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So I am looking for options that allow you to always take 10 on Perform. I know Unchained Rogue's Advanced Talent Skill Mastery lets you select a number of skills for this, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any lower level options, preferably for Bard (besides level 19 Jack of all Trades). From what I have seen, no archetype has a Lore Master like ability that works on Perform. Anyone have any ideas?
I made a Sensei Monk and I'm at the level to where I can grant my allies my Monk immunity to poison or immunity to disease for one round at a time. If they are poisoned or diseased and I then make them immune to the effect what happens once they then lose the immunity? Does becoming immune, even for a round, remove the condition for good as it can no longer affect you at all for that time and never should be able to, or is it only repressed and reinserts itself once the immunity is gone?
That's a character I'm working on for a high level game after my last guy got Planeshifted to the elemental plane of water and abandoned. I was curious for any input or ways to improve it and I'm also iffy about variant multiclassing into Bard. On one hand I can afford the feats and getting Inspire Courage (As I'm going to be dropping in lots of bodies to get buffed) and greatly improved skills is awesome. On the other hand, I could have 4 more feat to play with, including maybe crafting and more wealth by level. Do you think the VMC is worthwhile?
Contract Devil. It has the Impale ability yet the can't grapple with the scrolls (i.e. whip). So does it do anything?
My game is taking place in the ruins of an old destroyed city, a metropolis that was one of the most advanced in the world before it fell; think Rome or Constantinople. A new city is being established on the spot with the intent of reclaiming the glory of the old civilization, but the work is slow going; it's been about 10 years. Only a small portion has been reclaimed and that portion is barricaded off from the rest. Beyond that barricade is the middle grounds, where the area where the work is mostly complete and most obvious dangers eradicated and most treasure salvaged (also a place where the destitute and oddballs of the city sometimes dwell), but beyond that lays now only the rest of the city, but an extensive undercity that goes on for no one knows how long. Some think it is even larger than the city above. The party is level 4 and is planning on getting a license to scavenge poorer sections of the city. I'm trying to come up with some interesting, not necessarily combat, encounters for the middle grounds and the unlooted areas just beyond. I was hoping for some advice. The way I'm planning on running things, the surface will dangers will mostly be fairly mundane; maybe feral animals, outlaws/smugglers from the main city, crazy people, and the occasional horror that made its way up from the depths. I don't expect the party to venture into the undercity yet as they have been thoroughly warned about it. CR isn't particularly important to me as the party knows that they may encounter things they aren't prepared for, but I'm not looking for instant TPKs. So far here are the encounters I had come up with: 1. PCs encounter a seemingly benign yet senile old woman in the ruins with a few rats hanging off her and following her. Some call her a witch, others just a sad old lady, but she's been here since before the beginning of the city's reclamation. She knows all sorts of things about the city and its dark history, but trying to steer a conversation with her is an ordeal and she sometimes drops rather troubling hints. Should their meeting somehow come to violence, they will realize she is much more than an old woman: She is a mid level Rat-that-Walks (variant Worm that Walks). 2. PCs encounter another low level salvage crew and its leader threatens the party, claiming they have wondered into their claim. Should the party talk him down, he admits that he is mostly bluster and offers the PCs some advice; it may be richer, but don't go under the ground. There are things there you don't want to meet. 3. As it begins to get dark, the PCs spot a small light coming from an easily overlooked alleyway. If they hadn't happened to have been passing in the dark, they would have never noticed it. The light comes from a hooded lantern hanging on a post next to a tavern door. As the PCs see the light, they see the shape of a man in hooded robes pass in front of it and into the tavern. Should the PCs have made friends in encounter 2; they may have heard rumors of strange men in hooded robes and how people tend to disappear when they are around. Barely any light comes from the lantern and if it is examined more closely it is revealed to be a Continual Flame spell inside, though the lantern is mostly closed. It is extremely dirty, so no idea how long it has been hanging here. The tavern is a filthy, but beyond that it looks to be in fairly good shape. Behind the bar stands a man in a black hooded robe, still and silent. Behind him is a doorway opening darkness punctuated only by a slight green glow. Should the PC's approach they realize that the man is no man at all, but a Xenopterid. Should the party slay it and enter the next room, they will find a storeroom with a door to a cellar. There some luminous fungi on the wall near the cellar steps, causing the glow they saw before. On the ground they find some minor treasures and ripped clothing, perhaps from previous victims. From the steps they hear the sound of movement... 4. ?
In a new game I'm running I'm giving everyone a unique item tailored to their character that is meant to remain useful to them throughout the levels and may scale. Right now they are level 4. Two players had good ideas of what they wanted so they are done, but the Bard player has no idea what he wants so it is difficult. His general backstory is that he is a lost scion of the recently fallen royal line of a Northern kingdom. He fled South as a child to escape his enemies while also hoping that someday he can return to his homeland and right the injustices done to both his house and country. Or so he says. A teller of tall tales and a conman, he is no prince. He aspires to nobility through stealing the renown of others, as quite simply, it is easier that way. Currently he serves as the squire of the party's warpriest and espouses (and exaggerates) his "lord's" deeds. As far as the items for the other two characters (warpriest and arcanist), here's what I have in order to give a sense of scale. Arcanist = Handy Haversack that is also filled with random miscellaneous papers that seem to change when not being observed and reappear should he take them out. Item has 3 charges per day dealing with these papers: 1 Charge: Pull out a scroll of any spell in his spell book that is at least 2 level lower than his highest.
These scrolls disappear if not used within an hour and if they have any costly material components the arcanist mysteriously finds that amount of gold or materials missing afterward; if he can't afford it, the scroll fails to materialize. Warpriest = An ancestral holy symbol that allows him to cast Blood Crow Strike 1/2 level times per day as a full round action, except the damage is half divine and half common element of his choice. This can also be triggered by spending a blessing. Also 1/day as a standard action it grants Augury with 100% chance of success.
Does anyone know of any good random tables one could use to randomly decide how party members are connected to each other? I know Numenera did that, but is there anything similar for Pathfinder, either official or not?
Old Powerful Sneak was mathematically shown to be never worth taking, but what about the new version for the Unchained Rogue? Instead of counting 1s as 2s you instead get to reroll 1s; does this actually make the talent any better? Assuming your attack modifier was high enough to make the -2 to attack irrelevant, how much of a difference damage wise would Powerful Sneak make? I really have no idea how you would do the math on a conditional reroll like this.
I have a bit of an odd question. If I have an ability that makes it so I can always act in a surprise round even if I don't notice the enemy (in this case Sohei's Devoted Guardian), can my familiar as well? From what I always understood, or perhaps just always assumed the rules said, my familiar acts when I act. I'm curious due to the interaction of using a Mauler familiar as a mount and the teamwork feat Lookout, which would let me full attack in a surprise round if my familiar counted as aware.
So if I were using an Amulet of Mighty Fists and a Body Wrap of Mighty Strikes, could I essentially combine them? The actual enhancement to attack would not stack, but what about the weapon properties? For instance if I had a +3 AoMF and a body wrap with +1 Flaming could I activate the body wrap and have +3 Flaming for one attack? If so it could be a useful way to get around the tight enhancement restriction on an AoMF if you plan on using a weapon ability that can only really trigger once per round anyway, like Conductive or Phase Locking.
Right now I'm brainstorming for a level 14 build and right now I'm rather fixated on trying to make the most of Merciless Butchery in combination with my handy Heartripper Blade and Bone Razor. I'm thinking focusing on Grapple is the best way to make this happen as with two grapple checks I could have someone helpless, so then swift action rip our their insides. Using a whip with Greater Whip Mastery would allow me to extend my range for doing so (one attempt to grapple, another to pull them in, a third to hogtie, a swift to rip out their still beating heart). Here's a rough build I was considering: Slayer 10/Rogue or Ninja or Vivisectionist 4 (for increased Sneak Attack and earlier access to Merciless Butchery) Feats:
Slayer Talents:
Rogue/Ninja/Alchemist Talents:
Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts? I'm open to pretty much anything including other class dips.
I'm building a halfling Daring Champion 12/Sohei 1/Unarmed Fighter 1 (the in progress character sheet if you are interested; rolled stats and currently above WBL but may keep it all as WBL is out the window in game in question). It's a defensive build using pre-nerf Crane Style, so I'm pretty much content in that regard, but now I'm unsure of which path to take offensively. Both involve Eldritch Heritage: 1. Take a Mauler familiar through Arcane bloodline along with riding feats. At level 15 I can pick up the feat that lets me full attack when my mount moves, so pseudo-pounce! On the down side, it looks ridiculous. But Pounce! 2. Take Orc Bloodline for Touch of Rage along with the traits (via feat because none are given by default) Optimistic Gambler and Community Minded for a 1d4+3 buff of (level - 2)/2, so 6 right now, to hit, damage, and will 9 times per day. I have a Courageous weapon so that bonus would boost it to 8 on me, but it's diminished a bit by the fact it won't stack with Boots of the Battle Herald (Greater Heroism), but over time Touch of Rage will out pace it more and more, plus I can use it on teammates. While Flurry of Blowing, fighting defensively, using Piranha Strike, and having Boots of the Battle Herald active, but no Challenge, my full attack is looking like: 32/32/27/22 for 1d3+32 (2d3+44 on crit). By replacing the boots for Touch of Rage I'd get: 34/34/29/24 for 1d3+40 (2d3+60 on crit). With Challenge, all damage would increase by another 12. So with the damage I already put out, should I take the pseudo-pounce option or the growing massive accuracy/damage boost that I can also buff the other melee-er with if necessary? Pounce seems like the obvious choice, but at the same time I can't help but have some wriggling doubt; you never know when you might need more accuracy and the other party melee dude would appreciate the buff as well.
So Bloodline Familiars can be gained in place of the first level power for a few bloodlines. Does that mean if I go Eldritch Heritage for one of those bloodlines I could instead choose to take a Bloodline Familiar?
"You can't tell me how my character feels!" The Frightened and Panicked conditions always annoyed me as a player as they never really felt genuine to the situation. Half the game is slaughtering murderous outlaws, vile fiends, the legions of everlasting darkness, and gibbering masses of insanity from beyond the veil of space and time; I just killed half an army of demons without taking a scratch, but now I arbitrarily decide "2 spooky 4 me" because this spooky dog started barking and MUST run away crying? That's just irritating to me. From a mechanical standpoint the conditions exist to give debuff options and/or crowd control and they can be heavily debilitating in that regard. I'm cool with that, but not to the extent that it gets to tell players how their sole avatar in the gaming world is feeling. With that in mind I'm considering alternate rules for the Frightened and Panicked conditions and would like some input. Instead of replacing the conditions completely I figured I'd add on an optional clause that allows the "must run away like a b#*%&" part to ignored at a steep price; the conditions are still horrible to be inflicted by, it's just that now you can at least maintain a modicum of self respect in character while being inflicted by them if you so choose. Frightened add on: A frightened creature may choose each round to fight even when escape is possible, but by doing so the penalties on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks increase to -4. Additionally, to cast a spell a caster must make a concentration check equal to 15+double the spell's level or lose it, and the DCs of all spells and abilities are reduced by 2. All rounds spent ignoring the urge to flee do not count toward ending the duration of the fear effect on the creature. Panicked add on: A panicked creature may choose each round to ignore the effects of the panicked condition, but by doing so the creature takes a -8 penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Additionally, to cast a spell a caster must make a concentration check equal to 20+double the spell's level or lose it, and the DCs of all spells and abilities are reduced by 4. All rounds spent ignoring the usual panicked effect do not count toward ending the duration of the fear effect on the creature. Do you think the alternate effects are too extreme? I wanted to maintain how bad they suck to get hit with but perhaps I'm pushing too far. As a side note, I added on additional penalties for casters for fairness sake; no subverting the negatives by just choosing to use a spell that doesn't require an attack roll.
I've been kicking around the idea of doing a game based on Abaddon, the home plane of the Daemons. PCs would be petitioners seeking escape from the plane with their souls intact, but the harsh reality of Abaddon is that in order to survive you must be both hunter and hunted. The PCs must feed on souls, consume fellow petitioners if they are to find the strength to escape... but can they do so before they become daemons themselves? With that in mind, I'm trying to come up with a good system for tracking their consumption but how I should weight things is eluding me. The basic idea I had was that PCs would be required to consume X amount of gold worth of souls per day, as per the value of souls found in book about daemons, with X increasing at intervals to a new tier. Along the same lines there would be the Corruption mechanic to mark the tiers; each soul would provide a set amount of corruption depending on current tier. So a fresh soul to Abaddon would be able to subsist on mindless spirits due to their low threshold required to be sated, but even a mindless spirit would provide them a low-moderate amount of Corruption and eating a sentient soul would be a large jump in Corruption; once they would advance to the next tier though the threshold for being fed would increase but the Corruption for each individual soul would decrease. Think of it like the PCs becoming both desensitized to the atrocities they have to commit and their spirit building up a tolerance, requiring more and more to be satisfied. Prices of souls in the soul trade:
Mindless Spirits (10 gp): While it’s possible to capture the vital essences of vermin, basic oozes, and other such unthinking creatures, these paltry spirits are worth very little. Animal Spirits (25 gp): This category contains creatures of animal-level intelligence, whose spirits—while presumably worth something to some deities, as reflected by the value of animal sacrifice—are rarely traded in the soul markets. In fact, though the existence of animal spirits is undeniably real, there’s rampant debate in many societies over whether such things truly count as “souls.” Basic Soul (100 gp): This is the soul of a standard intelligent creature—a commoner, a low-level adventurer, a sentient monster of low CR, or any of the other hordes of weak or mundane folk who live out their lives with a normal amount of pomp and excitement. This is the lowest category of souls which interests daemons, who see animals and other nonsentient creatures as hardly worth the time to destroy. Noteworthy Soul (500 gp): The souls of mid-level characters, rulers, famous or influential people, and other powerful, accomplished, and otherwise important people draw greater attention than basic souls, and drive bidding higher accordingly. Grand Soul (1000–5000 gp): High-level characters, great heroes, dragons, powerful aberrations, and other such spirits of fabulous power and forceful personalities offer equally significant rewards to those who manage to contain their essences. Unique Soul (priceless): For the truly unique souls—those of legendary figures, epic heroes, and other massive presences—there can be no going price. The unique sparks that live within these creatures are valuable beyond compare, and the frantic bidding (and backstabbing) that arises when one of these trapped spirits comes up for sale is the sort of thing fiends and undead wait thousands of years for, paying nigh-unimaginable prices for the right to consume or display such an artifact.
The more I think about this and what the values should be, the more lost I become. Has anyone done something similar and want to share how they did it, or do you perhaps know of a published adventure or module with similar rules in place that could be modified?
I'm a level 16 False Priest Sorcerer right now and trying to figure out a cost efficient way to get my CL to 18 for 6th level spells for Contingency. I can cast Raise Dead using a 6th level spell slot due my archetype, so that seems like a nice thing to have ready just in case. I can't afford anything in my build feat wise, so I'm looking for maybe a spell, arcane or divine, or cheap item to do so temporarily. So far I'm looking at buying a pony or other 2 HD animal every couple weeks and Deathknelling it for the first +1 CL, but from there I'm at a loss. Any suggestions besides just waiting one more level?
I'm torn about what my level 7th level spell should be as a Sorcerer as was hoping for some thoughts. I have: 1. Greater Teleport (bloodline spell)
For that last spell I'm not sure what to go with. I was thinking either Waves of Exhaustion or Waves of Ecstasy. Exhaustion is nice as it allows no save, but while exhausted is a nice condition, the stagger/stun from Ecstasy is more debilitating in combat. It's the difference between "-3 to hit/dam, half speed or "no actions, drop everything/no full attacking." But at the same time Ecstasy allows a save to just make it a 1 round effect and is mind affecting, while Exhaustion is pretty much guaranteed to last the rest of the enemy's life with no save. How would you weigh in on this? Should I get one of those spells or something else entirely? As a side note, the only Summon Monster spells I have are 7 and 8; do you think 8 is plenty enough or should I stick with 7 too just to have more almost as good uses of the spell? Such tough choices to make.
In a level 16 game I'm in our Oracle, the one divine caster, has to drop out of the game so that leaves our party in a bit of a quandary as far as filling that niche; as I'm the guy who likes making new characters anyway, I decided to step in and make a new PC. I know that in combat healing is generally suboptimal, but much of the party is as well; I'm not sure if many in the group has the offensive capabilities required to make the "dead things can't hurt you" strategy viable a lot of the time and even then we're at the point that if we just want to suck on Wands of Cure Light Wounds to get better we'd looking at like 2 a day. The party consists of:
1. TWF Ranger: Pretty standard optimzed set up, but got a bit screwed on gear due not getting to hand pick his WBL when the character was created at level 14 or 15. 2. Two handing Paladin: Pretty much the standard build, but fairly low optimization with around 20 strength at level 16. He does all right though. Lay on Hands is decent side healing but not really enough to let him sustain the party alone. 3. Blade Bound Magus: Fairly low optimization as well, not really focused on the standard Shock Grasp crit fishing so much as trying to
4. Efreeti bloodline blaster sorcerer: Inexperienced player so ended up with a high focus on fire spells and now things are resisting the hell out of them. No Dazing/Elemental Spell, but will probably change. The members being replaced:
5. Void school wizard with a bunch of True Names: My old character, the one I'm retiring. Took the the wizard discovery True Name four times for varying purposes (Akhana Aeon, Thandaemon Daemon, Advanced Animated Dream, Arcanotheign), but tried to use them sparingly. Besides that tended to be battle field control or debuffer with Void school's awesome Reveal Weakness. 6. Dual Cursed Time Oracle: Got the Channel Revelation for free to help out with healing needs, so used it in combat when necessary but mostly not. Tended to do buffing as necessary or dropping a timely Heal when one of the melee people got to 1 HP in combat; if not then he was about those debuffs. A fairly well rounded spell/ability list, but primarily support.
With all that in mind, I made a False Priest Sorcerer character who plans on being a controller, but who also has fairly spammable Summon Monster 8 to summon Positive Energy Elementals; DM approved creature, or at least I assume it will be due to his love of them in another game I play with him in where he summons them. I like the concept a lot, but I'm not sure if the DM will go for it due to his strong dislike of pretty much anything off the wall I make. The character. So now I'm trying to come up with back up concepts that are a little less "wait, you can do what?" should that one not be usable, but I'm drawing a bit of a blank. I thought about maybe going Master Summoner and using lots of those beautiful Positive Energy (and maybe some Negative Energy too) Elementals. Maybe take Summon Evil Monster for Pugwampi spam. That sounds really mechanically solid to me, but at the same time bland. I don't even know how I would really build the actual character feat wise besides the standard summoning buff feats or what I would do with him besides lazily throwing out the same handful of buffs after calling in the elemental/pugwampi swarm. Anyone have any ideas for characters who could fill a healer niche but without being a cleric (bland) or Oracle (done that quite a bit already)? I suppose there is Shaman, but it just doesn't excite me.
It says moving from the feat "counts toward your movement on your next turn," but it does not specify that it uses any action. So that leads to... 1. Does that mean that my movement is already partially used should I decide to move again, or does this mean that the feat spent my next move action? 2. If the feat didn't spend my move action, which it doesn't specify it does, does that mean I can still use my move action fully for other non-movement related things on my turn with no negative effect? 3. If I still have my move action is there anything stopping me from doing a full round action (including a full attack) on my turn after using the feat? Any thoughts?
So it is known that Magus archetypes that get rid of Spell Recall but not Improved Spell Recall get normal Spell Recall at level 11 in place of the improved version (i.e. Hexcrafter gets Spell Recall at level 11); there are essentially two instances of Spell Recall gained, one replaced and one functioning as normal though gained later. So can that second instance of Spell Recall also be replaced by an archetype? For instance, Eldritch Scion has Bloodline in place of Spell Recall and Hexcrafter has Hex Magus. Could the two be mixed so that one of the Spell Recall replacements is gained at 4th and one at 11th when Spell Recall would be gained again? It sounds like an iffy rules argument but I can see it and would probably allow it personally... especially as RAW the instance of Spell Recall the Eldritch Scion has doesn't function as he is a spontaneous caster. Thoughts?
As much as I love Pathfinder, the rules heaviness is kinda beginning to fatigue me as a DM so I'm looking to try something new. So I picked up a random indie RPG called Sword Noir that emphasizes quick, deadly combat where PCs can even die to random mooks if they are outnumbered and magic that takes a long time to cast and then drives the user insane. It's pretty low powered, especially compared to Pathfinder. The system itself is also really simplistic. I've seen some people compare it to FATE, but as I never played that so I can't say if that's accurate or not. Sounds pretty cool to me. I want to try running a game like that! But there's an issue. As the name of the game suggests, it is meant to be a mix between noir and sword & sorcery in terms of feel, but the little bit of provided setting doesn't really do much for me. So I'm looking for a setting that's well suited toward a game with a grittier, medieval, low fantasy/low magic feel, preferably urban and without steampunk... well at least not a ton of steampunk. Game system the setting is based on itself doesn't really matter. Any suggestions?
So this never occurred to me before but how do Bard abilities that take multiple rounds to go off (Soothing Performance for example takes 4) interact with Lingering Performance? Do "lingering" rounds still count toward the total required? For instance could I spend two rounds of performance for Soothing Performance, cease maintaining, and then have it trigger on the fourth round due to Lingering Performance? Seems grey to me but it certainly would make abilities like that more usable as it would seriously cut down on the performance rounds cost.
So I'm making a powerful artifact safe that the party will soon find, but I have no idea which deity I should relate it to. Here's what I'm thinking it does so far: Artifact safe:
This large black safe is made out of an unknown substance that absorbs all damage. There is a dial on the front with 1-100 and the combination is 10 numbers long. The safe can be opened either with the combination or a DC 40 Disable Device check. If an incorrect combination is entered or if the Disable Device check fails, the creature attempting entry is affected by the spell X, Y save negates. If the Disable Device check is failed by 10 or more, the creature is affected with no save.
The safe only truly answers to one owner. In order for someone to take possession of the safe, the current owner must dead. If the current owner is dead and the safe is opened, besides the items previously inside there will be a small statue of Z, seemingly made out of the same substance as the safe. If the statue is touched it liquifies and is absorbed into whoever touched it. This does not harm the target and that creature is now recognized as the safe's owner. The owner of the safe automatically knows the safe's combination and by accessing it may change the combination once per week. If a creature that is not the safe's owner attempts to remove an item from the safe, the creature is affected by Greater Bestow Curse for each item removed. For this purpose, a container counts as one item. The type of curse bestowed is chosen by the owner of the safe individually when an item is placed inside. If an item is placed inside the safe by a creature that is now the safe's owner, a default curse type is used instead. This default is chosen by the owner and can be changed any time he accesses the safe. I had some blank spots there that I need to fill in, but I don't think I can do that until I decide which deity, demon lord, powerful named creature, etc. the artifact is related to... who do you think would be a good patron for such an item? I'm pretty much open to gods/creatures from any setting, not just Golarion, so any suggestions are welcome. Really the only deity I'm iffy about using is Mammon; though he makes sense for an item like this, I've already established the current owner of the safe to be an enemy of his. That might make for its use to be a bit problematic unless I say it as a gift given before things turned ugly or if it was captured.
So in my level 12 gestalt game the PCs may soon come into conflict with the elite intelligence division of a "goodly" church, the kind of intelligence division that is authorized to protect church interests using any means necessary. Any means, including spying, kidnapping, torturing, and the occasional act of genocide. They perform rites of "penance" in advance so that they can commit atrocities without falling from grace... they think that anyway. That's the kind of people they are. So how would you make a gestalt group like that? I'm looking for some ideas about how to build them. They are going to be level 10 gestalts themselves with full PC WBL. Any ideas? Inquisitor pretty much suits the flavor dead on, but just throwing down an all inquisitor party lacks style. I'm pretty much open to all ideas but they each be capable of stealth and infiltration at least to some degree and I'm thinking I'm going to give each a bonus feat: Troth of the Forgotten Pharaoh. Yay, instant suicide option! As a side note, I don't know what I'm going to call their order yet but of course it has to be ominous sounding. Thoughts on a name too?
So my level 16 halfling Wizard just got Polymorph Any Object and I'm interested in the spell's potential for "self improvement." As you can get some super high (or infinite until dismissed) durations, it seemed like a really cost effective way to get some neat tricks on the side with just the use of one 8th level spell slot. So what shapes stand out as being awesome enough that you would want to keep it for the long haul? Ideally I'm looking for things with at least a 5 duration factor that still has the basic limbs/voice necessary for casting. Anyone have any ideas?
For my level 12 gestalt game I'm looking for monster advice, specifically for CR 10-12 evil outsiders, but that range isn't set in stone; a horde of lower level outsiders with interesting abilities would work as well. It doesn't matter if they are demons, devils, daemons, or other. I can always just take the stats/abilities and reflavor it into something fitting. Anyway, the creatures I'm asking about are to act as minions/support for two more serious threats that will be appearing in the encounter. Creatures with crowd control or debuffing abilities would be a plus. Really I just want things dangerous enough to protect the real dudes from just getting rocket tagged immediately. The situation is that depending on what the PCs do, this encounter will come to them in their base, which contains 30 or so low level Magus under their command or as a decoy encounter where they would normally be fighting the boss in a dungeon that they mostly beat and then left, leaving the boss pissed and out for revenge. So really how this will play out depends on whether or not the PCs stay on the defensive (as they know a backlash is coming) or if they decide to go back and finish the job they started. The other combatants so far are:
2. Marilith Demon with the Dimensional Agility tree up to Dimensional Dervish. May be appearing in the middle of the fight. Variable enemies: (Decoy boss fight version) = Simulacrums of an Iron Devil, Gallu Demon, and a level 12 or so Antipaldin (class may change). These three include the boss of the dungeon and his two main henchmen. The stats will be greatly reduced even by simulacrum standards; they are more there so the PCs charge in and hopefully blow their best stuff and then realize it was a trick. (Enemy assaults the PC base version) = There may be a familiar with invisibility and Spellbane (Dimension Door and Emergency Force Sphere against a Rogue Wizard who has Dimensional Dervish) in effect to counter one of the PCs that the boss particularly wants taken down. So the thing will just float around the PC in question and screw his day up. In this circumstance the boss had time to make a deal with a powerful wizard and got his aid in taking down a mutual threat (i.e. the party). I know it all sounds a bit brutal to throw against level 12s, but they are gestalt. I have bloodrager synthesist who routinely can hit around AC 50 and does 150-200 damage in a full attack, a rogue/wizard with dimensional dervish (and he loves using Emergency Force Sphere and beginning and ending his turn in complete safety) and the ability to call forth essentially another level 12 gestalt (barbarian/alchemist) once per day, a badass grappler who can pin multiple enemies at once with ease, and a bard cleric with an undead horde, including a huge ass dragon. Plus 30 or so odd level 4 Magus potentially. With all out that in mind, anyone have some suggestions?
I'm approaching the level where I may be able to pick up Mass Suffocation, but I'm not sure if I'm reading it correctly: One way seems worth a 9th level spell and one does not. If the target makes the initial fortitude save is he only staggered for 1 round and then free of the spell or would he continue needing to make saves for the duration, meaning that even if he keeps making it he is at the very least continually staggered? If the Mass Suffocation can at the very least stagger one person per 2 levels for rounds per level without a save then I'd call it a good 9th level spell and the possibility of flat out killing them is just a bonus.
Here's my issue. I'm doing a high powered game, level 11 gestalt, and it's fun and all, but nova potential in the party is becoming an issue. I recognize this is happening because I'm not running smaller filler encounters, but I see it like if I run non-challenging encounters just to burn resources all I'm really doing is eating up game time because as we all know combat isn't a fast process in Pathfinder. I pretty much just handwave those fights ("So you guys killed the CR 5 encounter on the road and now you continue walking.") I'm worried that if I build multiple strong encounters then I'm inviting a TPK; CR is also essentially meaningless here, so by default anything that can even touch them will technically be a challenging or even "epic" encounter." I would say I'm approaching if not already in rocket tag territory. So I feel torn between wasting game time just to inconvenience the PCs and just having one climatic battle for them to blow their load on. What's a good balancing strategy between those extremes?
One of my PCs is building a mercenary/adventure company as a side hobby but has not really done anything official with it besides training people. Now due to his and the party's exploits, however people are approaching his second in command and inquiring about their rates and what jobs they take. And what their guild's name actually is. When asked by his second in command about what they should call themselves, he said that he was to organize a mandatory bare-knuckle boxing tournament among the recruits and have each recruit come up with a name choice; whoever won would get theirs selected. So that means as a DM I am free to name this player run organization any ridiculous/nonsensical name I desire, but yet I'm coming up blank. Based on tradition (previous game) I'm thinking "The Angry Giraffes," but I was hoping for some other options. What is the most ridiculous name you can think of for a mercenary company?
In a game I'm running one of my PCs may be reaching the end of his life due to enemies he has made and one of his fellow PCs agreeing to sell him out to save his own life. It's just that kind of game and things are brutal. Originally the three men after the PCs were level 6 fighter/rogues based around dirty tricks and poison and were used against level 7 gestalt PCs as part of a much larger encounter... and now the PCs are level 10, likely 11 before the assassins meet the player in question, and are pumped up. The PC who is the target of the hit is a Dervish Dancer Bard/Knife Master Rogue/Duelist mix has an AC of 25-low 30s depending on his prep time, but 27-29 is usually standard. He hits quite hard, normally for 1d4+ 10-20ish depending on buffs as well. 15-20 crit range of course. I'm trying to come up with a group of three to face this PC... and I'm not necessarily saying they have to lose. I want to make it so it is stacked against the player, but not impossible for him to win. With that in mind I'd like some suggestions for how to build this trio. Some general guidelines: 1. They will engage the player when he is inescapably alone, most likely in a soundproofed basement alchemy lab setup he has. They will likely approach him before attacking as they want him to know fear before they cut him up.
So how would you do this? Right now I'm considering two as Bounty Hunter Slayers 8 who focus on Dirty Tricks and Shatter Resolve and a Dirty Fighter/Rogue 9 with a the same build but also specializing in trip and disarm. That seems a bit too bland to me though. For inspiration, I think of the fight scene from Eastern Promises.
So I started tossing around an idea that I may use in my approaching high level game at some point and I wanted some thoughts and suggestions. The basic idea is to have a greater demiplane filled with vast, unimaginable wealth. I'm running the sort of game where players know stupidity will lead to gruesome death, but even then would you consider something like this a bit much? Let's say the demiplane in question belongs to Mammon; what would he do to protect a near infinite plane of money? The obvious first start would be to make the permanent portal to the plane somewhere incredibly hard to find or incredibly well protected. Maybe both. From there I'm thinking, if I were Mammon, I'd personally have a incredibly valuable magical seal created that I would then break into three to seven separate parts and hide in places that only I could conceivably find. But oh no, you don't just use the keys and the door opens. Instead you need them to turn the handle, but it does nothing for the intricate puzzle lock on the door; perhaps 20 cylinders that rotate like a slot machine, each with a single character from the infernal alphabet. To make it sporting there would be an incredibly cryptic clue so that you could perhaps input the correct answer, insert all the keys, and finally open the door to infinite wealth. And then you would probe around the door and find nothing amiss. No traps. Seems legit. And then about 20 feet in you suddenly feel odd as you pass through the actual disguised demiplane portal, as in both sides of the plane it is connected to and the demiplane itself mesh seamlessly. A portal that is one way only: In. And the demiplane itself is both dead magic and has accelerated time, fast enough to reduce a body that might otherwise serve as a warning to dust within months or perhaps weeks, leaving behind only the latest additions to Mammon's horde. The atmosphere inside the plane is perfectly suited for the protection of material wealth against the ravages of time after all. And remember the puzzle on the door? Yeah... the riddle is meaningless and the door will open no matter the combination input. The only difference is that one combination actually makes the portal function two ways. I'm running Slumbering Tsar and I'm thinking eventually I may have a sidequest related to finding the vault... as for actually successfully breaching it? That's another story. This will have some general ST references, so forgive me if you are unfamiliar, but the general gist is there regardless. Tsar and the Desolation are filled with incredibly dangerous magical remnants of the past, so I think I could work something like this in: A daring and ill advised Demon Lord working under Orcus but who wanted to supplant him/powerful mortals aligned with Tsar attempted the ultimate heist... and were mostly successful. They found the keys and "stole" Mammon's treasure vault, ripped its entrance from the plane it was on and moved it to the depths somewhere beneath the Desolation and Tsar, at great and devastating magical risk, perhaps related to the Chaos Rift. As they stood at the threshold the Demon Lord slew all his accomplices; it belonged to him and him alone now. And then he entered and fell victim to his own greed. And somewhere Mammon started laughing hysterically. It's an old idea, but not one I see played out too much. Any thoughts or ideas to expand or fine tweak something like this?
Simple question, but I can't seem to find it anywhere and in looking through old posts I saw two contradictory formulas, one saying 5 + level of the spell being used and one saying 5 + the caster level of the scroll. Could someone help clarify this for me? My shiny new 15th level wizard is quite interested in knowing.
Spell Use: "At 7th level, a stygian slayer is able to use spell completion and spell trigger items as if he were an arcane caster with these spells on his spell list: darkness, forced quiet, modify memory, nondetection, obscuring mist, phantom steed, shadow walk, and wizard spells of the illusion school of spell level 0 through 4th. The slayer's uses his class level as his caster level for this ability. This ability replaces stalker." Ok, so I can use those spells on consumables without needing a UMD check. I'm fine with that. But what does the last part about using my level as a caster level mean? Are my consumables set at my level, not the creators (perhaps too much to hope) or does it do something else entirely?
For my level 10 gestalt game I've decided to make something nice for my neutral Dirge Bard/Cleric whose been the only character there for all 10 sessions so far; running amped up Slumbering Tsar so lots of death. It is going to be a lost relic of sorts in the hands of a lich with an army of undead to start, but should fall into the players if things go right for the party in the next couple sessions. I'm less concerned with text clarity (though point out anything that obviously doesn't make sense) than with general thoughts on power. As it is gestalt things are already a bit ridiculous at times and the character is walking around with something like 3 bloody skeleton giants, an undead hydra, 2 bloody skeleton archers, an undead chimera, and two zombie bat swarms, but I'm wondering with all that in mind if this is going to be the one thing I really regret. It's easy to go overboard when making high-powered customized items, so I was looking for some outside perspective. Scepter of the Undead Legion: • Unholy, Conductive Heavy Mace. • Counts as a holy symbol for any cleric able to channel negative energy. • If held by an intelligent undead, the scepter confers +8 channel resistance and immunity versus undead controlling effects. Living wielders are instead harmed by positive energy and healed by negative and receive a +2 bonus on Will saves. • As a full round action, the wielder may touch the scepter to a mindless undead he controls and store it in an extradimensional space to be called forth at a later time. Alternatively, the wielder may spend a minute and target all mindless undead under his control in a 60ft burst centered on the wielder. • This extradimensional space seemingly has no limit, but stored undead still count toward the wielder’s HD limit for the number of undead he can control. Any duration for how long the undead remain under his control is suspended while they are in storage. If the wielder gains control of an amount of HD over his limit, the scepter automatically consumes any excess stored undead, starting with the lowest HD creature. Creatures consumed this way are permanently lost. • As a full round action, the wielder may call forth a single undead creature of any size from the scepter’s extradimensional space. The wielder targets an area within 400 feet and a patch of writhing darkness appears on the ground from which the undead arises. Alternatively, the wielder may spend one minute of concentration to call forth up to 20 stored creatures. For this purpose small and medium undead count as 1, large as 2, huge as 3, gargantuan as 4, colossal as 5, and below small as 1/2. Most swarms count as large. • By sacrificing some of his own essence or that of another to power the procedure, the wielder may instead call forth any number of stored undead rapidly. As a full round action the wielder and any willing or helpless living sentient creature within 30ft may receive any number of permanent negative levels to call forth the undead at a conversion rate of 5 undead per negative level bestowed, as per the size scale listed above. This ability otherwise functions as the standard calling ability.
So I was looking through the Spiritualist archetype for Investigator and I am intrigued though doubtful; it gets some nice toys but trades a lot for them. Heres how I see it. PROs:
CON:
So would you ever go Spiritualist? Its has a lot going for it... just not enough in place of extracts.
See topic title. I have not been able to look over my ACG pdf due to tech constraints (I hate reading pdfs on my phone) but this question is just something I have been dying to know for sure.
I'm making a 15th level wizard as a replacement character and everything is done except for spells. We aren't doing WBL at char gen (think the DM got tired of how much money makes the man and wanted to dial it back a bit), but the DM gave me a number of how many spells I could have at each level. I made a rough draft for my list but as I've never played a Wizard before I was hoping some of you fine people could offer some advice. The party has a paladin, a twf ranger, a bladebound magus, a blaster sorcerer (new player; blasting is about all he does), and a Time oracle that the DM allowed to have channel (he used to be a nature oracle and spent his time using his revelations to destroy enemy items or buffing). I'm thinking I'm going to go a bit of a generalist route with buffs/debuffs/control and if all else fails I have True Names to call in. I'm not sure exactly how often spells will be available to me or how easily I will be able to find what I want from this point on, so it seemed important to get the basics of all I'm going to need first. With that in mind what are your thoughts? What do I definitely need and what should I drop from my book? Character build:
Cade Talbot Halfling (Fleet of Foot alt racial for 30 movement, but no +2 climb/acrobatics) Deity = Ohgma / Hastur Alignment = TN Wizard - Void School
Ability Scores: 22 buy
Feats
0-2 level spells = all spells in spell book
3rd level = 15:
Bonus = Twilight Knife 1. Dispel Magic 2. Call the Void 3. Haste 4. Fly 5. Fireball 6. Sepia Snake Sigil (with Blood Money of course) 7. Stinking Cloud 8. Blacklight 9. Displacement 10. Vampiric Touch 11. Slow 12. Battering Blast 13. Heroism 14. Tongues 15. Gloomblind bolts 4th level = 13:
Bonus = Wandering Star Motes 1. Emergency Force Sphere 2. Dimensional Door 3. Dimensional Anchor 4. Stoneskin 5. Enervation 6. Greater Invisibility 7. Scrying 8. Infernal Healing, Greater 9. Antithetical Constraint 10. Black Tentacles 11. Resist Energy, Communal 12. (3)Shrink Item 13. Shadow Projection 5th level = 11:
1. Break Enchantment 2. Wall of Stone 3. Dominate Person 4. Feeblemind 5. Wall of Force 6. Wall of Light 7. Fickle Winds 8. Overland Flight 9. Echolocation 10. Permanency 11. Telekinesis 6th level = 8:
Bonus = True Seeing 1. Antimagic Field (to aid combat based, non-item dependent True Names if necessary: Cast it on me and stand by as they beat down the now defenseless fool with his shiny, non-functioning magic gear) 2. Dispel Magic, Greater 3. Geas, Quest 4. Permanent Image 5. Mage's Lucabration 6. Contingency 7. Mass Suggestion 9. (5) Teleport (for contingency most likely) 7th level = 4:
1. Magnificent Mansion (not negotiable) 2. ??? 3. ??? 4. ??? I was considering Powerword Blind, Vision, Spell Turning, Force Cage, Prismatic Spray, and Waves of Exhaustion. With a Thanadaemon at my command, Greater Teleport is covered.
8th level = 2: Bonus = Moment of Prescience 1. Mind Blank 2. Maze Also considering Powerword Stun or Prismatic Wall, but the wording on PW leaves me unsure how it actually works.
For Scrying, the target of the spell gets minuses to its Will save versus the spell based on the kind of "connection" you have of the target, like a picture/likeness, a possession, or at the highest penalty, a body part of some kind. It seems clear that these modifiers stack with ones granted by the "knowledge" measure, how well you know the person, but do they stack with themselves? If I had a picture of someone and their hairbrush complete with some hair on it, for example, would they take a -16 to their will save against my scrying from "connection" or would they only take the highest negative (-10 for the hair)? I seem to remember that penalties always stack unless they say otherwise, but I wanted to get confirmation in this case. Thanks for any insight.
I'm making a level 15 Wizard, probably Void School that is going to be focused on Summoning, both with Summon Monster and me taking the True Name Arcane Discovery every chance I get. I'm thinking my creatures can do their thing and if I don't feel like doing some buffing or control, I can just use Reveal Weakness to lower enemy AC and saves by 7. I have the True Naming mostly down I think (Akhana, Vavakia Demon, Aoandon, and undecided 12 HD) but my real issue is that I'm not sure what is worth summoning via Summon Monster. So, what's worth summoning at each level? Are the feats Summon Good Monster and Summon Neutral Monster worth taking?
I'm sure it's super simple and I'm just stupid, but the CR system just kinda confuses me... especially as all the XP talk means nothing to me as I've never played in a game that used it. With that in mind, could someone possibly tell me what the encounter CR would be for this? -6 level 6 Fighters with PC WBL
They don't really have PC WBL, but we're using an innate bonus system so for all intents and purposes they have the stat boosts like they do; I'm mostly curious to see the total so I can tell my 5 level 9 gestalt PCs with their small undead horde what the "official" challenge rating was... I figured it would make them feel good about themselves for winning or make them curse me if they lose. Or maybe it's technically "just right." I'm happy either way.
Here's the replacement power from the Stars subdomain, which replaces the the 8th level power from Void. "The Stars are Right If you prepare your cleric spells while the stars are visible to you, you may spontaneously cast any of your Stars subdomain spells by swapping out a spell of an equal spell level. Any Stars subdomain spell that you cast while the stars are visible to you heals you of an amount of hit point damage equal to the spell's level; this effect happens as you cast the spell." So what spells does this apply to: The spells specifically given by the subdomain as replacements, or all the spells I get from the Void/Stars domain? It looks like the former, but I'm not sure if I'm just unfamiliar with domain terminology and "Stars subdomain" is meant as Void in its entirety except when noted differently. Anyone have this come up? My future cleric of Cthulhu would like to know.
Take a look at the Great Old One Bokrug. Notice he is a large magical beast, which covered by Beast Shape 4. Nothing seems to be stopping you from being less scary version of the thing itself, but is it actually a worthwhile shape? Here's what you'd get by my calculations: -Bite (1d8)
Seems like an okay package, but obviously less awesome looking with the damage dice sizes defaulted back to normal. Assuming there isn't some a special rule somewhere that makes him an invalid target for Wild Shape/Beast Shape 4, would you actually consider using him for his mechanical benefits? The concept is cool, but I'm not sure myself.
So it looks like as a party my group is going to be making a contract with a devil. So, some background. I'm playing a barbarian that has taken both a self-imposed "paladin" code as well as a "vow of poverty." The rest of the party isn't too keen on the idea of making a deal but see it as a necessary evil, while I originally took a hardline stance against it until in-character drama between me and the party healer (who is most vocal about accepting) came to blows... my character was of course shocked and dismayed to see his friend go over to the darkness and it hit the tipping point when in the middle of essentially a 3-way battle between us, some demons, and the devils who were trying to negotiate with us, he healed the devils. The devils I was trying to kill to put an end to this "deal" nonsense. As I'm playing a fellow who believes in the redemptive path, I pulled back from fighting him to the death at such point, but things are tense between us. Realistically I think I could take the entire party in a fair fight due to having 21 DR, god saves, 26 fire resist (only primary caster beyond the healer is a fire based blaster sorcerer), and me being the most optimized character in the party even while naked besides a magic weapon, but as I don't want the devils to win by sowing discord among the righteous, I am resigned to do this deal but only if evil is punished in it. So the general outline so far is that the devils will teleport us into the sanctum of a rival group of devils we are hunting for a particular artifact and we will slay them. We take the loot and they leave us alone. If we refuse then we get to clear Myth Drannor block by block, street by street, until we find them and it is a big place. Realistically cleansing the s*!$ out of a den of vile evil is not a big deal to my guy, plus he walks with Pelor so he is convinced he could do it, but yeah, schedules to keep. So I'm thinking of a few possibilities I could argue for and then I figured we would wheel and deal and come to an arrangement. Here's what I had in mind: 1. All the devils in the group we are making a deal with and any of their associates must leave and have no contact with the Material Plane for 100 years upon our success. As they keep teleporting out like b%$$$es (and neither of our two full casters felt the need to take Dimensional Anchor) they just keep getting to twirl their evil mustaches and run instead of dying like good enemies, but as they are summoned it's a slap on the wrist anyway. I figured this would be a slightly more permanent solution. 2. So at one point we briefly fought the "leader" of their group and kicked his ass so he fled. Cornugon Devil by the way. Thinking of trying to call him out and get him to agree to a physical, no retreat, actually be on this plane so only nothingness awaits him upon death, confrontation. 1v1. I think I could take him and I might be able to convince him by insinuating a big strong devil like him being scared of a little old servant of Pelor is pathetic. Of course there would be a stipulation concerning me being at full health and resources when this fight occurred. What would you ask for in this situation that fits the "using evil to punish evil" line of reasoning?
So these two related questions just occurred to me, and I realized I'm unsure how either would work. 1. I am -5 HP and unconscious. An ally casts Virtue on me, thus granting me 1 temporary Hit Point. What happens now? Am I still down (in which case would I bleed out my 1 temp HP first if I fail my stabilize check?) or am I now conscious, but once that 1 temp is gone I revert to -5 again? 2. I am now a Synthesist Summoner; if I drop my own HP into the negatives via Fused Link in order to keep my Eidolon suit as 1 temporary HP, do I go unconscious because my real HP is in the negatives or does that 1 temp HP tether me to consciousness? Anyone have either of these come up?
Echoing Spell: "When you cast an echoing spell, it does not disappear entirely from memory, and you can cast it one additional time during that day. No effect that allows you to reprepare or recast a spell can affect the echoed spell. If you prepare spells, this second casting does not require you to prepare it in another spell slot. If you spontaneously cast spells, this second casting does not expend another available spell slot." I was wondering how does this work on spells with multiple metamagics; for instance if I cast an Echoing, Persistent spell, would the "echo" still have Persistent or would it only function as the base spell? Very interested in this for a character that may be able to get Spell Perfection soon; doubling my spell slots for my favored spell is kinda cool.
Does anyone know what action it is issue commands to undead you control or just took control of? I was thinking either free (talking) or move as per handle animal. Thoughts?
So I'm looking at the spell Antithetical Constraint and it seems as though it could be pretty amazing, especially with Spell Perfection. How would you go about maxing this combination? The way I see it is to go Void School Wizard for the ability to tank enemy saves equal to 1/2 level and then Quicken this onto them paired with Piercing or Persistent, with the Magical Lineage being taken to reduce the total spell level by 1 to keep it below a 9th level spell. With that the main issue wouldn't be the save itself, but rather that many things are immune to mind affecting. Threnodic and Coaxing could be used to overcome undead and vermin/oozes, but at the cost of +2 and being forced into Spell Focus Necromancy. Besides that there are Sorcerer bloodline arcanas that could be taken with a one level dip in Cross Blooded; Undead for undead (though unclear whether it would actually work RAW), Vermin for vermin, Impossible for constructs, or Fey for a +2 DC. That aside, here's a potential build for straight wizard, race undecided. Human would of course give an extra feat (most likely Improved Familiar, or I could drop something to make room) and more spells for free, but Elf would allow an additional +2 versus SR. 1. Scribe Scroll
Any ideas or other suggestions for the build or getting by immunities? Think it is even worth it to specialize to such an extent to try?
So I just had a random idea for a houserule that I was hoping some people would like to share their thoughts on. The big issue for sneak attack is how situational it is compounded by the fact that it is actually the main damage dealer for the classes that have it (potentially excluding Vivisectionist Alchemist). I'm also not a fan of imposing an Improved Feint tax on the poor Rogue. With that in mind I'm thinking of adding this to the rules concerning sneak attack: "As a full round action, you may make one attack at full base attack bonus and apply sneak attack damage as though the target was flatfooted. Sneak attack is not applied if the creature is immune to precision damage or being flatfooted. When your base attack bonus reaches 6 or higher, you may use this ability as part of a standard action." Originally I was thinking full round action as otherwise it would have no downside to start with, but in retrospect I'm thinking the restriction may not be necessary and it should just start as something that can be done as part of a standard action; it's not like Rogues are known for having nice things so they could use something. I figured this would make sneak attack more usable while still requiring Rogues to think tactically in their movements if they want to be able to benefit from sneak attack more than once per round. It's also meant to be worded so that it can be combined with other effects that use a standard action, such as Vital Strike or even Cleave... though Cleave make not make much sense depending on the context.
So I have a random rules question that I would like some expert opinions on. How does Grab interact with Spring Attack? If I hit with my attack in Spring Attack and successfully start the grapple via Grab, what happens then? Am I forced to stop if I want to hold the grapple, or does my new friend get to come along with me? Any thoughts?
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