ojamojallo's page

I'm currently playing a sorcerer 5/souleater 4 who is also a vampire. Our GM encourages us seeking power, and becoming a vampire proved no easy task (it required me among other things to sing a ballad with a bard to to get a tear of a mermaid, and yes, I actually sung). Anyway, my character likes undead, and dabbles in necromancy.
I want him to be as intimidating and menacing as possible, and that means of course he has to ride a dragon.
The issue wouldn't be in money or chance of succes, it's just that I can't really find a way to obtain a somewhat permanent dragon mount in the future levels.
Even though it is some levels away, my thoughts went to the spell create undead. I'd have to kill a dragon, bring it back to life as a juju zombie (if thats possible on a non-humanoid, though I don't see why it wouldn't be), and then somehow control it.
I'm aware of the limit in HD for skeletal champions and juju zombies, but I can work around that.

I figured that I would have to control the dragon once and then decrease his intelligence and/or wisdom with multiple uses of bestow curse so that he wouldn't get other saves (or simply fail them) when the spell or effect controlling him wears off, or calls for another save.

That brings me to the controlling part.

I'm willing to dip a level in juju oracle for the command undead feat and the channel ability that comes with it, but according to the feat, that would only allow control over 1 HD / (I assume) oracle level. So unless I'm reading that wrong, that's not an option.

The control undead spell would call for a number of re-castings /day that even the most multiple use based sorcerer won't manage, and though creating an item of unlimited castings of the spell is not entirely out of the question, I'm really hoping to begin my search for a suitable dragon when I get the lower level create undead spell.

The command undead spell is an option, though the control wouldn't be complete, so I would prefer something else.

using the animate dead spell to create a zombie dragon is also possible and so far in my opinion the best option, but the zombie template causes the dragons to lose quite a few things like HP, damage and attack bonus, not to mention basically every special ability the dragon has.

So my question is this, is there any way to obtain a permanent undead dragon mount using 6th-levels spells and lower?

The item would have an ego of 16, which is high but not dominant to a prepared decent level casters (will save with dc 16).
The reason I'm asking about the intelligent items (even though I now know it is simply item creation rules) is beacause there dont seem to be any requirements to being able to make an intelligent item, such as actually knowing the spell you attempt to give to the item. (I recall reading somewhere you need to have an example of the spell, active, prepared or a result of it, but i can't verify that) Whats to stop a 3rd level sorcerer from going to the king and asking: 'If you got the gold I can give you the power most people dream of!'

If i were to create an intelligent item, spending 182.000 gp on giving it the ability to cast a 7th level spell at will, and spending 150.000 gp extra for the material costs of making that spell limited wish ( i read on another thread about intelligent items that i would have to add the cost of the material components x100, i dont actually know what that is based on), would i have an item which could effectively make any person who matches the alignment a 13th level caster with unlimited castings and spells of level 4 and lower? I know it would be a special purpose power, and i know it has other requirements. But it seems unreasonable to have to spend 'only' 330.000+ gp on an item which would allow virtually anyone who meets the requirements to become a very powerful caster. Am i reading this wrong? or are intelligent items simply not designed for being crafted by a PC?

The history behind it is that I was reading into the souleater, and in the soul trade section they spoke of using souls to make intelligent items. So i wanted to make my bonded item intelligent (until i realised that was a bad idea, as i'd lose the ability to further enchant it). But intelligent items seem like powerful and interesting things to have and make.

So I could effectively have a bonded object and and a familiar which won't grow past abilities gained at level ten, or have a familiar which stacks with both classes?

Maybe it is a very obvious answer, but can you have both a familiar and a bonded object?
I am making a souleater with a sorcerer as base. The sorcerer has the arcane bloodline with the bonded object. It specifically states this:
Arcane Bond (Su): At 1st level, you gain an arcane bond, as a wizard equal to your sorcerer level. Your sorcerer levels stack with any wizard levels you possess when determining the powers of your familiar or bonded object. Once per day, your bonded item allows you to cast any one of your spells known (unlike a wizard’s bonded item, which allows him to cast any one spell in his spellbook). This ability does not allow you to have both a familiar and a bonded item.

The last sentence says I'm not allowed to have both a familiar and a bonded object, or am I reading it wrong?
The souleaters gets a cocadaemon as a familiar, is there a rule which would prevent having both a bonded object and a familiar?

Could I have two familiars if I were to choose the familiar instead of the bonded item?

I am making a necromancer, and I came upon this: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/necrocraft

It looks really amazing, and it set me thinking, what if there are other spells or hidden game mechanincs which would be awesome for a necromancer? Because I only came upon this through a thread, I have not found a pathfinder wiki which referred to necrocrafts.

Are there any other interesting necromancy mechanics?

Also, is there any way to create a vampire without being one yourself?
And how would you play a necromancer if you had one?

Sure you can.

Round 1: cast Shocking Grasp, hold charge.
Round 2: declare a Full Attack action, possibly using two-weapon fighting, a high BAB, Haste, whatever. Try to touch your target as many times as your character can muster.

It's not a very viable strategy, though. You're better off just trying to touch in the round you cast the spell.

Oh, i was thinking just in terms of a single round. Yes, you can actually use Shocking Grasp as part of a full attack but you must wait until you have both cast the spell (and held the charge) and are properly positioned to deliver the shocking grasp. Even then, without the Magus class features your spell must be delivered through an unarmed strike or a natural weapon. i am not certain but believe you are unable to substitute a touch attack with a held charge in lieu of a regular BAB attack as part of a full attack action.

So a magus who can cast the shocking grasp through his sword can charge is sword beforehand, so the spell is released upon hit. But now back to my original question: if indeed the magus shocking grasp has the same mechanic as te shock arrow, can I charge multiple arrows beforehand?

some more context and explanation would be helpful

ojamojallo wrote:

Quote:

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S, M (one arrow)

Maybe I should have mentioned that before. So does the casting time refer to the spell itself and the firing of the arrow in one? If you're supposed to cast the spell and shoot the arrow in one round, wouldn't that make the casting time a fee action?

No, it makes firing the arrow a free action done as part of casting the spell.

Same as with spells like shocking grasp. Casting it is a standard action and it gives you a free action touch attack as part of the casting.

But can shock arrow and shocking grasp be used as a full attack action? Becasue on one hand, you are using a spell. But on the other hand, the spell translates into an attack and nowhere is it stated that it can't be used in a full attack action.

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S, M (one arrow)

Maybe I should have mentioned that before. So does the casting time refer to the spell itself and the firing of the arrow in one? If you're supposed to cast the spell and shoot the arrow in one round, wouldn't that make the casting time a fee action?

@Topic: The arrow has no duration. While casting the spell you either pull the string on your bow or make ready to hurl the arrow and as soon as you do the arrow appears and is thrown/shot.

so it basically has the duration of a free action (though it isn't a free action)?

You can experiment by hitting the "Reply" button over on your right side of the screen, and you'll see the HTML tags appear in your editing window. You just have to manually copy and paste whatever it is you want from outside the forums.

Thanks! I get it now

I'm making a hunter with a longbow, and one of the spells he can take is shock arrow:

"You create an arrow made of crackling electricity, which you may use for one of two effects.

Attack: You may throw the arrow up to Medium range or fire it from a bow up to the bow's maximum range. Either use is a ranged touch attack. The arrow deals 1d6 points of electricity damage + 1 point per level (maximum +5).

Beacon: You throw or fire the arrow straight up. When it reaches maximum range or a solid surface (such as the roof of a cave) it explodes in a peal of thunder and forms a forked bolt of electricity resembling a holy symbol, which lingers for 1 round. The thunder and lightning are as loud and bright as natural thunder and lightning, but they do not harm any nearby creatures."

under duration it says instantaneous or 1 round, which refers to the two possible effects of the spell.
so my question is: is there an expiration date on unused arrows infused with the spell? or can I use a week's travel time ingame to stock up on more powerful shock arrows which also go vs touch ac?

also, I don't know how to quote, any help?

Well that's dissapointing.

So say I have a character with both the grab ability and the grabbing style (I don't know if you can take a style feat if you aren't a monk or brawler, I never used them much). For example: a level 12 monk who decided to take a dip in sythesist summoner for a claw attack with the grab ability.

Now under grab it says:
"The creature has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use the part of its body it used in the grab to hold the opponent. If it chooses to do the latter, it takes a –20 penalty on its CMB check to make and maintain the grapple, but does not gain the grappled condition itself."

And under grabbing style it says:
"Benefit: When you use this style, you do not take a –4 penalty on combat maneuver checks to grapple a foe with only one hand. Additionally, you do not lose your Dexterity bonus to AC while pinning an opponent.

Normal: Without two hands free, you take a –4 penalty on the combat maneuver roll to grapple a foe. While pinning a foe, you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC."

So my question is, how would you rule it if you used the two together? Do you lose the -20? A part of it? Or nothing?

I'll make a new thread for that last question

I guess i was misinformed then, thanks for pointing it out.

I'm playing with the rule that it Can be stacked, however, only poisons with the same concentration can be stacked. Like 16 poisons for 8 doses of once concentrated poison, 8 form 4, ect

The bird can use just it's talons with the grab ability. And I don't know if they can fly with medium or heavy load, but I plan to cast ant haul on him anyway.

How would the grab ability work together with the grabbing style feat?

The rule where you share your mount's space was most likely made with a 2-dimensional bird vieuw where the rider is depicted 'inside' the mount's space. Which can't really be applied in this scenario, as the roc is directly between the rider and the grappled

I just figured it might require a fly/ride dc or something, but if not all the better.
As for the AoO's, the roc is large so I don't think I'll be adjacent to the grappled opponent, as the roc itself is between us.

And I have ant haul, so the encumbrance will work out

So I'm making a level 7 hunter with a roc as animal companion. I'm fully aware that grappling in mid-air is a bit of a grey area, so let's assume the following, without arguing whether or not it is possible: My roc flies in, grapples an opponent. Next turn he maintains the grapple and uses his action to fly away half speed. opponent get's save for enterering hazardous area, ect.
Now let's assume the roc serves as mount, and I'm riding it with my longbow in hand firing arrows down at my enemies in the fanciest way imaginable.
So assuming that is all possible, can I ride my roc during the grapple?
Or in other words, can I ride a flying mount while he is grappling?

But if you use samas interpretation, you could simply put it on a weapon and then save the weapon for later. I'm guessing it's when poison enters the body.

The concentrate poison discovery of the alchemist states:

"The alchemist can combine two doses of the same poison to increase their effects. This requires two doses of the poison and 1 minute of concentration. When completed, the alchemist has one dose of poison. The poison’s frequency is extended by 50% and the save DC increases by +2. This poison must be used within 1 hour of its creation or it is ruined."

So my question is: what is meant by 'using' a poison? As far as I know there are four possibilities
The point of using is either:
- the point where you put it on a weapon, or in a drink or whatever
- the point where the poison enters the body
- the point where the subject makes it's first save (this is different from the previous point, as some poisons have an onset time)
- the point where the poison has run it's course

So which is it? And if it is one of latter two, how would it work with a poison with an onset time of more than a few minutes, like king's sleep?

I agree the phrasing is poor. But i think this is what it means:

Ability-Drain: you die from CO = 0 and you die from negative hp equal to CO-Score including the Drain (10 CO, 4 Co-Drain you die when being at -6hp).
Ability-Damage: you die from CO = 0 and you die from negative hp equal to CO-Score including the damage
Ability-Penalty: you cant drop to 0 CO and you die from negative hp equal to CO-Score including the penalty

What they mean by 'does or does not actually reduce the ability score', is the reduction in the maximum ability score. Ability drain actually reduces your maximum ability score, whereas a penalty is only temporary and damage can be healed.

'but it does apply a penalty to the skills and statistics that are based on that ability'
So al long as you have damage or a penalty, your ability score is reduced for all effective purposes, although as I said, I agree the phrasing is poor. This means that you should treat the con score as lower than the original, even though it is temporary. you lose maximum hp and yes, would die faster at negative hp.

I realize this question is old, but I want to add something anyway.

'Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master's level'

The interpretation most people have is the following:
2 levels witch + 2 levels wizard = 1 level 4 familiar

My interpretation is this:
2 levels witch + 2 levels wizard = 2 level 4 familiars

It is nowhere stated that you cannot have multiple familiars, it is stated that if you have a familiar, levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master's level. So if you get a familiar from a witch, and take levels in wizard with an arcane bond, that wizard is a class which is entitled to a familiar, and so the class levels stack to determine the level of the familiar granted by the witch class. In the same way, the witch levels get added to the familiar gained by the wizard class.

Furthermore, it would be illogical roleplaying-wise. If you could only have one familiar, and it gains levels for each class entitled to a familiar, how would it work if a tattooed sorcerer takes alchemist levels and gains a tumor familiar. A tattoo and tumor at the same time?
Now i realize this might be a weak point, but it's a point nonetheless.

And what about eldritch heritage? 'For purposes of using that power, treat your sorcerer level as equal to your character level – 2, even if you have levels in sorcerer.' Well this is quite simple, the feat is flawed as it doesn't work with either interpretation of the rules. The fault lies in the fact that the familiar is gained using a feat instead of an actual class. The simple solution would be to always treat this familiar as character level -2.