Matthew_'s page

In the spirit of expressing concerns/interest, I notice that the iconic fighter preview is said to do +8 damage with his long sword when using power attack versus +4 with his short sword. Can you tell us if this is a) one of the new fighter abilities, b) if power attack has been altered in the final version, or if c) the reference is to the long sword being used two handed?

Probably because not everyone agrees. For instance, I don't agree; I think the D20 1.5 version of Power Attack is lame and completely unbalanced. If enough people take that view and the designers are minded to listen and agree with them, then Power Attack will be altered for PathFinder.

I agree. I have been using a similar skill approach for a while [1:1 Skill Point Advancement, -4 Modifier for Cross Classed Skills, Adjusted DCs], but this has a much greater degree of backwards compatability.

Well done!

Maybe 'Max Dex' can be tweaked a bit. Perhaps Fighters with a high Strength can continue to apply their full Dexterity Bonus even in Heavy Armour. What if Armour Training allowed them to apply as much of their Dexterity Bonus to Armour as they have Strength Bonus up to a maximum of [0.5 x Level] or [1.0 x Level]. I suppose there would be a little bit of power creep, but the necessary MAD would probably be a fair exchange. A Level 20 Fighter with Full Plate Armour +5 and both a Strength and Dexterity of 30 would be rare enough.

Interesting that you should say that. Dagger is a generic term for knife, which has been the preferred method of killing people for millennium before the advent of firearms. Rapiers are known for their use for at least 2 centuries (admittedly mostly in Europe) and the bastard sword CERTAINLY has historical precedent. It is the step-cousin (Hand-and-a-half sword) to the Zweihander, the Greatsword, the Claymore and the Katana. Not nearly as popular as the aforementioned weapons, but there nonetheless.

How long is a dagger blade? How wide? What shape? curved or straight? What is the weight of a dagger? What is its hilt furniture like? is it a pugio or a poignard? There are many possible permutations. A Long Sword may have a 24" blade, a 36" blade or something inbetween and weigh anything from 2-3 lbs. Is it a Spatha, a Semi Spatha, pointed, rounded or what [no piercing damage, you say...]? It's certainly not a 'Long Sword' as the word is most commonly used nowadays, which might more easily be applied to he D20 Bastard Sword. The word Rapier is used of all manner of very different looking weapons, and I'm not at all convinced that D20 depictions correspond to a real world example.

Perhaps you see D20 weapons as having very precise real world analogues, and I can understand that, though I don't agree with it. There's a rather good article on weapon nomenclature that you might have seen before here: Sword forms

I'm not as certain as to the axes you mentioned.

Same problem as above. They come in all shapes and sizes and there is little to no indication as to what D20 has in mind when it uses terms like 'Hand Axe', 'Battle Axe', 'Dwarven War Axe' or 'Great Axe', though there are some highly improbable drawings. ;) About the only thing that can be said with reasonable surety is that each is bigger than its predecessor.

Also, isn't logic based upon the abstract concept of ones' perception of reality? Can't abstract combat rules that contain modifiers for statistics such as BAB, enchantments and personal characteristics also include weapon modifiers apart from situational concealment, higher ground or sickness/fear?

They certainly can, but you have to draw the line somewhere. If Picks and Axes of all sizes, lengths, weights and blade shapes (both single and double headed, not to mention combinations) are together treated as part of the same group, I see no reason why Daggers and Swords shouldn't be. Really, a Fighter should be able to handle a specific individual sword he is familiar with, through long practice and use, better than a random sword he picks up from a local weapon smith, but D20 treats them both the same (unless your DM likes to make use of Circumstance Modifiers a lot).

Heh, heh. I'm new here, so I haven't noticed any tensions, but I can well imagine them appearing at a (very interesting) time like this. For what it's worth, my tongue was firmly in my cheek.

Whoops, sorry. had some problems getting used to the forum (I'm not a regular here). I created a separate thread for the Weapons Training stuff.

But you're fine with all axes being part of the same group? I would say that is quite the double standard.

Speaking from experience, there is a DEFINITE disparity between a dagger, a rapier and and a bastard sword. Grouping all three of these blades into a single group would be folly.

Of course (though, to be fair, the D20 Dagger, Rapier and Bastard Sword hardly seem to correspond to any particular historical or real life weapons), but that's also true of Hand Axe, Battle Axe and Great Axe, yet these are happily grouped together for PathFinder. We're not looking at reality simulation here, but logical implementation of abstracted combat rules.

Of course, I agree with you about stat whoring, which is why I prefer AD&D to any version of D20, but this is hardly the place for us to discuss that. D20 is what it is.

I really like what Paizo are doing, but I am still not sold on PathFinder as a 'better' version of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, which is what it surely must aim to be. That said, I thought it would be worth raising this point for discussion from the Fighter entry in the Alpha 2 Release:

Blades, Heavy - Long Sword
Blades, Light - Short Sword

Axes - Battle Axe, Hand Axe, Light Pick, Heavy Pick
Hammers - Light Hammer, Heavy Hammer, Light mace, Heavy Mace

Bows - Short Bow, Long Bow

Crossbow - Light Crossbow, Heavy Crossbow

Spears - Short Spear, Long Spear

To put it simply, I really think it would be wise to integrate the 'Light' and 'Heavy' Blades groups. It's just going to be a pain in the ass otherwise, with Fighters who want to use Sword and Dagger or Long Sword and Short Sword being penalised, whilst Fighters wanting to use Long Sword and Scimitar are given the green light.

Just use a 'Swords' heading.

Whilst we're on the subject, any chance of making fighting with two weapons a Standard Action?

It always seemed to me as thought saving throws in D20 were way too weak. Would it be too much trouble to improve them? Three quick and dirty 'fixes' occur to me.

1) All characters have saving throw bonuses equal to level.

2) All characters have saving throw bonuses equal to half level.

3) Change 'good saves' to 'equal to level' and 'bad saves' to 'equal to half level'.

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I am generally not in favour of exchanging AB for AC on a 1:1 basis (I'm looking at you, Shock Trooper), but it does seem like Combat Expertise is getting the short end of the stick here.

Probably to do with 'Improved' or 'Superior' Combat Expertise, which lets a Fighter dump all his BAB for AC. You're right, though, this version is a bit on the harsh side.

Damn copy/paste function. Okay, fixed it. :)

I'd be up for an improved power attack feat, that lets you power attack X2. Lose twice your strenght to hit, gain that amount to damage.

Actually, I would even be willing to go further than that, assuming that Fighters need all the help they can get past about Level 5. I would be up for:

IMPROVED POWER ATTACK
Prerequisites: Base Attack bonus +6, Power Attack,
Benefit: Bonus damage from Power Attack is doubled.

GREATER POWER ATTACK
Prerequisites: Base Attack bonus +11, Power Attack, Improved Power Attack,
Benefit: Bonus damage from Power Attack is tripled.

PERFECT POWER ATTACK
Prerequisites: Base Attack bonus +16, Power Attack, Improved Power Attack, Greater Power Attack,
Benefit: Bonus damage from Power Attack is quadripled.

Level 5 Fighter

Level 10 Fighter
Attributes: Strength 24
Feats: Power Attack, Improved Power Attack,
Equipment: Long Sword +3, Large Shield,
Attack: +20 (1d8+10)
Power Attack: +13 (1d8+24)

Level 15 Fighter
Attributes: Strength 28
Feats: Power Attack, Improved Power Attack, Greater Power Attack,
Equipment: Long Sword +4, Large Shield,
Attack: +28 (1d8+13)
Power Attack: +19 (1d8+40)

Level 20 Fighter
Attributes: Strength 30
Feats: Power Attack, Improved Power Attack, Greater Power Attack, Perfect Power Attack,
Equipment: Long Sword +5, Large Shield,
Attack: +35 (1d8+15)
Power Attack: +25 (1d8+55)

Level 5 Fighter

Level 10 Fighter
Attributes: Strength 24
Feats: Power Attack, Improved Power Attack,
Equipment: Great Axe +3,
Attack: +20 (1d12+13)
Power Attack: +10 (1d12+33)

Level 15 Fighter
Attributes: Strength 28
Feats: Power Attack, Improved Power Attack, Greater Power Attack,
Equipment: Great Axe +4,
Attack: +28 (1d8+17)
Power Attack: +15 (1d12+56)

Level 20 Fighter
Attributes: Strength 30
Feats: Power Attack, Improved Power Attack, Greater Power Attack, Perfect Power Attack,
Equipment: Great Axe +5,
Attack: +35 (1d12+20)
Power Attack: +20 (1d12+80)

Yeah, I'd be up for that.

What do youmean 'what?'. Hey, maybe I'm looking at the wrong version of Pathfinder, but what I'm reading there is:

POWER ATTACK
You can make exceptionally deadly melee attacks by sacrificing accuracy for strength.
Prerequisite: Str 13, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: Add an amount equal to your Strength modifier (or your base attack bonus, whichever is lower) to your melee damage rolls for one round (in addition to the normal damage modifier from a high Strength score). Subtract the same amount from your melee attack rolls for 1 round. If your attacks are made with a two-handed weapon, add an amount equal to double your Strength modifier to your melee damage rolls for one round (the penalty remains the same).

and what I think it should be is:

POWER ATTACK
You can make exceptionally deadly melee attacks by sacrificing accuracy for strength.
Prerequisite: Str 13, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: Add an amount up to your Strength bonus or base attack bonus (whichever is lower) to your melee damage rolls for one round (in addition to the normal damage modifier from a high Strength score). Subtract the same amount from your melee attack rolls for 1 round.
Special: If your attacks are made with a two-handed weapon, you may add up to 1.5 times your Strength bonus, provided the result is equal or less than your base attack bonus.

Seems pretty clear to me.

Iam not happy that they're keeping the 2:1 exchange rate for Two Handed Weapons. The way I see it, no general feat like this should so strongly favour one type of weapon over another.

I like the fact that it is limited both by Strength Bonus and Base attack bonus, but I do think that Players should be able to decide how much of it to apply. One option would be to allow Two Handed Weapons to use their modified Strength Bonus as the upper limit, i.e.

Level 6 Fighter
Attributes: Strength 18

Long Sword and Shield Power Attack = up to -4 AB for up to +4 DB [i.e. BAB 6, Strength Bonus 4]
Great Sword Power Attack = up o -6 AB for up to +6 DB [i.e. BAB 6, Strength Bonus 6]

I really like what Paizo are doing, but I am still not sold on PathFinder as a 'better' version of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, which is what it surelymust aim to be. That said, I thought it would be worth raising this point for discussion from the Fighter entry in the Alpha 2 Release:

Blades, Heavy - Long Sword
Blades, Light - Short Sword

Axes - Battle Axe, Hand Axe, Light Pick, Heavy Pick
Hammers - Light Hammer, Heavy Hammer, Light mace, Heavy Mace

Bows - Short Bow, Long Bow

Crossbow - Light Crossbow, Heavy Crossbow

Spears - Short Spear, Long Spear

To put it simply, I really think it would be wise to integrate the 'Light' and 'Heavy' Blades groups. It's just going to be a pain in the ass otherwise, with Fighters who want to use Sword and Dagger or Long Sword and Short Sword being penalised, whilst Fighters wanting to use Long Sword and Scimitar are given the green light.

Just use a 'Swords' heading.

Whilst we're on the subject, any chance of making fighting with two weapons a Standard Action?

The bustling desert city of Wati is near bursting with excitement. Adventurers from every corner of the Inner Sea region have assembled here beneath the hot Osirian sun to explore the tombs of the city’s necropolis, waiting only to be assigned their first sites for exploration. Surrounding the participants, the public has gathered to observe the ceremony as well. There is a festival-like quality in the air, and numerous street vendors are hawking goods and refreshments to participants and spectators alike. Some merchants have even brought what can only be considered adventuring gear to sell as last minute convenience items to explorers, while others advertise that they’ll buy recovered treasures and antiquities from those who visit their establishments.

In front of the imposing edifice of the Grand Mausoleum, an immense awning has been erected between decorated pillars in the market to provide shade for the priests of Pharasma overseeing the lottery. Beneath the awning, two urns sit on a table elevated a few feet above the ground on a wooden stage constructed for the event. The high priestess of the Grand Mausoleum, Sebti the Crocodile, sits behind the table, while two acolytes confer with her at either side.

---

Numerous adventuring groups stand in small clusters near the stage, made up of multiple nationalities and races. Like the last few evenings in the tavern most keep to themselves, but some teams engage in quiet conversation with other teams, mostly speculating about what they’ll likely face in the necropolis. You see the halfling dog soldiers, as well as the singer, Ligala, and the other three with her are, presumably, the rest of The Flickering Four.

---

The ceremony begins when the high priestess of the Grand Mausoleum, Sebti the Crocodile, rises to her feet and looks over the crowd. Sebti seems surprisingly young to hold such a distinguished position, but she has a confident air of authority. After calling for silence, she begins with an invocation to the Lady of Graves, followed by a brief history of the founding of the necropolis.

Soon after the Church of Pharasma arrived in Wati to rebuild and consecrate the city, a great burning rock fell from the sky into the River Sphinx where Bargetown now floats. Nefru Shepses took this as a sign of approval from our Lady of Graves, and ordered the black stone dredged from the river’s depths and carved into a capstone for a sacred obelisk, erecting the monument just inside the gates to the necropolis. She pauses then continues with a solemn tone, Today, mourners interring their loved ones inside the necropolis still stop at Pharasma’s Needle on their way to the gravesites to gain the goddess’s blessing for the deceased’s journey to the Boneyard. Those of you venturing into the necropolis tomorrow will pass this site. I hope you keep this history in your mind and in your heart as you travel through these streets that are our history.

The two acolytes step forward to stand behind the urns on the table.

Let the lottery begin! Although many of you have requested specific sites to explore, we must leave these matters to fate. The Lady of Graves is a far better judge of destiny than we of this mortal sphere. The gates of the necropolis will open at sunrise tomorrow. Use this evening to prepare yourselves for the task ahead. Let these rules guide you in your endeavors in this holy place: remember how this came to pass, every slave’s hut is a memorial, and honor the departed. May you go with the Lady’s blessing.

---

With that Sebti returns to her seat and the acolytes begin. First, one acolyte pulls a wooden token out of the urn before them, Daughters of the Desert! Then the next pulls a token from their urn and stands silent.

An extremely tall woman with fiery red hair ascends the stairs to speak briefly with the acolytes. They hand her what appears to be a map of some sort, and she descends the stairs to regroup with her fellow adventurers. The evening continues in this fashion for some time, with each group being called one after another. There is a delay as one woman spends quite a bit of time up on the stage. She seems to be arguing with the acolytes and even the high priestess. A Taldane by the look of her, she gets quite heated, finally snatching the paper from one of the acolytes' hands and then returns to her group. She and her party, apparently named the Scorched Hand, leave the courtyard in a rush. Another group of note are the Cryptfinders, which turn out to be led by a man named Falto, from Absalom. His swagger and smile as he comes back down the steps indicate he got exactly what he was hoping for.

Finally, one of the acolytes calls out, The Southern Osirian Trading Company! The other acolyte takes a token from the urn and they both wait patiently for your representative to approach.

Here is where we'll discuss this game of The Mummy's Mask.

I've made my initial choices already, so those players should feel free to drop in and introduce themselves. The two reserved spots should be doing so shortly.

First, I'd like you to discuss how the group came together. My preference is that the original group formed in Absalom after hearing about the opportunity. Perhaps picking up Nevai Alaro when they got in country and needed a guide, of sorts. But I'm flexible and open to any ideas you guys may have.

Second, keep an eye on the application thread and let me know if you particularly like any coming in. Feel free to PM me if you'd prefer.

Finally, you'll need to come up with a name to eventually register for your adventuring party. My only request is to try not to be silly. I'd prefer it not be too campy, but that's a difficult line to tread without it falling into too uptight/serious. Good luck. I'm glad I don't have to do it. :)

The Mummy's Mask

Seven years ago, Pharaoh Khemet III, the Ruby Prince, formally opened Osirion's ancient tombs and burial sites to foreign explorers. Khemet III understood that adventurers who've traveled great distances in search of treasure typically do not return from whence they came to sell their discoveries. Instead, they typically sell or trade what they do not keep as quickly as possible at the closest civilized community. The Ruby Prince's policy has attracted not only explorers to the desert nation of Osirion, but also countless scholars, private collectors, special interest groups such as the Pathfinder Society, and financial interests from all across the Inner Sea. A minor industry has sprung up just to support visiting explorers, and an even larger infrastructure has come into being to serve foreign investors and traders. Every opening of a major site has heralded an economic boon, for the local area and Osirion as a whole.

And the Necropolis of Wati is next!

I'm opening recruitment for a Mummy's Mask game. I'm looking for a handful of brave adventurers to explore the ancient land of Osirion. This will be the Adventure Path, starting with Book One: The Half-Dead City. The game opens up in the city of Wati, with the characters as members of an adventuring group about to take part in a lottery to determine which part of an old necropolis they'll be allowed to loot...er, exploit...er, explore!

Posting requirements

- Post once per day.
- Play nicely with others.
- If you have a question about the rules, speak up.
- I will be rolling perception and initiative for the group.
- I'm in the EST time zone, but I'm happy to accept players from anywhere. If posting is a little slow sometimes because of odd hours, we'll deal. (In my experience it's never that bad.)

Character Creation Guidelines

Download and read the Player's Guide!

No third party products of any kind will be considered.

Attributes: 25 point buy

Races: Core encouraged, though any race allowed.

Classes: Core, Base, and Hybrid classes allowed.

Alignments: Any.

Traits: One campaign and two others. No drawbacks.

Starting Level: One

Starting gold: Max

Starting HP: Max. Subsequent levels will be half hit die +1.

Applications

I'll be accepting 5-6 characters. There are two spots reserved. The players have not decided what they're playing just yet, but as they do, they'll post. I believe both are holding off until they see some character concepts and what the group needs.

Complete applications will include stat block, back-story, description, and how your character came to Wati. The most important thing, for me, is how you expect your character will interact with the group and in the game. Are they here to preserve history, honor the dead, make some gold, find ancient lore?

I'm not expecting or looking for hyper-optimized characters. On the other hand, making exceptionally poorly optimized characters on the grounds that doing so is "role-playing" is also discouraged (or will at least be ignored.) Given the amount of characters in the party and the point-buy, encounters will be adjusted accordingly.

Applications will be open until Monday, June 29th.

Questions and Applications Welcome! Please keep role-playing to a minimum within the recruitment thread. Though if you feel some is warranted to illustrate character expectations, that would be fine. Just don't clutter the thread and scare off newcomers.

Hello,

I'm going to be starting a Pathfinder Society game in the Charleston, WV area. My intent was to run the first session this past weekend, but the State of WV decided to lose it's power for the weekend and a few days afterward. And so our first session will be January 3rd.

The Rifleman (Lost Legion) gaming store hosts the games:
The Rifleman
419 Virginia Street West
Charleston, WV 25302
(304) 205-7919

If you're interested in joining us you can contact me or the store or just show up.

Thanks,
Jason Patton

My group just ran a short playtest session for a higher level Witch (level 15). The group consisted of a Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, Wizard and Witch. I've got several observations:

1. The Witch compared favorably to the Wizard. Slightly less versatile crowd control and blasting, but they get decent ones and don't feel the loss all that much. The hexes at this point set them apart and make them feel quite a bit different from the Wizard.

2. The Witch lacks a bunch of protective spells that make them excessively vulnerable, especially to other casters. I'd suggest opening up most of the rest of the Abjuration school to Witches. They have a few spells at each level from Abjuration, but it seems like the entire school could be given to them while maintaining their flavor (they are, after all, very much like wizards in their pursuit of arcane knowledge and protection).

3. The Witch's familiar is *much* more vulnerable at this level and should never be taken out of the Witch's pocket. At low levels most AoE's have reflex saves so it's tough to kill a familiar randomly (though it is easy to drop them with one or two direct attacks.) The party members usually target the weakest creatures first, and sometimes so do the monsters. Also, letting them scout ahead is out of the question. I'm not sure why Wizards do it (200gp/lvl is a lot to bank on a familiar's sneaking roll) but the Witch is going to lose a lot more.

4. Healing and Major Healing hexes are nice though they can put out a *ton* of healing in certain situations. It takes a while though, and I'd like to again suggest a fast healing alternative to make the hexes feel different than being the poor man's cleric.

5. I'm sure it's been noted in other threads, but Retribution needs a range (touch, 30 feet, 60 feet?). I would, of course, recommend range. Witches and melee combat just do not mix. Which, on a related note, turns out to be about the same as the Wizard.

6. The Witch's spell list seems a bit short. I understand there's a danger with bloating them, but they seem comparable to the Cleric/Druid spell lists rather than the Wizard spell list (for example the 5th level Witch spell list is about half as big as the 5th level Wizard). This is a problem because unlike the Cleric and Druid, Witches are primarily casters and have little other versatility to fall back on. The hexes are powerful, but I think a more robust spell list would serve them well. There are a couple of Cleric and Druid spells that fit the flavor of Witches that aren't excessively powerful (Gust of Wind, Repel Vermin, Hallow/Unhallow come to mind.) But as I mentioned above, adding most of the Abjuration school would help, perhaps even some of the abjuration Cleric spells (which are *quite* potent). Their spell list is currently pretty good, and I expect that it would be very dangerous to expand it too far. But there are a ton of fluff spells out there that would help and a couple more decent spells wouldn't hurt.