kirowan's page

Please, can you delete my account? Thank you!

I've never meant combat in an empty space. On the contrary, interacting with objects (ie, a dragon smashing trees as it moves) ("The more dynamic the environment, the more dynamic the fights can be") is another situation rules do not consider.

Well, maybe I explain unaccurately. I meant moving more than 5'. It's still unreal to carry out a combat without moving away from your (5') square. Indeed, a lot of cover books depict combat situations that rules do not cover, unless you use your imagination (and twist the rules) :)

I think that combat is quite static. Usually, your PC and her foe are swaping blows without the need of leaving their respective squares (unless a dire need arises, of course). But I see this as unreal: in action films you see combatants always moving to and fro, but rules do not demand narrative movement. Furthermore, when moving you interact with the environment elements, making combat much more interesting. How do you deal with this?

OK, thank you Bradley!

In UC, under Kingdom Building rules, it's convenient to fill all the Leadership Roles for your kingdom or settlement. However, I think some of them could be paid NPCs. Where can be found the costs for such NPCs, if any?

Thanks for your help :)
However (judgment call, anyway)... A giant smashes a tower (as seen in several illustrations, for instance), is it a Break DC (if so, which is the Break DC for a tower?) or a hit against AC and damage?

How many HP does an item have? (eg, a silver headband, a scabbard, a wood box...) I think this is an obscure theme in the rules, but still quite important.

When creating from scratch a high-level PC Wizard (say, level 10 or so), how many spells is she expected to have in her spellbook? (I think it be a high number, and not the minimum of 2 spells per level). Any idea?

I'm trying to find weapons and armor made by elves, but I cannot find anything in PFSRD. Any suggestion?

kirowan wrote:

My LG Wizard has got the Familiar option. I think that Familiar's AL has not to be the same as the Wizard's, but I'm not certain about it.

Furthermore, if my LG Wizard take levels as Paladin, what AL must have her Familiar? LG?

PRD wrote:

Associates: While she may adventure with good or neutral allies, a paladin avoids working with evil characters or with anyone who consistently offends her moral code. Under exceptional circumstances, a paladin can ally with evil associates, but only to defeat what she believes to be a greater evil. A paladin should seek an atonement spell periodically during such an unusual alliance, and should end the alliance immediately should she feel it is doing more harm than good. A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are lawful good.

Oh my god! RAW! Does it mean that my Familiar has to be LG? A paladin only accepts LG non-animal beings. So an owl (Familiar) can be of a non-evil AL... (ie, N)

My Familiar Owl will travel inside the backpack (its big eyes emerging from it).

Thanks for all your comments :)

Rycaut: I think that BAB, HP, and Skills are derived from the master's PC level (in my case, wizard's), as well as special abilities (checked in Core Rulebook :))

I'm still building my PC (I consider, of course, to improve my Owl Familiar with boons):

Half-elf (felmale)LG, Integrated Trait;
Wizard: Abjuration specialist (Counterspell) Lvl 3
Paladin Lvl 5
Anointed Knight (Prestige Class from 'Book of Exalted Deeds') Lvl 2
Total Lvl 10

...to explore Castle Ravenloft ('Expedition to CR')

Well, as a wizard I'll keep the Familiar no matter how many classes I get in the future. I opted for an Owl (and I've never played with a Familiar, I must admit...)

My LG Wizard has got the Familiar option. I think that Familiar's AL has not to be the same as the Wizard's, but I'm not certain about it.
Furthermore, if my LG Wizard take levels as Paladin, what AL must have her Familiar? LG?

I'm trying to create a Half-elf Paladin born and raised in Ustalav. I know that such combination in that region is very unusual, but I seek a logical explanation to account for such a PC. Any suggestion?

Ok thanks. However, I meant: What's the difference btween hitting an armored location and a non-armored one? If AC is an overall measure, I see a problem with Called Shots...

I have a shattering doubt about Called Shots (from UC) and I can't find any solution to it. When you try to hit a location, ie a Called Shot, what AC do you try to hit? The overall AC or the AC of the aimed location? UC says in p 193: "The smaller or better guarded the area, the more difficult the called shot", but although a penalty when hitting a small location is considered, there's no rule regarding the difficulty to hit a guarded area.

Apart from hiring hireling as a Service (Corebook 159), it seems hard to find out the cost of NPCs when the PCs want to hire them. Any suggestion?

I personally like running adventures with 2 PCs. In the case of AP, how about 2 PCs in a Fast XP progression?

In the Advancemet Track section of each AP there is no clues about haw many PCs are needed. Maybe 4? Or is it irrelevant?

If you're referring to the Piecemeal armor system then it doesn't actually include rules specifically for helmet. They do torso, arms, and legs, but not head. If there is some other supplement then I am not aware of it. But if you changed the item you were referring to to arm you could then ask what is the AC for that piece of the body?

As I had said, you can find an array of head protection in a 3rd party supplement. In Ultimate Combat there is no such list of armor. In Piecemeal system, head is included in the torso (again abstraction).

There's a ton of abstraction in combat. Begin to de-abstractize it at your peril... it opens far too many cans of worms to be worthwhile.

If you need ideas on why you can hit Godzilla anywhere besides his toenail, just imagine that he leans down to snap at people regularly, giving opportunities to in turn be hit in places besides his toenail.

Houserule: if Godzilla attacks you with his bite, you can attack it back to its head in the same round. And it would be a Called Shot.

Fortunately, to my knowledge there is no piece of armor called "helm" that adds to your AC. You have a Dwarg feat called Dented Helm that adds to AC against confirmation rolls and some other abilities. There is also the Dwarven Boulder Helmet which again adds AC against confirmation rolls. To my knowledge no helm adds to your normal AC. Not that it's relevant, because as you say, Pathfinder doesn't work that way and the AC is the AC of the whole creature, regardless of where you want to hit.

You can find Armor components in a PF supplement, including an array of helms, caps, etc, each giving a plus to AC. Hence my doubt related to Called shots. But this is a dead end, and I will follow the rules as given.

The answer is that the creature has only one AC (ignoring touch and flat-foot, which are just special conditions of your normal AC). Nowhere it the rules does it say that targetting unarmored portions of the body changes the creatures AC, so it doesn't. You make called shots at normal AC + penalty. So, as I said ealier 16 AC. Of course if you were making a touch attack or targetting flat-footed AC you would use that value instead of normal AC and then add the penalty.

*Technially the penalty is to your attack roll, but effectively you can just add the absolute value of the penalty to the creature's AC for that attack.

Well, I can hardly imagine a situation like this: a combatant wearing only a helm (say, AC 10 + helm 2 = 12). He is AC 12. But someone wants to hit his leg (using the Called Shot Rules, at -2). Does the helm protect his leg? Of course, it is very abstract.

Claxon, I pefectly understand Called Shots rules. You did not understand my text. Nevermind :)

Otherwise, consider that the AC of player characters that wearing less than full plate would essentially be negated everywhere except the torso. So your arms, legs, groin, etc are all exposed and gain no benefit of armor. If you run the game this way what is the point of having any armor mechanically anyways?

Just run it as is. The game is balanced around things working this way.

This is a delicate matter regarding Called shots rules. Eg/ A chain shirt is AC +4. Legs and arms are unprotected. When making a Called shot (-2), would you attack against AC 14 or an (unprotected) AC 10?

Well, but what about the relative size of the combatants? If you (Medium) can only reach the Tortoise's (dinosaur, Tarrasque...) legs, it is mandatory to call for a Called Shot (at -2 penalty). So, it's easier to defeat this kind of monsters being Medium-sized than Collossal-sized.

Ok, NOG, thanks! We suppose that AC, in the case of creatures with skins of different thickness, stands for the best protection for their bodies (Immense tortoise AC +25 for the shell, maybe AC +10 for legs and head). So, each square should have its own AC...

Although AC is a measure of how well protected a creature is, I find some problems when dealing with AC and large creatures. For instance, the Immense Tortoise (Bestiary 4) has AC 25 (+25 natural) Do the shell has AC 25 or just the whole body (which would be illogical). Furthermore, if a Medium size humanoid attacks the tortoise, does he hit the legs (due to his size) or the shell (again illogical)? The legs would have 0 AC...
Any advice to cope with it?

Although there are rules covering how much weight you can drag and lift, I cannot find out a rule that dictates how much weight a creature can throw (eg, you grab a goblin and want to hurl it; the same with a chair or rock...) I do not mean treating the object as an improvised weapon, of course. Any suggestions?

Scenario:
A large creature (ie Dragon, Ogre..) walks through a forest. Due to its size, it is obvious that some trees get in its way. The creature has enough strength and size to possibly take down the trees without "attacking" them. Rules seem not to contemplate these passive interactions, and I think they could throw an interesting cinematic combat scenes.

NPC classes are far less powerful than PC classes.

NPCs - even those with PC classes - have less spendable monetary resources for item optimization than PCs of a similar level.

Regardless of class, all NPCs tend to use a lower stat-array system than a PC's point-buy/average dice roll usually produces. (That said, this really isn't that big a difference.)

These things combine to create weaker creatures on-average.

The CR is a combination of these rough generalities to give you the gist of an idea.

Ok, thanks. However,I did not find such a info in the Corebook (at least regarding the spendable money and the related low CR)

Do you mean NPC classes or NPCs in general?

Both

This may be a dumb question, but... why do NPC's have a lower CR than a PC? I cannot find an answer in the Corebook...

Is it possible to move, attack and continue moving (as long as you have enough movement) in the same round?

Thanks! True Primitive comes closer to what I'm looking for, but I'd prefer a more specialized concept regarding her culture.

Does exist any character creation rule about creating a primitive barbarian? I mean, a savage barbarian or a dark age barbarian (similar to the Quintessential Barbarian I: Regional Concepts).

Any rule about hunting? I mean, rules that cover the size of the game, stalking prey and so on...

Hi! I try to convert a monster into stone (not with the spell) via a template, but I cannot find it. Anyone knows?

Does a Vampire Domination allow him to Pin and Drain the blood of his victim? I mean, is the victim allowed a Saving Throw +2 because she is doing a self-destructive order?

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Rules about designing Encounters with several PCs are not as accurate as I'd like it to be, so I've designed the following table-system:

.......................APL
...............Average Level of PCs is…

#PCs...........1.....2.....3.....4.....5
__________________________________________
..1.............1/4..1/3....1/2...1....2

..2.............1/3..1/2.....1....2....3

..3.............1/2...1......2....3.....4

..4..............1....2 ......3....4.....5

..5..............2....3.......4....5.....6

Eg/
- Designing an Encounter 'Hard' for 1 PC Level 1 (APL 1/4) is CR + 2 = CR 1/2
- Designing an Encounter 'Average' for 3 PCs levels 2,4,4 (APL 3)is CR 2

kirowan wrote:

In the Core Rules, a normal unarmed strike deals nonlethal damage. What about if the opponent is within (metal) armor? Does the strike hit he head or the vitals? (and therefore it would be a Called Shot with its own modifiers) It's a mess. Any exit for this? Thanks!

Where it hits doesn't really matter under the standard rules. There are variant rules that use armor as damage reduction, and if you are a GM you can houserule it yourself, but otherwise doesn't matter.

That said, striking armor will cause a jolt and potentially impact against the body inside. Anyone who has been nailed in the helmet while sparring in martial arts, beaned in the helmet during baseball, or shot in their armor during paintball can tell you that it still hurts. (I know, not metal armor, but you get the gist I hope)

Thanks! Well, it's eventually a narrative matter. However, I houserule that a naked punch against an armor whose hardness is greater then the fist deals the same damage to both, attacker and defender.

In the Core Rules, a normal unarmed strike deals nonlethal damage. What about if the opponent is within (metal) armor? Does the strike hit he head or the vitals? (and therefore it would be a Called Shot with its own modifiers) It's a mess. Any exit for this? Thanks!

I see as illogical that the ie, the leg has no AC when the leg is armored. This is a fatal hindrance when using Called Shots. My system is:

- By default, all hits go to the Torso (or main body; 1-4 chest, 5-6 vitals). The Called Shot effect to the Torso is applied if it hits.
- All pieces of armor have the same AC as the main armor (ie, a Scale Mail Leg is +3 AC).

I think this system is more realistic.

Ok, thanks!

It's supposed that surfaces greater than 3 feet wide are any floor, and tge base DC for Acrobatics is 0. However, if that floor is covered with gravel (slightly obstructed), the DC is +2. Such a surface (gravel) is difficult terrain and the movement on them is halved. Moving at full speed on uneven surfaces is DC +5. So, it is DC 7 to move at full speed on gravel. BUT no skill check is needed to move across such surfaces unless the DC is 10 or greater. That means: you can always move on gravel without penalties on your movement. Am I OK?
Thanks!