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Hello James, thank you for your time :)

I was reading through the Gloomblade archetype and I fail to see anything regarding the ability (or the lack of) to give the Shadow Weapon to someone else.

It does say that if you create a second one (before level 7) he loses the previous. But what happens if I create a +1 Shadow Bastard Sword (given that I am proficient) and give it to my Barbarian for example?

My logic says that it should disappear since it's not a material creation exactly, however I can't find anything written that sets a rule about it.

What do you think on that?

Hello everyone!

Sorry if this counts as "threadomancy" but it was the most recent thread regarding the Gloomblade and I thought I would ask here.

So, I was reading through the archetype and I fail to see anything regarding the ability (or the lack of) to give the Shadow Weapon to someone else.

It does say that if you create a second one (before level 7) he loses the previous. But what happens if I create a +1 Shadow Bastard Sword (given that I am proficient) and give it to my Barbarian for example?

Logic says that it should disappear unless the creators thought it's a good idea for a 7 level Gloomblade to share his second weapon with someone else, however I can't find anything written that sets a rule about it.

I am not looking for a homebrew ruling solution, or a solution at all for that matter, however I am really intrigued as I was thinking of playing a Gloomblade and would like to know the possibilities based on RAW.

skypse wrote:

Hello James and thank you for your time.

I have a scenario for you:
I am a Ranger (no archetype) lvl 9 and I'm going to become a Mammoth Rider PrC at lvl 11. At the same lvl I want to pick the Monstrous Companion feat. The plan is this: I use the spell Awaken on my wolf companion to turn him to a magical beast. Then I use the feat to have this specific Magical Beast as a cohort. Then, when I enter the PrC, I pick another animal as a companion per the (EX) class ability Steed. My question is this and I want you to tell me if my thinking is correct:
1) I use the Ranger's Animal Companion class feature as an entry to Monstrous Companion feat which says that replaces the Animal Companion class feature.
2) I have my awakened magical beast as a cohort
3) I get a new animal companion due to the Steed (EX) class feature and its levels stack with the ranger level as instructed by the PrC.

Is this valid? Or do I lose the animal companion all together due to the feat and I can't pick one again?

Once you awaken an animal, it can't be an animal companion. It CAN be a cohort, if you're high-enough level and the GM is okay with that but cohorts can't gain the benefits of an animal companion type class.

It feels like you're trying to triple-dip into a single concept, and that's going to make your character FAR too complicated. Furthermore, with so many "secondary characters" under your control, you'll kind of be hogging the table time; when other players at your table are taking their turns, yours will end up being three to four times as long since you're making decisions for so many more characters. If you have more than four players in your group, I really don't reccomend going this route, frankly; it robs game time of the other players and slows down the game too much.

My suggestion would be to identify which single part of the concept you prefer and abandon the rest (or perhaps set them aside for other characters). In this case, it sounds best to go with the Mammoth Rider's...

The cohort will be played by the DM so action economy won't be a problem, and frankly you don't have much thinking to do when you are a 2 INT animal, but I get your point.

My concern is actually if combining Monstrous Companion feat and Steed (EX) from Mammoth Rider is rules legal and I can end up having both a cohort and an animal companion.

The problem lies in the feat's wording because it says "in place of your animal companion class feature" which makes me think that I'm effectively losing the class feature and thus I can't even enter the PrC. So, are the two rules legal to combine or do I need a house rule for that?

Hello James and thank you for your time.

I have a scenario for you:
I am a Ranger (no archetype) lvl 9 and I'm going to become a Mammoth Rider PrC at lvl 11. At the same lvl I want to pick the Monstrous Companion feat. The plan is this: I use the spell Awaken on my wolf companion to turn him to a magical beast. Then I use the feat to have this specific Magical Beast as a cohort. Then, when I enter the PrC, I pick another animal as a companion per the (EX) class ability Steed. My question is this and I want you to tell me if my thinking is correct:
1) I use the Ranger's Animal Companion class feature as an entry to Monstrous Companion feat which says that replaces the Animal Companion class feature.
2) I have my awakened magical beast as a cohort
3) I get a new animal companion due to the Steed (EX) class feature and its levels stack with the ranger level as instructed by the PrC.

Is this valid? Or do I lose the animal companion all together due to the feat and I can't pick one again?

Hi James!

In the Red Mantis Assassin PrC, if the player holds 2 Sawtooth sabres and uses the level 6 ability of Mantis Form to transform into a mantis, does his damage drop from 1d8 to 1d6 because the swords become claws, does he keep the damage from his swords to 1d8 or does the damage increase to 2d6 due to the size increase to large creature?

skypse wrote:

Hello James and thank you for your time.

My questions are pretty simple but they are covered under grey area and since me and my DM are not native English speakers, it rises a lot of arguments and bitter hearts between us.

Is a Spiked Shield a weapon or not?
Is it by itself a weapon or is it merely being treated as one?
Can it be enhanced with Weapon enhancements like "Impact" on top of Shield enhancements like "Bashing" or not?
If yes, then what is the price of it? Is the price for "Bashing" being counted as an Armor enhancement and the price for "Impact" as a Weapon enhancement separately?
Since the spikes are considered to be Ammunition, how does this affect the pricing of enhancement?

The main reason why this is a concern for us, is that while the "Shieldbash" belongs to the close weapon group for the fighter and the Ultimate Equipment refers to the "shield spikes" as turning the shield into a martial weapon, there is no section of a spiked shield in the weapons category at all.

Thank you very much in advance!

I don't think this is a gray area at all.

The spike on a spiked shield (AKA a shield spike) is a weapon. It's listed on the weapon table. The shield itself is a shield, and is thus listed on the weapon table.

The shield spike is the weapon part. The shield is not.

The shield spike can be enhanced with weapon enhancements, but "Bashing" won't help a shield spike, since when you attack with a shield spike it functions as a shield spike, and when you do a shield bash it functions as a shield bash. Separate weapons. They happen to be attached to the same overall physical object, but that doesn't make a difference.

Spikes as ammunition makes no sense and I'm not sure where you're coming from with that claim. They are NOT ammunition.

It's not cost effective to put bashing on a shield with shield spikes, in other words. They are separate weapons.

Oh I see.. Well I guess we had it all figured out wrong. On a follow up question, is it rules-legal to use "Shield Mastery" feat wielding dual shields since I hold both a shield and a weapon (spikes) in my hands?

Hello James and thank you for your time.

My questions are pretty simple but they are covered under grey area and since me and my DM are not native English speakers, it rises a lot of arguments and bitter hearts between us.

Is a Spiked Shield a weapon or not?
Is it by itself a weapon or is it merely being treated as one?
Can it be enhanced with Weapon enhancements like "Impact" on top of Shield enhancements like "Bashing" or not?
If yes, then what is the price of it? Is the price for "Bashing" being counted as an Armor enhancement and the price for "Impact" as a Weapon enhancement separately?
Since the spikes are considered to be Ammunition, how does this affect the pricing of enhancement?

The main reason why this is a concern for us, is that while the "Shieldbash" belongs to the close weapon group for the fighter and the Ultimate Equipment refers to the "shield spikes" as turning the shield into a martial weapon, there is no section of a spiked shield in the weapons category at all.

Thank you very much in advance!