Zachrid's page

Simple question:
Does a +1 flaming, acidic weapon count as a +3 weapon for overcoming DR, or do you need to have a simple +3 bonus?

I've got a Kobold Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer (8th)/ Dragon Disciple (9th), and recently noticed that I am not sure how to calculate his Nat-AC.

1) Kobolds have a Nat AC of +1
2) From his Bloodline (Bloodline Power level 17) he gains +4 Nat AC
3) From his Dragon Disciple levels he gains an additional +3 Nat AC, it is stated that these are additive to the characters existing Nat AC.

Question 1:
Is the Nat AC +7 (since the Bloodline AC 'overrides' the racial Nat AC, or is it +8, because racial and bloodline Nat ACs do stack.

Question 2:
Since I am completly confused now, would a Amulet of Natural Armor raise the Nat AC further?

Some GMs might now that problem:

You would really love to give your firearm proficient character a revolver or other advanced firearm at some point, but you hesitate.

Handing out an advanced firearm makes it difficult, not to include some kind of twist into any major encounter, that is tailored around the question: “What does this enemy do, not to get hit by bullets?”. The reason for this is, that advanced firearm hits 'on touch' within it's first five range increments.

A GM will inevitably encounter times, when revolver-wielding character with a high or even medium BAB progression only rolls his attacks to see, if he either made a critical threat or if he bodged/misfired.

Although I had in my time a lot of ideas and twists up my sleeve (a magnetic pull that made impossible to shoot anything further than 30 feet away, War-Golems that the gunslinger couldn't attack on touch, because their armor was made bullet-proof, defensive training for firearms and bullet shield armor, ninjas that could dodge bullets with Snake Style, aso.) many encounters aren't much of a challenge for a gunslinger/firearm proficient character. It is either hit or misfire, the player even told me that it is 'too easy' for him.

I could continue with this, putting spells on him, enemies disarming him or hiding in cover... but I think this would get frustrating, if I do that in nearly ever encounter.

So my idea is to change the way firearms attack (picked that up from another post):
Instead of attacking on touch as described, a firearm lowers the AC of an target by -4, but the AC can't fall below the touch AC of that target. The reason is that a bullet is able to penetrate armor but does not completely negate it, you can still a spot where the armor swallows the entire impact.

Example: The bullet penetrates a shield (shield bonus), is slowed down even more by the armor (armor bonus) but then doesn't penetrate the thick hide of the creature (natural armor). In other words: The Gunslinger tried to hit with a +21 but, the giant in front of him has an AC of 26.

So, if you shoot someone whose combined natural, shield and regular armor bonus is +3 AC, you only lower his AC by 3, hence the enemy dosen't fall below touch AC.

Of course, after the first range increment (early firearms) or fifth (advanced) the attack is resolved normally.

With this mechanic you can even introduce new firearm specific enchantments and bullets.

Piercing Enchantment:
+1 Enchantment
You lower the AC of an target for an additional -2. The AC of your target still can't be lower than his touch AC. This enchantment does not stack.

Piercing, Alchemical Charges/Bullets:
(Same as the enchantment, 50 bullets)

Feat, Finding the weak spot
Prerequisites, Weapon Focus (Firearms), BAB +6
You are proficient in finding the weak and soft spots of your enemies. While using a firearm you lower the AC of your enemy for an additional -2. This stacks with magical enchantments. The AC of your target still can't be lower than his touch AC.

( Add: You could also handle this feat like Deadly Aim / Power Attack. )

The draconic bloodline grants the sorcerer the power to grow claws as a free action, for 3 + CH rounds. These rounds don't need to be consecutive.

If you enchant one or both claws with "magic fang" or "greater magic fang":

1) Does the spell end prematurely, if you choose not to use the claws for one round during its the duration?

Example:
First round: Grow claws, then enchant the claws on the right hand with "magic fang".
Second round: De-grow claws, do something else.
Third round: Grow claws back again. Attack with previously enchanted claw. Is the "magic fang"-spell still active?

There are three explanations I came up with, why or why not the spell could be still active:

The spell has stopped, because the claws do not exist in the second round, so the magic is gone too.

The spell is still active, because if you drop or sheathe an weapon, which was enchanted with the "magic weapon"-spell, it dosen't loose it's magic either. Likewise you could consider your claws "sheathed" inside your fingers.

The spell is still active, because you do not enchant your claws, but your hands. Your claws are part of your hands, if you grow them you just change the type and base-damage of your attacks. See 2) to for more on this.

2) If the spell does not end prematurely, does the bonus "slip" to your unarmed strikes, whenever you are not using your claws?

3) If you keep the enchantments on your claws (for on reason or another), do these enchantments also transfer to other forms, for instance when you are using spells like "form of the dragon", which grants you claw attacks?

As one of my players told me, that his alchemist can throw five bombs in one turn (Fast Bombs Discovery, high BAB, Two-Weapon-Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting) I, the evil GM, asked myself: Where does he carry all this stuff?

Counting bombs and prepared extracts, he must have nearly 40 small bottles located all over his body, each of which must be easy to reach. I can see this work: Just strap some to the upper arms, outside of the thighs, put them into pouches on the chestpiece, push them into a belt, carry a bandolier for them, BUT....

Can you sunder these bottles?

If they are all easy to reach, at least some of them must be exposed. I am quite positive that a NPC could steal them during combat (gulping down the infused stoneskin-extract the next round) but do those bombs and bottles count as "worn" for the purpose of sundering?

I mean, can I put a monk in front of him and say... "Flurry of Blows! Well... there goes your stoneskin, your Detonation... and 3 of your bombs."

I know that this isn't exactly Pathfinder related, but I want to convert/design a monster like it so I can use it in my Pathfinder campaign. I am looking for a certain monster I encountered back in the day in "Baldurs Gate" and "Eye of the Beholder".

The Problem: The name of that creature eludes me and Professor Google isn't helping either. I only got the german name for them: “Fyrcht” (which is quite clever, I ensure you).

They are aberrations that are created or composed from parts or remains of nightmares. If I recall correctly they are your standard, abominable mass of mouths, eyes and tentacles. I just want to take a short look at their stats so I don't need to come up with the entire monster from scratch. So well... anyone know their english name?

Why I am looking for them, you ask? As my players are about to enter the “Halls of Reason” on Akiton and will (hopefully) seek out the "basement" there, they will encounter some sort of “psychic manifestations”.

Well yeah, quite simple:

Does killing an enemy with the Iaijutsu Strike ("Sword Saint" archetype) trigger Cleaving Finish?

While an alchemist needs to drink a potion in order to mutate (it is a standard action to drink the potion), the master chymist prestige class can change (a few times a day) at will into his 'Mutagenic Form (Ex)'. However it is said that, if the player misses a will check in stressful situations, the character will 'mutate' with his next standard action:

Mutate (Su):
(...)
A chymist may be forced to take her mutagenic form against her will by stress or damage. Anytime the character is in her normal form and has daily uses of the mutate ability available, she may be forced to switch after suffering a critical hit or failing a Fortitude save. In these situations the chymist must make a DC 25 Will save; if she fails, on her next turn she uses a standard action to change to her mutagenic form (which counts as a use of the mutate ability).
(...)

What kind of action is needed to change to the mutagenic from, if the character wants to mutate? I.e. he isn't stressed out or he succeeded on the will check but wants to change anyway.

Dominate Person/Monster Problem - I haven't found any answer to the following problem.

Given the following scenario:
The players are facing an evil aboleth, lich, wizard, "Fred from accounting", etc. that has a dominated creature or person accompanying it. Of course the villain throws his dominated minion at the heroes first, as he tries to fight from a distance or flee. The minion misses his will-roll, or dosen't need to roll one, because he would gladly fight the player-characters anyway.

Now a spellcaster of the group has the idea to dominate the minion with a second dominate spell and (of course) the minion fails his will-roll on that one too. After that he player-character orders the minion to attack his former master.

What happens next?

1) The first dominate spell or ability is dispelled and the minion is compelled to attack his former master on his next turn.

2) The second dominate attempt fails, because the target is already under the effect of a compulsion/dominate spell.

3) The player-spellcaster has to roll a casterlevel check vs. the DC ( +x ) of the spell or ability that domineered the minion in the first place, then go to 1).

4) The minion enters a dead-lock unable to do anything, that would conflict with the others of one of the dominators.

5) The minion is always compelled to obey the last command he was given, turning to a new target each time one of the two dominators tells him to, making him effectively run back and forth between the players and the villain.

6) If the minion falls unconscious or his head explodes or whatever renders him helpless... perhaps combined with a fort check vs. the higher DC of the two spells.

7) Roll a D6 and pick a option from points 1) to 6)

Resolving the problem to charm a already charmed person is much easier. But there might be conflicts too. But it would be nice to know if I missed a rule that there can be only one charm/compulsion effect on a person at a time or something.

Ultimate Combat (P.136) states that:
Advanced firearms resolve their attacks against touch AC when the target is within the first five range increments, but this type of attack is not considered a touch attack for the purposes of feats such as Deadly Aim. At higher range increments, the attack resolves
normally, including taking the normal cumulative –2 penalty for each full-range increment.

My Problem:
What does the final part of the last sentence mean, especially the -2 penalty? Is there no attack penalty within the first five range increments for advanced firearms? I would guess there is, because even if a bullet has (after the first range increment) enough force to hit a enemy at touch AC, the attack roll should be more difficult because the target is further away from the attacker... by looking at the "Early Firearms" entry above this looks like some kind of copy-and-paste laziness.

Example:
So if a PC uses a revolver (advanced firearm, 20ft) to shoot an creature 65 Feet away this would be a -6 on his attack roll, but still a attack on the touch AC of the creature? Right?

I am confused.

The APG describes (I think) on page 79 that any barbarian who chooses a totem rage power can be considered a "Totem Warrior". So well fine no real new rules there, just a pretty name and set of recommended rage powers to complement the Totem Warrior. I guessed back then that it was more like a roleplay-style then a real archetype, because every "standard" barbarian can choose a totem power.

BUT

The Ultimate Combat book states on page 26 that:

"...a barbarian who selects a beast totem rage power (see the Advanced Player’s Guide) cannot later choose to gain any of the dragon totem rage powers (any rage power with “dragon totem” in its title), unless she has the totem warrior archetype."

...so a Totem Warrior can choose ANY totem power, without any drawbacks? Why bother to take a "standard" barbarian at all if you have the opportunity to choose from every set of totem powers?

A 'little' kobold sorcerer, Level 10 becomes paralysed in battle. Because he has a unfortunate history of getting kidnapped and tied up several times, he gained the feats 'Still Spell' as well as 'Silent Spell' (and as a sorcerer he also has 'Eschew Materials').

Would he be able to cast 'Fly' with 'Still Spell' & 'Silent Spell' and fly away (in the next round) although he is paralysed?

In other words, are you able to control flight while paralysed? And can you cast ranged spells while being unable to move, as long as you are able to see your target?

When I deal damage with a weapon that my character is wielding two-handed, I add 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus, except the weapon is considered light.

Using Power Attack, my bonus to damage is increased by half (+50%), if I am making an attack with a one handed weapon using two hands.

So if I take a short sword in both hands and use Power Attack I won't get a 1-1/2 Str Bonus to damage, but the +50% to the bonus damage of the power attack, right?

Example:
Short Sword +2 wielded in both hands
BAB +6 / +1
Str +4

Normal Attack:
To Hit +12 / +7
Damage 1d6 + 6

Power Attack (-2 Hit / +4 Dmg):
To Hit +10 / +5
Damage 1d6 + 12 = 1d6 + 6 + 4 + 2( <- the +50% )

Does the natural armor bonus, a draconic bloodline sorcerer gains from his "Dragon Resistances (Ex)" stack with natural armor he acquired from his race? I think it dosen't stack, but I am not completely sure.

I a play 5th sorcerer/4th dragon disciple Kobold ('cause kobolds are cool) .

A kobold has a racial natural armor bonus of +1

His effective level for Bloodline powers is 9, so his Dragon Resistances (Ex) give him a natural armor bonus of +2

The 4 levels in DD give him a natural "armor bonus increase" of +2

Is his natural armor now +4 or +5 ?

I guess this question was asked a lot of times before, but the search function didn't help me much.

Can I pick the rogue-feat "combat trick" more then once, if I select different combat feats? For instance one combat trick for "Two Weapon Fighting" and the other one for "point blank shot"?

Thanks in advance!