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So I understand blindsense boils down to "you know where critters are, you just get no benefits". They still get miss %, you loose ac as if they are invisible, etc. Blindsense serves the purpose of whoever has it screams "Howzabout a little D. Invisible over here?"
There is no mention on how it operates on non-attacky things- can a person with blindsense navigate a dark living room without hitting their shins on the coffee table? Can they detect hidden doors/compartments?
The description uses the phrase "Using non-visual senses the dragon disciple notices things he cannot see." Can we get a little more vague? Is it an increase in the other normal senses, or development of others?

OK. thanks. I don't buy that it's 'solely for qi gung ki power' tho. It may be the most reasonable use for it, but i came across it because i decided to try a monk/sorc build. Anyone with access to wizard spell lists could take it.
that char cast the spell like a sorcerer, but he gets the unarmed damage because of the spell effect.

I guess the phrase is 'takes damage from the arrow as if you had hit it with a single unarmed strike' - so any effects that derive from an unarmed attack would not count - so no elemental stunning killing strike (boo hoo) but what about effects that modify the attack/damage. Power attack? Arcane strike is a swift action, which would give you time to use that ability if allowable.

Ki arrow:
You imbue an arrow with your power and throw it at a target up to 100 feet away. Make a ranged attack roll. If it hits, the target takes damage from the arrow as if you had hit it with a single unarmed strike (including your Strength bonus).

If you are a monk/wizard (why else would you take this spell?) can you apply monk stuff to the arrow- stunning fist, scorpion/medusa/etc strike? How about feat related stuff- Power attack? if you have weapon focus (unarmed) do you still get the +1?

With the proper build you could get all Street Fighter with this spell- I think the verbal component is screaming "Haaaaadokken!!!"

I did a monk/Swashbucker and it was pretty awesome. Thematicly i say throw in some rogue- Sneak attacks are always a nice thing to have. Start frt/rogue or ftr/monk I say

as fro the Mystic theurge thing- would he allow you to do a seperate PC at 3, then when you make the prereques for MT take it when you qualify by the book?
Also I think some PCs are designed to be for 'High level games only' because of their steep reqs- Master Spy, Loremaster, etc. Are they still allowed at 3d, or do you have to wait till 5th ish?

That opens up a lot of possibilities for Prestige classes that are woefully underpowered because they fall behind spell caster levels. Seems to me this really helps out spell casters- Arcane trickster, instead of being 3 spell lvs behind are only 1- that's a trade I'll make. Same thing with Arcane Archer. I'm intrested to see how this goes.

As those abilities seem to be purely physical, would a shapeshifter (kitsune with appropriate feat), owner of hat o disguise, etc, get those bonuses essentially free if they take a form with those traits?

Ok, So Dragon Breath says you use your 'Sorcerer Level' when determining damage. 'Magical Knack' says 'Caster Level'. "Blood of Dragons" (DD 1st lv) says "A dragon disciple adds his level to his sorcerer levels when determining the powers gained from his bloodline."
So let's pretend you are a Sorc 1/ Something else 4/ DD 3 with magical Knack. You are an 8th lv charachter with 3d level Sorc spell selection cast as if you were 5th lv. How many dice do you roll for your Breath attack? Also, do you get the additional 3d lv Sorc Draconic benefits- Elemental resist 5, +1 AC, or is that blended into the DD class abilities? DDs get Nat AC bumps as lv progressions, but no Elemental resistances.
Thanks.
Signed,
Powerful but Confused...

I have toyed with the idea of a whip based Disarm/Trip Whirlwind/Improved whippy feats, but at top end its... A LOT of feats for what turns into a situational thing that is a pain in the butt for your opponents.

The only reason i can see for taking maneuver feats is if you are a rogue and can make an opponent flatfooted, but Even Improved feint is not as necessary if you pump acrobatics and just move to flank. Assuming there is at least 1 more melee guy on your side you can generally move to sneak attack.

I feel you. The feat investment tends to make for one trick ponies- "the trip build", "the disarm build", etc. A well versed player can really min max that one trick, and i think it's as boring as 'I hit it'. I like the idea of the 'dirty trick' move- one gets multiple options, which can lead to a variety of combat options. By making most of the "Imporoved X" feats take 2 feats to get, it helps to make charachters specialists, which is boring. I have been tempted to give a 'cooldown' d 1d4ish rounds before the same combat maneuver can be done again. It's a bit heavy handed, but it gets across the idea that opponents will be on their guard against one trick ponies.It's more stick, less carrot which I generally don't like, as 2 feats is a steep price for a non fighter. The carrot version would be to not worry about the prerequesite feat. 1 feat, 1 "improved". If I were King of the Forest, I'd rethink the entire Combat maneuver system. I like the fact PF streamlined a lot of the mechanics from 3.5 DnD (just try a grapple in AD&D- i dare ya) but they made it too tough to actually utilize.

assuming you CHA is higher than your Int, it would make sense to go Sorcerer, Summoner, or Bard. I like bard because a combat bard can kick some booty, and that class will help counter the crappy skill points the Pally gets. Spell selection is mainly buffs and controls, but I think the other class benefits would work well with Pally. Sing (or play the spoons, or tell dirty jokes, etc) and give you and all your buddies +1 to hit and damage? That's OK.
Sorc gives the best spell selection, but Summoner and bard has medium BaB which will help keep you swinging at stuff. I say Summoner- you can rationalize it as your connection to the Higher Planes because of your Paladin-i-ness (real word, honest) allows you to be a conduit for celestial critters to aid you. I think there is something somewhere that gives your summoned critters the 'celestial' type, but I may be wrong. Consult your GM...

yeah i ran across that in the Errata. thanks! curse my casual gaming experience!!! :)

Sorry. I wanted to see if this is a Rules Thing, or a Herolab thing. That said, is this a glitch or is there some arcane rule somewhere saying that a 'Crossblood Draconic does not get the 'blood of dragons' ability?

So here we go:
My love of Wacky Chrachters brought me to this:
Monk 4/ Crossblood/Wildblood Sorc 1 (Empyral/Draconic) DD 3. Yeah, spells are NOT this guys strong point. Herolab recognizes that I do qualify for DD, but I do not see any "Blood of dragons" effect- I should have access to 4th lv DD bloodline things, right? Bonus spells, resistance, etc? Not seeing any of those options yet. Is it because I went crossblood or is this a glitch in the system? According to the rules should I even be getting those benefits? I'd think so cause lemme tell you, a 3d lv sorcerer who knows 2 first level spells and has -2 will saves is...not good. thanks

Ok thanks! So here's how this dude operates, I think. Please see if I have this right, and if you have any advice to make this guy any more CC please advise. I am easily confused, and have not had my coffee yet...
in 1 round:
SA: make "Find Weakness" roll (he's a martial artist)
First Attack- Nonlethal attack. Enforcer kicks in, with the option for Stunning Fist.
Second attack- Lethal or non lethal attack, scorpion strike, with the option for SF if not attempted above. You save the scorpion strike and stunning fist for the round as the second attack because with Enforcer activated they get -2 save. If the first attack misses, make it non lethal so enforcer kicks in again.
*- with "Boar style" if the top 2 attacks hit 2d6 bleed (altho there is contention for it being a 2d6 rend, but RAW has not been changed yet) Note that I'm causing bleed with 1 lethal/1 nonlethal attack, but I know of nothing preventing that effect from going off.
Third attack- Trip attempt, mainly because this is the lousy attack bonus. As trip does no damage enforcer does not kick in, but may SF or scorpion strike be combined with it?

OK, so you are a monk who wants to be Crowd Control. You have enforcer (free intimidate with non lethal attack), Stunning fist, Scorpion strike, Improved trip, and flurry of blows. How do they go together? can you punch a dude so hard he's stunned, scared, falls prone and has his movement dropped to 5feet? and if you are flurrying can you do it to him with ALL of your attacks? How about as AoOs?
Follow up question- if a person has their movement dropped to 5 feet/round and they are prone, does standing up his 5 foot move for the round? can he run for 10 feet? thanks.

OK, so you are a monk who wants to be Crowd Control. You have enforcer (free intimidate with non lethal attack), Stunning fist, Scorpion strike, Improved trip, and flurry of blows. How do they go together? can you punch a dude so hard he's stunned, scared, falls prone and has his movement dropped to 5feet? and if you are flurrying can you do it to him with ALL of your attacks? How about as AoOs?
Follow up question- if a person has their movement dropped to 5 feet/round and they are prone, does standing up his 5 foot move for the round? can he run for 10 feet? thanks.

Ok so I think I know the answers to this, but I'll throw this out to see what you think:
1) Does an alchemists ability to create elixers allow them to qualify for "Arcane Trickster"?
2) By the rules an arcane archer must use bows, but is there any reason that a GS/Arcane could not take the Arcane archer PrC, just replacing "bow" with "gun"? I'd think it would be a bit OP, but I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

yeah, it's one of my Unplayable dream builds to have a rogue/empty hand monk with Arcane strike who sends Demons to their doom with temporarily enchanted chamberpots...

So let's say I'm playing a nasty, nasty Rogue with WP: whip.
1) is the pommel of the whip an improvised weapon? if so can it be effective against folk with Nat AC or a decent Armor bonus (unlike the weapon "whip"?
2) If I have the feat "Catch off guard" can I disarm a dude with my whip then smack him in the face with the pommel (an improvised weapon) and deny him his dex bonus, giving me my SA dice?
3) Should I duck under the table after I do this to avoid the GM/Players hucking dice at my head for this blatent abuse?
thanks!

OK I have NO reasonable reason to suspect this, so let's just say my "Gamer Sense" is tingling here. Is there a typo in "Boar Style? It reads:
Benefit: You can deal bludgeoning damage or slashing damage with your unarmed strikes—changing damage type is a free action. While using this style, once per round when you hit a single foe with two or more unarmed strikes, you can tear flesh. When you do, you deal 2d6 bleed damage with the attack.

2d6 bleed on 2 hits? for a feat you can get at 3d lv? (1st if you are "Master of Many Styles" Monk) yowza!!! Most bleed effects I've seen top out at about 1d6. This, coupled with the last feat in the tree (Boar Shred) that allows you to do 1d6 bleed for every unarmed attack makes me question this. I can see the utility of giving multiple opponents 1d6 bleed in one round, but I was sure that bleed did not stack, meaning if I hit someone 4 times with Shred they do NOT get 4d6 bleed, so you are better off dishing out the 1st tier effect of 2d6 bleed.

I constructed a Monk/duelist (monk 8 Duelist 2) and had quite a blast. Altho you loose out on a lot of cool high end monk abilities you get AC derived from 3 stats, and the damage is more reliable and better (+1 point /lv vs a die step every 4). throw in combat reflexes and you have a bad mamma jamma!

Seems the big issue is Multiple sneak attacks using touch attacks, right? If that is the concern how does one nerf a gunslinging Rogue? Granted there is a control via feat acquisition (but I know plenty of sneaky monkeys that can make it very scary, and I'll bet most of you do too)

Ok so next up-
Monk Enforcer punches a guy with Scorpion Strike (or stunning fist, or any other "Smak a dude" ability that requires a save, and Enforces with the same attack as a free action. He succeeds on his intimidate roll, and said dude is "shaken" -2 to hit, saves, skill checks, and ability checks. Does he get the -2 save on the Scorpion strike save? Enforcing is a free action, an is not language dependent, but it also is dependent on hitting the opponent.
Seems like a sticky wicket to me. The order of events is a bit wiggly.
we know some of the order:
1)Statement of intent by Enforcemonk "Imma Enforce and MonkPunch sumboddy inna junk"
1a) attack roll made
2)Damage done
2)Enforce activated (free action)Intimidate roll made
2)Scorpion/Stunning/Whatever bustedassMonkpunch ability- part of the "standard action" of making an attack
2)Effects occur.
2)Save for victim required

OK that's a whole lotta "2"s. In what order do they occur?

seems like a touch attack is all you need. Given it's relatively weak ability (it's a non lv capped, 0 range Daze cantrip), I think it's fair. The big effect I would think would be the RP element. "Laugh at the king's funeral, will you?!" :) It could also be used to have an enemy generate noise, I guess, and not attack for 1 round, but you are sacrificing your standard action to do it.

Can more than one person aid the same person? I've seen a summoner use a bazillion crappy critters to aid and flank the Big Hitter, who then all but guarentees a hit.

Enforcer: Whenever you deal nonlethal damage with a melee weapon, you can make an Intimidate check to demoralize your target as a free action. If you are successful, the target is shaken for a number of rounds equal to the damage dealt. If your attack was a critical hit, your target is frightened for 1 round with a successful Intimidate check, as well as being shaken for a number of rounds equal to the damage dealt.

I'm a monk with flurry of blows and other fun Monk tricks. can I combine Enforcer with 1) AoOs? 2) Stunning fist? 3) Flurry O Blows (giving 2+ enforces a round) 3a) If so do those rounds stack if I jack the same target? 4) Scorpion/Gorgon/Medusa. etc Strike? Since it's a free action to intimidate, and I must use nonlethal damage (which a monk can decide), I'd think so. Is a monk's unarmed attacks considered a "Melee Weapon" for the purpose of this feat? if not, is there a feat/ special ability that will allow it? Thanks!

I think if you are going damage output, take maybe 1 level of Gunslinger (mysterious Stranger), then go Ninja. Take the Vanish trick to assure invisibility, feats are your two weapon fighting + Point Blank, Deadly Aim, etc. with 2 pistols you get 2 invisible sneak attacks, followed by a swift action to vanish and do it again next round till you run out of guns/bullets/bad guys.

Pirates would carry braces of pistols with cord tied between two guns, fire then throw them over their shoulders. don't know if that would have any effect mechanicly, but it would look cool :)
But why bother going 20 Lvs of Gunslinger, and not go 5/15 Rogue? Heck, maybe 1 gunslinger/19 Rogue? I haven't found a reason to go too far up the gunslinger tree when TA sneak attacks are on the map? Granted I don't play high lv (My games tend to peter out around 8th lv) but if you are going to be a dedicated Firearm user, Why bother with Gunslinger at all? They have neat tricks, but even taking the time to set up SA a Properly feated Rogue would out damage a gunslinger, right? I don't mean to dis the class, but it seems that it's so frontloaded that you don't need too many lvs, and the deeds are cool, but are they cool enough to not have SA?

Kinda what I thought. Thanks! The pistol packin Rogue and whippy Rogue DO get their sneak tho, correct? I think so, I just wanna check.
To change the subject, a vanishing ninja/ gunslinger really is not a good partner, but damn can they sneak attack!

OK let's imagine 2 situations:
1) typical Rogue type fighting GIT (Guy In Trouble) with another Rogue flanking him. In other words, both Rogues benefit from having an opponent flanked, aka Sneak Attack City. Got that. Now then:
1a) Suppose 1 rogue is using a melee weapon, the other a ranged weapon- say a pistol. The pistol rogue is in melee range, and generates an AOO, BUT does he offer flanking benefits to his buddy?
2) Ok similar situation- 2 rogues flanking GIT, only this time the Pain in the butt rogue is 15 feet away and is using a whip. Let's assume he has the feats/ equipment to make the whip deal lethal damage, but he is not threatening GIT. He can still attack as normal, but cannot make AOOs. Does he allow the first rogue to sneak attack?
I think I know the answer, I'm just not 100%. I just wanna bounce this off you all and see what you guys come up with. Thanks!

If you are really concerned about loosing Bardic Lore go Elf or Dwarf and take "Breadth of Experience"- gives you acess to ALL KN skills as well as all Profession skills (which you can ruthlessly take advantage of)

it could also be due to lack of options. How many non spellcaster classes are there? Fighter, Rogue, Monk (but they get spell-like stuff), Barbarian. Vs Bard, Cleric,Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard. and that's not including classes out of the main book. Granted Ranger and Pally are mostly "flavor" spell casters, and that's not their main aim, but they are there. heck even Rogues can learn a minor bit of magic. If you give an option a little more specific than "Non spell caster"- for example "Melee Gawd" or "Sneaky type" or "Face", etc, people ar going to make spell caster suggestions because the options for non spell casters are pretty straightforward.

the flavor of the monk has always kinda gotten to me if you are playing mainly European psudo-medieval/Rennaissance game.
BUT.
A few years ago i came to a realization about the Monk. They have a great purpose in a world filled with magic. i think it's pretty well established that monks are great "mage killers"- good all around saves, evasion, fast movement,stunning fist, yadda yadda.
when i run games I tend to use monks as folk who seek out, control an destroy powerful/dangerous magic items. these are the guys that seek out the big bad artifacts and see that they are put down/hidden/ dispelled, etc. I think of them as a fantasy "Warehouse 13". theya re not proficient in armor or most martial weapons (and I do admit I don't like that they are proficient in typicly Asian martial artist weapons- i say give them Simple WP and be done with it) so if they do fall under the efects of "Lord Badass's Battleaxe of Whuppin", they are swingin to hit on the moderate table at a -4. Same if they fall pray to Evil Armor. This also explains nicely the "Lawful" restriction.
Hope that helps...

thanks for the input! next silly question:
Smoke Bomb: "When the alchemist creates a bomb, he can choose to have it create a cloud of thick smoke when it detonates. The cloud functions as fog cloud, filling an area equal to twice the bomb’s splash radius for 1 round per level."
In the errata it clarifies that smaoke bombs still do damage. does the smoke bomb effect increase the damage radius? I assume it works in conjunction with Explosive bomb, so normaly it would be 10ft radius smoke, 20ft with explosive bomb, correct?

so can you combine deadly aim with explosive missle? that's a normal to hit roll.

that seems to be the status quo with the alchemist tho- I played one in a low-mid lv game - 2d to 9th when the campaign ended, and his role changed pretty drasticly as we leveled up- more critters became immune/had dr vs his bombs, so he became a potion/ CC monkey- lay down smoke, pop a few buffs and wade into combat with a morningstar- vastly different from whipping bombs at kobald hoards. I'm curious to see if the class has any viability at high lvs.

that is kina what i thought. The problem is they use 2 different terms- "Additional" damage - the dam= INT, and "bonus" damage - which is defined as not being multiplied on a crit. I guess you can say additional = bonus in this case (in which case all the dice are crit possible, but the static INT damage is not), but that's kinda sloppy. Guess it's my time playing CCGs has made me a grammer freak :)

what if you use the "Targeted Bomb" formula ? (Alch 1) that removes the splash damage aspect. Would it count then? Or if you used the Explosive missle discovery that attaches your bomb to a missle weapon. the weapon can crit, so can the bomb?

sounds good to me. thanks!

Ok here we go:
1) under the description of Bombs it says "an alchemist’s bomb inflicts 1d6 points of fire damage + additional damage equal to the alchemist’s Intelligence modifier. The damage of an alchemist’s bomb increases by 1d6 points at every odd-numbered alchemist level (this bonus damage is not multiplied on a critical hit or by using feats such as Vital Strike)." Ok what is this "bonus damage"? If I crit with a bomb does any of the damage get multiplied? if it does does that affect the "minimum damage" and cause more splash damage?

2) Does the "bomb" effect get modified by precise damage- sneak attack, for example. If you use the formula " Targeted Bomb" (removes the splash but does additional damage) or the discovery "Explosive missle" does that allow for precise damage?

3) If I take Kirin Style/ Kirin strike how does that apply to bombs? It make no mention that the bonus damage (2x Int) is precision damage, and it can be applied to a ranged attack. will this modify the splash damage as well?

if you can't tell i'm considering this as a build- crossbow+bomb+kirin style= 1d8 (or 1d10 for heavy) + xd6 bomb + 3x int Damage works for me. If under the "targeted bomb" effect that's 4x damage. 19-20 crit, but what gets multipplied if a crit hits? my bain hurts...

if you want some realism in the game find a book called "gumbo ya-ya". Filled with folk tales, word of mouth stories, and first hand accounts of life in LA (very NOLA centric tho). you can find a great number of NPC's as well- Annie Christmas, Pepe Lula, Bernard deMarigny (my personal hero!) Bricktop, OMG I wanna play in this game!!!

Historicly Deer were not the food of peasents- those were hunted by noblemen. Most peasents if they hunted would hunt smaller game- rabbits or coneys, more often than not. it is a peasent's job to make food thru farming, where a person can create more food than he can eat- assuming average weather, lack of war, etc. Peasents would supplement their diet with meat using mutton, pig or cows- they are already on the farm, for the most part, right? why bother taking time hunting? and as stated before, there were laws protecting the King's Critters- remember Robin Hood?

I recommend a book called "Truth in Comady" to all of my gamer friends, and I re-read it often. Autors Del Close, Norna Halpern and Kim Johnson. Book on how to make Improv work. If you don't see the connection between gaming and improv you are dead to me. Read it!!!
Also reading "The Accidental City" by Powell- an early (1718-1803) history of New Orleans, as well as a number of Osprey books- mainly early firearm books. I really dislike how Pathfinder does gunpowder and am looking for a more historicly accurate idea of how to run guns. This starts at learning about early firearms, and going from there.

I used to fudge all the time in order for the Story to Work How I Wanted It To Work. Now i am older and wiser (that Wis bump when you age is nice!) I realize that one of the great thing about this hobby is its cooperative storytelling nature. I now integrate substandard (or awesome) into teh storyline. they roll that series of Crits and wipe out the Big Bad in the 2d session? ok, I roll with it (pardon the pun). Think "Beowulf". Grendal (the big bad) gets axed in the 3d act. Who'd a thunk someone rolled an Unarmed Fighter, and then consistantly crit? But then there's Mom.

I now openly roll all dice, and my game has gotten more lethal. I give the players an idea of how Nasty a critter is. I house rule a - KN: various, or sense motive will give an idea. In the past I'd fudge rolls if the players were gonna die. no more, and the game has gotten better- I've had party members accidently kill other PCs, and even killed my own PC (we rotate GMs) while running. THAT was embarassing... But it also makes for a better party dynamic- they now work together better than at first.

...yeah you right. Been playing too much Skyrim recently. Got the 2 games confused. :)

...just re-read alchemist- forgot that at 6th lv i now hit the Big Bad with a Swiftly poisoned exploding arrow. that's a LOT of stuff on 1 arrow, but hey, True Shot is your friend...

So I'm thinking an Elf with Explosive Missile. Free Prof with Longbow, int bump. talk about your "Green Arrow"- damage, smoke,dispells, etc. And... that's as far as i have gotten with this idea. I await advice from the Peanut Gallery.
I would not mind dumping the Uber Mutagen ability but it seems that all of the Alchemist varients are melee combat or non-bomb types. Is there no "sit in the back and lob stuff" type alchemists?
on a seperate note I've played Alchemists before and ran into a problem with creatures with damage reduction or that can only be damages by magic. Alchemical bombs are non-magical, correct? If so, how to high lv Bomb-lobbers be sucessful? (or is that why there is no "bomb-lobber" varient?) Thanks!

as far as fighter goes, Unarmed Fighter gets you a free style feat at 1st lv, and Brawler gives you +1 to hit +3 dam with unarmed at 3d lv. If you want to take Style feats seems to me go unarmed. the straight up +1/+3 is worth the 3 lvs of monk (trade off a die step for +1/+3? heck yaeh!) but i would not go any further than 4th fighter (Weapon spec). While dipping into fighter your Fort saves will get boosted (kind of overkill for a dwarf) and your will/ ref will not be as good. You'll also loose out of 3 lvs of Monk abilities (i'd recommend getting Ki pool ASAP- +4 AC or an extra attack, even for 1 round, can save the bacon)

another idea is go full sorc but take a few unarmed style feats- most will require you to be 3d-5th lv before you get them+ you'll need to spend off class skills, plus you'll need a feat or 2, but a sorc with crane or snake- or even monkey- style, could be very cool.

Or suck it up and take 1 or 2 lv2 of monk (master of many styles will allow you to get style feats at 1 and 2d lv, plus I'm a big ol fan of evasion), get yer style feat, and never look back.