ZanThrax's page

I like that except for one problem: Your Familiar will be really stunted, even with Boon Companion.

Familiars aren't affected as much by class level though - natural armour and Int score is really all you're getting since HD are explicitly tied to character level and HP are directly based on character HP. The only reason I'd even be looking at Boon Companion would be to get Able Defender on a Protector version of the Familiar.

Perhaps it would be nice to know why the OP wants to use a divine chassis for a arcane trickster. What are the goal?

Largely the novelty. And I've always found the sneak attack and other AT abilities more interesting for a divine caster than for a wizard.

Mark, are there any plans to make 1E content available for use with Foundry? Running an AP or even a module requires a lot of work to get the artwork extracted and into Foundry; especially the maps, which have to be re-scaled and reworked to get a consistent grid size so that they'll work well. I would gladly have paid for that having been done for me and would in the future as well.

I did rebuild him as well. Stayed straight vigilante 10.

Take 'Em Alive lets him use non-lethal damage at all times, which means that he triggers Enforcer on every attack, which triggers Twisting Fear, and opens up Shatter Defenses so that he can land hidden strike damage, which triggers Violent Display so that he can use immediate actions to hit everyone in the area with Twisting Fear damage.

Think Batman dropping into a dark room full of thugs, and hitting the first one so hard that all the rest are so terrified that it hurts.

"WHAT ARE YOU?"
"I'm Vengeance"

Blackjack CR 9
XP 6,400
Human (Chelaxian) vigilante 10 (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Intrigue 9)
CG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +12
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Defense
--------------------
AC 17, touch 16, flat-footed 13 (+2 deflection, +4 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 78 (10d8+30)
Fort +8, Ref +14, Will +9
Defensive Abilities unshakable (+10)
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Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Special Attacks hidden strike +5d8/+5d4, startling appearance
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 14, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 12
Base Atk +7; CMB +9; CMD 25
Feats Dazzling Display, Enforcer[APG], Shatter Defenses, Skill Focus (Acrobatics), Skill Focus (Intimidate), Violent Display, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier)
Skills Acrobatics +23, Bluff +5, Climb +10, Diplomacy +9, Disguise +5 (+25 to appear as part of polite society while in your social identity), Escape Artist +9, Intimidate +20 (+26 in your Korvosa while in your vigilante identity), Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nobility) +9, Perception +12, Sense Motive +3, Sleight of Hand +9, Stealth +17, Swim +6
Languages Common
SQ dual identity, social talents (discrete inquiries, great renown[UI], quick change[UI], renown[UI], safe house[UI]), vigilante specialization (stalker[UI]), vigilante talents (lethal grace[UI], perfect fall[UI], take 'em alive, twisting fear[UI], up close and personal[UI])
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Special Abilities
--------------------
Dazzling Display (Rapier) Intimidate check to demoralize can affect those within 30' who see you.
Discrete Inquiries (Ex) You can gather information without being obvious that you are seeking it.
Dual Identity (Ex) Each identity maintains own alignment, can switch over 1 min. Magical means treat an ID as non existant while not adopted.
Enforcer If you deal nonlethal damage with a melee weapon, make a free Intimidate check to demoralize.
Hidden Strike +5d8/+5d4 Extra damage vs. unaware/startled foes, less vs. flat-footed/flanked foes.
Perfect Fall (Ex) No dam from fall if in reach of a wall, half dam otherwise. Always land standing.
Quick Change (Ex) Change ID as a full-round action, but easier to detect unless take 1 rd more.
Renown +6 (Korvosa) (Ex) Renowned in one community of up to 5,000 people, or two of up to 2,000 each.
Safe House (1,000,000 cu. ft.) (Ex) Gain safe area protected from divinations. If have renown, can move it around area of renown.
Startling Appearance (Ex) Attacking unaware foe makes them flat-footed and they -4 to attack you for 1 rd.
Take 'Em Alive +3 (Ex) No pen on nonlethal att. Bonus to att & dam if only deal nonlethal dam (no 2nd effects).
Twisting Fear 5d4 (Ex) Causing foe to be shaken, frightened, or panicked inflicts listed nonlethal dam.
Unshakable +10 (Ex) Add the listed bonus to the DC of foes attempting Intimidate checks against you.
Up Close and Personal +5d8/+5d4 (Ex) As a swift action when use Acrobatics to move through foe space, make att with hidden strike dam.
Violent Display Use Dazzling Display as immediate action after critical hit or sneak attack.

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I've been making a lot of changes to the first book, inspired by (and heavily stealing from) Inspectre's thread. Since the party are good friends with Ileosa and have been doing favours for her, I've decided to have her be the one to send them to seek out Thousand Bones to ask him to recommend some local Shoanti leaders who would be willing to serve as a new seneschal - giving her a senseschal that she can trust not to favour any particular noble or merchant house while possibly improving relations between the citizens of Korvosa and the Shoanti people.

But now I need some interesting ideas for the NPCs that Thousand Bones can suggest, once his immediate problem is dealt with.

is surprisingly bad at fighting.

Surely it's possible to have a 10th level vigilante that can do more than a dozen points of damage on a hit and have an AC that doesn't mean that he'd get mowed down if he actually tried to fight a group of average street criminals or hellknights?

In all seriousness, I had him, along with a sidekick character that I added in (5th level snakebite brawler), intervene in Lamm's assault on the Longacre (my campaign is strongly modified based on Inspectre's), and the two of them were barely able to take down four CR 1 opponents in a half dozen rounds, at which point they were both knocked out. Unless I was missing something significant, Blackjack, as written in the book, can't fight his way out of a wet paper bag.

Has anyone had a go at respeccing him so that he can reasonably be considered to be a master fencer that could plausibly face down a squad of Hellknights or a small gang of criminals and win?

Isn't that the sort of thing that we should let the player explain? Like perhaps you spent a lot of time chatting up an Earl who had a hobby of restoring historic battleaxes, or Comtessa whose love is elaborate clocks and managed learn something in the process.

Like 1st to 6th level is an enormous jump in acumen (it's the difference between magic missile and fireball), so I would be disappointed if a 6th level character wasn't better than a 1st level character at basically everything.

As a player, I don't want to ever have to explain why my character has become good at something she's never tried to get good at and didn't used to be good at.

And I have exactly the opposite feeling from your second paragraph. I don't want my sixth level character to be better at everything than a first level character. I want him to be better at the things he's good at, and the things that he's been working to improve. If I'm going to get better at everything regardless of my character building decisions, then it just robs those decisions of weight.

It only allows you to do first aid not surgery. The action says it can be used to stop bleeding or stop someone from dying, basically perform CPR. Basically things I could do in real life.

And using these rules, Superman (the level 20 character) will be vastly better at first aid, and any other ungated activity than a newly trained EMT, because he has so much more experience at doing completely unrelated things.

If we absolutely have to have to abandon skill points in favour of levelling all skills, could we at least look at connecting the training tiers to the amount of automatic increase from levels? So that for most characters the increase would be similar to BAB or save progressions from 1E?

So instead of a flat modifier between -2 and +3, the training level just changes how much your skill increases per level.

Untrained = 0 level progression.
Trained = +1/3 level progression. (same as a weak save)
Expert = +2/3 level progression. (similar to a good save)
Master = +level progression.
Legendary = +3/2 level progression.

(Those could be 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1/1 if the first set of numbers are too high)

Now ability scores are the most important aspect of what you're good at low levels, and which skills you've chosen to train up are the most important aspect at high levels - meaning that the choices you've made in advancing your character make a big difference in what they're good at instead of just having a 5 point swing between untrained and "legendary" which is massively overshadowed by the level bonus.

(I'm not entirely sold on the idea of "gating" uses of skills either - it feels like its going to lead to a lot of problems with "paizo hasn't defined what level of training this skill use requires so you can't do it" going forward. What's wrong with a mechanic of "hard tasks have a higher DC" If gating is really necessary, the Knowledge skill mechanic of 1E where you can't get higher than 10 if you're not trained is a perfectly good one. Why not just hard cap the results you can get by training level - say, 15 if untrained, 25 if trained, 35 if expert, 45 if a master, and uncapped if legendary as a starting point.)

He will be better at stealing some unatended object. Because his experience allow him to think quicker and act faster while have more guts.

But if he is untrained, he won't be able to actually pickpocket so even if he has +15 in Thievery he would still be way less reliable than a character that has only +10 but is expert.

For me the issue is more on the fact that there are very few skills now.

My issue is simply not wanting every high level character to be good at every skill just because they have experience. Being a better wizard shouldn't make a character better at juggling, being a better fighter shouldn't make a character better at recalling the finer points of the history of some country he's never been to. The world's full of people who are very experienced in their field, but they're no better at things they know nothing about than they were when they were rookies.

IT's also possible for a 7 str 7 dex gnome wizard at 20th level, by virtue of his vast intellect to have 20 ranks in climb, swim, and acrobatics being able to out performer your average skilled fighter of 5th level, by having really studied up on proper technique. The only difference here is you could have chosen not to put ranks in those skills.

That 20th level gnome with 20 ranks in each of those skills has made a choice and expended valuable resources (skill points) to become a ridiculously skilled athlete despite his physical shortcomings. By spending those skill points on those skills, he's also not spent them on something else - so maybe he's missing some knowledges, or has only minimal training in them so that he's no more knowledgeable than a first level wizard, or he can't identify spells and magic items worth a damn and his spellbook is nearly empty because he can't decipher high level spells.

From what I can see of the PF2 skill system, every 10th level weakling gnome sorcerer is going to be better at every single skill in the game than a first level character who's should be good at that skill. The higher the level, the less that stats of skill choices matter, because those differences will be overwhelmed by the level bonus.

If the skill system is going to completely marginalize the differences between characters, why even bother having one?

In an attempt to move away from my martial focused comfort zone, I decided that a fire-obsessed sorcerer would be a decent starting point. Vandarg Dragonburner (who renamed himself from Faceburner after he managed to do enough fire damage to a fire-resistant clockwork drake to make it submit to his will) made the average goblin pyromaniac arsonist seem like a well-adjusted, law-abiding human. Vandarg's obsession with fire reaches the point of believing himself to be a holy messenger of Ymeri. (Vandarg is using the razmiran priest archetype, but he's not trying to con anyone - he legitimately believes that he's being granted divine power thanks to his devotion to fire.)

Vandarg died (along with all his goblin buddies) after discovering that the desolate wastelands of the Slumbering Tsar campaign are filled with things that are both immune to fire and highly resistant to more traditional sorts of damage as well.

Vandarg Dragonburner
Male goblin sorcerer (razmiran priest) 8
CE Small humanoid (goblinoid, orc)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +16
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Defense
--------------------
AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 18 (+4 mage armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 47 (8d6+16) (currently -39)
Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +7; +4 vs. fear
Resist fire 5
Weaknesses light sensitivity
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Sorcerer (Razmiran Priest) Spells Known (CL 8th; concentration +13)
. . 4th (4/day)—obsidian flow (DC 20)
. . 3rd (6/day)—fireball (DC 20), fly, heroism, rage, remove disease
. . 2nd (7/day)—aid, blur, burning arc (DC 19), invisibility, mirror image, scorching ray
. . 1st (8/day)—burning hands (DC 18), enlarge person (DC 16), expeditious retreat, feather fall, infernal healing, mage armor, shield
. . 0 (at will)—arcane mark, detect magic, ghost sound (DC 15), mage hand, message, prestidigitation, ray of frost, spark (DC 17)
. . Bloodline Orc
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Statistics
--------------------
Str 7, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 21
Base Atk +4; CMB +1; CMD 14
Feats False Focus, Great Fortitude, Intensified Spell, Spell Focus (evocation), Spell Specialization, Spontaneous Metafocus
Traits affinity for the elements, gifted adept
Skills Bluff +14, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (religion) +13, Perception +16, Spellcraft +6, Stealth +10, Survival +3, Use Magic Device +16
Languages Common, Goblin, Orc
SQ blazing robe, false piety, fearless
Combat Gear blazing robe, runestone of power (1st), runestone of power (1st), wand of expeditious retreat (13 charges), alchemist's fire (34); Other Gear amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +2, eyes of the eagle, handy haversack, headband of alluring charisma +4, ring of protection +1, bedroll, belt pouch, candle (10), flint and steel, golden holy symbol of Ymeri, hemp rope (50 ft.), mess kit, pot, spell component pouch, torch (10), trail rations (5), waterskin, 1 pp, 7 gp, 1 cp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Blazing robe (1/day, DC 16) Burst of fire deals 2d6 fire dam in 20 ft radius (Ref half).
Blood Havoc (Sorcerer Bloodline Power [1st]) +1 dam per die for spells belonging to bloodline or spell focus school.
Darkvision (60 feet)
Energy Resistance, Fire (5)
False Focus You can use a divine focus to cast arcane spells.
False Piety +4 (Ex) Gain +4 bonus on Use Magic Device checks to activate spell trigger and spell completion items that use divine spells.
Fearless (Ex) Vandarg has a +4 bonus on saving throws made against fear and a +1 natural armor bonus.
Light Sensitivity (Ex) Dazzled as long as remain in bright light.
Orc Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell that deals damage, that spell deals +1 point of damage per die rolled.
--------------------
Vandarg's obsession with fire is disturbing even to other goblins. And it's not just the smell of burning buildings, or the sounds of the longlegs screaming, or even the feel of the heat that really fascinates him - it's the way that the flames look - always moving, shifting around, changing shape while not being solid enough to touch that interests Vandarg.

As a result of his obsession, Vandarg's never had much use for the traditional goblin gods, as they have interests beyond fire. He's spent his adult life trying to convince other goblins to join him in worshiping Ymeri as the only divine being that truly appreciates the beauty of fire.

Wernck was the first of several of my goblins that were largely exercises in testing classes or feat chains or other build ideas. Wernck in particular was me testing out some range boosting schemes to work together with the Startoss chain to turn a throwing weapon into an AoE blender. He wasn't nearly as effective as he could have been as any of several other races, and the range-boosting tricks would have been better saved until after the Startoss chain had been maxed out.

I don't recall what killed Wernck, but I do know that he died from massive Con loss and had suffered fire damage at the time.

Wernck
Male goblin unchained barbarian 1/fighter (dawnflower dervish) 7
NE Small humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5
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Defense
--------------------
AC 25, touch 18, flat-footed 19 (+5 armor, +1 deflection, +6 Dex, +1 natural, +1 shield, +1 size)
hp 72 (8 HD; 7d10+1d12+23)
Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +4 (+2 vs. fear)
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 adamantine chakram +11/+6 (1d6+2) or
. . dagger +10/+5 (1d3+1/19-20)
Ranged +1 adamantine chakram +18 (1d6+2)
Special Attacks rage (6 rounds/day), weapon training (thrown +1)
--------------------
Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 22, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8
Base Atk +8; CMB +7; CMD 24
Feats Perfect Style (unfolding Wind), Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Ricochet Toss, Startoss Comet, Startoss Style, Weapon Focus (chakram)
Traits color thief, strong arm, supple wrist
Skills Acrobatics +21, Climb +8, Intimidate +3, Perception +5, Stealth +20, Survival +5, Swim +4; Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics, +4 Climb
Languages Goblin
SQ burst of speed, desert stride, skilled thrower
Other Gear +1 mithral shirt, mwk buckler, +1 adamantine chakram, dagger, belt of incredible dexterity +2, cloak of resistance +1, fetish of natural armor +1, ring of protection +1, marked cards, bits (worth 5 gp, 0.02 lb) (22), 13 pp, 6 gp
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Tracked Resources
--------------------
Perfect Style (Unfolding Wind, 3/day) - 0/3
Rage (Unchained, 6 rounds/day) (Ex) - 0/6
Strong Arm, Supple Wrist (1/round) - 0/1
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Special Abilities
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Burst of Speed +0 (Ex) Wernck can charge with no penalty.
Darkvision (60 feet)
Desert Stride (Ex) Wernck can move through 10 feet of difficult terrain each round as if it were normal terrain.
Perfect Style (Unfolding Wind, 3/day)
Rage (Unchained, 6 rounds/day) (Ex)
Ricochet Toss Throwing weapon returns immediately after attack is resolved.
Skilled Thrower (Ex) +10' thrown range increments
Startoss Comet (Chakram) Make single atk. at full atk. bonus, if it hits, make second atk. at target in 1 range inc.
Startoss Style +4 (Any Thrown Weapon, Chakram) Gain bonus dmg to thrown weapons.
Weapon Training (Thrown) +1 (Ex) +1 Attack, Damage, CMB, CMD with Thrown weapons

Advancement plan:
Startoss Shower - Maximize the effect of Startoss style. Should have taken this before starting into the Unfolding Style.
Unfolding Wind Strike - Double range increment of thrown weapons
Charging Hurler (PBS) - Charge into a throw
Raging Hurler (Throw Anything, Rage)- Double range increment of thrown weapons.

The tactic of this build is straightforward - move (or charge) away from melee range, then startoss your chakram into multiple enemies as a standard action at full BAB to hit each one before it ricochets back to your hand . The Unfolding Wind Strike & the Raging Hurler feats each double the range increment, which, combined with the flat +10' boosts from the Barbarian rage & the trait, means that you'll be able to hit enemies all over the battlefield without range issues.

Jon Goodgnome was a dedicated anthropologist whose chosen field of study was the Varisian Goblin. Equipped with a meticulously crafted disguise consisting of a stiff mask and false ears, Jon inserted himself into a wandering group of goblins to study their ways.

"How do you do, fellow goblins?"

Jon was an incredibly good skillmonkey, and a decent combatant once mutagen, alter self and studied combat were all taken into account. I can't even recall how he died, but we had a ton of fun pretending that the rest of the party was somehow unable to see through his horrible disguise and highly un-gobliny vocabulary.

Jon Goodgnome
Male gnome investigator (empiricist) 6
N Small humanoid (gnome)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +13 (+15 while benefit from concealment or full concealment due to darkness or dim light)
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Defense
--------------------
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+5 armor, +1 deflection, +1 size)
hp 58 (6d8+18)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +4 (+2 save vs. illusion and disbelievable effects); +2 vs. illusions
Defensive Abilities trap sense +2; Resist unfailing logic
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Melee +1 rapier +6 (1d4-1/18-20)
Special Attacks studied combat (+3, 4 rounds), studied strike +2d6
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +6)
. . 1/day—mage hand, open/close (DC 15), unseen servant
Investigator (Empiricist) Extracts Prepared (CL 6th; concentration +10)
. . 2nd—alter self, alter self, alter self, invisibility
. . 1st—cure light wounds, expeditious retreat, firebelly (DC 15), long arm, shield
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 6, Dex 11, Con 16, Int 18, Wis 7, Cha 10
Base Atk +4; CMB +1; CMD 12
Feats Extra Investigator Talent, Extra Investigator Talent, Weapon Finesse
Traits precise treatment, student of philosophy
Skills Acrobatics +9 (+5 to jump), Appraise +8, Bluff +9 (+13 to lie (as a result of using Int instead of Cha)), Climb +2, Craft (alchemy) +10 (+16 to create alchemical items), Diplomacy +5 (+9 to gather information or to persuade others (as a result of using Int instead of Cha)), Disable Device +16, Disguise +9, Escape Artist +4, Heal +9, Intimidate +0 (+2 while benefit from concealment or full concealment due to darkness or dim light), Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +8, Knowledge (engineering) +8, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (history) +8, Knowledge (local) +8, Knowledge (nature) +8, Knowledge (nobility) +8, Knowledge (planes) +8, Knowledge (religion) +8, Linguistics +13, Perception +13 (+15 while benefit from concealment or full concealment due to darkness or dim light), Sense Motive +8, Sleight of Hand +4, Spellcraft +13, Stealth +8 (+10 while benefit from concealment or full concealment due to darkness or dim light), Use Magic Device +13; Racial Modifiers +2 Craft (alchemy)
Languages Aboleth, Abyssal, Common, Cyclops, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Ettin, Giant, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Infernal, Orc, Sasquatch, Sphinx, Sylvan, Worg
SQ alchemy (alchemy crafting +6), ceaseless observation, dimdweller, inspiration (7/day), investigator talents (expanded inspiration, mutagen, quick study, underworld inspiration), keen recollection, mutagen (+4/-2, +2 natural armor, 60 minutes), trapfinding +3, utilitarian magic
Combat Gear boro bead (1st level), mutagen; Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, +1 rapier, cloak of resistance +1, handy haversack, ring of protection +1, alchemy crafting kit, flint and steel, ink, inkpen, formula book, thieves' tools, waterskin, 4 gp, 3 sp, 2 cp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Alchemy +6 (Su) +6 to Craft (Alchemy) to create alchemical items, can Id potions by touch.
Ceaseless Observation (Ex) Use INT instead of CHA for gather information (+4)
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Dimdweller +2 to Intimidate, Perception, and Stealth when in conceal due to darkness.
Expanded Inspiration (Ex) Free Inspiration on Diplomacy, Heal, Perception, Profession, Sense Motive.
Inspiration (+1d6, 7/day) (Ex) Use 1 point, +1d6 to trained skill or ability check. Use 2 points, to add to attack or save.
Keen Recollection At 3rd level, an investigator can attempt all Knowledge skill checks untrained.
Mutagen (DC 17) (Su) Mutagen adds +4 to a physical & -2 to a mental attribute, and +2 nat. armor for 60 minutes.
Quick Study (Ex) Use studied combat as a swift action.
Studied Combat (+3, 4 rounds) (Ex) As a swift action, study foe to gain bonus to att & dam for duration or until use studied strike.
Studied Strike +2d6 (Ex) As a free action on a melee hit, end studied combat vs. foe to add precision dam.
Trap Sense +2 (Ex) +2 bonus on reflex saves and AC against traps.
Trapfinding +3 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Underworld Inspiration (Ex) Free Inspiration on Bluff, Disable Device, Disguise, Intimidate, or Sleight of Hand (if trained).
Unfailing Logic +2 (Ex) +2 save vs. illusion and disbelievable effects
Utilitarian Magic +1 DC for transmutation spells.

The first, and longest lived of my goblins, Zugs Bugstab had what might be considered an unhealthy obsession with daggers of all sorts and sizes. Zugs was also a strong proponent of having plans within plans. That he didn't understand that he shouldn't plan for his enemies to fall for his tricks or always be easy to kill never occurred to Zugs. This finally caught up to him when he decided that he would keep the magic crown the group stole for Green Auntie for himself and become King of Goblintown. It turns out that even the most lethal goblin rogue doesn't really have a chance in a straight-up fight against a full caster of twice his level.

Zugs Bugstab
Male goblin unchained rogue 5
CN Small humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +8
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 23, touch 18, flat-footed 17 (+5 armor, +1 deflection, +5 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 size)
hp 40 (5d8+10) (currently -16)
Fort +4, Ref +10, Will +2
Defensive Abilities danger sense +1, evasion, uncanny dodge; Resist fire 10
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee (M) adamantine dagger +5 (1d4+3/19-20) or
. . awesome dagger +7 (1d3+7/19-20 plus 1d6 acid) or
. . dagger +10 (1d3+6/19-20) or
. . (M) dagger +8 (1d4+6/19-20) or
. . dagger +10 (1d3+6/19-20) or
. . (M) mwk dagger +9 (1d4+6/19-20)
Ranged composite shortbow +9 (1d4/×3)
Special Attacks sneak attack (unchained) +4d6
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 10, Dex 21, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 6
Base Atk +3; CMB +2; CMD 19
Feats Dodge, Mobility, Roll With It, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (dagger)
Traits color thief, river rat
Skills Acrobatics +13 (+17 to move through a threatened square or enemy's space), Bluff +6, Climb +8, Disable Device +15, Escape Artist +13, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +4, Knowledge (local) +4, Perception +8, Ride +9, Sense Motive +4, Sleight of Hand +9, Stealth +23, Swim +5; Racial Modifiers +4 Ride, +4 Stealth
Languages Goblin
SQ debilitating injury: bewildered, debilitating injury: disoriented, debilitating injury: hampered, goblin rogue/ninja, rogue talents (combat trick, weapon training), trapfinding +2
Combat Gear wand of mage armor (30 charges), wand of magic missile (14 charges), wand of magic weapon (31 charges); Other Gear +1 darkleaf cloth lamellar (leather) armor, awesome dagger (+1 corrosive), adamantine dagger, arrows (11), composite shortbow, dagger, dagger (3), dagger, mwk dagger, magic taffy, belt of tumbling, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, backpack, bell, belt pouch, canteen, fishhook (2), flint and steel, fuel pellet, glass cutter, hammock, mug/tankard, sack, signet ring, thieves' tools, vial, 52 pp, 7 gp, 4 sp, 5 cp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
+5 Sneak Attack dmg during surprise round or before target has acted. Add a +1 bonus on the rogue's sneak attack damage rolls during the surprise round or before the target has acted in combat.
Danger Sense +1 (Ex) +1 bonus on reflex saves and AC against traps.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Debilitating Injury: Bewildered -2/-4 (Ex) Foe who takes sneak attack damage takes AC pen (more vs. striker) for 1 rd.
Debilitating Injury: Disoriented -2/-4 (Ex) Foe who takes sneak attack damage takes attack pen (more vs. striker) for 1 rd.
Debilitating Injury: Hampered (Ex) Foe who takes sneak attack damage has speed halved (and can't 5 ft step) for 1 rd.
Energy Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Evasion (Ex) If succeed on Reflex save for half dam, take none instead.
Mobility +4 to AC vs. AoO provoked by moving out of or through a threatened area.
Roll With It You know how to take a hit, even if your reaction sends you bouncing and flying out of battle while shrieking at the top of your lungs.
Sneak Attack (Unchained) +4d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Trapfinding +2 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed.
--------------------
Zugs' favourite thing in the whole world is the giant dagger he found on a stupid human that ate the wrong kind of mushrooms in the Brinestump Marsh. Zugs is way smarter than stupid human. Zugs knows that when you don't know if a mushroom or frog is bad for you, you make some other, dumber goblin lick it first. And now Zugs has more daggers, that he got from other goblins that also licked the wrong frog. Someday Zugs will have all the daggers!

If you see something free
Very careful you should be
When you bend down to grab
out jumps Zugs STAB STAB STAB

Now that I've had a chance to read shield brace, I've decided that my next character will be a polearm & shield fighter. But it's not particularly clear how exactly shield brace works.

Benefit: You can use a two-handed weapon sized appropriately for you from the polearm or spears weapon group while also using a light, heavy, or tower shield with which you are proficient. The shield's armour check penalty (if any) applies to attacks made with the weapon.

So, does the spear remain two-handed, or do I weild it one-handed like a phalanx fighter? If it remains two-handed, can I take two-weapon fighting and progress down the shield bashing feat chain toward shield master, or is this like the greatsword & shield spikes idea where two-weapon fighting is impossible even if the rules seem to imply otherwise?

The way that the artists title the pieces that they make for Paizo don't always align perfectly with what Paizo actually presents them as though. And Paizo sometimes changes their mind about what a given piece represents as well - James' was talking about Apsu a page or so back, and that's a good example. That art was on the Nirvana page of the Campaign Setting, and the art was posted to the blog with "Nirvana Dragon" written right on it. That art may be Apsu now, but when the art director paid Warren Mahy to create it, it was a Nirvana Dragon. So it's entirely possible that Vicky Yarova was paid to paint a Hag of Gyronna that Paizo afterwards decided would represent Gyronna herself.

The rule itself is perfectly clear. But having official products consistently ignore the rule creates ambiguity that wouldn't otherwise exist. A major part of the design philosophy of 3rd edition was that everyone was playing by the same rules, and people have become used to it. Having an NPC or monster whip out a magic item that the rules say can't exist causes sufficient ambiguity that while "can personal range spells be made into potions?" may not merit a FAQ response, "The rules clearly state that personal range spells can't be made into potions, yet our group keeps running into NPCs that have them. Are we misunderstanding the rules, or are all these NPCs being printed with fundamental errors?" does merit a response.

Speaking of shields, I'd suggest adding "Can I enchant my shield as a weapon?" to the list. (With the followups of "Can I enchant it both as a weapon and as a shield?", and "If so, how do I price that?")

Did Liz just out Chris as a meatbag-hating assassin droid?

It may just be us misreading your tone, but it really seems that you're discouraging your players from making the characters that they want to make. Certainly trying to convince your players that they should all take a specific teamwork feats at level one comes off as very meddlesome.

You told them that they need a warrior type or two; a Gorumite cleric can mimic a greatsword fighter quite well; once he has Power Attack his offense will be sufficient, and if he takes Ironbound Master at 7th, he'll get the same armor training as a fighter. And there's nothing wrong with building a Cleric around being a melee warrior. The class is broad, there are many types of characters that can be made within it's confines, and there's no one "correct" way to play a full caster anyhow.

If that was the AP, I guarantee that at least one party member would do this and decide that if the future wants someone dead that bad, there might actually be a good reason.

A fist is not a thrown weapon, so when you throw one, it's an improvised weapon.

This may be the greatest sentence I've ever seen on the Paizo boards.

I took a quick look at the archetype just now, and while I wasn't really impressed at first, I think I'm coming around. The familiar lay on paws and channel abilities are too expensive outside of emergency use, but that was already the case with Paladin channelling anyhow. And given that I tend to avoid classes with animal companions, switching the Paladin's mount for a divine advisor is actually a pretty good idea. And once I saw someone mention Arthur & Archimedes I got past the idea of this archetype being just another anime-enabling option.

I could really see this as a great way to build a Paladin who's from too poor a background to fit in with the usual shiny armour wearing fancy pants horse riding stuck up noble types who get to go to formal Paladin schools.

I'm envisioning a street urchin who's saved from a life of crime by the strange animal that starts talking to him (yeah, fine, the familiar isn't supposed to be able to talk until level whatever. handwave it.) and teaching him to protect the other kids in his alley. While the regular paladins-in-training his age are studying, he's protecting his friends from gangs of older kids and finding ways to keep them fed other than petty theft.

I could really enjoy playing a paladin who barely even knows the name of his god, let alone chapter & verse of the holy text. Probably needs to have an older brother who goes evil and forces the Paladin to kill him. (Or maybe gets a death-scene redemption.) It certainly has a lot more possibilities of tone than the Sailor Moon inspiration - it could work even in a particularly grim campaign, given a friendly DM.

Agreed. There are plenty of groups where most of the party is humans. And some of us like it that way; having one or two characters of unusual races in a party is interesting, having an entire party composed of oddballs is seriously hard on the verisimilitude. Nearly every NPC is human, and of those that aren't, nearly all of them are represented by the rest of the CRB races. Entire cities full of humans and other common races, but the party of adventurers is a walking menagerie of beings that the majority of those NPCs have never even heard of, let alone seen? That just takes me right out of the story that's supposed to be being told.

Since there's already been lots of Occult questions in here; Mark, do you know if it's intended that the Occultist's Sudden Speed Transmutation ability is untyped? Stacking it and Expeditious Retreat seems like it would be quite fun, but I doubt that it was intended to let me have a low-level character running around a fight with a speed of 90'

It leads to a further question of how nagas are managing their somatic components...

Clearly, nagas do some sort of rhythmic snake dance for their somatic components.

Because they're all at a con and not in the offices writing blogs and forum posts.

You're not the only one Ridge. One of the only things I don't like about Golarion is how often it goes to the Lovecraft / horror in general well. I like a bit of Lovecraft flavour in my fantasy from time to time (it fits really well into Mummy's Mask, for example), but there's too much of it in Golarion, and having an entire AP about it doesn't appeal to me at all.

Yeah, I started a FAQ thread for it more than two years ago when I first noticed it. Stuff like that is a large part of why I get frustrated with Paizo's FAQ / errata policy.

I'd assume that it's "in addition to" advancing sorcerer bloodlines, Dragon Disciple could advance a bloodrager bloodline.

ZanThrax wrote:

They actually did fix the wide variety of problems with things that simply didn't work as written.

Really? I'm not seeing it. You can just go over to the thread where people were posting Errata issues, and see that many of them were not addressed...

I was going though the ACG Potential errors thread and comparing the posts to the errata, including the nice lists that deadmanwalking put together. Around 90% of what was posted was fixed, and of what was left, I'd say that nearly all of it was stuff that either wasn't an error, or where the poster thought the wording was vague, or was minor typos and layout stuff that's presumably able to fixed without being put in the errata document.

They actually did fix the wide variety of problems with things that simply didn't work as written. And they nerfed a variety of things that the community was largely in agreement were overpowered. And then they kept going, and nerfed a whole lot of stuff that was actually well liked.

I imagine the time it took to release this errata was utilized as an informal second playtest of the material from the ACG.

I know in my local PFS scene many, many characters were created with a one level Swashbuckler dip, and the amount of Dex-to-damage builds increased practically exponentially.

Those builds, comments, and questions made their way here to the forums where the Design Team was able to see the impact of what they had wrought.

Just like the original Warpriest playtest goes to show, when the majority of players quickly choose one option over others, it's a pretty good sign that option is out of balance with the rest.

It's also possible that when a large subset of the player base jumps on a new option that it means that there a large demand for decent mechanical options to realize the style of character that the player base envision. Many people want dex to damage to be workable simply because they prefer a lightly armoured agile character concept to aroid freak with the biggest sword they can lift. That so many people jumped to slashing grace and a swashbuckler dip doesn't necessarily mean that the feat is too strong. It might just mean that swashbuckler is a narrow, mechanically weak class that doesn't work for a large variety of dex warriors.

I just always take a hard look at such things these days, and ask myself, "Is this actually adding to the story, or is it just grimdark or—worse—intended to be titillating?"

Thank you for that James. Authorial restraint is the best way to keep the fiction from turning into self-parody, and given the amount of horror (and especially Lovecraft) influence in Pathfinder, it would be all too easy for Pathfinder to turn into PathFinder 40K if the writers aren't careful.

They made the same change to Picaroon. Which would be nice, if they hadn't also made sure that a Picaroon can't benefit from Slashing Grace. (Although I suppose that since Fencing Grace will never be changed, all Picaroons will now just have to use rapiers.)

Ashram wrote:

No offense, someone desperately needs to do some proofreading on the errata document. Many entries are unbolded or lumped into other entries.

The entries are sorted by page, not by mechanic.

Which I don't see the point of. Is it really that important to save pages of a pdf errata document that making it much harder to peruse is worthwhile?

edit: they're actually not all grouped by page. Right at the start, there's two separate p.13 entries for two different mechanics that are changed. Then they go ahead and group multiple changes together into single bullet points by page number after that.

ok so Slashing Grace reads: Choose one kind of light or one-handed slashing weapon (such as the longsword). When wielding your chosen weapon one-handed, you can treat it as a one-handed piercing melee weapon for all feats and class abilities that require such a weapon (such as a swashbuckler's or a duelist's precise strike) and you can add your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to that weapon's damage. The weapon must be one appropriate for your size. You do not gain this benefit while fighting with two weapons or using flurry of blows, or any time another hand is otherwise occupied.

So why the hate for TWF fighters or swashbuckler types? Or just for someone who holds a wand in the off hand?

My Daring Champion / Exemplar -> Battle Herald character for an upcoming Giantslayer game just got nerfed right in the face with this change. Even if she wasn't flurrying her weapon, she's pretty nearly always going to have her banner in her other hand. I was expecting to have some things nerfed by the errata (like Arcane Deed), but this one took me completely by surprise. Guess I'll have to stick with my waraxe-swinging dwarven daring champion for my dex to damage character of choice. That makes way more sense for dex-to-damage than someone with a pair of knives, or someone's who's so quick they can stab you multiple times with a single blade.

Ya, got FAQ

FAQ wrote:

Drawing and Sheathing a Weapon-like Object: I know I can draw or sheathe a weapon-like object as a move action using the “Draw or sheathe a weapon” action, but if I have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, can I combine the action with a regular move?Yes. As shown on the chart on page 183, when you have a BAB of +1 or higher, you are combining the regular draw or sheathe a weapon action with a move action. Thus all rules for draw or sheathe a weapon apply, including the ability to draw or sheathe a weapon-like object.

Did my Arcanist just get the ability to start putting his wands and scrolls away in a bandolier or haversack while moving around during fights?

What cheese? Sacred Fist can flurry in armour for the exact same reason that a Sohei can. And Sohei was already FAQ'd to explicitly say that it can flurry in armour.

Groot was created in 1960. And the Guardians comic run that made him popular was released in 2008.

Huh. For some reason, I'd thought that girtabilu only came in female. Which may have been part of the reason that it's one of my Brown Fur Transmuter's favourite things to polymorph the party beatsticks into.

Bah! Speculative Fiction is far too anti-technology.

http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/22/caveman-science-fiction/

Consequences of failure do not affect one's ability to Take 10.

In fact, it can be the entire reason you Take 10.

It's usually the entire reason that I want to take 10 at least. If a particularly bad roll means that I fail a relatively simple task, and there's no benefit to a particularly high roll, then that is exactly the sort of roll that take 10 was intended to be used for.

But try convincing some GMs of that. I know that I sometimes want to have my characters be good enough at a skill that I can "take 1" and still succeed, just to avoid the next argument of why I should be able to take 10 to jump that 6' gap with my remotely-competent Acrobatics skill without having to accept a 5 or 10 percent chance to fall in and die.

I'm going to go against the grain of the thread and say that I'm mostly interested in more details about the elves and dwarves - especially about the Kyonin and Five Kings Mountains. I want to know what the elves and dwarves of Golarion are like, and how they're different from standard-issue fantasy dwarves and elves.

ZanThrax wrote:

Mark, does anyone know how the Manoeuvre Master monk archetype is meant to work? Every time I think about making one, I start digging into the many, many threads wherein people give their theories as to how the FoM is meant to work, and it doesn't seem that any two people agree. And then there's the question of what, if anything, ki flurry does for a Manoeuvre Master.

It's a pretty complicated ability with some pretty confusing wording. I think on each full attacj (at 15th) it gives you one maneuver at -2, another at -5, and a third at -9 (but I could see that last one being interpreted as being at -12).

Thanks Mark. It had never occurred to me before that the intent for the third attack was that the -7 was cumulative with only the initial -2, not with both the -2 and the -3.

Wraith's question reminded me of another Arcanist question that came up last time I played mine: if an Arcanist doesn't get sufficient time to prepare his spells in the morning, what happens? A prepared caster would have only the spells that he had remaining, and a sorcerer would have only the spell slots that he hadn't used the previous day. But the Arcanist write up doesn't really define how their daily preparation works.

We were interrupted about 45 minutes into our hour of morning preparation, I was preparing slightly different spells than I had the previous day, and had no idea what spells I ought to have had available and how many spell slots I ought to have had to cast them from.

Mark, does anyone know how the Manoeuvre Master monk archetype is meant to work? Every time I think about making one, I start digging into the many, many threads wherein people give their theories as to how the FoM is meant to work, and it doesn't seem that any two people agree. And then there's the question of what, if anything, ki flurry does for a Manoeuvre Master.

tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Silent

(You have to include the http:// in your url= tag or the parser assumes that it's a local link.)

Pretty much every dex-to-damage feat or ability before now has had "no 1.5 Dex to two-handed attacks" type language. This does not. So can the Unchained Rogue get 1.5 Dex to damage with an Elven Curve Blade?

ZanThrax wrote:

There's no math to the table at all. If the enchantments on your armour have a total value of +3, and you don't want to get any of the automatic AC bonus from the new system, then it cost's 9,000 gp. Or if you have only a +1 equivalent enchantment on your armour and want to use 4 points of the automatic AC bonus, it also costs 9,000 gp.

I'm more of less trying to figure out where the 3 capacity flaming weapon to flaming burst only cost 3000 + 6000.

Oh, okay. I see what you're looking at. You're right, the paragraph preceding the chart is rather confusingly written.

It's talking about crafting costs, where the table is talking prices. Crafting costs are half the price. So

So for instance, a flaming weapon with capacity 0 has a crafting cost of 1,000 gp.

Upgrading its capacity to 3 would cost 6,000 gp.

If the crafter later wanted to upgrade the capacity 3 flaming weapon to flaming burst, it would cost 3,000 gp to upgrade flaming to flaming burst and an additional 6,000 gp because the capacity’s cost increases when the weapon’s enhancements increase for a total of 9,000 gp.

In total, this weapon cost 16,000 gp to make and has a market price of 32,000 gp.

we're starting with a +1 enchantment and 0 capacity. The table says that the *price* of that is 2,000 gp. So the crafting cost is 1,000 gp. Matches up so far.

Then we change it to a +1 enchantment with a 3 capacity. The table says that the price of that is 14,000 gp; the crafting cost is therefore 7,000 gp. But since we already spent 1,000 gp to make the initial flaming sword, we have to spend another 6,000 gp - just paying the difference.

The final part is where it's needlessly confusing I think. Flaming -> Flaming Burst, at a capacity of 0 is going from 2,000 gp price to 8,000 gp price, which is an increase of 6,000 gp. Half of that is 3,000 gp cost. And then it's re-doing the capacity increase from 0 (8,000 gp) to 3 (32,000 gp); 24,000 gp price; 12,000 gp cost but giving credit for the 6,000 gp we already spent in the previous step to go from 0 to 3 capacity for a total of 6,000 gp. Then it's adding the two increases together to make 9,000 gp.

The last sentence there is what they should have referenced instead - a +2 enchantment weapon with a capacity of 3 has a price of 32,000 gp and a cost of 16,000 gp.

If you want to upgrade an existing item, just look at the price of what you want, subtract the price of what you have, and divide by two to figure out how much gold you need to spend to pay for the upgrade.

Seriously, that entire section of text should be replaced.

So, for instance, a flaming weapon with a capicty 0 has a crafting cost of 1,000 gp. Upgrading its capacity to 3 would cost 6,000 gp (the difference between 7,000 gp for the new capacity 3 flaming weapon and 1,000 gp for the original capacity 0 weapon). If the crafter later wanted to upgrade the capicty 3 flaming weapon to flaming burst, it would cost 9,000 gp (the difference between 16,000 gp for the new capacity 3 flaming burst weapon and 7,000 gp for the previous capacity 3 flaming weapon).

I like to chime in on the "Players Companion line needs post-release support" topic as well. Many of the strongest (overpowered?) options in the game are from the Players Companion and Campaign Setting books, and when they cause problems, those problems are left in place, because no one at Paizo is responsible for dealing with those books after they're released. Knowing that the next Sacred Geometry is going to show up in a Companion or Setting book, after which it will be promptly abandoned, makes me leery of both lines. Which is unfortunate; because I very much want more details about the setting. (Although I'd prefer more gazetteer-style books that detail a particular area over the constant release of books that talk about one minor aspect of a bunch of random parts of the world.)