I haven't noticed this feat being mentioned when builds are being discussed. Is it way too situational or weak? If you don't take it what alternatives do you recommend?

Tour almost describing my group nobody has any experience with pathfinder. I and the DM have experience with earlier versions of d&d which helps

There has been a couple of major issues so far

1)loot everyone wants every item that drops. Come up with a system, go though threads for ideas

2) No teamwork or planning ahead whatsoever

3)One of the players picked a druid. Massive amount of time was wasted due to deciding what animal to pick for wild shape and picking spells
Make sure they understand the class and you understood the class.

Have players come here,read the class guides and ask questions. I did that and it was worth it

My DM thinks that my Chaotic Neutral character is going to go have an alignment shift. This is due to him believing that my character being motivated by nothing more than money regardless of the method of obtaining it is an evil way of thought. I keep arguing this by saying it is still neutral because I am just as likely to save a store being robbed as I am to help the robbers out. Please help me get some further clarification.

This site may be helpful

The name of the game is not "Campers & Campgrounds". It's "Dungeons & Dragons". It's about killing monsters, not going camping.

After playing 1st D&D in the early 80's under a DM who ran his campaign at times in hardcore survival mode I wholeheartedly disagree with this

If you go into the hills with no rations or other supplies he had no problem whatsoever starving or freezing the group to death

In 1st there was no skills until they came out with the wilderness survival book. There was none of this just roll a d20 and succeed most of time

...okay, so I understand (somewhat) the desire to have poison, disease, and curses continue to matter. But food and water? There's literally a cantrip for water and has been since they made cantrips, I think (it was 1st level before that). Food is 3rd level (was higher before, but definitely still existed). Then there's the Handy Haversacks and Bags of Holding and the most magical item of all, Rations. Write them on your sheet once and forget about them until the GM tries to suddenly run survival mode, at which point you totally still have them and they're still good. If you wanted hardcore survival mode, this is definitely not the game. They include a whole bunch of stuff to specifically ruin that.

Minor correction but in 1at there was no cantrip to make food or water, there were some that change the flavor or temperature. Create water was a 1st level speel and create food and water was 3rd

Food poisoning may be something to try. There are types of fungus that infect grain that cause poisoning in humans and animals
One example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotism#History

It won't kill you but perhaps sick enough to affect performance in combat.

A pound of salt in a container. Every adventurer should carry a pound of salt. Besides cooking, leaches and slugs are a thing. Salt swiftly kills leeches.

Depending on DM salt can be worth more then its weight in gold. Salt was valuable in the past. I used it in the past as a trade item or a gift. I used it as a gift to the poor or as a gift to host when it was time for me to leave

Also carrying some form of alcohol is a decent idea. Useful for negotiations, getting people comfortable around a campfire, making friends with intelligent monsters, bribes, and for getting rid of at lest one condition some obscure monster put on players.

Offering coffee/tea in addition to the alcohol can be a good idea. A hot beverage on a cold day may be greatly appreciated or some npcs may be reluctant to accept alcohol

What adventuring party is complete with out a ten foot pole?
Twine doesn't weigh much and can be used to set up traps or alarms.
Ask DM if he/she allows colored chalk

A mule can be a good idea. Mules are stubborn cause they want to avoid putting themselves in danger, by figuring out why a mule is being stubborn may help party avoid danger.

Does a rangers favored enemy bonus apply to just to CMB or CMB and CMD

I've tried looking for the article you're talking about and have not had much success. I'm not sure what the d100 roll would represent statistically. If you know what value is required to succeed then you can calculate how many rolls in 20 are expected to meet or beat the required value. The problem is you just get one answer per required value, there isn't another variable for the d100 roll to be based on. You could take that set of values and set them equal to a 50 on the d100 and then vary the values up and down by a certain amount but depending on your method you could end up with a pretty nonsensical table. Do you remember what the d100 was based on?

Certainly, I can easily imagine a table like what you're describing, but I haven't seen anything like it nor have I been able to locate one. All I found was an article talking about how gamers have been reading percentile dice wrong (proposed a different method that actually makes things more complicated in order to solve a non-existent problem, the way you've been reading them is fine).

Do you recall what edition of D&D this was talking about? (would help give a sense of how new or old the article is)

I was just able to find which issue of dragon magazine had it, its in issue 113

Years ago I seen an article for D&D for handling massive rolling of to hit or saves. Instead of rolling 20 to hit rolls or saves you make one d100 roll and consult the table to see how many were successful

Does anyone know what equations I can plug into Excel to create tables? My DM likes using large groups and when I use entangle she sit there and roll 20 to 30 saves and I am looking for ways to speed things up

Pathfinder PCs aren't operating in a modern legal system, where criminals are entitled to due process. Castle is.

Frank Castle is operating in different universe with super heroes alien invasions and gods. In that universe you have Mater Order who can be viewed as the living embodiment of law itself, would he see Castle's action as lawful?

Well first of all legal and lawful isn't exactly he same thing. Think of it this way legal is the letter of the law and lawful is spirit of the law

Frank Castle is lawful. He is not good, he has to be neutral or evil
I would borderline lawful neutral/lawful evil
The key thing with him is He commit evil acts but only against evil but he himself is not evil

Older variants of DnD sorta had Weight Class with 18 Strength having a percentile value that scaled to 100 before you could reach 19 (super human) strength and these different levels all had different modifiers.

It sucked. Size categories are much neater.

It wasn't really a weight class. The whole percentile value was just for fighters types. It just made non fighter classes with a 18 strength slightly weaker then a fighter with 18 strength

Hello
I have a plus 3 strength bow and am wondering what are the best enchants to get or at least which ones to avoid

I have a switch hitter ranger with 18 strength. I would like to get bow upto +5 and after that I am not sure

I have a ranger with a belt of giant strength +4 with a drawback of changing gender

I like to keep the belt as my bow has adaptive on it and like to know what my options are if any
What would happen if I put on another item with same drawback ?

Honestly, ever since Rangers got access to Point Blank Master in the Advanced Player's Guide there hasn't been a reason to build a switch hitter.

I don't have the experience of the people who regularly post so maybe my opinion doesn't carry as much weight

I have been trying a switch hitter ranger and while maybe not as optimal as a dedicated archer it does seem viable. I get 1 to 3 rounds of full attack with archery then quick draw and smack it upside its head. I feel that a dedicated archer is basically a one trick pony while a switch hitter is more flexible

Based on personal experience there will be fights were being a dedicated archer is a lot better but not all fights. It all depends what kind of fights the DM is running

Does the OP feel he would better off as a dedicated archer or switch hitter?

Cavall wrote:

I agree with selling it. It's not a bad weapon but that could upgrade the whole group.

Given its value versus what it does, I'd say it's only a mediocre weapon, and that -- unless your GM is clueing you in that you'll be imminently facing something that actually needs a +5 or better weapon to get through its defenses -- selling it is the best cooperative party move, and especially if you have one of those honeytongued types who can sweet-talk a higher payout at market.

I do want to thank everyone for their very informative answers. In most groups selling may be the best choice but this group whines too much about how much damage I done with archery for me to sell my weapon to upgrade them. Pretty much every time I hit using many shot and deadly aim the druid goes on a rant about how rangers are over powered. The barbarian and the bard in the group have a tendency to forget what feats, skills or spells they have during combat.

This is a group that never played pathfinder. I am the only one who read the book. I am the only who comes to this site and ask questions.

As you've said, keen is worse than a further +1, even if we ignore overkill damage or DR penetration. Stuff that procs on damage (e.g. Panache recovery) can change that, of course, but Burst enchantments are indeed usually just not good enough. Also, keen can be imitated by a feat, while +1 to both attack and damage can't (for two-handed weapons).

My thinking seems to be the opposite of your's. My thinking was why use a feat to get improved critical when an enchant does the same thing

Damage/round formula: h(d+s)+ft(cd+cb)

The average CR 8 foe has an Armor Class of 21, which means your attacks have a 50%, 50% and 25% chance of hitting your foe.

1st & 2nd attack damage
0.5(20.5 + 3.5Frost) + 0.5*0.05(41 + 11Frost) = 13.3 (1.3 from crits)

3rd attack damage
0.25(20.5 + 3.5Frost) + 0.25*0.05(41 + 11Frost) = 6.65 (0.65 from crits)
======...

Two questions

using your example H is set to 50%,but doesn't that include rolling a natural 20? I get a crit 2.5% so should h=47.5% since 47.5+2.5=50?

huggin wrote:

I have an 8th level switch hitter ranger with a 18 strength that just acquired a +1 halberd with icy burst and speed enchants

* What is your ranger's Combat Style, and feat choices so far? What are your stats?

str 18 dex 18

By "acquired", did you buy this, or was it picked off a treasure
pile?

Treasure pile. Sadly she tends to run Monty hall campaniles but she is not as bad as she use to be. The problem is she blindly follows the charts. In all fairness until this halberd dropped she hasn't been that generous. There are 5 of use and going by wealth by level everyone except maybe the druid was well within limits, She also upped the fights

I don't mean to hijack the OP's post and am perfectly happy to take this question elsewhere, if the OP prefers.

What you asked is related and we are here to learn so I don't mind.

hello

I have an 8th level switch hitter ranger with a 18 strength that just acquired a +1 halberd with icy burst and speed enchants

I am a little unclear how to calculate dpr with multiple attacks and something like icy burst

If someone can show the math I should be able to understand it and I can do the math for my bow to compare the 2

On a related note this is the first pathfinder campaign for the DM and myself can the keen enchant be added to the halberd?

If I understand enchanting I cant go above +10. Halberd is +1 icy is +2 and speed is +3 for a total of 6. Keen is +1 so I can do it correct?
If yes then I have an option

That Is basically what I thought just wanted to be sure. How would ready an action factor into this? Wouldn't we roll initiative? Would I get a perception roll?

Can you use quick draw to make an attack of opportunity? I am in a street with weapons sheathed and someone tries to grapple me provoking an attack of opportunity. Is my only option to punch them or can I quick draw a weapon and use that

I did see 1 or 2 threads that talked about this but they quite old and I don't know if something was published that dealt with this. My instinct was at first was I can't use quick draw but I want to make sure

And what character class is he playing?

Druid, he is 8th level and I am 1 maybe 2 fights away from 8th. He has been using a staff for the enlarge spell and been making use magic device rolls

huggin wrote:

Pretty much every time I unload on a human and all my arrows hit he whines about rangers are overpowered.

So he's intentionally debuffing you? Bring this up to the GM, no amount of counters or saves will fix the issues here.

Already sent DM series of texts over weekend and I will be seeing a day before next game session. This group is a bit dysfunction

Indeed.

He only enlarges you because he consciously chooses to do so.
Ask him not to. It's almost strictly a serious debuff for you.

If the mage persists despite you, then once the next fight's over maybe your archer should get angry and punch him in the nose. Is he trying to get you killed ? Is he working for the enemy ? What is his deal ?

His deal is that he issues with the amount of damage rangers can do against their favorite enemy and that I have a human ranger that picked human as my favorite enemy.

Pretty much every time I unload on a human and all my arrows hit he whines about rangers are overpowered.

I am in a group where a party member likes to cast Mass Enlarge Person on the group at the time
As An archer it hurts me as I lose some dex and take a minus to hit so can I choose to get a save

Lucy_Valentine really gave some good advice

Ask your GM how much can a guard dog carry and see if party is willing to split cost. I would imagine a large dog can carry some pitons or crowbar or extra water skins. A trained dog can also track

What is rest of party bringing? A pet peeve for me is the party doesn't talk about this before starting out. No one gets rope because they think someone else will bring rope or everyone brings rope because they think no one else will

Collapsible plank has a weight limit. If I remember 250 pounds is the most it can support. Check to see if anyone is over that. Some party members might be too heavy

I am someone who likes to be prepared and in the past I bring along 2 pack mules fully loaded with gear just in case. Most of the time did I need it? No I didn't however at times it great that I did
There is a chance that gear might save your party or be very useful but your probably the wrong person

What I done in the past when I has medium or higher load I give the GM a list of my gear with an asterisk nest to any item I will drop if I need to run away. What items are you prepared to drop and lose forever?
If you cant afford to lose a item then perhaps you shouldn't be the one carrying it

Hello
I am in my first pathfinder campaign and I have a 7th level human ranger. I am a little unclear when to know you have enough ranks in any given skill
For skills like perception, stealth or survival do you always buy ranks no matter what?

Hello
When a bard uses fascinate to stop someone from doing something they would normally do can the target realize that they were charmed?

In the group I am in the bard has a tendency to use fascinate on other party members. At what point in time would anyone realize what is going on or do we automatically know

My party got a deck of many things which started a discussion about the throne card. What happens when you place on land owned by someone else

Some of the party maintain that the deck gives you ownership of just the keep not the land

Others in the party maintain that its absurd that you don't get ownership of the land

they also claim that since the people see you as a true leader you become their leader and as their leader the people are ok with you getting ownership of the land

I feel that seeing someone as a true leader doesn't nessacary mean they automatically become your leader, you may be a true leader but you are not the rightful or lawful leader

How do other DMs handle this? Does the throne card grant ownership of the land?

I am in group new to pathfinder and the question of can the druid cast when flying came up. Can you glide and cast or do you have to go into free fall? What type of action does gliding count as?
We also had a discussion how far can a druid in bird form. Has Paizo or anyone else ever published anything about travel times for birds or is it up to the DM? So far we just what off what some sites said a bird can travel per day

In 3.5 it is clearly stated druids hate undead but I dont see that anywhere in pathfinder. Was that omitted to save space or did Paizo can how druids view undead?

Given how pathfinder describes druids I see them as being anti-undead

Is there a raw definition of revering nature, unnatural or supernatural

I am in a group that is somewhat new to pathfinder and I created a ranger that given his background would have a strong respect for nature and have a strong dislike for the unnatural. My first two favorite enemy are undead and aberrations

In the group there is potential for disagreements. One of the players made a druid and we already have a little disagreement involving the use of items or spells that are may or may not be unnatural

As I read the 3.x/pathfinder books unnatural and supernatural are used. How are the authors defining those words

At the end of the last session we found an item that I brought up it that this might be unnatural and maybe we shouldn't use it which lead to a discussion about just what is unnatural and how can you tell.

I'm just telling you, that a character with survival 15 AND scent does not benefit from scent while tracking AT ALL :)

With scent don't you ignore surface conditions and poor visibility? That isn't a benefit?

blahpers wrote:

Pretty much.

Lots of creatures have the scent quality, but a bloodhound or similar trailing dog ought to be particularly excellent at it, as they've been known to follow trails several days old. Unfortunately, Pathfinder doesn't have built-in support for such a talent.

Indeed I worked with a lady who did search and rescue work with her dog who was specifically trained to look for cadavers. She knew of dogs capable of following a trail of someone who got in a car and drove off ... she said they could follow such a trail with a car moving upwards of near 30mph. The rules don't begin to cover what such a trained animal is capable of ... it is a game and not a tracking simulation. But as a GM go nuts if you want to.

You need a dog handler that knows what they are doing. Yes dogs can follow a trail several days old but can they do consistency? Can any dog do it consistency?

Its my understanding that dog trainers have debates about how well dogs can follow a scent that is at least a day old

Hello

I am in a small group that is learning pathfinder as we go along, I have a human ranger and I find it odd that my choices for mounts are horse camel or pony but donkey or mule are not listed? Horses have speed but mules or donkeys can be useful to a party and unlike other companions there isn't any problem taking them to town

I just find it odd that mules and donkeys are omitted and curious is there a reason why? In this campaign a mule wouldn't be a bad choice and maybe better then a horse at times. Is there something somewhere in a book that talks about this?

Hello
This is my first time trying a ranger and not sure which one to get and the DM is not allowing boon companion. She is only using core rulebook

Based on personal experience with this DM running other games I end up spending large amount of time underground where horses or anything large may have a hard time going.

Based on what little I read my best choice is wolf or cat however if someone can make a case for something I love to hear it.

As a related note she is more in RP then everyone having an optimal build. My main concern is picking an animal that is not a liability

From my spreadsheet:

(21-TargetAC+AttackBonus)/20) * (CritableDamage+NonCritableDamage) + (CritMultiplier-1) * CritChance * (21-TargetAC+AttackBonus+CritConfirmBonus)/20) * (CritableDamage+CritOnlyDamage)

NonCritableDamage is stull like Flaming, CritOnlyDamage is stuff like Flaming Burst or Killer, and CritConfirmBonus is stuff like Critical Focus.

Note that you could always further break it down - the AttackBonus is really BAB+AbilityScore+WeaponBonus+SizeMod+MiscBonuses-Penalties, NonCritableDamage is really PrecisionDamage+ElementalDamage, and so on.

Regarding switch hitter: Ok, that looks better than what I'd though. I'd still heavily advice against crossbow, as it takes more feats for less effect. Crossbow is only preferable if you want to invest zero feats, and don't have martial weapon proficiency. It's just so bad in Pathfinder!

I've never played anything before Pathfinder (ignoring video games like NWN), so I don't have any "memorial baggage" there. Thank you for the insight, though!

what is the purpose of crit multiplier-1?

I wasn't going to consider crossbows until I saw crossbow mastery was on the list of feats I can pick for free at level 6. It almost makes heavy crossbow viable

I was in a 1e campaign for more then 15 years
In 1e no skills no feats no criticals. The big issue with archery in 1e is when you fired into melee it was random who was hit, also you couldn't make arrows and efficient quiver type items did exist but it was very rare.

huggin wrote:

The basic equation is (21-to hit roll)/20* avg damage correct?. (...) I am unclear on is how to include criticals

How complex do you want it?

How complex can it get?

I haven't really played a switch-hitter, as I don't understand that character concept's allure at all, but I think it's kinda weird that you say you want to be mainly in melee, but apparently invest every single feat in your ranged weapon.

I am only planning om get archery feats at level 2,6,10,14,18 and get deadly aim at 3 or 5. All other feats will ne melee

The character I loved playing the most was a 1e ranger that used a halberd and heavy crossbow. I had fun with him and wanted to see how well using the same weapons in pathfinder worked

I just noticed you said "Switch Hitter".

That does change things a bit, essentially making you less good at either range or melee, but competent at both (rangers do this better than most).

You'll probably get a lot of people say this isn't a good idea. From my perspective, as long as your party isn't super optimised it's not a bad idea. If they ARE super optimised you'll likely have trouble keeping up, and then it's probably not a good idea. Otherwise accept that you'll only be doing 80% of the damage you COULD be doing if you did things differently, but you'll be a bit more adaptable than a straight-up archer, and you'll probably have more fun playing this character (and since fun is really the point of this game that means you win).

So the next question is: Are you going to focus on melee with a little archery? Or are you going to focus on archery with a little melee?

This is a group of 6 where only 1 played Pathfinder. This group will be nowhere close to being super optimised

I plan on going more melee

MrCharisma has it right. Any chance you have to take Manyshot you take it. It's amoung the best damage boosting feats in the game.

There are several calculators online that you can use. Always have rapid shot on almost always have deadly aim on.

I realize that at level 6 Manyshot is better then crossbow mastery. I just curious to what the difference is and I just want to make sure I do the math correctly

I found this for power attack
https://donjon.bin.sh/d20/power/

I want something that does the same thing for archery.

Hello
I am new to pathfinder and learning how to do theorycrafting.

I am creating a human 1st level ranger switch hitter and due to the DM's generous point buy system I can have 16 in str dex and con. I have a +2 to put in a stat

I have to decide if make str or dex 18 and I want to have a better idea of when to use deadly aim

I like to see what my DPR is against a range of ac and what to make sure my math is correct

The basic equation is (21-to hit roll)/20* avg damage correct?. An arrow is a d8 so avg damage is 4.5

Two things I am unclear on is how to include criticals and multiple attacks

1st level is easy but at 2nd I get rapid shot and 3rd I plan on getting deadly aim
for 3rd I want to compare firing 1 arrow vs using deadly aim or rapid shot or both of them . Also having 16 dex or 18 dex and favorite enemy

If someone can show me the math I will be grateful. I don't want to forget something

At level 6 I can get manyshot but I can also get crossbow mastery. I know archery is better but has anyone done the math showing its better?

1. Combat Reflexes, Quick Draw If you're going to be a switch-hitter, get maximum bang-for-your-dexterity-buck with a reach weapon and Combat Reflexes generating four AoOs/round. Take Power Attack and Deadly Aim later, and only after attack bonus is sufficiently large that you're not incurring a significantly increased chance of whiffage.

2. Rapid Shot
3. (*anything)
4. (*retrain 3rd-level feat to Boon Companion)
5. Flexible Foe
6. Manyshot

I understand your point about taking power attack or deadly aim at later level. I do have have 1 concern at higher levels I can get feats such as vital strike or improved crit. I have to decide do I take one of them or take power attack

For switch-hitters who melee close-in, they're back-burned. (Both are regrettably required for Clustered Shots, but you can always dip a few levels of fighter to get them when DR is becoming prevalent.)

The DM isn't allowing Clustered Shots. She is sticking to players handbook. She will allow things from advanced players handbook 0r 3.5 and that be case by case

If you go with a crossbow, Rapid Reload at 5.

Maybe I am misreading something but as crossbow master makes reloading a crossbow a free action do I need to take rapid reload at 5?

Anyways, grabbing Rapid Shot and Manyshot without prerequisites is pretty much the entirety of the archery portion of a switch hitter. QuickDraw and Power Attack being the other half.

At first I planned on taking manyshot but when I saw crossbow mastery I became curious. I know manyshot is better but how much better? Has anyone done any theorycrafting or tried crossbow mastery

What would be a good feat to get at level 5?

Hello
I am making my first pathfinder character and I like to try a switch hitter
The DM is using a point buy system that isa bit generous.
36 points and each stat starts out at 9. It cost 1 point to increase a stat by 1 upto 15, 2 points to 16, 3 points to 17 and 4 point to 18

I decided to go with this for stats
str 16
dex 16
con 16
int 15
wis 14
cha 10

I will be going with human so I get a +2 that I put into strength.
I am a little unclear what feats I should be getting and I will be starting out at 1st
The DM isn't using advanced players guild but I can use the combat styles listed in that back
my basic thinking is
1st) power attack,quick draw
2nd) pick archery and get rapid shot
3rd)deadly aim
5) undecided
6)I get 2nd archery feat. I know I can get manyshot but there is crossbow mastery. Would picking crossbow mastery heavy crossbow be a horrible idea?
I can get a strength bow and manyshot or heavy crossbow and get Improved Critical at some point in time

Based on what I read switch hitters precise shot and point blank isn't recommended so I wanst planning on getting those 2

I planned om getting quick draw but going by some threads I read its possible to get by with out it.
If I dont get it is there a better choice

Due to lack of experience with pathfinder I feel I bit overwhelmed. I played earlier versions of d&d where I used crossbows just be be a little different.