Zollqir's page

If you wish to contact me privately, the best way to do it is through Discord, as I don't check here very often. My Discord username is zollqir#4538.

Welcome to the Arena of Lost Souls 3!

A battle for glory! Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and countless other creatures locked in mortal combat! Let your arrows fly, swords swing, and spells fling!

For what, you may ask? To prove you are the cheesiest, munchkiniest optimizer in all the land, and hold the title of Supreme Cheese Lord! Bards will sing of your prowess, and great wizards will whisper your name in hushed tones in dark rooms.

At least until I host another tournament.

This is the sequel to a tournament that I held last year, which had 15 participants, and led to Eshmun the Conjurer being victorious.

Tournament Rules
This will be a Blind Double Elimination format tournament, meaning players are not eliminated from the tournament until they lose two matches. Each match will be a 'best 2 rounds out of 3', except for the Grand Final which will be 'best 3 rounds out of 5'.

The Arena Master (yours truly) runs the tournament. My duties are extensive, and include, but are not limited to: maintaining and updating the rules, gamemastering the battles, and arbitrating any disputes about rules or other issues. In the event of a disagreement about ruling, I will listen to the dissenter's point, but my final decision is law. I will attempt to rule this tournament as RAWWR (Rules-as-Written Within Reason, including official FAQs) as humanly possible.

The game will be played on roll20.com, so you will need a roll20 account to participate in this tournament (which is free!). Tournament coordination will be done on a Discord server. Ideally you will have a microphone, however its fine if you don't, and you can communicate to me through text during the fight. PMing me on Discord will be the fastest way to contact me if you need to do so (and is also how you will submit your character), but feel free to post here to generate hype (my Discord username is zollqir#4538). Spectators are highly encouraged, including other players in the tournament.

How do I join?

To join, hop onto the Discord server here, fill in a row of the Sign Up sheet on this Google Speadsheet here, and PM me a character in the submission format found here. You will be informed if your submission is illegal on Discord, and will be asked to rectify this. After your build is confirmed, I will let you know, and give you a special role on the Discord server where all Arena of Lost Souls coordination will happen. Also, linked here is a test-version of the roll20 Arena so players can acquaint themselves with the battleground before building their character.

Submissions will be accepted until September 10th, 11:59 PM EST (GMT-5), 2020.

Scheduling

The scheduling for this tournament will be fairly flexible. By default, I will hold one session on each week. In the event that one or both players cannot play on a given Saturday, a different day will be determined using whenisgood.net to ensure compatible schedules. In the event that one or both players of a match have conflicting schedules for the given week, their match will be skipped over and played on a different week.

Character Creation and General Rules can be found here

New rule:

Full pouch is banned.

Currently at 8 entrants with 3 more on the way!

New rules:

If a player is killed/petrified/etc. or in anyways unable to act aggressively by an effect with a duration of 1 hour or greater, his allies have 3 rounds to remove this condition, or else the round will end in a loss.

Mothmen are banned,

New rules:
Druids may select Herbalism as their Nature Bond, but are unable to craft any free potions.
Trompe L'Oeil constructs are banned

There are currently two confirmed entrants to the tournament, with a couple more in the process. Sign up, and become a legend!

Welcome to the Arena of Lost Souls 2!

A battle for glory! Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and countless other creatures locked in mortal combat! Let your arrows fly, swords swing, and spells fling!

For what, you may ask? To prove you are the cheesiest, munchkiniest optimizer in all the land, and hold the title of Supreme Cheese Lord! Bards will sing of your prowess, and great wizards will whisper your name in hushed tones in dark rooms.

At least until I host another tournament.

This is the sequel to a tournament that I held last year, which had 8 participants, and led to Psilosarxia the Diviner being victorious.

Tournament Rules
This will be a Blind Double Elimination format tournament, meaning players are not eliminated from the tournament until they lose two matches. Each match will be a 'best 2 rounds out of 3', except for the Grand Final which will be 'best 3 rounds out of 5'.

The Arena Master (yours truly) runs the tournament. My duties are extensive, and include, but are not limited to: maintaining and updating these rules, gamemastering the battles, and arbitrating any disputes about rules or other issues. In the event of a disagreement about ruling, I will listen to the dissenter's point, but my final decision is law. I will attempt to rule this tournament as RAWWR (Rules-as-Written Within Reason, including official FAQs) as humanly possible, except in cases where the RAW would lead to ludicrous (as determined by me) results, such as grappling someone from a mile away using a bow and Hamatula Strike. In the event of an ambiguity in the RAW, I will resort to my own interpretation of RAI (Rules-as-Intended). It is important that I remain fair and unbiased. I shall humbly serve you all, and hopefully my mind won't be sundered from the mental effort required for this.

The game will be played on roll20.com, so you will need a roll20 account to participate in this tournament (which is free!). Tournament coordination will be done on a Discord server. Ideally you will have a microphone, however its fine if you don't, and you can communicate to me through text during the fight. PMing me on Discord will be the fastest way to contact me if you need to do so (and is also how you will submit your character), but feel free to post here to generate hype (my Discord username is zollqir#6969). Spectators are highly encouraged, including other players in the tournament.

How do I join?

To join, fill in a row of the Sign Up sheet on this Google Speadsheet here, add me as a friend on Discord (zollqir#6969), and PM me a PDF containing your character in the format in the spoiler below. In addition, please send me a PNG file for your character's token (preferably one with a transparent background), as well as one for each of your followers, if any. I will be checking every submission to see if it is legal. You will be informed if your submission is illegal on Discord, and will be asked to rectify this. After your build is confirmed, I will let you know, and give you a special role on the Discord server where all Arena of Lost Souls coordination will happen. Also, linked here is a test-version of the roll20 Arena so players can acquaint themselves with the battleground before building their character.

Submissions will be accepted until May 11th, 11:59 PM EST (GMT-5). The first game will be held on May 18th.

Scheduling

The scheduling for this tournament will be fairly flexible. By default, I will hold one session on Saturday each week. In the event that one or both players cannot play on a given Saturday, a different day will be determined using whenisgood.net to ensure compatible schedules. In the event that one or both players of a match have conflicting schedules for the given week, their match will be skipped over and played on a different week.

Character Generation Rules
For this tournament, build one character using 25-point buy at level 11, with 82000 gp and 2 traits (not from the same category).

Only first-party material printed by Paizo for PFRPG is legal (which means no 3.5e content)
first hitdie is at maximum, the rest are half the die + 1
No third-party material
Any alignment is allowed
You may have at most one patron deity, who must be within one step of your alignment.
You cannot use/obtain artifacts
No retraining
No advanced or modern firearms
You may use skills and Item Creation feats to craft items, effectively allowing you to purchase them at reduced cost. However you will need to demonstrate that you cannot fail the skill check at the bottom of your submission for each item (for example, by having a high enough modifier that failure is impossible). Always take 10 when crafting in this manner. You may craft as much as you like, as long as it would not take longer than 60 days to do so.
No custom magic items
No technological items
Any followers you have must be: a class feature, crafted by you, or a spell effect cast by you, and must be permanent.
You may not purchase creatures (so no buying 500 riding dogs or 10 rocs).
You may hire spellcasters of 11th level or lower for the usual price (CL * Spell Level * 10 + Focus Cost / 10 + Material Cost) to cast spells for you during character creation, such as Permanency.
You may cast spells on yourself or your followers as a part of character creation, as long as it would not take longer than 1 week to do so.
You may not add spells to your spell list that are normally not castable by 11th-level or lower characters, such as 4th-level Paladin spells, 6th-level Bard spells, etc.
You may pre-poison your weapons and ammunition, but only if you have Poison Use or are are immune to poison (such as by buying and expending Blackfingers Paste as part of character creation)
If you use something that cannot be found on d20pfsrd or Archives of Nethys, please supply the book it came from, with page numbers.
If you wish to use a Variant Rule for your character, such as Called Shots or Words of Power, please contact me about it. If I decide that the variant rule is OK, I will add it to this list.
These rules may be subject to change. If this happens, I will make a post here and PM everyone on Discord that it affects, and make a notice in the Discord server.

The following options are banned:
Items

• spell-completion or spell trigger items from classes of 12th level or higher (meaning no scrolls/wands/potions/etc, of Wizard spells of 7th or higher, no Summoner spells of 5th or higher, etc.)
  
• Candle of Invocation
  
• Cyclops Helm
  
• Blightburn Paste
  
• Ghost Syrup
  
• Numerian Fluids
  
• Iron Circlet of Guarded Souls
  

Feats

• Leadership, as well as any other means of obtaining a cohort
  
• Sacred Geometry
  

Spells

• Blood Money
  
• Create Mindscape
  
• Create Mindscape, Greater
  
• Irradiate
  
• Planar Ally
  
• Planar Ally, Greater
  
• Planar Ally, Lesser
  
• Planar Binding
  
• Planar Binding, Greater
  
• Planar Binding, Lesser
  
• Simulacrum
  
• Simulacrum, Lesser
  

Classes

• Chained Summoner, as well as its spell list
  

Miscellaenous

• Pugwampi Gremlins
  
• Polymorph spells cannot be used to polymorph into the following creatures: blight (any), deathsnatcher, Euryale, fen mauler, green man, mezlan, rawhead, and vespergaunt
  

Spells

• Spells with the shadow descriptor cannot exceed 100% realness by any means.
  
• Animate Dead, Create Undead, and similar spells cannot be cast outside the Arena, but are allowed within it. Any followers created by such spells are destroyed at the end of each round, and then restored to their original form/state.
  

You may use any alternate racial traits you wish, however if you select a racial trait that alters the RP (Race Points) of your race, the total number of RP of your race cannot exceed 15.

Arena Rules
The arena is on the Material Plane.
The arena is a vertically-oriented cylinder, with a radius of 150 feet and a height of 50 feet. The walls, ceiling, and floor are infinitely thick, indestructible, and impassable by any means including earth glide and incorporeality. One square is 5 feet.
Obstacles: There are two kinds of obstacles: pillars reach the ceiling, while rocks are only 5 ft. high. Pillars and rocks have AC 5, a hardness of 8, and 120 hit points. Rocks weight 21,000 lbs., pillars weigh 210,000 lbs. You may move through both with abilities such as earth glide and incorporeality, but cannot end your turn inside of a rock or pillar.
Rock Cover: Rocks provide Cover (+4 AC, +2 to Reflex vs. attacks from the other side) to Medium or smaller creatures standing behind them, and Partial Cover to Large creatures (+2 to AC, +1 to Reflex vs. attacks from the other side). Huge and larger creatures do not benefit from cover from Rocks.
Pillar Cover: Pillars provide Cover to Large or smaller creature standing behind them, and Partial Cover to Huge creatures. Gargantuan and larger creatures do not benefit from cover from Pillars.
Improved Cover: Medium or smaller creatures behind a Pillar, or Small or smaller creatures behind a Rock can benefit from Improved Cover (+8 AC, +4 Reflex vs. attacks from the other side, Improved Evasion, +10 Stealth). You cannot attack or cast spells while using Improved Cover as you have to press yourself against the obstacle.
Terrain: The arena counts as any type of terrain and grants the full benefits related to terrain-specific bonuses within the boundaries of common sense such as a ranger's Favored Terrain.
Torches: The torches in the arena are standard non-magical torches that shed 20-feet of normal light, followed by 20-feet of increased light level (increasing the ambient darkness of the Arena to dim light). A torch within reach can be snuffed-out with a standard action, or with any (reasonable) amount of water or similar liquid.

Battle Rules
Prepared spellcasters must supply a list of spells they have prepared in their submission, which they must use during the first round of every match. They may then choose to prepare different spells for each subsequent round of the match.
When a match begins, both contestants, any followers, and all gear are dispelled of any non-permanent spell effects. After being dispelled, both contestants, their followers, and gear they are carrying will be teleported to their respective sides of the map.
For the first round of combat, you will be trapped in a small area by indestructible walls of force. Leaving this area before this round is impossible, however creating spell effects outside this area that do not require Line of Effect (such as Scrying) are allowed. This time should be used to cast buff spells, and ready actions.
The physical description of each contestant will be shared with the other, however the same will not be true for their followers.
At the start of your turn, as well as every time you move, you may make a Perception check to attempt to notice things (such as enemies using Stealth). You may also make a Perception check as a move action in place of movement.
Leaving the arena is impossible via teleportation, plane shift, astral/ethereal travel, burrowing, or any other means.
Game Stalling: If 5 turns pass without either player having dealt damage or inflicted any status effect, or in anyway affected their quarry, the position of every creature in the arena will temporarily be revealed to each player. If 5 more turns pass without either player having dealt damage or inflicted any status effect, or in anyway affected their quarry, the player responsible for the delay will lose the round. In the event that both players are responsible for the delay, the round will end in a draw. If two draws result in a given match as a result of this rule, both players are removed from the tournament.
A player wins a round when the opposing player is dead, unconscious, petrified, or in anyway rendered helpless/unable to act (aggressively) for at least one hour. In the event that both players are rendered dead, unconscious, etc. simultaneously, the match will end in a draw. Eliminating all enemy combatants is not necessary, simply incapacitating the enemy player is sufficient.
Before each round, each player and all their followers will be restored to full health and purged of any status effects or ailments and placed in a 50 ft. by 50 ft. inescapable room, and any gear that has been damaged, lost, or consumed will be replaced. All abilities with a frequency of X/week or less are refreshed as well. Each player will then have 24 hours of preparation, which can be used to sleep, prepare spells, cast spells, etc., though any spells cast during this time cannot be refreshed before the battle begins.
In a match, both contestants know each other's name and have seen each other once (Firsthand (you have met the subject) for the purpose of Scrying and similar effects).
If you have an Obedience feat, you are assumed to have completed your deity's obedience before every round, regardless of your obedience's normal requirements. In addition, you may only gain the benefit of one Obedience feat at a given time.
Using metaknowledge of a creature's abilities without making the requisite Knowledge check to identify it will result in a warning in the first instance. The second instance will result in the loss of the round, a third instance will result in removal from the tournament.
When identifying a creature with a Knowledge check (such as a summoned monster), succeeding the check gives the identifier complete knowledge of the creature's statblock.
Players have complete knowledge of their follower's statblocks, as well as any creatures they summon/create/etc. during a round.

Links
Discord Link
Google Doc Link
roll20 Test Arena Link

Caspain:

I'm not sure what exception clause you refer to. If it's this:

This spell functions like greater polymorph, except that it changes one object or creature into another. You can use this spell to transform all manner of objects and creatures into new forms—you aren't limited to transforming a living creature into another living form.

then I'm not sure how that can be interpreted to mean the spell can polymorph the target into any creature. If it's specifically the phrase "You can use this spell to transform all manner of objects and creatures into new forms", then I will point you to the definition of the colloquial phrase "all manner of ..." here:

all manner of
phrase of manner
many different kinds of.
"they accuse me of all manner of evil things"

Let us assume for a moment that you are right, and that the spell allows us to transform the target into an Invisible Stalker:

• 1) What ability score changes would the target receive? It wouldn't be able to use those listed in Greater Polymorph, since none of the spells in Greater Polymorph can polymorph the target into an Invisible Stalker.
  
• 2) What special abilities would the target receive? Once again, none of the spells in Greater Polymorph can polymorph the target into an Invisible Stalker.
  

Since PAO says "This spell functions like greater polymorph ...", we must assume it functions exactly like Greater Polymorph, except in places where PAO makes an explicit exception. I've already listed the only differences between PAO and Greater Polymorph, which I will briefly enumerate again here:

• 1) The duration works differently
  
• 2) It can turn creatures into objects
  
• 3) It can turn objects into creatures (the mechanics for which are not well-defined, and do not actually function)
  
• 4) The spell can, instead of being used in the normal way, mimic one of the following spells: baleful polymorph, greater polymorph, flesh to stone, stone to flesh, transmute mud to rock, transmute metal to wood, or transmute rock to mud
  

In regards to you saying the spell is worthy of an FAQ, I certainly agree. However, given that this is a CRB spell, and the long, prevalent history of confusion surrounding it, it's obvious that Paizo does not want to touch the subject with a 10 foot pole, so I doubt this spell will ever get an FAQ.

PAO is the most misunderstood spell in the game (and with good reason. It's not well written). Here is what it can actually do:

It functions as the spell Greater Polymorph (which itself functions as either: animal or magical beast as Beast Shape IV, elemental as Elemental Body III, humanoid as Alter Self, plant as Plant Shape II, dragon as Form of the Dragon I; Note that this means PAO cannot do aberrations, constructs, fey, monstrous humanoid, oozes, outsiders other than elementals, undead, or vermin), with the following exceptions:

1)The duration works differently, as shown in the tables (potentially being permanent)
2)It can turn creatures into objects, using the rules listed in the spell
3)It can turn objects into creatures (while it says it can do this, the mechanics for doing so are not fully explained, due to how polymorph changed between 3.5 and PF. For instance, what is the objects HD? BAB? base saves? etc.)
4)Finally, PAO can be used to mimic one of the following spells instead of the above uses: baleful polymorph, greater polymorph, flesh to stone, stone to flesh, transmute mud to rock, transmute metal to wood, or transmute rock to mud

Note that when polymorphing into a creature, you do not gain that creature's stats or special abilities. Instead, you gain bonuses to your own ability scores as appropriate for the polymorph spell (Beast Shape IV for animals, etc.), and any special abilities that polymorph spell lists, as well as all natural weapons.

In regards to this thread, you cannot PAO into an Invisible Stalker, because Elemental Body III can only turn you into a Large or smaller air, earth, water, or fire elemental (as in the creatures with the name "X elemental", not just any outsider with the elemental and air/earth/water/fire subtypes), which is what Greater Polymorph functions as, which is what PAO functions as

I have a question about the Change Out (Ex) ability that the Gun Scavenger archetype for Gunslinger grants. It says:

How would you rule the range of the scatter for a given firearm? As far I've noticed the scatter range for all the early and advanced firearms is 1.5 times the weapon's range increment. Should I follow that precedent?

New rules:

• If you have the Agonizing Obedience, Celestial Obedience, Deific Obedience, Demonic Obedience, Fey Obedience, Fiendish Obedience, or Hellknight Obedience feat, you are assumed to have completed your obedience before every round, regardless of your obedience's requirements.
  
• You must be one step within your deity's alignment.
  
• You may only have one patron deity.
  
• You may only gain the benefit of one Obedience feat at any given time (meaning for example that you cannot gain the benefits of both Deific Obedience and Fiendish Obedience if you are a worshiper of Lamashtu).
  

New rule:

In a match, both contestants know each other's name and have seen each other once (Firsthand (you have met the subject) for Scrying and similar effects).

The physical description of each contestant will be shared with the other, however the same will not be true for their followers.

Am I reading it right, there is a single preparation round before combat starts?

There is a single round inside the walls of force where you can do as you please (this will be referred to as the "buff round").

Also, are you allowed to start at different age categories, with the appropriate stat modifiers?

Yes you may use the middle-aged, old, and venerable age categories to modify your ability scores.

This is going to sound like a strange question but I have good reason to ask it. Can I elect to use a 24 point-buy instead of 25?

Yes, you do not have to use every point in the 25-point buy. If you truly wish, you could build a character using 0-point buy.

The tournament has garnered some interest from /r/Pathfinder_RPG's Discord's members, so this thread may not be a good approximater of the amount of interest.

New rule added:

Iron Circlet of Guarded Souls is banned

New rules added:

Blightburn Paste, Numerian Fluids, Ghost Syrup, and summoned Pugwampis are banned.

In addition, you may pre-poison your weapons and ammunition, but only if you have Poison Use or are immune to poison (such as buying and expending Black Finger Paste)

Welcome to the Arena of Lost Souls!

A battle for glory! Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and countless other creatures locked in mortal combat! Let your arrows fly, swords swing, and spells fling!

For what, you may ask? To prove you are the cheesiest, munchkiniest optimizer in all the land, and hold the title of Supreme Cheese Lord! Bards will sing of your prowess, and great wizards will whisper your name in hushed tones in dark rooms.

At least until I host another tournament.

I've been holding onto this idea for some time now after noticing that no one has held an event like this on this forum before.

Tournament Rules
This will be a Blind Double Elimination format tournament, meaning players are not eliminated from the tournament until they lose two matches. Each match will be a 'best 2 rounds out of 3', except for the Grand Final which will be 'best 3 rounds out of 5'.

The Arena Master (yours truly) runs the tournament. My duties are extensive, and include, but are not limited to: maintaining and updating these rules, gamemastering the battles, and arbitrating any disputes about rules or other issues. In the event of a disagreement about ruling, I will listen to the dissenter's point, but my final decision is law. I will attempt to rule this tournament as RAWWR (Rules-as-Written Within Reason, including official FAQs) as humanly possible, except in cases where the RAW would lead to ludicrous (as determined by me) results, such as grappling someone from a mile away using a bow and Hamatula Strike. In the event of an ambiguity in the RAW, I will resort to my own interpretation of RAI (Rules-as-Intended). It is important that I remain fair and unbiased. I shall humbly serve you all, and hopefully my mind won't be sundered from the mental effort required for this.

The game will be played on roll20.com, so you will need a roll20 account to participate in this tournament (which is free!). The tournament will be hosted on the Pathfinder subreddit's Discord here. Ideally you will have a microphone, however its fine if you don't, and you can communicate to me through text during the fight. PMing me on Discord will be the fastest way to contact me if you need to do so, but feel free to post here to generate hype (my Discord username is zollqir#6378). Spectators are highly encouraged, including other players in the tournament.

How do I join?

To join, fill in a row of the Sign Up sheet on this Google Speadsheet here, add me as a friend on Discord (zollqir#6378), and PM me a PDF containing your character in the format in the spoiler below. I will be checking every submission to see if it is legal. You will be informed if your submission is illegal on Discord, and will be asked to rectify this. After your build is confirmed, I will add you to a Discord group chat where all Arena of Lost Souls coordination will happen. Also, linked here is a test-version of the roll20 Arena so players can acquaint themselves with the battleground before building their character.

Submissions will be accepted until May 18th, 11:59 PM EST (GMT-5). The first game will be held on May 19th.

Scheduling

The scheduling for this tournament will be fairly flexible. I will hold one session each week, normally on Saturdays. I will be using whenisgood.net to ensure that people's schedules are compatible. In the event that one or both players cannot play on a given Saturday, a different day will be determined through Discord. In the event that one or both players of a match have conflicting schedules for the given week, their match will be skipped over and played on a different week.

Character Generation Rules
For this tournament, build one character using 25-point buy at level 11, with 82000 gp and 2 traits (not from the same category).

• Only first-party material printed by Paizo for PFRPG is legal (which means no 3.5e content)
  
• first hitdie is at maximum, the rest are half the die + 1
  
• No third-party material
  
• Any alignment is allowed
  
• You cannot use/obtain artifacts
  
• No retraining
  
• You may use skills and Item Creation feats to craft items, effectively allowing you to purchase them at reduced cost. However you will need to demonstrate that you cannot fail the skill check at the bottom of your submission for each item (for example, by having a high enough modifier that failure is impossible). Always take 10 when crafting in this manner. You may craft as much as you like, as long as it would not take longer than 60 days to do so.
  
• No custom magic items
  
• No technological items
  
• Any followers you have must be: a class feature, crafted by you, or a spell effect cast by you, and must be permanent.
  
• You may not purchase creatures (so no buying 500 riding dogs or 10 rocs).
  
• You may hire spellcasters of 11th level or lower for the usual price (CL * Spell Level * 10 + Focus Cost / 10 + Material Cost) to cast spells for you during character creation, such as Permanency.
  
• You may cast spells on yourself or your followers as a part of character creation, as long as it would not take longer than 1 week to do so.
  
• You may not add spells to your spell list that are normally not castable by 11th-level or lower characters, such as 4th-level Paladin spells, 6th-level Bard spells, etc.
  
• If you use something that cannot be found on d20pfsrd or Archive of Nethys, please supply the book it came from, with page numbers.
  
• If you wish to use a Variant Rule for your character, such as Called Shots or Words of Power, please contact me about it. If I decide that the variant rule is OK, I will add it to this list.
  
• These rules may be subject to change. If this happens, I will make a post here and PM everyone on Discord that it affects, and make a notice in the Google Doc.
  

The following options are banned:
Magic Items

• spell-completion or spell trigger items from classes of 12th level or higher (meaning no scrolls/wands/potions/etc, of Wizard spells of 7th or higher, no Summoner spells of 5th or higher, etc.)
  
• Candle of Invocation
  

Feats

• Leadership, as well as any other means of obtaining a cohort
  

Spells

• Blood Money
  
• Create Mindscape
  
• Create Mindscape, Greater
  
• Planar Ally
  
• Planar Ally, Greater
  
• Planar Ally, Lesser
  
• Planar Binding
  
• Planar Binding, Greater
  
• Planar Binding, Lesser
  
• Simulacrum
  
• Simulacrum, Lesser
  

Classes

• Chained Summoner, as well as its spell list
  

The following options are restricted:

Feats

• Sacred Geometry: calculations must be finished within 60 seconds real-time (otherwise the action is wasted), and cannot be aided by any electronic source. If you submit a solution that turns out to be incorrect, you forfeit the action and the spell is wasted.
  

Spells

• Spells with the shadow descriptor cannot exceed 100% realness by any means.
  
• Animate Dead, Create Undead, and similar spells cannot be cast outside the Arena, but are allowed within it. Any followers created by such spells are destroyed at the end of each round, and then restored to their original form/state.
  

Arena Rules

• The arena is on the Material Plane
  
• The arena is a vertically-oriented cylinder, with a radius of 150 feet and a height of 50 feet. The walls, ceiling, and floor are infinitely thick, indestructible, and impassable by any means including earth glide and incorporeality. One square is 5 feet.
  
• Obstacles: There are two kinds of obstacles: pillars reach the ceiling, while rocks are only 5 ft. high. Pillars and rocks have AC 5, a hardness of 8, and 120 hit points. Rocks weight 21,000 lbs., pillars weigh 210,000 lbs. Both are impassable by any means such as incorporeality or earth glide.
  
• Rock Cover: Rocks provide Cover (+4 AC, +2 to Reflex vs. attacks from the other side) to Medium or smaller creatures standing behind them, and Partial Cover to Large creatures (+2 to AC, +1 to Reflex vs. attacks from the other side). Huge and larger creatures do not benefit from cover from Rocks.
  
• Pillar Cover: Pillars provide Cover to Large or smaller creature standing behind them, and Partial Cover to Huge creatures. Gargantuan and larger creatures do not benefit from cover from Pillars.
  
• Improved Cover: Medium or smaller creatures behind a Pillar, or Small or smaller creatures behind a Rock can benefit from Improved Cover (+8 AC, +4 Reflex vs. attacks from the other side, Improved Evasion, +10 Stealth). You cannot attack while using Improved Cover as you have to press yourself against the obstacle.
  
• Terrain: The arena counts as any type of terrain and grants the full benefits related to terrain-specific bonuses within the boundaries of common sense such as a ranger's Favored Terrain.
  
• Torches: The torches in the arena are standard non-magical torches that shed 20-feet of normal light, followed by 20-feet of increased light level (increasing the ambient darkness of the Arena to dim). A torch within reach can be snuffed-out with a standard action, or with any (reasonable) amount of water or similar liquid.
  

Battle Rules

• Prepared spellcasters must supply a list of spells they have prepared in their submission, which they must use during the first round of every match. They may then choose to prepare different spells for each subsequent round of the match.
  
• When a match begins, both contestants, any followers, and all gear are dispelled of any non-permanent spell effects. After being dispelled, both contestants, their followers, and gear they are carrying will be teleported to their respective sides of the map.
  
• For the first round of combat, you will be trapped in a small area by indestructible walls of force. Leaving this area before this round is impossible, however creating spell effects outside this area that do not require Line of Effect (such as Scrying) are allowed. This time should be used to cast buff spells, and ready actions.
  
• Leaving the arena is impossible via teleportation, plane shift, astral/ethereal travel, burrowing, or any other means.
  
• Game Stalling: If 5 turns pass without either player having dealt damage or inflicted any status effect, or in anyway affected their quarry, the position of every creature in the arena will temporarily be revealed to each player. If 5 more turns pass without either player having dealt damage or inflicted any status effect, or in anyway affected their quarry, the player responsible for the delay will lose the round. In the event that both players are responsible for the delay, the round will end in a draw. If two draws result in a given match as a result of this rule, both players are removed from the tournament.
  
• A player wins a round when all hostile creatures are dead, unconscious, petrified, or in anyway rendered helpless/unable to act (aggressively) for at least one hour. In the event that all creatures are rendered dead, unconscious, etc. simultaneously, the match will end in a draw.
  
• After a round ends, each player and all their followers will be restored to full health and purged of any status effects or ailments and placed in a 50 ft. by 50 ft. inescapable room, and any gear that has been damaged, lost, or consumed will be replaced. Each player will then have 24 hours of preparation, which can be used to sleep, prepare spells, cast spells, etc.
  
• Using metaknowledge of a creature's abilities (for example, a Clockwork Golem's vulnerability to rusting grasp) without sufficient in-game justification (such as "I'm using fire damage against a creature made of wood") without making the requisite Knowledge check will result in a warning in the first instance. The second instance will result in the loss of the round, a third instance will result in removal from the tournament.
  
• When identifying a creature with a Knowledge check (such as a summoned monster), succeeding the check gives the identifier complete knowledge of the creature's statblock.
  
• Players have complete knowledge of their follower's statblocks, as well as any creatures they summon/create/etc. during a round.
  

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It's pretty hard to control a thing that has an uncontrollable reproduction and is intent on destroying the world. Our GM ruled that every minute, each Spawn created an exact duplicate of that Spawn, so the only easy way to get rid of them was to Baleful Polymorph them into bunnies (but they kept their traits, like immunity to death), so when they split, they'd split into a different bunny. You could feasibly mind control one or inhabit its body, but its copy will still try to destroy the entire world. I don't really see a way to use them for your own gain (unless you want an infinite amount of immortal bunnies), as you'll only create more world-ending monstrosities.

That's a fine, and very interesting ruling. But I am ruling this game RAW, and nowhere in the book does it say the Ravager or its spawn double every minute. I find your anecdotes interesting, but they are only tangentially related to the actual question that I have asked.

JDLPF, you're answering a question I never asked. I'm not asking how to defeat this creature, I'm asking about ways to control it.

Thanks for the creative ways of killing things though.

Hey everyone, I need some help.

In the dungeon Rappan Athuk by Frog God Games, there is a very powerful Terrasque-esque creature called the Ravager. I am GMing the dungeon with a group of friends, and I suspect they will encounter this creature within the next few weeks or months.

I run the game as RAW as I can manage, with little wiggle room. I am curious if there are any RAW ways to seize control of the Ravager, or command it, or in some way get it to do what you want it to. Its stats can be found here. I've also pasted the statblock in the spoiler below.

An additional ability not actually listed in the statblock that the Ravager has is that "For every week that it lives, it permanently gains 1 hit die. There is no known limit to how far this advancement can go before it either devastates the planet it lives on or collapses under its own weight." It has gained 4 additional hitdice from this ability so far.

The main problem is the Ravager's Magic Disruption (Su) ability, which allows it to disrupt any magical effect it comes under by rolling a 1-4 on a d20, and if its under an ongoing effect, it rolls this every round until it succeeds. The only things I've thought of are instantaneous effects like Animate Dead and Simulacrum. The Animate Dead would require a CL of 10, and would require a Desecrate spell active, while Simulacrum would require a CL of 20 (since the Ravager has 39 hitdice).

Can you guys think of any other way to control/copy/harness this creature?

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I want to preface this by saying I want a strict as possible RAW answer. I'm more interested in the word of the law, not the spirit of the law.

There are a number of abilities that decrease either the cost or the crafting time of magic items, however it isn't clear how these abilities stack.

Say we have a 10th level gestalt character, Dwarf Alchemist 1 / Evangelist 9 | Wizard 10. This is a character a player in my campaign wants to run, and he wants to focus on crafting Constructs (mostly golems). (I am aware that normally one cannot retrain base class levels into prestige class levels due to this FAQ, however I have waived this in my game in order to encourage more flavourful builds, since I rarely see any prestige classes in my games).

Reducing Cost
(Another house-rule among our group is you can take multiple traits from the same category)
Relevant abilities are: Hedge Magician, Spark of Creation, Eldritch Smith, and the third Evangelist boon from Torag's Deific Obedience, Sacred Crafting. He has 3 traits rather than 2 because he also took a drawback.
All of these abilities reduce the cost of crafting by a percentage, however it is not clear whether these percentages stack additively or multiplicatively.

Additive Stacking
100% base cost of the item
90% Sacred Crafting (worth noting that Sacred Crafting reduces the base cost, not the crafting cost)
45% crafting cost (half base cost)
42.75% Hedge Magician (5% of 45% is 2.25%)
40.5% Spark of Creation
38.25% Eldritch Smith (assuming the item is made of metal or stone)
So with additive stacking, a metal/stone magic item could be crafted for 38.25% of its market price.

Multiplicative Stacking
100% base cost of the item
90% Sacred Crafting
45% crafting cost
42.75% Hedge Magician (5% of 45% is 2.25%)
40.6125% Spark of Creation (5% of 42.75% is 2.1375%)
38.581875% Eldritch Smith (5% of 40.6125% is 2.030625%)
So with multiplicative stacking, a metal/stone magic item could be crafted for 38.581875% of its market price.

The difference isn't much, but I'd still like to know the answer to this.

Reducing Time
Relevant abilities/items are: the Dwarf Wizard Favoured Class Bonus, Arcane Builder, Cooperative Crafting with both his Valet familiar and his cohort Dwarf Wizard from the Leadership feat, and Amazing Tools of Manufacture.
The big questions here are:

• Do multiple instances of Cooperative Crafting stack, and if so, how? (My inclination is yes, and the crafting time is divided by (1+the number of people with Cooperative Crafting assisting).
  
• How does the Amazing Tools of Manufacture interact with other abilities that reduce time? If you had one person helping with Cooperative Crafting, would the user be able to do 2000 gp of work in 30 minutes rather than an hour? Does the helper also need a set of Amazing Tools in order to do this, or is one shared between them sufficient? Does the Dwarf Wizard FCB or Arcane Builder interact with this?
  
• If someone assisting with Cooperative Crafting also has ways to reduce the cost or time of crafting(for example, the cohort may get Spark of Creation, Hedge Magician, or Eldritch Smith (through the Additional Traits feat), the Dwarf FCB, Arcane Builder, or Amazing Tools of Manufacture), does it further reduce the cost/price of the magic item? If so, by how much?
  

My initial inclination is as follows:
1000 gp/8 hours default crafting speed
875 gp/7 hours +2000 gp/1 hour=2875 gp/8 hours subtract 1 hour normal crafting, add 1 hour of crafting with Amazing Tools
4875 gp/8 hours +2000 gp/8 hours from 10 Dwarf FCBs
6093.75 gp/8 hours 25% increase from Arcane Builder
18281.25 gp/8 hours Triple speed from 2 helpers with Cooperative Crafting
36562.5 gp/8 hours rushing (which adds +5 to DC)
The cohort having additional abilities probably doesn't speed things along any further, however I am unsure about this.

Bonus Round: Caster Level shenanigans
Ignoring a requirement for a magic item is just a trivial +5 to the DC for the crafter. Normally the caster level requirement can be ignored in this way, however constructs specifically have a caveat which states:

Like when crafting magic items, a creator with a sufficiently high skill bonus may ignore these requirements. Each missing requirement increases the Craft DC by 5. Regardless, the creator must meet all item creation feats and minimum caster level requirements.

That quote is found here: Link.

So the only way to craft a construct with a caster level requirement is to meet that requirement. However, a character's caster level can be pumped above their character level. Relevant abilities/items are: Orange Prism Ioun Stone, Aether, Alchemical Affinity, Allied Spellcaster, Gifted Adept, Lore Seeker, Mage's/Varisian Tattoo, and Spell Specialization. Additionally, the construct can be made of Irespan Basalt, which I cannot find on the pfsrd or Archive of Nethys, so I'll supply a quote:

Physical Properties: Irespan basalt is as hard as iron, while retaining its other stony features for carving and building. It has hardness 10 and typically fetches a price of about 5 sp per pound. However, since few buyers are interested in stones of less than 1,000 pounds, the Irespan basalt trade is relatively limited to specialists capable of harvesting and transporting such heavy blocks.

Building Constructs: When a construct's materials consist entirely of Irespan stone, its Craft DC increases by + 5 , but the required Caster Level decreases by 1. In addition, stone constructs crafted from Irespan stone gain a +2 bonus to Strength and gain twice as many bonus hit points as normal from the construct type.

Which of the above apply for meeting the construct's caster level requirement? My feeling is all of them, as the requirements don't specify that the caster level has to be for a particular class or spell, so pumping up the caster level of a single spell would be sufficient for satisfying requirements, as long as you can maintain it for the entire crafting process.