Zog of Deadwood's page

The post title pretty much sums up the question. I believe the answer is most likely yes (using spells like Overland Flight or Fly in which the flight is mentally controlled, anyway), but was somewhat surprised to see no references online to anyone ever using this tactic.

The Statue spell description is vague as to what type of actions can be taken by a caster in statue form. Perception is explicitly allowed, and the spell does not even impose a penalty, which you'd think it would. I mean, you can't turn your head to look behind you in statue form. What about other purely mental actions, though? Concentration seems as if it should be a gimme, but what about occult casters who do not need to use non-mental components? Can they still cast their spells?

A statue spell turns the subject to solid stone, along with any garments and equipment worn or carried. In statue form, the subject gains hardness 8. The subject retains its own hit points. The subject can see, hear, and smell normally, but it does not need to eat or breathe. Feeling is limited to those sensations that can affect the granite-hard substance of the individual's body. Chipping is equal to a mere scratch, but breaking off one of the statue's arms constitutes serious damage. The subject of a statue spell can return to its normal state, act, and then return instantly to the statue state (a free action) if it so desires as long as the spell duration is in effect.

On a related sidenote, the spell says nothing about AC. I'd guess the affected person would probably have the same AC as an Animated Object with a Dexterity of 0 and would count as paralyzed unless flying is an option, but that is merely a guess, as the spell doesn't mention anything about it. If the caster does not count as an object (and the spell description has nothing explicit to indicate it makes that change) and is not paralyzed in statue form when it is not the caster's turn, does that mean an opponent can coup-de-grace? What about sneak attack? A mere 8 points of hardness does very little to alleviate that kind of pain against the kind of opponents someone employing this spell would be likely to face.

Does anyone have any information on any of this?

This question may have been previously addressed, but if so I haven't seen it.

A slayer's studied target bonus increases the DCs of slayer class abilities by one for each point of bonus. I feel safe in assuming that slayer talents with DCs (e.g., Assassinate) count as class abilities, but what about combat feats gained via slayer talents that also have associated save DCs (e.g., Blinding Critical)?

We all know Necromancy is the school of squick, or at least has thus far been defined that way. Above and beyond the fact that the granted powers of dark necromancy are far superior to those available to those tiny few who try to follow the Paths of Light, the spell selection available for Dark or Grey necromancers is probably ten times that of Light Necromancers. Some claim the entire school is irrevocably tainted. This despite the fact that one of the very first spells a wizard specializing in necromancy learns is the cantrip Disrupt Undead, which utilizes positive energy to harm undead creatures.

This isn't a problem unique to Pathfinder. D&D 3.5 was very nearly as bad, although it did have a few spells like Healing Touch (a spell in the BoXD that was in every respect the opposite of Vampiric Touch). 2nd Ed was somewhat better, but not by a great deal.

Perhaps this is only natural. Probably many of those with the inclination to heal become divine casters, who are certainly better at it. However, I thought I'd share some of the spell ideas I had for anyone else attempting to play an unoptimized good necromancer.

I'll start with two spells in the same general tradition as Healing Thief and Toxic Gift. I got the idea for them when my necromancer PC visited a version of fantasy India and it occurred to me that with its emphasis on life and death and curses, Necromantic magic is very much the magic of fate and karma.

I would be very interested in what others think of their balance and playability.

Wound Refusal (Necromancy) 3 [karmic]
Range : Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Components : V, S
Duration : Instantaneous
Casting Time : 1 immediate action
Area of Effect : Caster and one other creature
Saving Throw : Will yes; Spell Resistance: yes

By casting this spell, the mage retroactively redirects some or all of the hit point damage he or she received from a single attack (of any type, physical or magical) earlier in the round of casting and transfers that damage to the target, who must be the being or creature directly responsible for dealing that damage to the mage, with a limit of 1d4 hit points damage/caster level transferred to a maximum of 15d4 hit points at 15th caster level.

A save vs. Will is allowed to the target and, if successful, the spell fails and the mage’s injuries remain. The attack in question need not have been directed solely against the mage; damage from area of effect spells (e.g., fireballs) is acceptable. Further, multiple instances of damage from the same source (e.g., 2 arrows fired using the Manyshot feat, 5 Magic Missiles, or 3 rays of the same Scorching Ray spell) count as single attacks so long as they are simultaneous. However, indirect damage from an attack (e.g., damage taken from a fall suffered because the mage was pushed off a ledge) could not be returned to the pusher as that damage would be caused by hitting the ground, not by the push, although damage from the push itself (if any) could be returned. Damage suffered by traps is also incapable of being returned by this spell.

The amount of damage returned is neither decreased nor increased by any damage reduction, immunity, or vulnerabilities possessed by the target versus the specific attack form that inflicted the damage. Any concommitant effects such as poison, sickness, or ability damage are not transferred with the hit point damage, but remain with the mage. Note that despite the speed of this spell, if the mage takes more hit points of damage in an attack than she currently possesses, she may not use this spell to return that damage before losing consciousness unless she has the Diehard feat or an equivalent ability (e.g., ferocity).

Share Fate’s Burden (Necromancy) 5 [karmic, good]
Range : Touch
Components : V, S
Duration : Instantaneous
Casting Time : 1 standard action
Area of Effect : Caster plus one other living creature wounded or killed within the last round
Saving Throw : Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance: yes (harmless)

By casting this spell upon a target who has been wounded or killed within the last round, the mage shoulders some part of that target’s fate, retroactively redirecting some or all of the damage from the wounds taken upon herself. The mage takes up to 5d8 points of damage + 1 point per caster level of any amount of damage received in the round of casting or the round before, to a maximum of the amount of damage that was inflicted. The mage may elect to redirect somewhat less than the potential maximum by specifying a lower caster level (so long as the caster level is sufficient to cast the spell), but the 5d8 is fixed. If the damage redirected is sufficient to restore a dead target to life, that target does not receive a negative level but is treated as if she had not died (although said target will still most likely be prone and heavily wounded). It is possible for a mage to kill herself by the use of this spell, although this does not affect the spell’s success or failure regarding the target. The mage is not giving her hit points to the target, but instead taking the target’s damage, although in most cases the distinction will be academic.

Further, if any of the damage redirected was from an attack associated with a Fortitude save that had the potential to inflict a condition (e.g., a snake’s poisoned bite), the target is enabled to reroll his or her saving throw (if it was previously failed), but the mage casting Share Fate’s Burden is obligated to make said Fortitude saving throw as well (albeit with a +4 bonus) or suffer the same condition, even if the recipient of Share Fate’s Burden made his or her save and even if the attack was an area effect against which the mage had already made a save for herself.

The amount of damage redirected is neither decreased nor increased by any damage reduction, immunity, or vulnerabilities possessed by the target versus the specific attack form that inflicted the damage, although any Fortitude saves vs. conditions may be affected by such variables.

Note: After this spell is cast, the caster is counted as a target of the original attack(s) and thus may cast the spell Wound Refusal (if it is in her list of prepared or spontaneous spells) in an attempt to redirect some or all of the damage redirected back to the originator of said attack(s).

A player in a game I run has a 17th level wizard/EK character who recently used a Miracle to have the soul and intelligence within her mace given a body. There's complicated backstory behind all this, but the long and short of it is that after the character was killed at low level by a bugbear captain wielding this mace she took a feat called Weapon Avenger from Kobold Quarterly that meant that part of her spirit was trapped in it, giving the weapon some minor benefits. After the PC was Raised, she took the weapon for her own, enchanted it, made it intelligent, and since then has interacted with it on a regular basis. They used to argue about which one was "really" the original character, given that both had pieces of the original soul.

Anyway, after this Miracle, the new character (who will become the PC's cohort) is a magus whose weapon, naturally, is the self-same mace. In point of fact, she is officially the first magus in my campaign world. The connection to this mace is integral to the concept of this NPC. However, while thinking about this as a GM, I was thinking what a shame it was that such a potentially interesting character was shackled to such a suboptimal weapon (simple weapon, one-handed melee, damage 1d8, crit 20/x2). And then I had an idea.

Would it be unbalancing if it were possible for a mace-wielding character to upgrade mace weapon statistics (for any normal mace) by taking the feat Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Mace, which we would say gives maces a weapon stat block of (exotic weapon, one-handed melee, damage 1d8, crit 19-20/x2, +2 on Sunder attempts)? I know there is something like a precedent with the Bastard Sword, which can be used two-handed as a martial weapon but needs EWP to be used one-handed. Would such a feat be worth doubling the chance of a crit (discounting critical confirmation checks) from 5% to 10% and adding a +2 bonus to sunder attempts?

For those who haven't seen it, Ultimate Campaign has guidelines regarding the interaction of expected Wealth by Level (WBL) and magical item crafting feats.

From the SRD:

As a guideline, allowing a crafting PC to exceed the Character Wealth by Level guidelines by about 25% is fair, or even up to 50% if the PC has multiple crafting feats.

If you are creating items for other characters in the party, the increased wealth for the other characters should come out of your increased allotment.

Unfortunately, whether you like this rule/guideline or not, Ultimate Campaign offers no fluff to explain how it should work or be enforced within the game. The "why this is the way it is" isn't addressed.

Thinking about it, I came up with a potential way forward:

We could adapt and simplify the crafting rules from the 3.5 Artificer, giving characters with crafting feats a set value of cost reduction they can apply to crafted items, with the proviso that said reduction is never more than 50%. This set value would increase with level. It would still be possible for a crafter to create additional items at any time with NO cost reduction. Weak items invested with personal mana the crafter later wished to completely replace would have to be destroyed or recycled to free up the personal mana invested (something that would not work for anyone else). This would work fairly well to control party WBL inflation issues, but would also somewhat change the feel of the feats involved. PCs and NPCs would be very loath to ever create items for anyone but themselves at reduced cost, as every act of cheap creation would deplete a limited pool of power. They would still be able and perhaps willing to create customized items for their friends at full cost. They just wouldn't do it on the cheap unless they were very good friends indeed.

Edit: Crafting feats that create charged or expendable items would be more flexible, using the rule above, as when the scroll or potion or wand was used up, the mana invested would return to the crafter. This would make those feats somewhat more attractive than they now are.

A wizard or witch with an animal familiar can upgrade it once 3rd level is attained to a Celestial or Fiendish animal version by taking the feat Improved Familiar. However, at higher levels such a familiar lags behind the Improved Familiars that become available at 7th level. In theory, such a PC could simply swap out for a Cassissian or something and of course wizards with raven familiars could swap out for Nosoi and wizards with cats could take Silvanshees and retain flavor. What, though, would be an appropriate 7th level powers upgrade for a celestial hawk?

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I have a longstanding 14th level PC I have played since 3.0. She was later converted into 3.5 and still later into Pathfinder (with some 3.5 material grandfathered in). She is fun to play, and I have no intention of creating a new character to replace her in the game she is now in (not the now defunct game in which she went from 1st to 12th).

However, she is not a strong character for her level, mostly because I made really lousy feat and class choices early on. The reasons for these bad choices vary, but many were because I didn't have or anticipate the options that would open up as more books came out. Others were because she had planned to enter a homebrew evil-themed PrC and thought better of it only after taking prereqs she no longer needed. The question for me going forward is whether I can keep her viable and able to help with level-appropriate combat challenges going into the higher levels. Out of combat, I have no concerns, as she has utility spells and skills that have always seemed sufficient.

I KNOW this character is not capable of being optimized. Not for a long time now. Fortunately, the campaign she is in is not filled with very optimized characters anyway (or her weakness would have been an issue before). Moreover, I realize I'm making it even more difficult in that the character is fighting her early training and trying really hard to be good and so will not pick up any of the many useful but evil spells or feats employed by necromancers with fewer scruples (i.e., practically all of them). However, does anyone have any suggestions for future feat choices?

12th level human necromancer/2nd level rogue
Neutral aiming for Neutral Good
She has never taken a prestige class. Her opposition schools are Enchantment and Illusion. She turns undead and does not create or summon them, or utilize spells with the evil descriptor.

Str 7
Dex 12
Con 14 (includes untyped +2 permanent bonus from a Netherese artifact)
Int 27 (includes +4 enhancement from item, +2 inherent from Tome, +2 racial added in when converted to Pathfinder)
Wis 8
Cha 16 (including +2 enhancement from item)

(Her stats were rolled, as all stats were in her starting campaign, but her beginning stats would have been a 17 point buy had they been bought)

Feats:
Scribe Scroll (free from class)
Turn Undead (free from class, has item that increases DC by 2)
Spellcasting Prodigy - (a 3.0 feat nerfed in 3.5 - makes her Int count as +2 for purposes of bonus spells, originally also improved spell DCs)
Improved Initiative
Craft Wondrous Item
Craft Wand - I didn't know back then how terribad this was
Reach Spell - was originally (blush) Enlarge Spell, but GM let me substitute for the functionally superior but identically themed feat Reach Spell
Spell Focus: Necromancy (required for a homebrew evil-themed PrC she eventually chose not to enter)
Energy Substitution: Acid (same as above)
Silent Spell (after witnessing how easily mages are taken down by Silence spells in combination with grapplers, she now always has at least one Silenced Dimension Door or Teleport)
Combat Casting - picked up in changeover to Pathfinder
Defensive Combat Training - feat gained from rogue talent Combat Trick
Insightful Reflexes - 3.5 feat that allows her to substitute Int bonus for Dex in Reflex saves

Other abilities:
Darkvision (from same Netherese artifact that raised her Con)
Evasion (from 2nd lvl rogue--the Insightful Reflexes feat, a +1 item luck bonus, and the Superior Resistance spell combine with her base save to give her a Reflex save of 22, so she doesn't worry overmuch about dodging dodgeable spells)
Comprehend Languages made Permanent
Detect Magic made Permanent
See Invisibility made Permanent

The current GM runs a medium to low treasure campaign with very little downtime, making both of the Crafting feats above fairly useless. He also does not permit buying spell copying rights and tends to use sorcerers as spellcasting opponents, meaning that her Blessed Book spellbook is not yet beyond 20% filled (I have absolutely no idea what the norm is for wizards, though, so perhaps she is about par).

She has:
16 cantrips
20 1st lvl spells,
20 2nd lvl spells,
15 3rd lvl spells (typically uses Slow, Dispel Magic, and Phantom Steeds for party, usually has a couple Vampiric Touch spells modified upward by Reach Spell for emergencies),
10 4th lvl spells (uses Dimension Door, Fear, and Black Tentacles a lot, sometimes Scrying),
3 5th lvl spells (Permanency, 3.5 Spiritwall, and Teleport), and
3 6th lvl spells (Chain Lightning, 3.5 Superior Resistance, 3.5 Incorporeal Nova).

Any suggestions?

Perhaps this has been covered in depth before, but while I was looking for a monster to put up against my group that could smite good (I thought it'd be fun to see the paladin taking it as well as dishing it out), I noticed what looks like a curious omission. Creatures with the fiendish, half-fiend, celestial, and half-celestial templates all have the ability to smite once/day. However, actual fiends and angels (untemplated) do not.

Now, in my game I think I'll give angels and fiends the same number of smites as a paladin of equivalent HD, but it just seems like an odd oversight. Or is there reasoning behind it of which I am unaware?