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It's alive...

Sorry to necro the thread, but...

I have a Red Hand o Doom 5e game started (one session so far) that could use another player or two.
I can accept if you've played it before, but hope you can resist the meta gaming.

Four players. All professional and mature. Everyone interested in enjoyment and fun of the game.

Game is in base housing on KAFB hosted by husband & wife players.
I have base access, and 'chauffeur' the other two players. So don't decline if lack of access.

Usually play every other Saturday from 2 to 8pm.

Next game is 2 May...
Yea. Short notice. But don't feel obligated. That would make the next game 16 May if interested.

***obi-wan, you're missing out

BBEG's have minions and such to carry out their day to day evil deeds...
And keep the peasants, I.e. potential assassins, from getting to close

Give him a crusader lieutenant/ cohort
- Shield block for cohort's shield bonus +4 to BBEG's AC
- Iron guards glare for -4 to hit anyone in the cohort's reach except the cohort
- Bodyguard feat to give adjacent ally a +2 (dodge?) to AC (cost an AoO)
- cohort can 'assist' BBEG's AC for +2

That's an equivalent +14 AC without 'items'...

For instance, the poison of an imp's stinger.
Does it improve if the imp's HD increases.
If so, at what rate?

found it under Universal monster rules: poison

Take the arcane bond as a wizard.
Then pick one level of Diabolist. It gives you an imp companion instead of a familiar, but in my opinion that's better.
The companion improves based on your caster level, so improves for every wizard level you take afterwards. You get feats, stat boosts and skills for it.

You won't get your wizard capstone, but I've never seen a game get to 20th level.

Cool

Thanx, blahpers

... Oracle (Wood/Blackened) 1/ Tattooed Sorcerer (Marid) 2/ Mystic Theurge 4

Problem with a spontaneous caster on both sides is you can't use arcane slots to cast divine spells or vice versa. Other than the dual class spell progression, this is the only class benefit of MT.

Internet Anonymity Syndrome, basically.

"Internet/ Me: Anonymity Syndrome pSychosis...

I/M: ASS

Just thought that could use some adjusting...

Improvised Weapon Mastery extends the threat range of improvised weapons to 19-20. Improved Critical then extends it further to 17-20.

Since the feat sets the threat range, not improve/ extend it, seems it would stack with imp critical.

This is very tempting.
I tried to remove the requirement of the throw anything feat. Is it worth it for the greater threat range? Basically requiring two feats (throw anything & Improvised weapon mastery) with Improved critical. Or are there better selections available?

How do you get a grit range of 17+?
I cannot find any listing in pfsrd for rock stats and assumed it had a crit range of 20/ x2.

Use the Oracle (Stone)1 for the rock throwing goodness.
Seems kind of silly that a granted ability (rock throwing) would suffer a penalty (non-proficiency).

Add Barbarian (Breaker archetype) 3rd level.
1) At 3rd level, the breaker barbarian suffers no penalty on attack rolls when using an improvised weapon or a weapon with the broken condition. In addition, she gains a +1 bonus on damage rolls with improvised or broken weapons for every three levels beyond 3rd.
Select your ammo as fragile & use the Splintering weapon feat with every throw.

And Fighter (Two weapon archetype) to whatever level the campaign lasts.
1) The descriptions for the TWF archetype do not specify 'melee'.
2) 9th level allows an attack w/ primary & secondary weapon as a standard action. This seems to be better than Rapid shot.
This seems to have more benefits than the Weapon master.

Where, when & why do you want this effect?
If it's just an after death 'last will & testament' type thing...

Charge a Glyph of warding with a Spectral forces Major image.
The only problematic part I see is the 'harmful' requirement for the glyph spell description.

The Spectral forces Major image covers all the sensory components.
This can include a hologram of you, relaying your message while sitting in a comfy chair by a fireplace if you'd like.

Or the Conan route; sitting on a throne surrounded by slave girls with the heads of your enemies laying at your feet.

Have the glyph trigger when your favorite (weapon, magic item, left arm, etc...) is brought within range. Something that you would never be without unless you were dead.

I didn't consider it working with channel energy...

How powerful is this?
The highest modifier for a cast spell would be +8 (Cure critical wounds; mass).
Channel energy would provide +10 (not counting some means of maxing out dice beyond level provided means...)
Getting 8 or 10 additional hit points from a cure spell/ channeling doesn't seem all that overpowering to me.

The Phylactery of Channeling provides a static & unlimited use per day +2d6 for an average of +7 at a cost of 11,000.
Numbers-wise, this seems close enough to me for a straight, across-the-board cost comparison.

OR
The Greater Meta-magic Rod of Empower; cost: 24,500
Removing the 3 uses per day limitation mechanic pricing gives a standard price of 40,833.
Ref: Table: Estimating magic item gold piece value: Base price/ (5 divided by charges per day)

The +2/ die is on average ~1/2 the +50% provided by Empower of a Cure X; d8's
Cost multiplier: 0.75 x 40,833 = 30,624

The item is limited in use to a specific line of spells; Cure X
Cost multiplier: 0.5 x 30,624 = 15,312
I'm making these numbers up based on my idea of value.
Of course I'm posting this to get other's (positive...?) feedback whether I am right on/ close/ off-rocker in my estimations...

Appreciate any feed back, thoughts or ideas

Wondering if this seems reasonable:

A pair of gloves when worn that grant a +2/ die when applying a healing effect

Mechanics wise:
Apply an Empower feat (aka: Metamagic rod)

Since the feat is limited to a specific spell/ effect leave the cost at 3000gp.
OR - since it isn't capped at a spell level should the cost be higher? And if so, what would be a reasonable expense?

My 9th level (Cleric/ Crusader/ RKV) can provide a +8 AC to adjacent allies with a boost up to +17 situational ~1/ 4 rounds.

The two paladins in the party love it. They can focus on damage output.
If/ when enemies do hit, I'm right there for the occasional cure.

Yea, it Bo9S class...

Human Ruby knight vindicator; Cleric 6/ Crusader 1

Focusing on defense; Iron guards glare, Shield block, Tactical strike...

Currently wearing full plate & heavy shield, both +1

The options for adding options to magic armor (vice the standard +x) seems pathetic in comparison to weapons.

Any suggestions?

"Fools are made to suffer, not to be suffered"

I'm playing a cleric/ crusader with a goal of Ruby knight in a PF adventure path. The GM & myself have been curious but have never played with the Bo9S material.

Single class crusader so I only have a handful of maneuvers.
For the most part I'm boosting the party's abilities & countering enemy actions.

The party has a paladin & a fighter that are just monster, in-your-face damage dealers. Backed up by a zen monk archer and a bard.
We've still had near TPK's, and in fact I died the last session.

There are some maneuvers that 'seem' pretty brutal; Divine surge is +8d6 damage (~24 average), but its a single strike.
At the level Divine surge is gained (9th) a sorcerer is doing the same damage with a 2nd level spell (Scorching ray) with two ranged touch attacks.
A rogue would be doing +5d6 sneak attack damage on every hit.
The fighter & paladin seem to have >+20 damage on each attack. And the zen monk is just a machine gun.

I'd given up early on the idea of being a huge damage dealer as we already had two.
In your party you have one 'fighter', so he'll need to be effective.

So far, I don't think the ToB stuff is too much in a PF system game.
I'm actually worried that I'll be stuck with low level maneuvers and few higher level ones, that I'll fall behind the power curve as we level up.

The problem is the ability says nothing about allowing you to take an ability twice. Just because it allows you to choose anything you like does not mean you can choose things twice.

Thats a poor basis for an argument.

"...the ability says nothing about disallowing you to take an ability twice...

Do the feats gained as an animal companion supersede the normal feats gained by an animal?

I'm getting confused about the imp companion blocks (Diabolist PrC) & the animal companion table (Druid).
The block under the Diabolist PrC page provides an advanced (4th level) imp companion, but it doesn't seem to square with the advancement under the animal companion table.

I'm going to have a Wizard 6/ Diabolist 1.
What would be the final stats for the critter when he appears.
- stats (Str, dex, con, etc...)
- SLA's
- feats
- skills pts

he can use the animal companion tricks to gain alternate shapes or minor SLA's.

The group has two serious damage dealers; Paladin & Fighter.
Good ranged damage dealer; Zen monk
Buff/ skillmonkey; Bard
So far I've been healing, protections (spells, Shield block, Bodyguard & flank/ reach).

I'll be entering RKV1 at 8th (IL5).
I'd be happy to boost the party's actions (White raven) or heal & protect them (Devoted spirit). But, since the PrC gets access to the Shadow hand discipline I'm trying to figure out some good maneuvers to pick up.
I have the Travel devotion so will pick up d-door effect at 12th level, so the shadow jaunt series seems covered.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
__________________
Fools are made to suffer, not to be suffered

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

Now, you take the Lead dog, and give him Improved Critical (favored natural weapon, maybe tentacles to keep costs down and maximize attacks per evolution points spent?), and perhaps also a manufactured weapon or two to wield (preferably one with a high threat range and keen like a kukri or...

I like this. Very interesting, but...

With Improved critical the limited range of natural weapon crits (19/x2) leaves only a 10% chance of getting the crit. Not very promising.

If using manufactured weapons, the cost gets pretty steep. Or waiting until 11th level to get the Improved critical feat.

Any way to make this viable quicker?

I was looking at comparing the maneuvers to the abilities of the PF classes.

Bards (music), barbarians (rage/ powers) and paladins (smite/ lay on hands) get special abilities that are limited per day. However, the mechanics of how long they last make it unlikely that they would 'run out' of use. And when used they seem more powerful than maneuvers.

Ranger (fave enemy) and rogue (sneak attack) special abilities have no use limit, but are more situational. These seem less powerful than some maneuvers, but their unlimited availability can make them more valuable.

PF rules changed the spell disruption rules to make them more difficult and dangerous. Using the initiator level + ability modifier falls into the same rule mechanic as spell casting.
The schools have an associated ability score, so using that ability mod for the check seems fine.
Just because its not as good as the previous method isn't a very good argument.

Looking for input on if converting the Stone power feat from Tome of Battle would be worth taking.

It's initially based on 3.5 Power attack; take up to -5 on to hit & gain temp hit points = 2x penalty until start of next turn.

Going by PF Power attack mechanics for conversion; -1 to hit = +2 hit points (temp)/ +4 BAB.
BAB 0 to 4: -1 to hit/ +2 hit points (temp)
BAB 5 to 8: -2 to hit/ +4 hp (temp)
BAB 9 to 12: -3 to hit/ +6 hp (temp)
BAB 13 to 16: -4 to hit/ +8 hp (temp)
BAB 17 to 20: -5 to hit/ +10 hp (temp)

Does this seem right?
Would it be worth it?

Compare the wording to 'Cloudkill' which specifies in the description that damage occurs every round. So our groups interpretation is that 1d2 wisdom damage happens once. A 2nd level spell that does stat damage each round for minutes duration seems a bit excessive.

As to its e/affects, it is an Illusion (Figment) spell that contradicts the description: "Figments and glamers cannot cause damage to objects or creatures". I guess the (fear) addition in the spell description justifies the wisdom damage, but...
As the caster, I would imagine you would be unaffected by your own Illusions, and telling your allies provides a +4 on their Will saves.

Its still good for a 2nd level spell.
- Will save or wisdom damage
- Creatures shaken (-2 hit, saves, skills & ability checks)
- Provides concealment
+ all these effects can potentially be negated by informing your party members; Message spell to not announce to your enemies.

All of these seem reasonable for a 2nd level spell.

PRD and d20pfsrd.com, both now state:

"lay on hands (1d6, 1/day, always as a 2nd-level paladin)"

So it clearly got nerfed somewhere.

Yea, that pretty much nips the advancement of LoH. Odd that they inserted that specific for the silvanshee and not for any of the other imp familiar potentates.

The description of Agathions lists the LoH as based on HD as a racial trait, but why limit it for this one? I'd like to hear the reasoning of the developer who wrote it.

If you go by RAW then it doesn't advance.
But I can't really see the logic in limiting it.

Actually, Silvanshee was recently errata'd to always count as paladin level 2, which means only 1d6 healing, which is pretty much worthless. It sucks, but it's now the RAW.

Do you have a source for that?

I'm not try'n to troll.
I had a thought that with the prehensile tail trait and the Grasping tail feat, I would have something similar to the alchemist's vestigial arm; a trait & a feat were comparable to a class ability.

The goal here is to pitch the idea and arguments to the board before presenting them to the DM to see if they have merit or if they were off-rocker and not worth putting out to him.

...first, tail-grabbed items must be "small" items.

No.

"...tails that can be used to carry items."
No limitation is stipulated about the weight or size of the object.
Now realistically, no, you probably cannot pull a wagon or toss gnomes with it. But it seems that the limitation would be something adjudicated by the DM & player based on the size & strength of the tiefling.
Holding a polearm or longsword with the tail seems as reasonable as holding it in your off-hand while picking something up in an adjacent square or retrieving a stowed object with your other appendage (hand).

The alternate racial trait (ART) description states that the tail can carry items. I would imagine the limitation would be based on size & strength, but it can carry items.

If its a swift action to retrieve the item and put it in your hand, what action to swap an item from tail to hand and vice versa? Similar to holding a two-handed weapon in one hand; you can't use it effectively but you can just carry it.

The alchemist's class feature for a vestigal arm provides a fully functioning third hand. I was wondering if the ART with the feat (Grasping tail) would allow something similar.

In electrical work like soldering, I use one hand to hold the connector, the other hand to hold the solder and my mouth to balance the wire.
Utilizing secondary appendages is common in tasks (monkeys, lizards, etc...). A tiefling's tail has been a part of their body their whole life. Seems reasonable that they would develop some utility with it over that period, reflected in the ART & feat choice.

I have picked the Prehensile tail (ART) and plan to pick up the Grasping tail (feat) because I think the flavor is cool. I was just wondering to what level of use I could use it.
Was just wondering if it would work to:
- wield a two-handed weapon with primary hand & tail
- wield a shield with off hand

Without the feat, it seems that I could carry a weapon (light or even one handed) with my tail and wield a two-handed weapon and swap out the two weapons fairly easily (swift).

The Tiefling's Prehensile tail allows you to retrieve an item as a swift action, but its not supple/ strong enough to wield a weapon or ready a shield with it.

1) So can the tail hold a weapon you could use in close fighting (longsword, dagger, etc...) while you wield a polearm (reach weapon) with your regular weapons, and switch? What action would it be to switch a weapon?

2) The tail cannot 'wield' a weapon. But, could you use it to balance a polearm (reach) with your primary hand while wielding a shield with your off-hand?

I'd second M P 433's suggestion of looking at the red Hand of Doom module. Although some of the scene to scene events require some absence of conceive-ability.

Pitting a group vs an actual army (>100) is not really plausible. Where groups overcome the single BBEG via the action economy, it is more so when 6-8 face 100. The army can just use swarm tactics and overwhelm the individuals.

RHoD breaks down the campaign with small quests to stymie the advancing army. The success or failure provides campaign points to determine the success or failure of the the overall war.
There are climactic battles and scenes of the party vs the bad guys, but in the overall scheme of things its the battles (points) that determine the war; not some unrealistic premise of the one-on-one face off of the generals of the two opposing armies (ala Gladiator).

The problem is the definitive time frame of the module. It establishes the advance of the Horde, with some potential slow down options, but leaves the PC's with little down time for personal events; crafting, research, etc...

I found and used a wide range of teasers to expand the cookie cutter feel of the module in the pages. Facing potential evil cults, thieves guild and local politics, commerce/ trade, etc...

I noted the change on magic item crafting; "...access through another magic item or spellcaster is allowed"
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items#TOC-Magic-Item-Creation

I can see the potential for massive abuse, but would this extend to all magic item crafting?

Can you Scribe a scroll using another spell caster?

If a wizard scribes a scroll with assistance from a cleric is the scroll arcane or divine?

So by the general reasoning, if he waited to multi-class at 6th level (after he gets Bane) it would be worth it?

If your fighter dip consideration is just about heavy armor proficiency, then no it's not worth it. Much better to just burn a feat.

I am currently playing a 4th level Inquisitor that is gonna dip fighter at 5th. The justification is that I can accomplish in one level what it would otherwise take five levels to get; Heavy armor proficiency, Weapon focus (whip) and Whip Mastery.
The DM has said he's going to allow some MIC material and I intend to enchant 'Whirling' on my whip, so that I can hit every bad guy w/i 15 with a Bane (Inq ability) for massive damage.
Plus I can do the (mundane) battlefield control of tripping & disarming on anything w/i 15' of me boosted with those Imp/ Grtr feats.

Dazzling display can be covered by the 2nd level Inquisitor spell 'Blistering Invective'. This'll free up a feat for you.

If you plan on having a party member adjacent near all the time I'd suggest the Shield Wall Teamwork feat. There doesn't seem to be a cap on this, so if your three other party members wield a shield that's three bonus' to your AC by as much as +6.

Inquisitor 8
20 pt buy

Str 14
Dex 12 (14@8th level)
Con 15
Int 13
Wis 17
Chr 7

Feats:
1 Combat expertise
H Dodge
3 Hvy armor prof
3-TW Shield wall
5 Judgement surge
7 ?

10 Base
9 Full plate (armor)
2 Heavy shield (shield)
1 Dex
1 Dodge (feat)
2 Combat expertise (dodge)
3 Shield of faith (deflection)
3 Protection Judgement (sacred)
2 Shield wall (teamwork feat) (bonus: shield)
3 Fight defensively (dodge)

AC: 36
Touch: 23
Flat foot: 29

Without including enchantments, special materials (mithril) and other potential buffs (Cat's grace, Haste, Boots o' speed, etc...)