effective than all of those options.

Awesome, thanks for the input!

That's a darn good idea, actually. Thanks. That is a good RAW/RAI mishmash to answer a complex question, with a helpful suggestion for how to get the effect the person is looking for. You're an example of a great responder. Thank you!

A CUTE, cat-sized dragon who makes adorable chirpy sounds all the time. Duh.

When someone grabs the Improved Familiar feat, they are looking for a particular something. Usually it's combat survivability, SLAs, special abilities, and a UMD buddy. In short, extra actions. Many familiars have several of these things, but no one has all of them, and certain choices are seen as clearly superior than the others.

Through several wizard and witch guides, I have seen pseudodragons get a bum rap, usually rating an orange (read as 'meh..' or so so) rating. These guides are amazing and I use them myself, they are better than anything I could put together. I am currently working on choosing an improved familiar and I have come do a startling discovery: Pseudodragons are actually quite good. The purpose of this post is to explain my reasoning and get some feedback from others.

Let's look at what the little dragon does NOT have. The big ones are SLAs and DR. He has no spell-likes, which reduces his versatility at lower levels, and makes it so that he does not have many tricks that you do not have to pay for. Some good examples of SLA-heavy familiars are the little Lyrakie Azata, who has cure light wounds, silent image, and several other useful SLAs.

The other thing he does not have is fast healing or DR. Several familiars have DR of 5 (one even has a DR of 10) that is overcome by magic to chaotic. Many also have a Fast healing of 2, or even regeneration, greatly increase their survivability and reducing between combat healing costs.

The Pseudodragon's statistics are decent but not great. His strength is high enough to carry a decent amount, being a quadruped, and if he is polymorphed, he gains the +4 before the polymorph effects are applied, bringing his base strength to 11. his other stats are good, but not exceptional.

Now, what he does do well...

He is a dragon, giving him great base saves, decent base BAB, and his class skills are fantastic, most pointedly he has UMD as a class skill, which makes up for his 10 CHA. The above Lyrakie is noted as having a 20 CHA for UMD use, which gives a +5, though the little dragon gains a +3 for having it as a class skill, almost as good. He also has a bevy of strong class skills, and his stealth is massive. He can also speak, and has 'hands' so he can use UMD.

He has blindsense. This is worth a section of it's own. He has 60' blindsense. he can see invisible creatures, and then use a glitterdust scroll on them. he can automatically sense ambushes and yell out a warning. He adds an entire layer of protection for the party that is normally very difficult to achieve.

He has telepathy 60'. It's great, he can link the party up, talk to anyone for the party. He can coordinate the party silently. He can act as a translator.

SR. He has a spell resistance of 12, while not great, at the highest levels he has a 5% (natural '1' on a d20) resistance to magic. Just making them roll is enough.

He has a natural attack that has poison. The DC is not great. But the effect puts you to sleep. AKA, dead. If anyone succumbs to his poison, it's a one-way ticket to coupe de grace town.

And another huge one that I'm sure many dont realize, he has reach. Pseudodragons are tiny, giving them a natural reach of 0 ft. His tail gives him reach of 5 ft. This means he can deliver touch spells, aid another, and make attacks with his poison without actually entering someone's hex, increasing his versatility immensely. Having weapon finesse even more increases his ability to land touch spells and attacks

His movement is slow, but he has a long flight speed with good maneuverability. and his immunity to sleep and paralysis is good, and might save his life from time to time.

So, those are my thoughts. Feel free to agree or disagree!

The title says it all. If i have a small earth elemental as a familiar, can it do stuff like wear armor, use wands, carry equipment? It is the only familiar with a truly solid body, and they CAN hold a rigid and normal form. they can speak and manipulate objects. Is there any ruling anywhere that says if they or cannot use equipment like this?

@Magda: Thank you SO MUCH for your help, this is so valuable, you have no idea.

Do you think I should take scribe scroll or Spell focus (or drop divine interference, depending on what we think would be better for the party, scribe scroll for utility, or divine interference), and how about the strength being at 13 or 14? since i plan to use guided weapons past a certain level, does the investment of 13 to 14 strength sound worth it past making the early levels easier? Well, in order to get preferred spell, i must take heighten spell, it's a pre-req sadly. Having trickery domain, i plan on memorizing Confusion a LOT in my domain slots. I could drop preferred and heighten, for Bouncing spell and divine interference at 11th level. If i did that, I'd change my lineage to suggestion, since i can spontaneously cast it as a 4th level spell, which with magical lineage would still be a very viable option for specialization. The build would look like this...

Str 13
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 17+2 (all)
Cha 10

Trait: Magial Lineage: Suggestion
Domain: Trickery (Deception) *which gives confusion*

1- Lingering Performance retrain to Bouncing Spell at Level 5
B Improved Initiative
3- Power Attack
5- Scribe Scroll or Spell Focus: Enchantment
7- Spell Penetration
9- Persistant Spell
11- Divine Interference
13- Quicken Spell
15- Spell Perfection: Confusion
17- Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment

The thing is, even not spontaneous casting confusion, i can still memorize it a LOT, probably more than i'll be able to utilize in a day at higher levels (considering targeting restrictions). trickery has some good spells, but it would look like this..

Domain spells memorized:
4th - Confusion
5th - Confusion (cast in a higher slot)
6th - Mislead
7th - Persistent Confusion (Cast in a higher slot)
8th - Quickened Confusion

So, you are suggesting that if someone makes a spellcraft check. they have immediately defeated any illusion that you cast. Who needs will saves? You have a skill check. You THINK he's casting an illusion. the gestures he's made tell you that. But you don't have proof. Think of it like a trial, you have to PROVE it, not suspect. if you touch an illusion, and your arm goes through it. then you've proven it to be not real. You automatically disbelieve it. Making a spellcraft check does not PROVE anything. what it would do is give you reason to study the illusion and get a save, or to walk up and touch it to PROVE it's not real. A spellcraft check does not constitute proof, it constitutes suspicion and reason to disbelieve.

Sadly this discussion is pointless, as nothing in the rules proves my point of view or yours. We'll just argue about the definition of proof and what it means. I simply do not believe that a skill check that is quite easy to make (and that anyone can max out with ease), should automatically defeat ANY illusions spell with a 'disbelief' save if you see it being cast.

This is exactly why when someone asks for advice on illusions, or how to build an illusionist, the first advice they are given is always "find out how your GM treats illusions", as there are no hard and fast definitions for exactly what constitutes proof, and also how to handle the rules. It varies from GM to GM. Thanks for your input! :)

...

A bad touch cleric is a type of cleric described in Tark's big book of clerical optimization.

Tark's Guide

You thought it was just one? Speaking from an optimization standpoint you think I would only need one bad touch style domain?

a non-caster can be good, effective and fun. but it will never approach the power of full casters. Magic is the apex. You just gotta deal with it, and enjoy it for what it is.

Dragon Heralds, the new kobold bard archetype, gives up fascinate and countersong for a really cool sanctuary type ability. However, they keep suggestion and mass suggestion. The problem? In order to use suggestion and mass suggestion, you have to fascinate the enemy first. This doesnt work at all. So, can they use suggestions and the mass version WITHOUT fascinating them? Or do you think the developers intended for them to lose counter-song and distraction and not fascinate? It simply strikes me as silly that they have two songs they cant even use, obviously a mistake. Thoughts?

This new item from ultimate equipment has me thinking..

This ring comes in four types: ring of spell knowledge I, ring of spell knowledge II, ring of spell knowledge III, and ring of spell knowledge IV. All of them are useful only to spontaneous arcane spellcasters. Through study, the wearer can gain the knowledge of a single spell in addition to those allotted by her class and level. A ring of spell knowledge I can hold 1st-level spells only, a ring of spell knowledge II 1st- or 2nd-level spells, a ring of spell knowledge III spells of 3rd level or lower, and a ring of spell knowledge IV up to 4th-level spells.

A ring of spell knowledge is only a storage space; the wearer must still encounter a written, active, or cast version of the spell and succeed at a DC 20 Spellcraft check to teach the spell to the ring. Thereafter, the arcane spellcaster may cast the spell as though she knew the spell and it appeared on her class’ spell list.

Arcane spells that do not appear on the wearer’s class list are treated as one level higher for all purposes (storage

Couldnt as sorc just carry around a bunch of utility scrolls, such as invisibility, web, levitate and the like, and when he needs them, pull them out, put the spell in the ring, and cast as needed? It doesnt use up the scroll, so you'd only need a single one of each spell you wanted. and it doesnt take a long time to put it in. Just means that a sorc can literally have any spell of first through fourth level on their spell list. I'm right in how i'm seeing this, yes? My kobold sorc in our age of worms game will be making liberal use of this to become extremely useful to the party.

Balance wise, it seems strange to me that a simple five five resistance stops a 3 level spell simply because of a descriptor. Either way, RAW, it doesn't stop it. And when people say "apply common sense to magic" I always have a chuckle. The spell seems to cause the non-lethal damage not from the actual heat, but from the stress and physical trauma of having your internal temperature raised several degrees. that's just my take. So it's not actually fire damage.

we're talking RAW here.

A wavering red ray projects from your finger. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack with the ray to hit your target. The ray inflicts 1d4 points of nonlethal damage, causing the target to suffer from heatstroke as its body temperature dramatically increases. Except as noted above, this spell otherwise functions as ray of exhaustion. Characters wearing heavy clothing or armor of any sort take a –4 penalty on their saves.

thoughts?

Alright, it's not that great of a summoner archetype, however, i noticed this.

Summon Nature’s Ally (Sp)

Starting at 1st level, a first worlder can cast summon nature’s ally a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. At levels where a summoner would gain a more powerful summon monster spell as a spell-like ability, he instead gains the equivalent summon nature’s ally spell (at 19th level, he can use summon nature’s ally IX or gate). When a first worlder gains a summon nature’s ally spell as a spell-like ability, he adds it to his class spell list (he must still select it as a spell known if he wants to cast it as an actual spell).

This ability otherwise replaces the summon monster ability of a normal summoner.

It doesnt say you cant have out the eidolon and the SNA at the same time, can you? it also doesnt say it lasts 1 min per level. so what's the verdict on this?

it says if put on an object, you may make a ref save to avoid the effect. is the 'effect' the spell, or the 'effect' the dropping it that time?

the spell bladed dash says this...

When you cast this spell, you immediately move up to 30 feet in a straight line any direction, momentarily leaving a multi-hued cascade of images behind you. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You may make a single melee attack at your highest base attack bonus against any one creature you are adjacent to at any point along this 30 feet. You gain a circumstance bonus on your attack roll equal to your Intelligence or Charisma modifier, whichever is higher. You must end the bonus movement granted by this spell in an unoccupied square. If no such space is available along the trajectory, the spell fails. Despite the name, the spell works with any melee weapon.

now, is this 'movement' just regular movement? is it hindered by terrain? what if you want to bladed dash over a table, or a pit, or something of that nature? do you make a acrobatics check? can you bladed dash through friendlies or enemies? it doesnt really say, so i'm looking for opinions or experiences with this spell.

i feel your pain alitan. happens to me too xD

also, a wand of anticipate peril, made at fifth caster level would work well. five mins of one use +5 init for not that much money. use it when you think you'll find trouble, and you should get 40-50 battles of +5 init out of it.

If you were going to take spell specialization, greater spell specialization and spell perfection on an evoker that uses evocation spells to do BC with lingering spell and dazing spell. he's a wizard. it's for a player of mine. what spells are good candidates? he's thinking of taking lingering spell, intensify spell, dazing and quicken spell over his 'lifetime' and the game is going all the way to 20. any opinions or insights?

he says most of his battles will be a round or two with buffs or battlefield control, then he plans on joining his eidolon in melee. with his buffs hitting himself as well half the time, he figures he'll be fine, as fine as a cleric or other medium BAB class is in melee. The reason he took augment summoning is that the eidolon is not super hard to take out. and when it goes down, and it will, he wants to have his SLA be useful (his words). Looking at it, having a 16 str versus an 18 str wont really make a huge diff, the higher CHA will mean more in the long run i think. how would you invest more in melee? i'm curious. or, how would you extend a summoner's stamina if he's playing a purely support role, since their spells per day are slightly short of the mark.

this is for one of my players, he asked for my help with his spell selection. he's a melee summoner, and planning on having a biped weapon-wielding eidolon. these are his spells by level, if you see any glaring issues, let me know and i'll pass them on. he's never played a summoner before, and it looks alright to me, but i've never played on either. he's also the only arcane caster in the party, there's a full caster cleric as well.

Spells Known:

1: 0- Read Magic, Detect Magic, Message, Guidance
1- Grease, Mage Armor

2: 0- Mending
1- Protection from Evil

3: 0- Mage Hand
1- Enlarge Person

4: 2- Haste, Lesser Evolution Surge

5: 2- Glitterdust

6: 2- Barkskin

7: 1- Unseen Servant
3- Black Tentacles, Dimension Door

8: 3- Spiked Pit

9: 3- Heroism

10: 2- Resist Energy, Lesser Evolution Surge to Slow
4- Wall of Stone, Greater Evolution Surge

11: 1- Reduce Person
4- Overland Flight

12: 4- Teleport

13: 3- Fire Shield
5- Greater Heroism, Tar Pool

14: 2- Invisibility
5- Ethereal Jaunt

15: 4- Teleport to Baleful Polymorph
5- Greater Teleport

16: 4- Magic Jar
6- Greater Planar Binding, Maze

17: 3- Dimensional Anchor
6- Walk Through Space

18: 6- Dominate Monster

19: 5- Greater Dispel Magic

20: 4- Major Creation
6- Create Demiplane

alright, flurry of blows says you make the attacks 'as if using the Two-Weapon Fighting feat'. what if you use one of the two-handed monk weapons, such as a kursarigama? would you get 1.5 str bonus while flurrying? and when using a double weapon, could you switch between the two sides as you like, such as swapping between a monk weapon and unarmed strikes?

Alright, little bit of confusion here. It says under trapfinding that you have to have it to DISARM magic traps, it says nothing about finding them. Yet in several other places, it infers you need to have trapfinding in order to FIND the traps, such as in the 'note' under the spice growth spell...

"Note: Magic traps are hard to detect. A rogue (only) can use the Perception skill to find a spike growth. The DC is 25 + spell level, or DC 28 for spike growth (or DC 27 for spike growth cast by a ranger). Spike growth can't be disabled with the Disable Device skill."

So, I'm a little confused. Can someone with Disable Device but no trapfinding find magic traps?

For 3.5 Factotum, they get sorc/wiz spells as Spell-likes, i got that. Now, they have to have material components, i got that. Do their spells require somatic and verbal components? It doesnt out-right say they do. also, do they need a spellbook, or can they just pic spells? It's not really that clear either. Just curious, thanks.