matiez's page

In the Cavalier Mounts splat book, there are several mindless vermin that the Cavalier can take. The campaign we're starting is going to take place primarily underground, so a typical horse or dog isn't going to work. My player really wants to ride a spider, which I have no problem with.

So, the splat book states that these animal companions should only be used for the Cavalier, since they are domestic animals and not suited for the Ranger's or Druid's purpose. The issue I'm having is the spider is mindless (- INT) which means the spider gets no feats, no skills, and only 1-2 tricks. The Cavalier states that the mount is always considered Combat Trained and gains Light Armor Prof as a bonus feat. RAW it appears that the mount isn't combat trained and doesn't gain the benefit of the feat. Plus, it appears the mount won't gain any feats or skills until lvl 4 when they gain an INT score, meaning they miss out on a few feats and skills. I'm trying to figure out how to fix this issue.

I have several ideas:
1) Training collar: A mindless creature wearing this collar is considered to have an INT 2.
2) Give the spider the lvl 4 +2 INT bonus at lvl 1. Possibly rework WIS to an 8 and give +2 WIS at lvl 4.
3) Claim the mount is specially trained and gains Combat Training and Light Armor as long as it's being ridden. Don't know how to work Handle Animal in this situation when not riding the spider. Either the spider will gain feats/skills but not benefit, retroactively gain all feats and skills when it reaches lvl 4, or just gains the feats/skills from lvl 4 onwards missing out on a lot of good stuff.

Personally, I think the first idea works the best. Looking for other options and opinions on my thoughts.

Starting up a new Pathfinder campaign and it was decided it will be a Drow campaign in the Underdark. I've decided on going with a Male Drow "Fighter" who wields a Falchion. My party will be a Cleric and a base-TWF Ranger. We're starting at lvl 2 and will probably get to around lvl 5-7 before we switch to something else.

I'm debating between going THW Ranger and THW Fighter. I don't want to step on my other ranger's toes, so I'll be looking into Archetypes to ensure we aren't exactly the same.

So far, I see the differences as THF Fighter gets more Feats where-as THF Ranger gets more utility. Thoughts?

Edit: I had the sudden thought of rolling up a Falchion wielding Magus. Might be interesting...

In multiple threads I keep reading about how some people think the hexes are going to be ENORMOUS and contain a settlement a piece and ect. I want to get down and assess the actual size and complexity we can expect from a hex.

For starters, each hex is 1.2 km X 1.2 km (about 3/4 mi from edge to edge). While this may seem quite large, it's not. Looking at the Philedephia pic provided in an earlier dev blog, no city on the map can fit within just 1 hex. Likewise, comparing the Crusader Road map there's only a dozen or so towns currently on the map (and only 3-4 being considered so far).

This leaves the big question of what I'm getting at and what we can expect. We should be able to expect a single settlement taking up more than a hex. Also, hexes with settlements will contain little else beyond what goes into a settlement.

I would expect about 1-4 hexes minimum between settlements, to allow for settlement growth. I expect there to be large portions of the map dedicated to strictly wilderness, hideouts, and the occasional Inn. It should take 10-20+ minutes to walk from one settlement to the next.

Thinking about it in terms of Eve, not every node has a PoS. Typically, a PoS is set up in a protected area and used to harvest the surrounding nodes. I see settlements working the same way, with the ability to expand a settlement into adjacent hexes.

This topic is probably one that has already been beaten to death, but I've been away for long enough to completely miss the Ultimate Combat release. Finally got an opportunity to look over UC...

I was really hoping that UC would boost the strength of the Barbarian. My initial impression is this did not happen. There are some cool things Barbs get, but nothing that makes me want to roll a Barbarian.

Barbarians seem to be getting the shaft in Pathfinder. The Rage powers are nice flair, but the majority are only usuable once per rage OR completely situational OR suffer from MAD.

I really like some Archetypes available, especially the new Urban Rager. Yet I still feel the Barbarian is gimped compared to the rest of the classes. The Barbarian seems even weaker than a Bard or Rogue.

What on-paper value do you gain from playing a Barbarian?

When does a creature get to roll a will save for "Disbelief"?

This question is in terms of Shadow Conjuration, Shadow Evocation, Silent Image, and any others I don't know about.

When does a creature count as interacting with the above mentioned?

Many games have it, Pathfinder doesn't.

"Defender Always Wins" is a ruling that states the attacker must EXCEED the defenders DC, be it AC or opposed checks. Pathfinder sets forth that all rolls must MATCH the difficulty.

Taking this to a statistics perspective, DAW gives a 5% sway to the defender. Whereas, matching gives a 5% sway to the attacker.

Which paradigm do you use and why?

What is the maximum # of rounds that should be used to cast 1 min duration self-buffs?

When players use 10 min/lvl buffs, how does the gm know when they wear off?

I want to build a necromancer with the Oracle of Bones. So far, the only way to pull this off seems to be Animate Dead/Create Undead, Raise the Dead, and Undead Servitude.

Oracles don't get access to Animate Dead until 6th lvl and Create Undead at 12th. This leaves Undead Servitude and Raise the Dead as the only alternatives until that point. I have no issues with Undead Servitude, but Raise the Dead seems to fall flat for me since the only scaling to the power is the ability to use it again at 10th lvl.

Help with understanding how to use what's given or information on what I'm forgetting would be greatly appreciated.