backinblacK's page

Ye gods... So. Much. Bookkeeping... So many items with a huge price tag that do either nothing special, or nothing useful at all...

Sorry if this has been covered already. Long story short, reincarnated as a kobold. Unhappy about this, my PC will likely be looking for a change back into a more palatable form. Aside from finding a cleric willing or able to do this, what kind of cost am I looking at? Is this a 25K kind of request or more standard than that?

Relevant text:
You don't so much cast a miracle as request one. You state what you would like to have happen and request that your deity (or the power you pray to for spells) intercede.

A miracle can do any of the following things.

Duplicate any cleric spell of 8th level or lower.
Duplicate any other spell of 7th level or lower.
Undo the harmful effects of certain spells, such as feeblemind or insanity.
Have any effect whose power level is in line with the above effects.

Alternatively, a cleric can make a very powerful request. Casting such a miracle costs the cleric 25,000 gp in powdered diamond because of the powerful divine energies involved.

Thanks,
~m

I think that both of you (magicdealer and watcher) make great points. Knowing and mentioning that the ruling is technically against the rules as written to your GM, but being respectful while doing so.

All the other stuff was just the loss of inflection b/c of the text. Cheers guys!

~m

I unfortunately cannot use the Beastiary races so no Tengu :(

Does this mean that goblin is out? There's a nice bump to stealth to be had, but these are often difficult to roleplay...

Wait: you disagree that you should point out to the dm how the rules actually work?

There are times when a dm does have to make an adhoc call, but this spell isn't one of them. The dm actually has to decide that he doesn't like the way the spell functions and change it from that. Not because the spell is unclear about how it works.

I see no reason...

I appreciate what you're saying, but I think as an on-the-fly ruling it was fine. I agree with my DM that with a strange usage like a limited fly spell (air elemental at 400' in a straight line for 4 rounds?) that the power of the shadow call goes up quite a bit.

My reasoning was yours when I proposed my course of action and my DM, whom I trust implicitly, thought about it and decided that it seemed counter-intuitive that for a strange usage like this (instead of the summons as cannon fodder) that my chara could choose to believe something that he knows (b/c he made it) to be an semi-illusion, but also equally counter-intuitive that it just fails when the elementals could pound on me at 20% strength if commanded to do so.

He ruled that the ability of the air elemental to carry my character should work, 20 percent of the time. It wasn't what I wanted, but I think it's a fair viewing on what I feel is a rather ambiguous spell. I think the ambiguity is likely a product of the spell having such a wide scope of use. If we had a heavy like Buhlmann or Jacobs weigh in, I'm sure he'd change his tune, but otherwise I think his ruling is sound logically and fair; not something I view as a house rule.

I played a small shadowdancer and tried to use it in this context as limited fly (getting carried across town to the combat) but got nixed on that I can't auto-fail my own shadow conjurations.

Couldn't one of your party members auto-fail and get caught?

Oooooh! Subquestion. If my chara has a shadow companion and a ghost touch weapon and is able to be carried by someone with a 10 str (base for incorporeal creatures with -- str when acting on things like ghost touch objects), can he now effectively fly as the shadow can make physical contact with him via the weapon?

3) If I summon a shadowed flying creature to rescue a falling friend, and he has adventured with me long enough to know I utilize illusions that are only partially real, how would he interact with the summoned creature (see #2 for context)?

I played a small shadowdancer and tried to use it in this context as limited fly (getting carried across town to the combat) but got nixed on that I can't auto-fail my own shadow conjurations.

Couldn't one of your party members auto-fail and get caught?

Urglin? Isn't the orc capital known for gladiator combat and slavery?

I've searched a bit, but found no answers... So, if I use a scroll, the saving throw is based upon the minimum prereqs to cast the spell. Fine. What about spell resistance? Do I use the minimum caster level to cast the spell? IE, I cast grease from a scroll, my SR check is +1 for a 1st level caster, +3 for a second level spell and so on...

Thanks in advance.

All I'm looking for is a "youse decide it for your own groups." or "An errata is coming." That's all...

~m

3) No, Gauntlet attacks are based on size and a 20th monk with Gauntlets deal 1d3 as Medium. To boot, this ability (doing Monk unarmed with weapons) has appeared in many different forms and each time cost 4,000 or so and up additional in the cost of the weapon. Basically if you take advantage of the +5 to attack and +5 to damage you deal 1d3 but if you have no bonus to hit/damage you can take the monk damage.

Dude, I can agree with anything but this because of the ambiguity of the equipment wording...

This metal glove lets you deal lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes. A strike with a gauntlet is otherwise considered an unarmed attack.

This would indicate to me that since it is an unarmed attack, it WOULD scale with the monk's damage thang...

~m

backinblacK wrote:

While I disagree with your assessment on what RAW says, I agree 100% on your questions. We need official answers to your questions, because as it is we are at a standstill with the rules as written and what they actually mean.

C'mon fellas, read the thread and give us a yes or no! Anyone know a way other than lots of posting to garner some designer attention?

James, I'd be interested to hear how you read the RAW.

~m

3) will their damage scale as their level prowess increases?

Okay okay okay... Enough beating around the bush. I don't care what other players think, what the semantics of the books say. RAW, it seems that monks can use gauntlets, but it doesn't make much sense that they wouldn't be able to flurry with what are essentially heavy gloves.

So, someone who made the rules, helped write the book, lay down the law. Real quick yes or no.

1) Can monks use gauntlets/brass knuckles/heavy leather gloves?

2) Can they flurry with gauntlets on?

I'll be honest, I've not read every post in the thread, but I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Yes, he got a big boost on a lucky roll. Would you have given him a bonus had he rolled a kobold? If not, then leave him alone and let him have to mask his form everywhere he goes.

I apologize if this has been covered already. I would rather avoid the throng of people downloading the PDF on the 13th, but am just as eager as said throng. When exactly will the PDF become available? (I'm hoping for a time. IE: 12:01 PM August 13th)

Thanks for your time!

~m

The Unicorn in a fit of terrorized confusion turns its own horn on itself, for 10 dmg (used your 1d8+12 roll only 1d8+STR for confused though.) Rolled 55 on the confusion check.

Dear Guys,

Sorry to interrupt. Really enjoying these threads. I hate to be a stickler, but wouldn't this apply to the confused unicorn?

confused creature who is attacked automatically attacks its attackers on its next turn, as long as it is still confused when its turn comes. Note that a confused creature will not make attacks of opportunity against anything that it is not already devoted to attacking (either because of its most recent action or because it has just been attacked).

Keep up the fun stuff,

~m

Dear Jason and Co.,

I’ve noticed the minor changes to save progression in the prestige classes. Now, something that irritated me about PrC’s in the past was that for whatever reason, they didn’t just scale the saves as they should have to go with the standard class that typically took the PrC.
IE, In 3.5 why doesn’t a Rogue 6/ Shadowdancer 9 have the same saves as a Rogue 15 (+4 +11+4 and +5 +9 +5 respectively) if their classes are based on the same progression. Really you’re just mixing the ingredients around, why change the progression? (This is also present in the BAB difference +10 SD vs. +11 R).

So enter PF. The same problems mixed around with a little more sting. (SD +10 +4 +9 +4, Rge +11 +5 +9 +5) Almost a penalty for prestige classing…

Now ideally, I’d rather like a system that allowed a more open selection of traits for characters (skill points, different traits, spells, etc.) but I understand that this isn’t happening anytime soon (no backwards compatibility).

Why not stack levels on the same progression for an idea of saves and BAB? IE, You’ve a Shadowdancer 10/ Rogue 5, you’re at level 15 on the medium progression chart for BAB, the low progression chart for Fort and will and the high progression chart for reflex.

You’ve a Barbarian 4/ Sorc 1/ Dragon disc 10? You have 10 levels on the medium progression for BAB, 4 on the high end, 1 on the low end. For saves? 14 levels of high FORT + 1 lvl low FORT, 15 levels of low reflex and 11 levels of high will + 4 levels of low will.

I know it seems complex, but I think in practice this wouldn’t be any harder than fooling around with other bonuses…

Thanks for reading,

~m

True strike twice a day.... One level Assassin dip.... Hope your saves are good, Jocko...

Riiiiiight... Because the 3.5 assassin would wreck the game if he got access to true strike! Oh wait...

~m

The frostrager from the Frostburn book is pretty well-built to fight hand-to-hand as well...

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20040911a&page=3

~m

Sai. Bludgeoning damage.
~m

So, an idea for the grave touch that we're going to playtest is allowing it to stack with the chill touch spell granted at 3rd level for damage. With multiple uses at 2d6+2, I think that this one might just be useful enough to work.

~m

What if the undead line got a scaling companion? At first level, an always active unseen servant that scales up. Later it turns into a shadowdancer type shadow and then gains HD as the sorcerer grows more powerful.

Dear Jason and Erik,

I love what you’re doing with keeping the OGL alive and I love almost all of the changes to the classes. Thank you so much. The following is a concern of mine.

Okay, so sorcerer bloodlines. There are some balance issues. I’m not writing to post about more/better spells, role-playing needed for the different bloodlines or the whole prepared versus spontaneous thing. I’m writing to address what I feel are inadequacies between the bloodlines. While some bloodlines are wonderfully done in terms of both flavor and mechanics, others are either blasé or just plain too poor to use.

The following will be some of my thoughts on each line, with some ideas which I think might be used to fix em.

Aberrant: Weird extra spells, weird, useful bloodline stuff (ray and limbs are pretty neat, especially if you get a flank when you use a touch from afar.)

Overall? Weird. Lots of utility that will go far in a party.

Abyssal: Mean, some offense, some demonic in the dirt stuff. Claws, resistances and strength bonuses planning up as you gain strength is real nice and adds flavor to the more “dead” levels

Overall: Pretty cool and flavored right.

Arcane? Riiiiiiiight... I like the identify and the magic staple flavors, but the bloodline stuff? Snore... Metamagic adept, new arcane and the school power didn’t impress me at all.

Overall: I would never play this class. Almost no level scaling and poor bloodline powers compared to others. Bonded item extra spell is cool, but overall, a bit of a clunker.

Celestial: Decent spells (bless is really cool. Do more of this crosslist stuff.) Heavenly fire is great if your party is good and you fight a lot of evil, but is useless in many situations. Scaling resistances are okay, but you run into fire so much more often that they’re likely less useful than demonic resistances. Flight ought to scale up as a permanent thing at 15th, much like the other flying bloodlines. Conviction… Meh, I'm not impressed.

Overall: Some are okay... Like the bless thing, but the general offensive weakness of this bloodline is obvious compared to other lines, as is the gap in the bloodline skills. Good guys always get the shaft, here is no different. I might play this bloodline for a crusader-type adventure, but otherwise, forget it.

Destined: The way I see it, this one is a pale imitator of the old luck domain. Powers are bardish, but not nearly as good as a bard. Extra spells are okay, with some exceptions (alarm…). Fated bonuses should scale and apply at all times, not just during the surprise round. The later bloodline powers just do not compare with the upper level powers of the other bloodlines. I look at the old luck domain compared to this class and want to play a cleric instead...

Overall: I would not ever play this bloodline, due to its obvious lack of power compared to other bloodlines.

Draconic: Strong defense, strong offense, good spells, solid.

Overall: What I would expect from a dragon relative.

Elemental: Crazy offensive outpouring and typed resistances. The movement is a nice bit of flavor for the bloodline.

Overall: Fun, weird, solid.

Fey: Laughing touch is weak, but still has utility. It could easily be a 30’ ranged thing and be a bit stronger. Bloodline powers don't scale like others do though. Weak in bloodline powers, but toolboxy enough to help a party along in general.

Overall: Flavor is right, even if some of the powers in general could use a tweak or two. I’d play it.

Infernal? Manipulative, good offense, touch attack again, but at least it scales well and gives some sort of synergy with the class spells. Touch and then back up and throw in a suggestion or two. Sounds devilish to me. Upper level powers are pretty cool too.

Overall: Flavor is right, nice extra spells. Solid.

Undead: Weak touch that scales poorly. This could easily become a drain attack at higher levels and be pretty cool or be ranged and much more useful. Death’s gift is fine on cold, but when, other than in a forced march do you run into non-lethal damage? Skeletal arms with your CON modifier? I’m imagining this is a typo. Incorporeal form would be more useful if you could break it up into smaller increments but not being able to use your spells is a little absurd. One of Us is pretty cool. With Grave Touch what it is, chill touch is a useless extra spell.

Overall: Making all of the bonus spells necromantic doesn’t make them appropriate (like everything but chill touch, to be honest). Looking at the animal domain, what about an undead companion, something like the shadowdancer’s shade or a skeletal companion or how about an option to hate undead, rather than raise and control them? As is I would not play this bloodline.

What do you all think?

Ugh, can't believe I posted in the wrong thread... Erik, I'm with you on this one...

Okay, so.

My group is currently running RotRL. We began before the PF alpha release but opted to convert and playtest the new system. As far as the cleric channeling, I do not like it. Our party cleric is a frail cleric of pharasma and as he channeled negative energy before the switch, the player opted to keep this ability. The result is that the cleric channeling ability is nearly useless; scratch that, not near.

As a 5th level cleric, he now does 3d6 damage in a 30 foot radius if he channels. For a melee cleric, this might be nice. Run ahead, get into the fray by yourself, channel, bring up the backups to clean up the rest. As it is, the cleric cannot affect undead without hurting the lot of us. Rather badly, if the roll goes poorly. So, fine our cleric is useless against undead.

Now let us consider evil clerics we might face in the future. The battle goes badly? All your troops are down and you're 7th level? Start dropping a channel for 3 rounds in a row. That's 12d6 for a party to try to take and or recover from. You essentially cannot chase an evil cleric unless you've enough hp's to avoid being massacred or an excellent will save, every time (let's say a 14 for this 7th level guy). Keep the rogue, ranger, fighter, barbarian and paladin away while we chase...

The feel of the mechanic seems right, but in practice, every cleric that channels negative energy is now essentially a bomb.

Is the burst a sphere as per default in the SRD or are we going with a conical burst?

I'd like to check in on this thread in the future, so please don't mention anyone from RotRL and ruin my fun...

Thanks for reading.

Okay, so.

My group is currently running RotRL. We began before the PF alpha release but opted to convert and playtest the new system. As far as the cleric channeling, I do not like it. Our party cleric is a frail cleric of pharasma and as he channeled negative energy before the switch, the player opted to keep this ability. The result is that the cleric channeling ability is nearly useless; scratch that, not near.

As a 5th level cleric, he now does 3d6 damage in a 30 foot radius if he channels. For a melee cleric, this might be nice. Run ahead, get into the fray by yourself, channel, bring up the backups to clean up the rest. As it is, the cleric cannot affect undead without hurting the lot of us. Rather badly, if the roll goes poorly. So, fine our cleric is useless against undead.

Now let us consider evil clerics we might face in the future. The battle goes badly? All your troops are down and you're 7th level? Start dropping a channel for 3 rounds in a row. That's 12d6 for a party to try to take and or recover from. You essentially cannot chase an evil cleric unless you've enough hp's to avoid being massacred or an excellent will save, every time (let's say a 14 for this 7th level guy). Keep the rogue, ranger, fighter, barbarian and paladin away while we chase...

The feel of the mechanic seems right, but in practice, every cleric that channels negative energy is now essentially a bomb.

Is the burst a sphere as per default in the SRD or are we going with a conical burst?

I'd like to check in on this thread in the future, so please don't mention anyone from RotRL and ruin my fun...

Thanks for reading.