deflective's page

ah, so it is.
auto-confirmation has to wait until level 9 & improved critical then.

absolutely go with a scimitar even if you have to take the cleric's leavings.

by level five you can cast holy weapon & imbue your weapon with keeness, this automatically confirms a crit on every roll of 15+.

if you two hand power attack it's insane damage.

fantastic, much much better. the reduced file size is nice, too bad it doesn't help it load faster.

i notice that the bookmarks just link to the page now instead of a location on the page. that's not a problem but, unfortunately, it also resets the zoom level to full page (the appendix bookmarks don't). this means that i've gotta reset the zoom every time that a bookmark is used and that gets old pretty fast.

a bookmarks to each spell description by name would be useful too, but thanks for the very usable pdf we now have.

since drawing/sheathing a familiar weapon is free with your move action and most spells are standard actions this is almost never a problem.

technically the weapon should be sheathed during any potential attacks of opportunity until the next turn but it's a small enough detail that i don't bother to track it.

i agree that the pdf would be easier to use if it was less graphically intense. there's a huge difference in response if you flick back and forth between the beta & new version.

just reducing the background layering would be an improvement, no need to remove foreground pictures since they don't seem to be a problem in the beta.

as a short term hack there's a 'text viewer' mode in foxit reader. it ain't pretty but you don't have to wait for the page to load.

good news, thanks

the bookmarks are pretty seriously messed up for the all-in-one. they aren't properly organized into chapters, some are duplicated (skills), some are misplaced (druid class bookmarks are under the cleric heading), others just point to the wrong pages entirely.

please let us know when they get fixed, or at least unlock the bookmarks so that we can edit them ourselves.

all bookmarks for spell descriptions are missing in the all-in-one pdf as well

the bookmarks for the classes in the all-in-one pdf aren't working either. it looks like the druid was accidental put under the cleric heading and this messed up the links for all the classes after.

Vaarsuvius with a genocide scroll!
even with minimal xp, that's gotta be worth something.

Can a grappled character attack someone outside of the grapple? I am unable to see any rules preventing this.

maintaining a grapple requires a standard action each turn (pg 150).

so, if you are 'grappling someone' and want to maintain the grapple you can't attack someone else without some exceptional ability. if you are 'being grappled' by someone then you aren't using a standard action to maintain the grapple and can take a full round action to make multiple attacks (so long as you don't require two hands for it: flurry of blows or two-weapon fighting for example).

all the condition titles were taken directly from pathfinder's glossary (except for asleep which isn't in the book). it would be more consistent if the card referred to 'each level drained' instead of 'each level lost'.

As far back as the 1st edition PHB D&D had a little note about *not* using "they" to avoid the blandness of it. (Full Disclosure: 1st edition used exclusively male pronouns).

Vaarsuvius disapproves.

a general comment about the language in the book (although it's probably too late).

consistently using 'they' as a gender neutral noun is much less intrusive than switching between he & she ad hoc. for example:

'When the character finally fails her constitution check, she begins to drown.'
becomes
'When a character finally fails their constitution check, they begin to drown.'

the more powerful version of your cantrip exists as the healing domain's first level power (by touch tho). this seems to make sense. if the ability is important to you then you have to devote yourself to healing.

thanks for all the kind words, i appreciate it
condition cards - mirror

one question, excuse if I am not up to date but the card that mentions "Energy Drain" -5 permanent HP?

Did I miss something, is this custom or was this rule since the beginning of 3.5?

you get the hp back once the condition is lifted. a better wording would probably be '-5 current & maximum HP' or just '-5 maximum HP' if it's common knowledge that you also lose current hp.

there'll be a new version of these cards for pathfinder's live release, all errors and awkward wordings that i'm aware of will be corrected then.

condition cards - pathfinder beta (pdf)
download

laid out in point form and ready to be printed.
there may be other sets, one for buff/debuffs and one for situational modifiers (cover, concealment, etc).

Grapple (pg 150):

once you pin someone do you still take a standard action and make a roll to maintain the grapple (which you automatically win because your target cannot move)?

the distinction between 'grappling someone' & 'being grappled' & having the grappled condition is not clear. as i understand it:

Krakow the dwarf has just grappled Gronk the half-orc. Krakow is 'grappling someone' and has the grappled condition, Gronk is 'being grappled' and has the grappled condition.

on Gronk's turn he tries to turn things around and makes a grapple check (successfully!) to grab Krakow. now both Krakow & Gronk are 'grappling someone,' 'being grappled,' and have the grappled condition.

on Krakow's turn he must take a standard action and make a CMB roll in order to maintain his grip, if he succeeds he will pin Gronk.

1) if he succeeds:
Krakow is 'grappling someone,' has the grappled condition and automatically succeeds to keep Gronk pinned each round (and may do an automatic hit of unarmed damage).
Gronk is 'being grappled,' has the pinned condition and can only try to escape from the pinned condition to the grappled condition each round.

2) if he fails:
Krakow is 'being grappled' and has the grappled condition.
Gronk is 'grappling someone' and has the grappled condition.

if this correct then a clearer distinction between 'grappling someone' and 'being grappled' in the rules would help a lot.

Combat Maneuvers (pg 150):
"If your target is stunned, you receive a +4 bonus on your attack roll to perform a combat maneuver against it."

this would be clearer (and easier to find) and a -4 cmb modifier for the stunned condition.

Panicked (pg 401):
"If cornered, a panicked creature cowers and does not attack, typically using the total defense action in combat."

Cowering (pg 399):
"The character is frozen in fear and can take no actions."

can a cowering player use the full defense action or is a panicked player not really cowering (in which case the word should probably be changed)?

we have a prototype.
again, any feedback on the design or wording is welcome.

Enery Drain (pg 395):
Spell casters do not lose any prepared spells or slots as a result of negative levels.

Energy Drained (pg 400):
In addition, a spellcaster loses one spell or spell slot from from the highest spell level castable.

does this mean that you keep your currently memorized spells but cannot rememorize them?
that seems to be the result of combining these two rules but neither page states it clearly.

heavy undergrowth gives 30% concealment.

that sort of thing will probably be covered in the pathfinder dm guide.

i was wrong. after a closer look at the numbers it turns out that concealment is better than cover only in certain situations:
- attacker hits on a 6 (or better) before cover/concealment
- attacker only hits on a 20 (+4ac has no effect)
- situations where criticals are exceptionally bad

so, it's unusual that there are times that you are better off behind a hedge than a solid fence but those situations are uncommon enough that the mechanics are just bent, not broken. if you have number crunchers in your group then a house rule that characters can choose to take concealment bonus instead of cover bonus when behind a solid object should take care of it.

two archers are firing at each other: one has taken cover behind a stone column, the other a drape.
who is better off?

(pg 146)
cover: +4ac
partial concealment: 20% miss chance

- in a normal situation they are equivalent (4/20 = 20%)
- if the attacks overwhelm the ac (only missing on a 1) then the +4ac may not make a difference and 20% is better.
- if the ac overwhelms the attacks (only hitting on a 20) then 20% is much better since it can prevent criticals. this is also the case in normal situations.

in all situations you are better off with the concealment and its 20% miss chance.

these mechanics resulted from an extension of the 50% miss chance for invisibility (which it definitely deserves, a +10ac bonus just wouldn't cut it). understandable. but when you are in a fire fight and you're better off behind a sheet than a stone slab then game mechanics are breaking down.

it seems odd that you can't charge when you're fatigued but you can when exhausted.

those are solid cards, i could have used them last session.

what i really want is something that's laid out in point form on a standard sized card with all the relevant information.

i may go through the effort of creating them and have started breaking down the rules into point form. any help checking that rules are correct and clear to read would be appreciated.

something i'm not sure about:
Fatigue reads that you cannot Run or Charge but Exhausted doesn't. this doesn't seem to make sense.