thelemonache 858's page

I feel like my group has always operated under the idea that untyped/unmentioned healing is positive energy. So things like Fire God's Blessing that heals for 1 hp if you deal fire damage, its untyped. So would that be positive energy by default or just literally untyped?

how do these two interesting things work together:

Twin Soul (Su)
At 10th-level, if the witch or her familiar is gravely injured or about to die, the soul of the dying one immediately transfers to the other’s body. The two souls share the surviving body peaceably, can communicate freely, and both retain their ability to think and reason. The host may allow the guest soul to take over the body temporarily or reclaim it as a move action. They can persist in this state indefinitely, or the guest can return to its own body (if available) by touch, transfer into a suitable vessel (such as a clone), or take over another body as if using magic jar (with no receptacle).

Greater—Summoned Shell (Sp)
Whenever the familiar’s master casts a summon monster spell, if the familiar is within the spell’s range, it can choose to inhabit the body of one creature summoned by the spell. While inhabiting the body, the familiar maintains its own Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores and its familiar powers, but otherwise gains the statistics and abilities of the summoned creature.

When the spell ends, or the summoned creature’s hit points are reduced to 0, the familiar is expelled without suffering any negative effects.

Crucially, does this allow me to basically become whatever creature i summon?
If not...where do i go?

I'm back to trying to make a tiny character again. I already have the trait equality for all, but i want to make the super max bonus to combat maneuver. I want to be tiny and hit a dragons CMD for cool points. It has to be generic combat maneuver, because a few of the tactics i want to use just say to "do a combat maneuver check" rather than the traditional grapple, dirty trick, etc. So I know most bonuses to hit will help, so like slayer comes to mind...what can you all think of to max out CMB checks? Aid another would technically help but takes action (assisting gloves possibly).

barbarian does some good stuff, but i was thinking dex since im tiny, maybe redistribute might to fix barbarian for me?

I'm confused on the english here. "On your behalf" makes it sound like it uses aid another as if it is me, but then it says or for an ally. was that just another way of saying that it can aid me instead? Does this guy get all my aid another cheese to go with it if its aiding on my behalf?

I replaced the other actions with X just to focus on the one specific action I'm confused on:

On your turn, the spiritual squire can do one of the following: X, X, X, perform the aid another action on your behalf or for one of your allies, X.

Hi! I would argue that a guitar-like weapon is a one handed bludgeoning, right? Let's operate on that theory for now. How would i finesse it?

The specific build: A Duettist/Striker Bard with two levels of Eldritch Guardian (to give familiar all my combat feats). Uses Shikigami Style with the cantrip Summon Instrument, and Equipment Trick to let me treat it as a weapon (so I can use weapon buffing/altering stuff like weapon finesse). STR is too easy!! Let's go dex!!! :)

like most of my builds, this is just for nonsensical science, so let's not get hung up on silly questions like "but why would you?" XD It's also rules questionable, but I'm sure we can come to some kind of viable/legal agreement hehe.

attempting to use an improvised magic item with the weapon shift chain and shikigami style chain. Maybe a high level scroll or something fun.

Weapon shift: "When you use your wild shape ability, any melee weapons you are wielding and proficient with meld into your new form.."

to handle the improvised weapons aren't weapons rule:
equipment trick: "you can treat it as either a normal weapon or an improvised weapon, depending on which is more beneficial for you."

to handle the not proficient with improvised weapons rule:
Improvisational focus: "You are considered proficient with the improvised weapon..."

The only benefit would come from Greater Weapon Shift with Shikigami Manipulation:
"While using Shikigami Style, you can treat any magical item you’re using as an improvised weapon as if it granted an enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls equal to the item’s caster level divided by 4 (minimum +1), to a maximum bonus of +5."

So with these theories in play, what kind of cool spells or items would we use to do fun things with? For example, 1 level of monk of the empty hand could get you "treats normal weapons as improvised weapons" and maybe a flame blade could suddenly have enhancement bonuses that scale with your level, turning paws into fire attacks. Maybe a summon instrument cantrip if that would count as a magic item. Emblem of greed? there's got to be some goodies out there. :)

Just to be clear on this, when it says it "gains the statistics" does that mean attack bonus/saves/hitpoints? or can it use its own bab if its higher. Example, can a 10th level familiar jump into a level 1 eagle from a summon monster 1 and use the familiars superior attack bonus and its dozens of combat feats I gave it from eldritch guardian? Hit points don't make sense but i'm just trying to understand where the line is on generically "gaining statistics." With similar abilities like possession, you keep your BAB, its just a new body, but this goes out of its way to say you gain its "statistics and abilities."

Greater—Summoned Shell (Sp): Whenever the familiar’s master casts a summon monster spell, if the familiar is within the spell’s range, it can choose to inhabit the body of one creature summoned by the spell. While inhabiting the body, the familiar maintains its own Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores and its familiar powers, but otherwise gains the statistics and abilities of the summoned creature. When the spell ends, or the summoned creature’s hit points are reduced to 0, the familiar is expelled without suffering any negative effects.

ok my current fun build idea that I'm making for "science" is getting as many bonuses for an animal companion as possible. What things do you all know of that give things like class features and cool permanent buffs to animal companions?

this is just the spaghetti at the wall stage, so try not to think of a viable build just yet, lets just compile all the options and smash the build together at the end. :)

list I know of off the top of my head:
eldrict heritage chains (can even give a perma water blast)
chameleon adept gives them wildshape 1
share class feature feat can give a few things
devotee of the hooded gives them the fey touched template
celestial servant feat (aasimar) gives them celestial template
eye for talent racial (human) gives them +2 to a stat (likely int for how i play)
hunter can give teamwork feats
mammoth rider increases size to huge
nature shaman gets a combined familiar and animal companion at level 16 (aint no one got time for that though)
Totemic Initiate feat chain gives a totem rage power (kinda costly and limited though)
The Bear's Jig bardic masterpiece can temporarily "awaken" an animal companion (limited)
monstrous companion can give actual class levels (but at what cost....)

What else yall got? Bonus points if you get them ways to be humanoid at will (like fey-touched template, rakshasa bloodline from eldritch heritage, etc)

I'd love for an official sphinx race! Reskin Anadi, starts as a winged cat with a human form and then at fifth level hybrid form to a full fledged sphinx. Kitsune are in the same boat, maybe even beastkin could pull it off? Awakened animal is close too, though their minus to int isnt the best for it.

What ideas do you all have? I think you just need to be a cat with wings, and a hybrid form? Doesn't have to be large for this discussion. :) I just think Sphinx's are really cool and always wanted to play as one.

I'm having trouble understanding familiars as the title said. So lets say I wanted to build out a Kitsune Star orb, or a Kineticist elemental familar...I only get 1 ability per day for a star orb and two for kineticist familial unless i take the familiar master archetype, correct? How could I, as an example, get a kitsune star orb that could become an imp, when imp requires 7 abilities but familiar master maxes out at i think 6?

Thanks!

I'm kind of uninspired by the general feats so far. What am I missing? There's toughness...fleet...am I missing something? Anything else interesting or fun for kineticists? :)

Hello! I've watched a few things and read a few things, but other than that i'm brand spankin new to 2e. I want to make a kineticist tank of probably the wood/earth/water variety. My brain is hard wired to 1e so im sure I'm not fully understanding my options/realities.

What sorts of things could accomplish this by level 6?
Earth armor or wood armor with shield?
calcifying sand or deflecting wave?
Timber Sentinel seems amazing, but is it worth the action if I'm up in melee?
I would love to take Awakened Animal as my heritage. I hear size large is great for reach/battlefield coverage/making the fun slow auras bigger, but im afraid of playing something that cant fit through common doors. Are there ways to make being large more forgiving?

I like all three elements and they all have cool tanking stuff, but i cant decide which I need earlier rather than later.

Thanks!

I'm interested in this interaction. Does GWS give the bonuses of ole shilly? I would say yes if it were not for the last sentence. Does GWS kick in before it ceases to function as a magic weapon? I know you would have better weapons by the time you get GWS, but could be really fun with a Green Scourge archetype.

shillelagh - Your own non-magical club or quarterstaff becomes a weapon with a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls. A quarterstaff gains this enhancement for both ends of the weapon. It deals damage as if it were two size categories larger (a Small club or quarterstaff so transmuted deals 1d8 points of damage, a Medium 2d6, and a Large 3d6), +1 for its enhancement bonus. These effects only occur when the weapon is wielded by you. If you do not wield it, the weapon behaves as if unaffected by this spell.

weapon shift - When you use your wild shape ability, any melee weapons you are wielding and proficient with meld into your new form. Select one of these weapons; while in your new form, your natural attacks deal the same damage type as that weapon. Your natural attacks also gain all of the weapon’s properties (such as disarm), other than the double weapon property and the fragile weapon property; moreover, when using this feat to grant the trip property to your natural attacks, you gain a +2 bonus on combat maneuver checks to trip an enemy, but you cannot drop your weapon to avoid being tripped due to a failed trip attempt. Weapon Shift does not apply a magic weapon’s enhancement bonus to your natural attacks, nor does it grant your natural attacks any of a weapon’s magical special abilities.

improved weapon shift - When you apply a melee weapon’s damage type and properties to your natural attacks using the Weapon Shift feat, your natural attacks also gain the weapon special abilities of the weapon, such as the flaming special ability.

Improved Weapon Shift does not apply the dancing special ability or any special abilities limited to thrown or ranged weapons, and it does not apply the weapon’s enhancement bonuses to your attacks.

greater weapon shift - When you apply a melee weapon’s damage type and properties to your natural attacks using the Weapon Shift feat, your natural attacks also gain an enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls equal to the enhancement bonus (if any) of the weapon.

special note from magic section of PHB for polymorph - When you cast a polymorph spell that changes you into a creature of the animal, dragon, elemental, magical beast, plant, or vermin type, all of your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function).

I'm interested in this interaction. Does GWS give the bonuses of ole shilly? I would say yes if it were not for the last sentence. Does GWS kick in before it ceases to function as a magic weapon? I know you would have better weapons by the time you get GWS, but could be really fun with a Green Scourge archetype.

shillelagh - Your own non-magical club or quarterstaff becomes a weapon with a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls. A quarterstaff gains this enhancement for both ends of the weapon. It deals damage as if it were two size categories larger (a Small club or quarterstaff so transmuted deals 1d8 points of damage, a Medium 2d6, and a Large 3d6), +1 for its enhancement bonus. These effects only occur when the weapon is wielded by you. If you do not wield it, the weapon behaves as if unaffected by this spell.

weapon shift - When you use your wild shape ability, any melee weapons you are wielding and proficient with meld into your new form. Select one of these weapons; while in your new form, your natural attacks deal the same damage type as that weapon. Your natural attacks also gain all of the weapon’s properties (such as disarm), other than the double weapon property and the fragile weapon property; moreover, when using this feat to grant the trip property to your natural attacks, you gain a +2 bonus on combat maneuver checks to trip an enemy, but you cannot drop your weapon to avoid being tripped due to a failed trip attempt. Weapon Shift does not apply a magic weapon’s enhancement bonus to your natural attacks, nor does it grant your natural attacks any of a weapon’s magical special abilities.

improved weapon shift - When you apply a melee weapon’s damage type and properties to your natural attacks using the Weapon Shift feat, your natural attacks also gain the weapon special abilities of the weapon, such as the flaming special ability.

Improved Weapon Shift does not apply the dancing special ability or any special abilities limited to thrown or ranged weapons, and it does not apply the weapon’s enhancement bonuses to your attacks.

greater weapon shift - When you apply a melee weapon’s damage type and properties to your natural attacks using the Weapon Shift feat, your natural attacks also gain an enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls equal to the enhancement bonus (if any) of the weapon.

special note from magic section of PHB for polymorph - When you cast a polymorph spell that changes you into a creature of the animal, dragon, elemental, magical beast, plant, or vermin type, all of your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function).

hello! looking for fun more than power, so yeah elephant in the room STR is better for polearms for many reasons, but lets have some fun! :) i like the idea of twirling around a polearm and dancing around the combat field. the core of the build will be three unchained rogue levels, and either the shelyn bladed brush feat or spear dancing spiral. SDS is really feat intense but gives you the coveted "quarterstaff abilities" which opens up a whole can of nacho cheese to play with. possibly flurries, possibly aestetic style and other unarmed combat styles dependingg on your monk archetype, quarterstaff master, you know fun stuff. quarterstaff master itself requires either a level of magus or weap focus quarterstaff which is kind of a wasted feat unless you read it as a way to basically get weapon focus twice for your polearm (because you need weap focus polearm for the spiral chain anyway). what ideas or shinanegans can yall think of, and what classes would offer good synergy beyond the three UC roggue levels? i want active combat and not just standing still and rolling to hit. high dex, con, and int are my basic stats. :)

what ways exist to weild a weapon with just your mind. spells? class features/feat combos? dancing weapon does it, so on a related question, what classes/archetypes/prestige classes do we know can temporarily make weapons dance? i know magi get it at level 5 but cant use it for a while because its +4. any other magic items or monster powers out there?

so yes you can kind of play pathfinder 1e with chatgpt and i spent several hours saving a village from goblins, raised their lair, built a magical farm, and even formed a guild with those I met along the way. but it has some flaws, like long term memory, confusing npcs sometimes, etc. i even asked it to run both kingmaker and rise of the runelords for me and to my surprise it started both games correctly! but then after meeting lady jamanji, it forgot what it was doing, switched am my npcs around, and sent me on an adventure to get artifacts from the mwangai Expanse.

so what's my point? my point is: Dear Paizo, i would give you infinity dollars to develop one of your modules with the chat gpt api to be played all the way through solo with chatgpt as both the GM and the other players. Infinity dollars. :)

and no, i dont want to replace my GM. humans are fonts of creativity and i love that irreplaceable experience, i just want something to causually play on my phone throughout the day to scratch the itch until game night :) plus intrigue and stealth missions are soooo much more fun when your not holding up the game session or having your stealth be irrelevant because of the half orc in full plate walking behind you.... :)

Have any of you had a good chatgpt game experience?

just like the title, can mischievous tail attack with improvised weapons?

Evidence for it:
1. MT can hold objects
2. ImpWe aren't weapons, they are objects
3. MT can be used to attack. combat maneuvers (spelled out as legal in the feat description) are attacks.

Mischievous Tail
Your tail seems to have a mind of its own.

Prerequisite(s): Dex 15, Grasping Tail, you must have a tail.

Benefit(s): You can use your tail for all purposes as though it were a free hand, though you cannot effectively wield weapons or shields with it (you can still carry such objects with your tail, as long as such an object could also be comfortably carried in a hand normally). In addition, you gain a +2 bonus on disarm and steal combat maneuvers and Sleight of Hand checks performed using only your tail, and combat maneuvers performed this way do not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Improvised Weapons
Sometimes objects not crafted to be weapons nonetheless see use in combat. Because such objects are not designed for this use, any creature that uses an improvised weapon in combat is considered to be nonproficient with it and takes a –4 penalty on attack rolls made with that object. To determine the size category and appropriate damage for an improvised weapon, compare its relative size and damage potential to the weapon list to find a reasonable match. An improvised weapon scores a threat on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a critical hit. An improvised thrown weapon has a range increment of 10 feet.

Okay, I think I'm just about done shopping what kind of character I am making, and I'm hoping for some advice on how to sew it together! :) It's currently tri-class, and its feeling a bit diluted and aimless. Maybe a strong prestige class can help make sense of it?

I've settled on a tiny fox thief, that is such a good thief it steals the elements around it (via terrokineticist). I like all the flavor, fun, and twists of the character, but I'm struggling to rein it all in with the multiclasses. The character would dip in and out of fox shape, but predominantly hang out as a tiny fox and uses mischievous tail to steal like a boss.

Core character concepts:
ROLE - melee with the option to shoot on surprise rounds, high rogue-like skills (disable/slight/acro) and magic traps. A big focus on stealth. I want a damage source that is irrelevant to size, like kinetic blast and sneak attack. Reach is good too.

CLASS 1: Terrokineticist - archetype that changes (or steals) its elemental focus based off what ranger terrain you are in. Pure Aether is better for the thief concept, but after reading Terrokineticist it just sounded so fun to suddenly find yourself with a whole other toolkit for an encounter. I love the idea of elemental overflow changing my fur color as I walk into a dungeon or find a fire shrine in the middle of the woods. Really cool RP stuff.
CLASS 2: a trap springer class (so unchained rogue, slayer, trapper ranger, either of the seekers) the popular campaign trait for traps is not an option.
CLASS 3 - one level of Mouser so that I can flank inside enemy squares

RACE: Kitsune for free fox shape, i'd love to do 9 tails some day but no feat economy for it. +Cha or +int depending on how the classes work out.

FEATS: For combat stuff, think "square domination." feats that I know I want are:
1. "Redirect Attack" (combined with Mouser it can be pretty powerful, though I'm worried about competitive CMB as tiny, Equality of All trait gives a +2, but the non perfect BAB hurts without feats)
2. Gasping Tail, Mischievous Tail - needed for kinetic blasting in fox form. KB specifically says KBs are never wielded and therefor should be good enough for Kinetic Blade/Whip. Once we get whip, the Fox would be in a sweet spot for the build.
3. Vulpine pounce/swift kitsune shapechanger - this is why people play kitsune right??
4. Lunge (optional) - to help with the foxes reach, but this might be moot by the time I get kinetic whip or something else with reach, like prehensile hair (if I do the rogue that gets hexes)f

I dont need the ranged suite of feats, i only want to shoot things that arent in melee. Tripping would be awesome too, just worried about the CMB. Tiny uses Dex to CMB which will greatly help in that department though.

focusing on rogue with a minor in kineticist makes midgame combat weak, lacking the major support features needed to tackle mid-end game monsters. even unchained rogue seems very lacking compared to other classes, being pretty gear dependant to check things like dr and high ac. kineticist make with a rogue minor, just feels like a kineticist behind on his high level wild talents and gets way less skills but brings major mass damage mechanics. vmc rogue could bring more flavor, but feels dirty and starves an already feat starved build. Esoteric Knight slows down everything, but brings some much needed feat support at the cost of damage. One of the million wildshape classes could bring a ton of needed utility in this build, and I could just give up on kineticist at that point, or just take a small dip in aether and call it a day.

What are your thoughts? What can you think of to help me steal the elements?? Should I just give up and play druid?? :)

equipment melds into you while shapeshifted, but usually still gives statistical benefits (other than armor and things you have to "use"). So the spirit oni feat turns on if you are wearing the mask. if you shapechange...does the gore manifest while polymorphed?

I'm inclined toward yes based off my read of the below polymorph rules, but I need some non biased opinions. :)

Spirit Oni Master:
Through forbidden blood pacts, you have bound a spirit oni to your service.

Prerequisite(s): Knowledge (planes) 3 ranks; Lawful neutral, lawful evil, or neutral evil.

Benefit(s): Whenever you wear a specially crafted oni mask (which costs 50 gp), you gain a primary gore attack dealing 1d4 points of damage. If you have poison use, you can apply poison to this gore attack as a move action.

Normal: Applying poison to a weapon is a standard action.

Polymorph rules:
When you cast a polymorph spell that changes you into a creature of the animal, dragon, elemental, magical beast, plant, or vermin type, all of your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function).

Hi!

This build isnt anything game breaking or anything, just wanted to be a firefox. What ideas do you all have? With two levels, and being a kitsune with fox shape, you can deal an extra 2d6 fire with a swift. Where can we expand it from there? 16 levels of druid for better shapes maybe?

Elemental Ascetic

Elementalist Shifter

There's a feat chain that lets you meld weapons into wildshapes, but I'm not sure if Battle Poi would work or not to turn all melee damage into fire. It needs fuel based off its description, but it never mechanically makes reference of it. what are your thoughts? If it did, then any extra damage like power attack or sneak attack damage would also be pure fire (crocodile domain with vivisectionist dip possily). Does the flame blade spell work with weapon shift?

if we were orc we could worship the fire god and heal, but gotta be kitsune for fox shape at least. If we went orc we could just wait for wildshapes I guess. You could take human guise and then racial heritage to be any other race, but thats a big investment.

Thoughts?

Hi friends :)

Do you flank while in your opponents square, regardless of whether you spent panache to enter someones square? for example, could a tiny fox spend all day entering squares the old fashioned way and count as flanking with the second paragraph of the deed below? I feel like you would based on how it reads, but when I read how the deeds ability itself is defined, it makes me think it might only work while activated with panache.

Deeds read like this:

The Mouser deed reads like this:

I didn't think I ever needed to ask this question, but this DnD 5e designer (Jeremy Crawford) tweeted something that changed that. I am aware that this isn't DnD 5e, but his words have sewn doubt in our group that we are now politely fighting over :)

so... two missles....is it 1d4+1 rolled once and dealt to all targets, or is it 1d4+1 and then 1d4+1. I'm hoping there is something concrete in the spellcasting rules that generally addresses this, opinions won't be enough to sway anyone in my group haha.

Thanks!

I want to make a paw-caster. That's right, a former animal companion that turned into a sorceror after being awakened. I know there are better things it could take, but lets have some fun and build it anyway.

goals, a still spell mechanic, spells without somatic, eschew materials. In general, ways to cast spells without exclusively using the still spell metamagic +1 modifier. Spell-like ability builds could be useful too.

Question: I've seen a lot of things that specify that creatures without hands still cant wield weapons even if they get them (like through alter self). Is there a rule for that, or is it only a thing when specified? Basically, can a cat still spell alterself or use "a thousand faces" to become humanoid and cast spells like the best of them?

Psychic could work, but we already have one in the party that i dont want to encroach upon. I know there are mechanics for silent spell already (like oracle and mute musician bard) but is there any support for still spell out there? A lot of teleport spells dont have somatic

Natural spell would work if I go druid and just wildshape into itself, but i was hoping for spontaneous caster (possibly the wisdom sorceror, and a big cat that starts with a 15 wisdom).

So far, the most promising build is a wildshaping druid. If I can get them a prehensile appendage (like 1 level of a witch hex for prehensile hair), then that helps too, but that would leave just the rogue that gets hexes because it would hurt my brain too much to have a companion with a companion (plus my party would disown me haha).

Here is a list of all sorceror spells that I know of that have no somatic components:

I've seen a few threads on skald healers and always wanted to take my own swing at it. It's for an official module with a bunch of other players, so I want to have a bit of fun rather than be super optimal, but I still have some wrinkles to iron out on the build.

The whole idea is built around the advanced Divine Fighting Technique for Sarenrae

Sarenrae's Mercy

I did a few dozen builds and like the Skald [boaster archetype] the most so far. The idea is to use the shield other masterpiece and use celestial totem/fey foundling/fast healer to keep myself and others up with the various skald tricks.

With Sarenrae's mercy at level 10: I can potentially heal each round for 2d6+(10 from totem)+(half con modifier)+(4 from fey foundling), plus 4+(half con mod) for vigor, plus Gr Path of Glory 5+(half con mod)+10 (from totem), with Ablative Barrier (spell kenning) to basically heal an additional 5 from every heal over time source (since non lethal and lethal are healed simultaneously). On top of that, Boaster's can give the party die hard and fast healer, and all the other good skald buffs.

After 10 I was thinking to focus on giving the party extra DR, stalwart and improved stalwart as well as discordant voice.

What other healing over time things are out there to help the build? Any magic items in particular I could look into? Any dips or prestige classes? I really think the build is missing channel, but its too feat starved already to do VMC oracle. The build worries me on needing to be up front and being a little multi-ability dependent. There is an evil half orc version of this build that subs the divine technique for fire gods blessing and Amplified Rage, but its way too cheesy, even for me! :)

Okay, so I came up with a fun idea, that sounds too fun so naturally I question the legality of it because fun things are often illegal. Like J-Walking.
Question: How far can we push the limits of the words "equipment resizes to match your new size" when it comes to size changing effects?

So I made a tiny race using the race builder. He's a tiny mouse that builds dollhouses with a diminutive thrush "Mauler" familiar. He builds a "dollhouse" saddle on his dim mauler, and at level three it grows three sizes to medium as a standard action. Does my tiny mouse race now fly in style inside his size medium dollhouse castle?

Heya, so It's been a few years since I've got to make a character and I got some ideas that I need help with. I can't seem to get the first 5 of this build to be realistic for a character that has to exist as it's concept from day/level 1.

Goal: Dex based Mouse sword fighter that rides a bird of paradise and wields a blade of grass! (without spells!!!)

Big goal yeah, I know. Anywho, if this character started at like level 6, I'd have no problems, but I wanted to start the RP of the character from level 0 so it has some challenges. I have a fun backstory that I wont bore you with but basically I don't have to actually BE a mouse (since a tiny mouse race doesn't really exist, and yes I'm making fun of your missed opportunity, Ratfolk)

Challenges (one at a time):

Size - Getting tiny without spells. No idea if I can be both bipedal and Tiny without reduce person. Weretouched shifters are at most small, which isnt the end of the world. Ratfolk are already small but are kinda crap. I was thinking of just going Halfling and making the "mouse" part of my vigilante costume (that would fit my backstory too). Halfling have a lot of feat/trait support for this style character and are overall fun sounding.

Bird of Paradise - this clearly needs to be a Thrush with the Mauler archetype (we allow mounting weird size appropriate things with the right saddle and the right skill checks). There is a lot of RP utility from being able to have the mount shrink back to tiny when going into a tavern, etc. Is there an AVENGER Vigilante that gets a familiar? Magical Child gets an awesome one but...spells (it's a campaign thing, so not negotiable really). Martial classes that can get familiar and have archetypes to kill their spells are Eldricht Guardian, Chosen One (pally), Divine Bound (ranger), carnivalist (rogue), Bonded Investigator (extracts are a go!! but no alchemist because tumor familiars are gross...), am I missing any?? If only there was a cavalier that got a familiar as its bonded mount...(there isnt is there???)

Blade of Grass: Exotic weapon, maybe a reskinned bladed scarf or just a masterwork Estoc to be shaped in an artsy way. I'm not too worried about this part.

So putting it all together, my best Lore start so far is that I haven't really gone vigilante "pro" yet, so I have a crappy costume that gets better at level 4. So something like Rogue 3 (the unchained version of carnivalist so that I can get the finesse training), then 2 Vigilante, 2 eldricht guardian. But tri-classing and jamming all the finesse and the mounted combat stuff in there is tough, and level 7 is already like a year into a game just to get into a good spot. Is there something more elegant I am missing to get what I want? Doing the same thing but with an actual animal companion I think delutes the whole "riding a bird of paradise" thing since its hard to get early game rideable birds. Since I probably cant realistically be tiny without spells, I might have to squeeze in Dragon Style so that I can charge through all those pesky friendlies (tiny can charge through whatever, really).

Feats
1: rogue finesse, Exotic weapon (Blade of Grass)
2: Mounted Combat (rogue talent, combat trick)
3: finesse training, Ride By Attack
4: (vigilante social talent)
5: Mounted Combat, shield of Blades (Vigilante talent/Power attack)
7: Spirited Charge

BAB+6 saves+4/6/4 skill points/40 (average 5ish per level before int)

strange yes... but I'm building a cohort that is a quadruped mount and I was hoping to make it a kineticist, but you "must have at least one hand free to aim the blast (or one prehensile appendage, if she doesn’t have hands)". are there any feats that can be taken by non specific races to achieve this?

class dips?: witch hex prehensile hair, alchemist discovery tentacle
magic items?: monkey belt but only 5 minutes per day

Hello! I'm making a character that uses a Kitana and I want to be able to do lots of energy damage with it. So far shifter archetype "Elementalist Shifter" gets me 6d6 as a swift, shocking 1d6, Elemental fist and Djinn style 1d6+wis... what other goodies am i missing? The multiclass barbarian variant could get me their elemental rage power for another 1d6 but kills my feats.

Tried working in kineticist with conductive but doesn't seem to work for melee. Any ideas?

20 levels of shifter is out of the question, so what else do we have? I've been trying to break this class all weekend... and I am failing hard hehe. Multiclass seems to be the only real way to solidify the class after level 8, and since the keystone ability of shifter isnt that attractive anyway I don't think it would hurt it too much to dip out of it. Shifter has lots of weaknesses, but there's another forum already for that, what are it's strengths?

strength list for me:
1. at will claws - pair with a race that has a bite already and you have a good/accurate sneak attack delivery device
2. Large form at level 4 - this is an early boost (in a way could be a disguised weakness if your fighting in a lot of enclosed spaces like in a pathfinder mod or something, but lets assume its a strength hehe)
3. prestige class friendly - the higher level you get with this class the less awesome it is so all those prestige classes you wanted to play suddenly sound attractive.
4. decent armor class options - lets admit keeping some wisdom while armored is kind of attractive? I could see some solid tank-like builds out of this class.

Shifters absolutely need mutated shape to stay at all competitive, so it looks like all builds will need that super high wisdom stat.

Possible prestige ideas that could be fun:
Dragon disciple - was I the only one disappointed at the lack of dragon shape for shifter?
Shadow dancer - a shadow jumping tiger with rogue talents sounds fun. Shadow dancer was always a weak choice for most other classes, but alas not for shifter! And you can use the shadow evocation in form since its not a spell.
Assassin - all of the yes. Fits great with the class I think and since natural weapons are great sneak attack delivery devices, this fits great.
Stalwart defender - would love to see a silverback stalwart defender or something like that.

Multiclass dips from other classes:
monk - 3 levels of flowing monk gives you a strong AC boost when fighting many enemies, also helps ease the feat burden a bit of getting feral combat training to really open up what you can do with your claws (including getting still mind for monastic legacy)
fighter/brawler - 4 levels of a fighter flavor of your choice goes a long way in getting the shifter caught up to the feat level of other martial classes.
sorcerer - only really for dragon disciple entry
ranger - only if it's ever clarified it shapeshifting hunter feat will work with shifter. RAW i would say no, RAI i certainly think this is reasonable with the ambiguity of how you read "A shifters can take feats and other abilities that require
wild shape; for the purpose of qualifying for prerequisites,
her effective druid level is equal to her shifter level." which sounds like it was meant to be a catch all for getting them access to wild shape feats but doesn't quite spell that out. (a discussion for another thread perhaps?)

Races:
I immediately think of Aasimar (Plumekith), Kitsune (with realistic likeness and fox shape for added shifter goodness), and Tengu (racial sub for the claws, even though they are redundant the granting of unarmed strike feat for meeting prereqs gives you a lot of steam to start some exciting feat chains at level 1, useless of course if you plan on taking monk though), and oreads have some interesting feats and really good ability score bonuses for a shifter

So all these years I've used this ability, I reread it today and my head exploded...

Ok exaggeration but still hehe just wanted to double check that I am interpreting all of this correctly. here is where I am hung up. All of these questions spawned when I decided to take an Imp familiar.

1. A creature cannot change shape to a form more than one size category smaller or larger than its original form.
- Imp has two medium sized forms (giant spider and boar). So I am assuming this is a generic rule that is broken if the book says so in special cases like this.

2. the creature does not adjust its ability scores (although it gains any other abilities of the creature it mimics).
- I always read this as you get what the polymorph spell says you can get but... rereading this it clearly says RAW that you still get the natural armor and ANY OTHER ability the creature has... So perfect example, with beast shape 1, giant spider doesnt get web, poison, etc, but with this reading of that sentence it does regardless of the fact that it is supposed to follow beast shape 1. I'm not saying this is broken or anything, otherwise whats the point of a spider form if you cant even web or poison? Plus... spiders are vermin anyway hehe, polymorph can't even do vermin.

3. This ability functions as a polymorph spell, the type of which is listed in the creature’s description
- Imp gets beast shape 1 as its format in it's stat block, but has two tiny forms. Usually I just see polymorph there as the format if it has tiny/large and small/medium. I'm guessing this was just another oopsie that breaks the rule because they accidentally said so.

As the ability reads:
Change Shape (Su)
A creature with this special quality has the ability to assume the appearance of a specific creature or type of creature (usually a humanoid), but retains most of its own physical qualities. A creature cannot change shape to a form more than one size category smaller or larger than its original form. This ability functions as a polymorph spell, the type of which is listed in the creature’s description, but the creature does not adjust its ability scores (although it gains any other abilities of the creature it mimics). Unless otherwise stated, it can remain in an alternate form indefinitely. Some creatures, such as lycanthropes, can transform into unique forms with special modifiers and abilities. These creatures do adjust their ability scores, as noted in their descriptions.

Format: change shape (wolf, beast shape I); Location: SQ, and in Special Abilities for creatures with a unique listing.

Not to complicate an already complicated ability but...

Would the Nature shamans true spirit ability qualify as a "class feature that functions as the druid animal companion ability"?

A bit of strange wording for sure, but I can see it both ways. I was just curious what the forums thought.

Companion Animal (Su): The shaman’s spirit animal takes the form of an animal companion of her choice, using her shaman level as her effective druid level. The animal retains all the special abilities and the Intelligence score of the spirit animal, but also has the statistics and abilities of an animal companion. If the animal is dismissed, is lost, or dies, it can be replaced in the same way as a normal spirit animal.

Hey everyone. On my mission to make the worlds most bad-expletive mauler familiar I stumbled upon shaman. Please tell me I'm doing something wrong, because this all seems to check out... (this is at level 20)

So without being a halfling and using tiger stats I get 38 strength in natural form. Add halfling for caretaker and 10 free levels of nothing but tasty cappless str bonus from mauler, and I end up at 45. If I min maxed with a stronger pet I could go higher but hey I like tigers. This is without magic/inherent bonuses/etc. Tell me I am missing something obvious? Thanks!

I read up on all the controversy of how animal guide is worded, but my question is much more simple... can they take improved familiar to improve the base familiar still?

I want to say yes but the animal guide never really dies and isn't really dismiss-able:

"If a magical child’s familiar dies, its consciousness simply leaves its body, and the magical child can replace its body after 24 hours."

so I don't think it can ever actually qualify for the "Ability to acquire a new familiar" pre-req. I could see a GM ruling that replacing its body could qualify, but still.. you know, words and stuff. :)

I’ve been wanting to make a storm themed Djinn style caster for a long time now, because it just sounds fun. I’d prefer to be a druid focusing on annoying wind effects, electricity/lightning, blind/deaf shenanigans etc. I’m sure a wizard/sorcerer might do it better, but I heart druids.

Can’t decide between which Druid path to pursue.
Storm druid Archetype – seems obvious. 2 domains, immune to wind/deaf, can yell at people during storms, sounds annoying and fun! It also lets me get full benefit from djinn style by not giving me overlapping electrical resist.
Tempest druid – not as appealing as storm druid but damn if bend bolt isn’t fantastic!
Nature’s fang – I almost glanced right over this, but it looks like the way it reads, you can eventually add +5 to all your DC’s with studied target, so this could be super useful for a caster that generates a lot of DC’s. But losing wild shape is rough… because Air elemental whirlwinds is pretty thematic and ideal.
Master of storms (prestige class) – looks awesome and thematic, but losing domain progression, spells per day, and end game at will wildshape makes it less attractive (the prestige class curse if you will).

As for my remaining 5 feats I pretty much have to pick up the basic DC boosts, spell pen, and metamagics, but that sounds less fun. Because of Djinn's hefty requirements I have to put most of my stat points into wis and con, which doesn't sound so bad. Any thoughts?

Hello! So building a skald I ran into some controversy that I am surprised I could not find an official answer for.

skald clearly says two statements that contradict each other.
1. a skald learns a rage power that affects the skald and any allies under the influence of his inspired rage. This cannot be a rage power that requires the creature to spend a standard action or rounds of rage to activate it.
2. If a rage power can only be used a certain number of times per day or per rage (such as renewed vigor), each ally affected by the inspired rage song is subject to that limit (with once per rage abilities limited to once per inspired rage).

so it clearly suggests that you can have renewed vigor and describes how to use it in 2, but in 1 says you cannot take it because it's a standard action.

Anyone have better search-fu than me on this or am I just missing something? :) I found one reddit post that someone says no you can't have it, but literally almost every other skald built I see uses renewed vigor for allies.

Hello, I am trying my hand at a kineticist jedi build and I was hoping to find a "missing link" too bring it all together.

My goal is to figure out a way to use kinetic blade/whip with style feats. I know kinetic fist is a thing, but you know...jedi. :) There's a few styles that seem versatile enough to work with anything (like crane and blinded blade) but I was really hoping for some ninja-ry to use the unarmed stuff like panther style. Ascetic style comes so close but not quite. Can any of you think of a way through classes or feats to treat a generic light one handed weapon as either unarmed or a monk weapon?

Hello! Now I am aware this isn't the smartest thing to do.... but I'm interested in building a comedic themed grappler with the kitsune Fox Shape feat. The whole goal is to be a tiny grappling death machine of cuteness.

What kind of classes/feats outside of the obvious grapple/imp grapple can you think of to best outfit our little guy in a world of tall folk?

I'm very interested in sneak attack (leaning towards a slayer build with claws). Is any kind of constrict possible? white haired witch gets some fun things but I don't know if its really a strong enough grappler because of it's BAB.

Thanks everyone!

Heya! I'm working on building the ultimate combat familiar.

I know familiars are awful at combat and die easy but who cares this is just for fun. :)

I've dug around the familiars and the highest strength familiar that I can find is the improved familiar Nycar. With the "Mauler" archetype he quickly gets his strength into the 20s. He also has ferocity and regeneration which means he potentially is hard to permanently kill without cold iron. His feats however are bad in my opinion.

race advantages?
Small sized creatures can potentially ride a "mauler" familiar

classes that directly buff familiars?
witch (beast bonded) - can give feats to your familiar at the cost of your own which may be counterproductive at times
rogue (carnivalist) - gives the familiar a small sneak attack
Bard (duetist) - buffs/heals/ability to sing bard songs

feats that directly buff familiars?
eldricht heritage - if your a beast bonded witch you can give your familiar eldricht heritage feats and give him awesome abilities. For example the Marid bloodline turns any familiar into an at-will-water-shooting version of Squirtle.
evolve familiar - eidolon evolutions
distant spell link - seems important if your throwing your familiar into combat
improved spell sharing - its a teamwork feat so its harder to pull off but basically buff yourself and your familiar at the same time
share healing - also a teamwork feat, but still handy if you can pull it off
spirit's gift - give it some really cool shaman abilities that last all day
telepathic link - not really combat handy in too many situations but still a solid pick
unfettered familiar - lets your familiar deliver touch spells without having to start next to you OR have line of sight, solid.

What kinds of things am I missing that you can think of?

so a few confusing wording questions. To my understanding Vital strike is a standard action and cannot be used in conjunction with other things that say they are standard actions (like how vital strike and spring attack was ruled a no no back in the day because vital strike is a specific kind of standard action, same thing with vital striking with touch spells). With that same logic I assumed that bombs and Vital Strike would be a no no since it is defined as a standard action, but in the bomb section it suggests that you can vital strike the first 1d6 of a bomb but not the rest of it since the rest of it is considered "extra damage." So my first question is:

1. Can you reeeeeally vital strike with a bomb or am I completely misinterpreting the vital strike attack action ruling?

2. Second question, if question one is for sure "yes," would that mean that a Rogue bomber gets his whole damage "vital striked" because as written the Rogues bomb does "damage equal to your sneak attack" rather than saying it does 1d6 and increases with level like the alchemist version.

VITAL STRIKE

BOMBER

BOMB DESCRIPTION (the portion regarding vital strike)

I have a question on how "The Bear's Jig" masterpiece works on an animal companion. The spell awaken breaks the animal companion link, but would the song do the same thing?

1. For example if I wanted to temporarily buff my Tiger animal companion with this, does he suddenly revert to a beastiary Tiger with a bonus 2 HD and stats (potentially making it weaker), or would he be the animal companion he is now (let's arbitrarily say my druid level is 10) with the bonus HD/class level and stats?

2. follow up question. Each time I use this version of awaken can the animal pick a different combo of feats/class levels?

I noticed that the clarification of "ceases to be an animal companion" was clarified in the animal archive rather than the spell, and I wonder if that clarification was only intended to be meaningful to an animal that permanently gained the spell.

The Bear's Jig

Awaken

I am curious on the duration of Fox shape and similarly worded feats.

I assumed that this modified their existing change shape, meaning that the duration was indefinite, but a fellow group member pointed out that all feats that say "This ability otherwise functions as X," where X is referring to a spell, that they follow that spells duration also. I see the word "function" as just the spells text that outlines what it does rather than the upper text meaning duration, material components, verbal/somatic, etc. (I know spell-likes specifically call out not needing verbal/somatic/material, but I don't even know for sure if this feat is spell-like).

Since this is a feat I would argue that feats have no duration unless specified, and this doesn't specify. So feats that function like spells but do not say spell-like or supernatural... do things like the spells duration apply?

Thanks! :)

I am pretty sure I already know the answer, I just want to clarify. :)

Magus Spell combat:

senario #1
magus spends a full round to use spell combat: nothing in left hand, sword in right hand. Uses spell to cast monstrous physique, then attacks with his sword that is still in his right hand.

VS.

senario #2
magus spends a full round to use spell combat: nothing in left hand, sword in right hand. Uses spell to cast beast shape and turns into a tiger. The magus no longer has the sword that he met the requirements of spell combat with because it's melded into his body and cannot make any further attacks with this use of spell combat.

Is this accurate? (I know with senario #2, you could just attack first, and beast shape at the end of it for next turn, but that's not the point of the senario) :)

Question over two semi-related topics:

1) plant shape natural energy damage: some plants have natural weapons that do energy damage instead or in addition to regular damage. It is my thought that since it's part of the weapons damage (rather than a su/ex/sp ability) that a character under the spell plant shape would also get it.

example: Viper Vine

2) vital strike and strange natural weapons like this: I know that extra damage from things like flaming/holy etc. are not included in vital strike, but I was curious in cases like this where the actual weapon damage just happens to also do acid damage, does the vital strike do
A) 4d6 + 6d6 acid
B) 4d6 + 3d6 acid

I am comparing this to a monster like Efreeti who also get a 1d6 fire listed in their weapon damage but ALSO have a special ability that describes it as seperate damage.

RAW to me makes me think A) is correct because both damages are listed in the same damage block rather than being listed separately as an added ability, but I am unsure do to the nature of the half-physical/half-energy damage and the many controversies of vital strike.

Thoughts?

Hey there messageboard readers,

I am making a race and I have a question on the "Slapping Tail" offensive racial trait

Reads as follows:

It seems to be pretty obvious that you get a natural attack for attacks of opportunity. But I am curious if you can use the attack in non-opportunistic attacks (meaning do you just get a plain old secondary attack that has special rules during an AoO).

I was hoping to figure out a way to qualify for other races racial feats (for example a feat that says "prerequisite:human" etc). I know aasimars have a racial trait that you can take to allow you to qualify as human for feats, but is there any other similar way that you all can think of to have a race take another races racial feats?

possess object

first few lines in particular... "functions as magic jar, except you transfer your mind to a single object"
1. read as no gem middle man, you go straight to the object, object already is possessed in the spell at this point. Single object meaning no multiples, not jumping mid spell.

... "animating it as if using animate objects,"
2. read as now that your object is possessed it is animated like following the animation rules.

So the spell "animate objects" says you cannot animate magic items, "possess object" does not. Even though possess object says "animating it as if using animate objects," the possession part is Magic Jar which has no magic item restriction.

So the main wording clarification I am looking for is... does possess object allow you to possess and animate magic items? :)

Do things that give bonus to damage (like touch spell weapon specialization) add to the healing portion of the spell or only when used for damage? The answer sounds obvious but a lot of rulings often surprise me :)

This came up in last weeks game so I tried doing some digging without much luck.

while engaged in combat, you can deliver touch attacks to friendlies without a roll, however if we wanted to voluntarily get hit by a "weapon," what part of your main AC (if any) is voluntarily ignored?

we were thinking something like dex, dodge, monk wisdom and AC increase, canny defense at least (because your not trying to avoid the strike).

still would have to get past enhancement, natural, armor, luck, misc magic

Thoughts?-