hippononymous's page

Playing an alchemist and have terrible Will saves. What are some good items that can protect me against some (or all) spells that target Will saves? No budget here.

Some items I've come across:

1. Bracelet of Seducer's Bane gives +5 Will vs. enchantment effects.
2. Ring of Spell Turning is a good catch-all.
3. Cap of the Free Thinker allows me to reroll a failed Will save.
4. Ring of Refusal gives +2 on saves vs. enchantment spells and effects and gives SR 25 vs. one enchantment spell or effect.
5. Ring of Counterspells is good if you can set up beforehand.
6. Cloak of Resistance, of course.
7. Scarab of Protection is a pricey but effective block against death, energy-draining and negative effects + spell resistance 20.
8. Protection from [alignment] potions

Will saves are problematic for me, so I'm willing to dump quite a bit of money for some protection :)

I'm in agreement so far with the previous posts, but when picking out items for your eidolon, keep in mind that their greatest weakness at higher levels are their Will saves.

To get a better idea of what you have in mind for the class, are you expecting the majority of Paragons to be devoted spellcasters, fighters, or more like rangers and paladins (melee or ranged with spellcasting to supplement)? Is there particular fighting style they will specialize in?

Will there be a spell list? If so, which spell list would it closely resemble?

Before making suggestions, I would like an idea of what direction you would like to take this class, and which role, in and out of combat, you think you can effectively fill.

Thank you :)

I was thinking of giving my eidolon extra limbs to hold weapons. Will they benefit from multiattack? If not, how do you calculate their attack bonus?

haha, stool.

The biggest threat to your character will be small spaces. Huge eidolons can't go into small tunnels, for example. That means you lose out on your primary class ability for as long as you are indoors, dungeon crawling, or in similar situations.

I can use Transmorgify (4th-level spell) to overcome this. Are there any particular spells I should worry about? And how can I prepare for them? I will already be giving my eidolon spell resistance.

I'm playing in a campaign tomorrow as a 16th level summoner. My eidolon will be my primary source of damage, and I am likely to ride it (it will be size Huge). What will be my biggest threats/obstacles and what can I do to avoid them? I have the normal starting gold amount for a 16th level character.

EDIT: This is a homebrew campaign, so I don't know anything about my enemies. However, my DM mentioned making a sorcerer and, as my character is a gnome, something about fading?

Why do you want to be a paladin?

Please use the search feature of the forums before posting threads. You'd be surprised how often this exact question has been asked and answered.

Rogues are only bad in the eyes of min/maxers. If you want to be viable in AND out of combat, and enjoy the pleasures of being the only person in your group able to reliably find and disable traps, barter, steal, make perception checks/basically succeed on all skill checks, then rogues are the way to go. If you're obsessed solely with dealing damage, then yes, rogues suck and you should go with fighters. Just don't bother making any skill checks. You'll fail.

After much work, I created two versions of the Plane Touched - one that is attuned to an elemental plane, and one that builds on what was intended for the arcane hierophant.

First, The Plane Touched Summoner. It is a throwback to the 3.5 summoning spellcaster that uses a simplified version of my champion idea with reduced evolution points.

The Plane Touched Elementalist tosses the champion idea in place of, as you suggested, bonuses based on its attuned plane. The spellcaster and his summoned creatures also benefit. Looking for suggestions on scaling down Elemental Attunement.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

As long as the eidolon goes away and the points are on a reduced scale I think it could work.

But at that point isn't that what I provided in option A?

I thought because of the requirements you listed it indicated you would have an eidolon (prerequisite) AND a beefed up animal companion or familiar.

Would you recommend getting rid of Surge in place of evolution points then?

If you want to force the plane touched angle I would do it thusly:

1. Require the eidolon.
2. Require either a familiar or an animal companion.
3. The ability to cast 2nd level spells of summoner and first level spells of another.

Then you either:

A. Keep the Familiar or Animal companion as primary and gain some evolution points to apply to it. It can die off, it can't be summoned but it doesn't have the problems a summoned creature has.
B. Keep the Ediolon but get to use the Familiar or animal companion as the base form. Continue to gain evolution points however the base form doesn't improve off of the base stats (perhaps give it the 4/7th level advancements at level 7 in the prestige class).

I would have the evolution points increase on the following levels:
2,3,4,6,8,10

What if we required one of the companions and gave it evolution points? Would that make the eidolon too powerful?

So the champion ability -- that's plain ugly and hard to understand. Perhaps only requiring one of the three and then simply advancing it?

I can see that working. I just imagined being able to customize the animal companion and familiar, and strengthening them in the process.

I generally don't do random downloads buddy... if you want to make it a google document then I'd be willing to look it over and give my opinion.

Apologies, didn't consider that. Here's a link to the Plane Touched on Google Docs

bump. I'm going to put a cap on the champion so it can't go above level 20 in any single one of its type.

I built the Plane Touched to replace the 3.5 Arcane Hierophant, finding that a simple conversion of the class was redundant with the PF Mystic Theurge. The Plane Touched relies heavily on its champion - a beast created by polymorphing former animal companions, familiars, and/or eidolons - but is still a formidable spellcaster. Wizards, sorcerers, summoners, druids, and potentially other classes granted a companion will easily meet the Plane Touched requirements.

I'm looking for a new set of eyes to look over the class for balance. Any suggestions for scaling down or up, for new abilities or elements will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

The Plane Touched

I'm playing a one-shot on Thursday with a first level melee character (using Core and the APG). What are the most exciting class and/or feats I could use? I was thinking of going human fighter for the feats, but want to see what you guys think first!

plane touched.

I will add that to my list of potential names :) Thank you.

I also have:
avatar
champion
idol

I've recreated the arcane hierophant but need a name for a creature made by polymorphing an animal companion with an eidolon, a familiar with an eidolon, or an animal companion with a familiar.

Any ideas? I was thinking paragon, but would like to see what you guys think.

Also wondering if this would be dedicated caster or melee-based (like the ranger). I really like the idea of leeching hp off enemies - I think that's something we don't see a lot of in D&D, as well as Fruition. With Fruition, the ability should require you to sacrifice HP in exchange for healing nearby party members via berries that grow off your vine limbs/weapons. I can also see this class having really good CMB (if melee-based) or good at doing a little bit damage to a lot of enemies over a large area. Plus having access to a spell-like ability that replaces Wild Shape but allows you to become a treant or earth elemental or something.

Removed Wild Shape requirement. I'm wondering if I could make the Arcane Heirophant accessible to Summoners... will be looking into that.

I would like to reshape the 3.5 Arcane Hierophant to be a prestige class that honors the summoning and buffing capabilities of the conjuration wizard and druid.

Requirements:
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 4 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 4 ranks
Spells: Able to cast 1st level arcane spells and 2nd level divine spells.
Special: Wild Shape class feature.
Special: Animal companion
Special: Augment Summoning

This allows early entree into the class (~level 5).

To emphasize and set the Arcane Hierophant apart from other dedicated summoners, I would like to add Spell Reach:

Spell Reach: At 1st level, the Arcane Hierophant can use touch-based spells at up to a 15' range when the target is either the Arcane Hierophant's animal companion or a creature summoned by the Arcane Hierophant. The Arcane Hierophant does not benefit from Share Spell when using Spell Reach.

At level 3, the Arcane Hierophant gains Cultivate. This ability replaces Channel Animal.

Cultivate: When an Arcane Hierophant casts a spell on his animal companion, the Arcane Hierophant may choose to copy the spell for one creature within 10' of the animal companion. He may target an additional creature at levels 5, 7, and 9 (up to a maximum of four at level 9). The Arcane Hierophant may only target creatures he has summoned using Summon Monster and Summon Nature's Ally. Spells used to cause damage cannot be copied by Cultivate.

To replace Channel Plant, the Arcane Hierophant gains a modified version of the Mystic Theurge's Spell Synthesis:

Spell Synthesis: At 10th level, the Arcane Hierophant can cast two spells, one from each of his spellcasting classes, using one action. Both of the spells must have the same casting time. The Arcane Hierophant can make any decisions concerning the spells independently. However, because of the Arcane Hierophant's commitment to its animal companion and summoned creatures, spells cast using Spell Synthesis may not directly or indirectly affect enemies, such as Fireball or Entangle. This ability may be used three times per day.

I'm not sure if the 10th level Spell Synthesis is too strong, too weak, or too much MOAR BUFFS.

What are your thoughts on the changes? I was thinking of giving a summoning-based feat at levels 3 and 7, but thought that would be too much.

Most of the games I've played have rarely called for Diplomacy checks. It's understood that the manner in which you speak and the things you say take the place of the check. Not sure how your DM does it though.

What abuse? I'm missing it.

Polymorph? Animal Growth? I'm not sure how it could be abused either. If I had access to such a spell, my first thought would be using the creature as a scout or to nibble some rope (if it was a mouse). But I'd expect a Summon Monster cantrip to have a very short duration - one minute at best (this assumes the creature is no good in-battle). I'm not a huge min/maxer though... Why don't you go ahead and allow players to use the spell and see what happens?

I'd suggest simple monsters for the summon:
mouse, pigeon, a non-venomous spider

Do not fudge rolls and be honest with the players about what you expect of them based on their alignment. Ask them what they think their alignment means and if they are abiding by it. Have a discussion with your players.

I would go forward with the atonement quest, but don't make it painfully long - just long enough for them to not want to have to repeat it. The animal companion is a companion and should be treated as any other party member. If I were the party tank, like the leopard in that battle, and they made the same comments, my character would refuse to ever protect those two again. And if I, as the DM, had control of the leopard, I would have the leopard abandon its owner. It may be a companion, but it is still a neutral animal - it must have some regard for its own well-being.

If they continue to abuse animal companions (showing no regard for them because "they can just get another one"), warn them that they will lose animal companion privileges. But don't jump straight into revoking privileges.

Also, don't expect much in terms of roleplay from your ranger and druid. It's obvious that combat is the reason they play D&D.

The requirements for Arcane Hierophant are:

Races of the Wild wrote:

Alignment: Any nonlawful
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 8 ranks
Spells: Ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells and 2nd-level divine spells
Special: Trackless Step class feature

Both skill requirements would be 5 ranks under Pathfinder rules.

I haven't checked very thoroughly, but the most obvious way would be Druid 4/Wizard 3.

What he said :D and yes, I was planning on doing Druid 4/Wizard 3, but wanted to check first if there was a faster route.

My DM is letting me be an Arcane Hierophant, even though he doesn't like the idea of 3.5 books bleeding into Pathfinder. Is there a fast way of getting into Arcane Hierophant using PF books, or a way that uses the bare minimum of material from 3.5?

mountception. we must go deeper...

I third the Bestow Curse suggestion. It has great flavor and is your best bet for getting what you want without player drama, IMO.

I expect an update when you play next!

Does a ranger with humanoid (human) favored enemy get the benefit of favored enemy if he is attacking a human druid that has shape shifted into an animal?

The answer is yes. The fact that Druids maintain their humanoid (human) type is the same reason they cannot use Animal Growth on themselves, which would be broken as heck.

Two words: aloe vera.

My boyfriend still rubs this smelly shit all over himself when he gets a cut or sunburn. I can't imagine a world like D&D where this stuff doesn't get enchanted with CLW and bottled up and sold on the common market as an oil. Also remember that a lot of medicines are absorbed through the skin and have the same effects as pills, albeit at a faster rate (I'm thinking of patches, oral applicators, etc). There are even oils and incense you can use for 'clarity of mind.'

This is not a far-fetched concept nor is it gamebreaking for that matter.

I do not see the Dice rolls. no one does. he rolls he saves.

*DING DING DING* Your DM has been fudging rolls. The fact that you were booted from the game for voicing a legitimate concern on Pazio only supports the fact that your group has had it out for you, but hasn't had the balls to be upfront about it.

Find a new group.

To the original poster; you still haven't clarified whether you see the rolls.

Do you see the GM roll natural 20 after natural 20, vs your spells (the only conceivable way most appropriate CR creatures, run straight out of the book, would pass their worst save),
Or, do you declare your action, GM rolls secretly, and says 'he saves'?

Does he sometimes forget to roll?
Does he roll, and forget to look at the result?

<roll>
"Yawn. Whatever. He saves."

This. I must know the answer to this! I played a game where the DM was angry at a player for min/maxing in our casual game, so he started fudging rolls to scale the player down to our level.

Are wrote:

ciretose wrote:

Seriously a venerable noble drow lich with no class levels and an extra +2 template on top of it and you are asking why nothing ever saves...

Really? You are asking where there may be a problem? Really?

You are missing the point. He's asking why the NPCs/Monsters always save against his spells, even though he has so high bonuses.

High bonuses relative to what?

That is my point. He is playing with a munchkin who should have at least 3 levels of adjustment before we get into whatever other loopholes he is using.

The DM had to raise the power bar of the game to compensate, and the OP isn't munchkining as as well as the other munchkins so he is lagging behind.

Unless we are going to advise him how to subvert the rules equally to his wizard friend, I don't see what advice would be useful.

He is playing in a rigged game.

But isn't the significantly weaker Sorcerer faring far better? Unless the DM is using two sets of DCs and using the higher set for the stronger spellcaster, I don't see how he could still be failing so much more.

That sucks you got booted from the group for announcing your concerns on Paizo. I don't see anything wrong with it, since I would be equally baffled by the results. Maybe you were holding a cursed item or just had consistently bad rolls. Or maybe your DM doesn't know how to calculate rolls and DCs? I don't know. I guess it doesn't matter anymore.

I think the next time you play Wizard, you should try playing Conjuration. I love save or dies, but think they should be used sparingly. My favorite strategy is Summon Monster + Animal Growth + buffs. But everyone has their favorite spells. Sorry to hear this didn't turn out well. Good luck next time :)

What happens when you cast Fireball? Mind Fog followed by a Will save spell?

In my games, I wouldn't be opposed to a good-aligned Necromancer using the corpses of evil enemies to help him defeat future evil enemies, so long as he didn't kill with the sole intention of using the corpse. Somewhat akin to fighting fire with fire. I think it would be within flavor for said Necromancer to use Planar Binding to enslave demons for the sake of doing good. In using animals though, that might raise questions as whether the bodies of the dead creatures deserve to be defiled and used for service even after death. It could get you into a lot of trouble with Druids.

I really like your idea though. It makes for a morally ambiguous and incredibly flavorful wizard.

Wonders how threads get hundreds of posts.
Opens thread.
Skips to last page.
Reads petty argument.
Leaves thread.

Never again.

Oh, is he stealing items from other players, too? I'd have the party wizard baleful polymorph his ass, take his treasure, and throw it in an extradimensional space. Just for good measure. I played a Rogue and never took more than my share, even when the GM said I could since I was in charge of keeping track and distributing treasure and gold. In my opinion, treasure should ALWAYS be split evenly among players so each can enjoy their respectively new items.

Is a Rogue “skimming” treasure as he finds it “Role playing” or is he stealing from his adventuring companions?

If you have a player doing this, is this something you need to take care of as a GM?

How about if you are a player and another player is doing it? How do you deal with this?

And what if you are playing a rogue who is “Skimming”? does anyone have the right to tell you how to “role play” your character?

What do you all think? Thank you.

I had a player like that in one of my groups. He consistently took the more expensive items so he could sell them to make magic items. He did this even when the item he found could benefit another player, and would absolutely refuse to give the item up, in and out of game. It got to the point where he spent 30,000 gold to make a magic item, while I only had about 3,000 after having saving gold over the course of about a month.

If you have a greedy rogue, teach him a lesson by putting a cursed item in the next few treasure chests. So long as he doesn't have Detect Magic, he'll have to start relying on his party members just to safely access a new items. You can also have the owner of an item he found come looking for his property. OR you can implement a system that evenly distributes items among party members. It takes time out of the game, but it works. That's how I stopped the hoarder in my group.

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

Sooo... No one thinks it's a good idea. Alrighty then. Question answered.

Well, it may not be an optimization powerhouse, but it could be alot of fun to play.

You get a good touch attack spell with a 15 range once a fight (until you run out of spells to put into it anyway).

You get 15' reach for AoO and flanking sneak attacks while maybe staying out of harm's way yourself. You would definately want combat reflexes.

All those AoO and flanking attacks could be trips and disarms (love that myself). Although without the fighter's feats it will be difficult to get very good at it.

Agreed your BAB suffers too much to use the whip outside AOOs and for that one stored spell. Unless you had a whip that was actually a wand... that would be cool. Awesome idea for flavor, but I'm afraid in-battle you may find yourself missing a lot.

In a realm which only exists within the belly of a tarrasque

Why are you trying to kill a nymph?

I would have asked myself this after at least an hour of fighting. Or at least questioned whether it's imperative or not that we kill the nymph. When a battle becomes tedious, frustrating, and/or boring, it's time for it to end. Also, burn the forest down.

hippononymous wrote:

hippononymous wrote:

I've scoured my book and Paizo for the answer, but can't seem to find it.

How do you calculate how much a staff would cost to construct or cost to buy from a merchant?

Also, can you make custom staves? That is, can you pick which spells are put on the staff and how many?

Yes, it is very simple.

The major change from 3.5 is your max charges is now 10, but you can now recharge it.

First, remember the formula uses the base cost: if you bought it you'd be paying double (market price) which is why crafting is awesome.

The text:
The materials cost is subsumed in the cost of creation: 400 gp × the level of the highest-level spell × the level of the caster, plus 75% of the value of the next most costly ability (300 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster), plus 1/2 the value of any other abilities (200 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster). Staves are always fully charged (10 charges) when created

Now we break it down:
Base cost: 400 gp × the level of the highest-level spell × the level of the caster
If you want a second spell: plus 75% of the value of the next most costly ability (300 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster),
Want a third or more: plus 1/2 the value of any other abilities (200 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster

Want it cheaper?
If desired, a spell can be placed into the staff at less than the normal cost, but then activating that particular spell drains additional charges from the staff. Divide the cost of the spell by the number of charges it consumes to determine its final price. Note that this does not change the order in which the spells are priced (the highest level spell is still priced first, even if it requires more than one charge to activate). The caster level of all spells in a staff must be the same, and no staff can have a caster level of less than 8th, even if all the spells in the staff are low-level spells.

Techincally...

My goodness, that is so helpful! I finally understand why people prefer staves over wands, too. Thank you thank you thank you!

I've scoured my book and Paizo for the answer, but can't seem to find it.

How do you calculate how much a staff would cost to construct or cost to buy from a merchant?

Also, can you make custom staves? That is, can you pick which spells are put on the staff and how many?

I've scoured my book and Paizo for the answer, but can't seem to find it.

How do you calculate how much a staff would cost to construct or cost to buy from a merchant?