eris's page

Does anybody know why twigjacks have agile maneuvers? They're already tiny and therefore can use Dex for CMB...

When a character has taken the form of a creature of another type, does their own type also change until the effect ends?

I couldn't find a rule regarding which favored enemy bonus should be applied. Say a ranger is fighting a human wizard who shape-changes into a demon to avoid favored enemy bonuses, only to discover that the ranger specializes in demons. I thought this would be humorous but couldn't find any rules to support it.

If a character is banished from a plane through a spell like Blasphemy or similar magic, they "cannot return for 24 hours."

Does that mean "cannot return under their own power" or does that mean cannot return, period. Like, if they stepped through a Gate, would they simply step through to the other side but still remain on their "home" plane? Would the magic fail for them?

Or does the idea of "banishment" just mean they can't use a spell-like ability such as plane shift to return under their own power?

I hope this doesn't seem too much like a nit-picky question. A cohort of one of my PC's was banished from the Abyss and I'm sure my party would like to have her help in wrapping up the campaign. If she can't return, she can't return. But this is the last calendar day of the campaign so in this case it matters. Under normal circumstances, I'm sure they'd just wait one more day before pressing the attack. But they're on a time schedule, so...

If your eidolon is banished because of hp damage (death), can you still summon it using the Summon Eidolon (APG) spell? The class description says it "can't" be summoned until the next day, but I don't know if I should take that to mean "can't come back using the summoning ritual."

If so, how many hp does it have when it returns using the spell?

I read on another thread somewhere that eidolons come back with half hp after a day (couldn't verify in APG). If that is true, would it also apply to the Summon spell?

Is it just me or should it be impossible to physically blind a construct?

I know, constructs are already immune to a huge ton of stuff. But should they be vulnerable to being blinded? Possibly if their face were temporarily covered, with, say, a lamp-shade as part of a dirty trick maneuver.

But should it be possible for example, for an alchemist to blind a construct with a "blinding bomb"?

Particularly, constructs with no eyes, like an animated sheet or chain...

My gut says no, but I can't find anything in the rules to justify my gut sense.

Anyone?

In the Bestiary p.196 under "ability scores" it states that a lycanthrope gets +2 Str, +2 Con in hybrid and animal forms. However, in both of the examples provided the sample wererat/werewolf has a Dex two higher in hybrid form than in human form. Are lycanthropes supposed to get a +2 to all physical ability scores? I couldn't find anything in the errata.

p549 of Core Rules has a section titled "Magic Item Gold Piece Values". There is a subsection "Other considerations" that seems to imply that a sly crafter of magic items could create items that are usable only by people of their own alignment (ie themselves and close, like-minded, associates) for a 30% discount. I have a player who thinks this means that he can make himself a +1 Scimitar that is "only usable" by people of his own alignment and he can make it at 70% cost. Is that what these rules are saying? This seems a little broken to me but there it is in the core rule-book no less. Am I just being a restrictive hard-ass or is this how these rules were intended to be used? If I'm wrong about this and a 30% discount is fair when making an item for yourself then does this "discount" stack? Meaning, if he makes the +1 Scimitar exclusively usable by Magus' with his alignment can he get a 60% discount? If he adds on a rider stating that any user of this magic sword also has to have ranks in Craft--Weapon, Intimidate, Knowledge--Planes & Swim, each providing a 10% "discount" for a total of 100% off, would that mean that magic items are free from now on so long as you make them yourself and you restrict them from being used by anyone who basically isn't you?

Am I off-base for thinking this is ridiculous? Also, if a +1 Neutral Evil, Magus with four skills restricted Scimitar for free is a viable concept, then in the hands of anyone else is it just a hunk of metal that refuses to cooperate with a melee attack or does it at least count as a masterwork scimitar?

Hello. I'm in the process of making stat blocks for all of the critters that can be summoned using Summon Nature's Ally I. I'm stuck at Centipede, and have a skill point question.

Their skills are Climb+10, Perception+4 & Stealth+10.

They get racial mod's: +4 Perception, and +8 Stealth. Combine the +8 to Stealth with a Dex Mod of +2 and that covers those two skills. Turning to Climb, they get a +8 for having a Climb speed but then I'm not sure how the rest adds up to +10. I've come up with a few solutions, let me know which is most likely:

1) They get to use their Dex Mod to Climb checks instead of Str Mod, and are the type of vermin who get no skill points. This would mean they have a modifier of +10 to Climb.

2) They get one skill point, but since no skills are class skills for Vermin they don't get the bonus +3. Next, they then take a -1 penalty to Climb because of their Str9. This would give them a final modifier of +8 to Climb.

3) They get no skill points and like most critters, use their Str for Climb checks. This nets them a final Climb mod of +7.

My assumption is to go with solution 1, since that adds up to the published "Climb+10", even though the Bestiary does not specifically say that they can use Dex for Climb checks*; but I was hoping to get one of the Paizo Golems to answer officially. The reason for this is that there are 6 other sizes of Centipede and I will at some point want to stat block them. I really like the name "Hissing Centipede" and can't wait to toss one at my players.....!

*Further evidence is that Weapon Finesse is listed as a bonus feat and they get no other feats. The skill-less type of vermin are also featless, so this would support the idea that even the Titan Centipede will have no skill points or feats.

I have some questions regarding the "Horse" entry. Acc'd to Bestiary p177 a light horse gets two hoof attacks w/penalty if not combat trained and damage d4. All well and good. A heavy horse, gains a bite attack at d4 & hoof damage is increased to d6 (this is whether or not it is combat trained, I presume, and is due to increased muscle mass not increased training). The "heavy" also gains the "advanced simple" template which will increase all scores by four. Is that a typo, by the way? Should a draft horse truly have an intelligence of 6? Should it really be able to retain the vocabulary of the average undead shadow? Should its charisma really be on par with the average human?

Now, on Core p.54, under the listing for a Horse animal companion, the horse is listed as having a bite attack & 2 hooves. Does this mean that an animal companion horse is always a "heavy" horse or does this mean that animal companions are inherently special? Also, there is no mention of the "docile" quality that penalizes the horses' hoof (but not bite) attacks.

To clarify my questions and make them easier to answer, I'll number them:

1) Should a heavy horse get an Int6 & Cha11?
2) Should a horse companion of a Lv1 Druid have a bite attack in addition to it's hoof attacks?
3) Does the horse companion retain the "docile" quality until it receives the "war trained" bonus training at Lv4 or are animal companions always considered non-docile?
4) Does the docile quality only apply to hooves or does it also apply to the bite attack of a non-war-trained heavy horse?
5) Is an animal companion horse always a heavy horse?

I hope these questions aren't overly nit-picky. I'm trying to build a druid and I just want to do it right.

Hello, all! I'm currently prepping pathfinder #5 and am stat-blocking Ordikon. As there was no template in the Bestiary I checked the Advanced Bestiary by Green Ronin because Paizo uses that excellent book rather often to flesh out critters with templates. There is a listing for metal-clad creatures & mithril is included in there. I'm pretty sure they were using the same template because it has the same abilities. I found a discrepancy in Ordikon, however. The Adv Bestiary says that a mithril-clad creature has a +1 CR increase in one place but it also says there is a +5 CR increase in another place. I'm not sure my gang is ready for an EL17 encounter, but I think an EL13 would probably feel pretty weak, and a letdown, for them (especially considering Ordikan's unique position and relationship to Karzoug). The listed CR in the pathfinder #5 is 14. There has got to be a misprint somewhere. I'm not looking for blame I'm looking for errata...does anybody know if Green Ronin put out an errata sheet for Advanced Bestiary? Also, did Paizo decide to compromise with a +2 CR increase or did they use their judgment? I'm fine with your guys' judgment, I just want to know how the decision was made to make sure I give my party a memorable challenge without killing them all. Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer my long-winded question....!

Just curious if there is a map key somewhere. My specific question regards the map on p27 of the Hook Mountain Massacre. The little yellow glowy things, are they lanterns suspended from the ceiling or are they braziers mounted on the floor? Mainly I'm just trying to find out if they are obstacles or not. Any help is thanked!

After the transition will you be required to remove web enhancements pertaining to when you still had a license to publish our favorite magazines? I'm in the middle of moving and not eager to frantically download everything I think I might ever need....

Question One: Why is it, that a critter with a slam attack is almost always limited to a single slam per round, regardless of BAB?

Question Two: Why does a critter fighting with a manufactured weapon who (also) has a slam attack get to exhaust all iterative attacks and then follow up with a slam at max BAB minus five; but if it chose to ONLY make a slam attack it could do ONE slam at full BAB ?

Question Three: If a slam takes a standard action (and thus isn't available for iterative attacks) why could you make iterative attacks and then tack a slam on at the end? (or is that just restating both questions in a different way?)

Note: No natural weapons (accd to MM p312) can be used more than once per rd regardless of high BAB.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if it requires so much of one's full attention to complete a natural attack, why can a natural attack be combined with a manufactured weapon?

So I'm advancing a Gelugon to 18 (or maybe 20) HD. I'm mostly done, but I notice that the spell-like abilities are set at 13th lv caster. Is this because the Gelugon is CR13? It originally has 14HD....I'm not sure of the formula for determining caster level but my best guess is CR because thats the only other 13 I can find in the description.

But then the Imp is the next devil in the MM, and it is a CR2 with caster lv 6. So I don't know...

So why, if a tendriculous is huge, should it be penalized for using it's improved grab ability? Especially when it's got hold of someone in it's maw, why should it take a -20 penalty to keep them there if it doesn't want to be defenseless against the friends of the character in it's maw? Sure it gets a +8 to grapple for being huge...but at what point does a critter no longer have to fight only one person at a time (when grappling). If I put enough HD into a tendriculous to make it gargantuan a PC would be something like a mosquito in the mouth of this huge plant. Would it really have to put that much concentration into keeping a halfling in it's mouth? It really seems to me that critters that are designed to swallow people whole (which is not at issue here, once they're swallowed accd to my reading of the rules anyway, they are no longer in an opposed grapple) shouldn't be hamstrung when trying to do what they're designed to do. Anybody got a house-rule on this that makes sense?