toscrawford's page

I think I may have a prejudice RAW interpretation that satisfies RAW without being ridiculous. Sorry, I haven't figured out the quote function yet. Consider:

"This shield is designed for throwing and comes with specially designed straps allowing you to unclasp and throw it."

Unclasp

"Benefit: If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you may don or put away a quickdraw shield as a swift action combined with a regular move. If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you can draw a light or one-handed weapon with one hand and a quickdraw shield with the other in the time it would normally take you to draw one weapon. If you have the Quick Draw feat, you may don or put away a quickdraw shield as a free action."

Regular Move

"This special ability can only be placed on a weapon that can be thrown. A returning weapon flies through the air back to the creature that threw it. It returns to the thrower just before the creature's next turn (and is therefore ready to use again in that turn). Catching a returning weapon when it comes back is a free action. If the character can't catch it, or if the character has moved since throwing it, the weapon drops to the ground in the square from which it was thrown."

Next Turn
Catching

"A set of clips is attached to this segmented belt constructed of metallic links.

Up to two one-handed melee weapons or up to four light melee weapons can be hung from the belt in straps or sheaths. When the wearer draws a weapon attached to this belt and throws it before the end of her next turn, the weapon teleports back to its strap or sheath immediately after the attack is resolved."

Clips

Conclusion:
You can only throw a throwing shield as a free action if you ‘unclasp’ it. I read that as equipped on one’s arm.

You can only quickdraw a shield in conjunction with a regular move action. I would be within my right to rule that a double-move or run is not a ‘regular move’ action. There can be only one regular move action.

You can only use a returning shield on your next turn. Also, catching it is not the same as equipping it, therefore an argument could be made that it is in hand, unclasped and therefore not eligible for throwing RAW.

A blink back belt starts with a throwing shield on a clip and ends with the shield on a clip. Throwing shield can only be thrown if they are unclasped from your arm.

One possible strict reading of the rules, assumes a character has all of the above and anything else that is useful, requires a two-weapon fighter using a regular move and is initially armed with two throwing shields. Throw both shields as a free action. Regular move and draw. Throw both shields as a free action. Quickdraw a short sword as a swift action and attack as a standard action. That’s four shields at 1d6 damage each plus the short sword attack. A lot to be sure, but limited.

If all else fails, as a DM I’d be stacking any possible minus to hit that I could find, resulting in higher and higher miss chance as the count goes up. I’ll leave the worst case progressive penalties as an exercise for the reader.

Drat. I was going for an Intimidate build.

Thanks for the reference to the doc. Didn't know that existed.

Got it. So if I can't have Travel Domain and Conversion Inquisition (Wisdom replaces Charisma for Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate) for my 2nd level Divine Strategist Dwarf, is there another way (multi-class ok) to accomplish the conversion from an 8 Charisma to instead use the 16 Wisdom? That's a +4 shift that I will have to forgo.

"I'd agree. I think the error is that some of the Inquisitor/Cleric dip builds end up taking 2 domains and 1 inquisition, which is technically not legal."

Many Cleric archetypes gain only a single domain. In the case of a one domain cleric/inquisitor:
1) How many domains can be taken?
2) Can a domain and an inquisition be taken?

Reading over the weapon rules I noticed something I hadn't before.

When using a weapon that is oversized you increase the effort to use. A one-handed oversized weapon would become a two-handed weapon.

When a 18-Strength Human Phalanx Soldier wields a one-handed pole arm that would normally be a two handed weapon with Power Attack, the extra damage is based as if the weapon were one-handed. You don't get the two-handed strength bonus.

Putting these concepts together, when a Human Phalanx Soldier picks up a Large Lucern Hammer, he is required to wield it with two-hands and is required to wear a buckler (since to reduce handedness the Soldier is required to be equipped with a shield). The to-hit modifier would be -2 for an oversized weapon and -1 for wielding a two-handed weapon with a buckler, for a total of -3.

The damage would move from 1d12 to 3d6. The strength bonus would move from +4 to +6 as the weapon is now wielded with two-hands.

Assuming 3rd level, Power Attack would change this to -4 3d6+9.

Am I doing the math right?

Now, what the heck is the threatened area for this example?

Not what I wanted to hear, but I'll buy that as a reason. I've seen other instances of this with regard to not using the deities name, so that's consistent. Now I have to build a whole new CN martial character to worship Gorrum.

I was looking longingly at the feat Spiked Destroyer http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/spiked-destroyer-combat
and noticed something odd.

In the D20 link it say the pre-req is "a god of battle". In the Pathfinder Companion: Faiths of Balance PDF it say "Worshiper of Gorum". I ask myself why would these be different?

A search has produced no notes as errata for the D20 entry, yet I suspect it was done on purpose. A search did find that Gorum is not the only god of battle. The following deities have Battle as one of their portfolios:
Acavna: http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Acavna
Eiseth: http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Eiseth
Chaldira Zuzaristan: http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Chaldira_Zuzaristan
Urazra: http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Urazra
There may be more of course, but these are what I found.

Am I to accept that a follower of any of these deities would be eligible to take the Spiked Destroyer feat?

Am I to accept that D20 is more accurate than the PDF?

Both are certainly plausible.

In the event that the Gorum limitation is removed, are only deities with Portfolio Battle eligible, or can Portfolio War play too? Can any deity with a battle focus, like Angradd: http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Angradd be allowed to play?

Among the many questions, my point is I have a PFS Dwarven Paladin that wants to take Spiked Destroyer and I'm searching for a loophole, so if you can find me one, I'll be forever in your debt.

Is it possible for my Witch's Improved Familiar (Quasit) to learn a new feat? I'd like to do flyby touch attacks to get in and out of danger safely.

Is there some other way I could SAFELY have a Quasit use touch attacks to buff the party?

Can a Quasit read a scroll?

Can I read a scroll and have the Quasit deliver the spell?

I'm thinking Breath of Life scroll. If the Quasit had such a thing at hand, would it use it on it's master or take the master's soul down to the Abyss? How would you GM that?

Thanks

Sounds like a level of witch for prehensile hair or a few levels of alchemist to grow a tentacle is in order, or do those count as hands?

I suspect they failed to mention "assuming a light shield". I would rule RAI is this is a standard bash with all the bonuses and restrictions therein. Basically I would delete the problem sentence in it's entirety: "The smash deals 1d4 points of damage (if the stalwart defender is Medium, or 1d3 if he is Small) plus half the character’s Strength modifier."

Taking Rafael's advice, I've done some research. Ovbviously correct me where I've gone astray.

A Spiked Gauntlet, Brass Knuckles and a Cestus are light weapons. Not sure what the standard Gauntlet is, but that's not pertinent to my question.

A Spiked Gauntlet, Brass Knuckles and a Cestus means you threaten the adjacent square, even if you have no intention of using it.

Wearing a Spiked Gauntlet or Cestus does not prevent your hand from being free provided you are not holding something else in that hand. This means you can use Spell Combat while wearing a Cestus while holding nothing in the Cestus hand.

Using Spellstrike, you could deliver the spell through an attack with your Scimitar, or through an attack with your Cestus, but not through a touch attack. You could do a touch attack, but that would not be utilizing Spellstrike.

Prehensile hair is not associated with a hand and therefore cannot be used in conjunction with Spellstrike.

Prehensile hair is a natural weapon. When a character has only a single natural weapon it attacks at full BAB without the -5 to-hit penalty.

Combat manuevers like trip are attacks with a weapon and natural weapons qualify for combat manuevers. Therefore you can make combat manuever attacks with prehensile hair.

Hitting with a combat manuever with prehensile hair would discarge a touch attack spell.

"Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If the magus makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks."

A Magus could deliver a spell with a weapon, but takes the -2 to-hit on all weapon attacks this round when also utilizing Spell Combat in the same round. If the spell were held from a prior round then Spellstrike would deliver the spell without the -2 to-hit.

If using Spell Combat in the same round, a Magus could not use Spellstrike to attack with his Prehensile Hair because Prehensile hair is not a light or one-handed melee weapon as required by Spell Combat.

If the spell is held from a prior round then/and Spell Combat was not used in the current round and none of it's limitations apply. In this instance the Prehensile hair could make a Spellstrike attack because Spellstrike does not require a handed weapon.

Since the casting of the spell would normally allow a free touch attack, the Prehensile hair could deliver the spell as a free (touch) attack.

Since a touch attack or combat manuever is not a real attack for damage, critical damage does not apply to the spell's damage.

Natural attacks crit on a 20 for x2 damage.

If a Prehensile hair attack results in a critical hit while delivering a spell and Spell Combat was not used in the current round, then both the natural weapon damage and the spell damage are multiplied by 2.

I think this covers all of my questions, or at least most. Please tell me where if I've made errors.

In http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ng4t?Prehensile-Hair-question Jun 30, 2011, 01:54 PM Sean K Reynods - Designer Confirms:
"If a creature has only one natural attack, it is always made using the creature's full base attack bonus and adds 1-1/2 the creature's Strength bonus on damage rolls."
Is the correct ruling for Prehensile Hair assuming the witch/magus has no other natural weapons. So no -5 to hit.

Please correct me if I'm still missing something that contradicts this. Doing lots of research as Rafael has suggested, but there are so many contradictions it is difficult to know for sure if the answers are correct.

Dervish Dancer:
"Benefit: When wielding a scimitar with one hand, you can use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on melee attack and damage rolls. You treat the scimitar as a one-handed piercing weapon for all feats and class abilities that require such a weapon (such as a duelist’s precise strike ability). The scimitar must be for a creature of your size. You cannot use this feat if you are carrying a weapon or shield in your off hand."

Note the part where it says "carrying a weapon or shield in your off hand." By having a cestus or spiked gauntlet in my off hand, I am prohibited from using Dervish Dance? Is that RAI?

A Magus is attacking with a Scimitar. He is wearing a Cestus or Gauntlet or Spiked Gauntlet in his off-hand, but is not using it to attack. Does the Cestus/Gauntlet interfere with Spell Combat (EX)? I would think it would not interfere provided the Cestus/Gauntlet hand is not making an attack.

Prehensile Hair:
The witch can instantly cause her hair (or even her eyebrows) to grow up to 10 feet long or to shrink to its normal length, and can manipulate her hair as if it were a limb with a Strength score equal to her Intelligence score. Her hair has reach 10 feet, and she can use it as a secondary natural attack that deals 1d3 points of damage (1d2 for a Small witch). Her hair can manipulate objects (but not weapons) as dexterously as a human hand.

Does 10' reach mean that Prehensile Hair cannot attack at 5' or for that matter in the same square as the character? This is how it would work for a reach polearm, but I can't justify the same physics with hair.

Let's tie this together. A hex-magus attempts to cast shocking grasp with his free hand delivered through Spellstrike, attack an adjacent creature with his scimitar and another creature (adjacent or reach) with his goatee. I'm thinking this would be allowed, and I'm thinking the shocking grasp could be delivered through the Scimitar or the natural weapon or the natural weapon as a touch attack, but I can't grasp the game mechanics (to-hit penalties, damage, move/standard actions, etc.) involved in this type of attack.

Can you help me enumerate the effects of each scenario?

Gawd, what a way to kill a thread with DRM bickering. Please just stop.

I couldn't wade through every post to find an answer, but I just built and printed my first Hero Lab character. What an awful print layout. What a let down after the generally positive experience of adding a complex triple-class character.

Is there a tool that accepts Hero Builder as an input (standard format export, XML, API, etc) and does a decent job with the output? Is there a way for a report generating tool (Cognos, ODBC, etc) to reach inside of Hero Builder and grab the data it needs to do a decent print out?

Basically, is there any way to get under the covers of Hero Lab to create a third-party formatting tool?

Not sure about hero points, but since I've never heard of them, I'm guessing they aren't in PFS.

Still, useful to learn something new.

Is it legal or is there a legal way to cast a hex, cackle and drink a potion?

All I want to do is cast a hex, cackle and throw an alchemist bomb in the same turn. This would be two actions and a move, so it's going to require something tricky. What's are the trick(s) that would allow this?

You can assume my character is a Witch - Alchemist.

This may not be the right forum, but it's worth a shot. What's up with Smash?

Smash (Ex): While in a defensive stance, the stalwart defender may make an extra attack per round that is either a shield bash or a slam (even if he doesn’t normally have a slam attack). If used as part of a full attack action, the extra attack is made at the stalwart defender’s full base attack bonus –5. The smash deals 1d4 points of damage (if the stalwart defender is Medium, or 1d3 if he is Small) plus half the character’s Strength modifier. The character can make this attack as part of the action to maintain or break free from a grapple; this attack is resolved before the grapple check is made. If the attack hits, any grapple checks made by the stalwart defender against the target this round are at a +2 bonus.

Can I smash with a buckler or a tower shield using this? That would be cool, but the damage doesn't change no matter the size, which is odd.

Do I do more damage with a spike? How about if I have a bashing shield?

What strength bonus do I add? Full? 1/2? None?

I like offensive shields, but they confuse me.

That's what I'm talking about, and free to boot. Thanks Steve.

I've played PFS but have only DM'd the first second darkness module, that had me longing for the good old days. The PFS leaves me short on the story arc that I assume will be part and parcel of an adventure path. What I'm looking for is the happy place that includes an easy to DM PFS (assumption, I haven't done it) and the complex story arc of an adventure path. It wouldn't be hard to do. To play the game properly every DM has to do it anyway. Why not do it once professionally and save the DM all the headaches. It's not like he can't or won't override the module to suit the parties needs.

Steve, I'd venture to guess you've got a dozen or more modules under your DM belt. I'm sure it get's easier with experience. I'm also sure the module I started with is worse than average when it comes to DM complexity as I've seen others make some of the same comments. Bad luck of the draw that, but how would it hurt things to give a room summary box? They provide info on the room, but from my experience they intersperse public info with private info, so you either have to carefully watch every word you say when you read it, paraphrase it, or write out a public description the night beforehand so you aren't put on the spot when the players get there. There's a better solution IMO.

As for the module suggestions everyone has made, thanks. I can't research each of them now and render an opinion, but they will all be on my short list when it's time to start a fresh campaign.

As for trying something different, that ship has sailed. The group and I are way too far invested in Pathfinder to consider going somewhere else. 3rd party modules I'm open to. I've got a large stack of 1.0 modules and know how to DM those, has anyone converted them?

I've got half a mind to write a series of DM for Dummies modules, much like the Beginner Box but streamlined by assuming you already understand the basics. Simple dungeon crawl stuff with a story line tacked on should suffice. Assault on Goblin Keep. Back to basic hack and slash. Yum. Very tempting.

Can anyone explain why Paizo think's there's something wrong with trying to make the DM's job easier? When I play Pathfinder Society I don't see the DM's looking things up. Am I alone in thinking a DM for Dummy's module line would be a big hit?

Liz, a bear means really hard, which is bad. I'm struggling enough to get a basic grasp of the game mechanics. Shadow in the Sky had me gathering and consolidating data from four different points in the module just to handle a simple encounter. It was almost as if they expected I'd memorize the bloody thing in order to do the integration points properly. On top of that the linear flow of the module, what there was of it, bounced all over the book. Its too much for me to absorb without spending weeks lying awake at night reading and re-reading. It's a 'bear' means the module makes my job harder. Modules should make the job of the DM easier.

The kids don't know what they want because this is their first time out. I like combat because I'm better at DMing it, and this is my first DM role in 15 years so I'm going with my comfort. Some of the characters were created 100% combat (20 Str, 7 Chr) before we really knew how disruptive that can be at low level. We even have a Cleric with a 21 AC that none of my monsters can hit, which at least is better than instant killing my monsters.

Back to Ciaran's point, the kids don't know how to role play yet. Our 18 Chr Rogue has a broken player, the rest of the characters could do it in theory, but in doing so would fail to stay in character because of universally low charisma. I've decided the whole lot of them need new characters so they can go to the local convention and play with experienced DMs who will give them the role play flavor, plus we're going to give the heavy fighter character a vacation for the next module and bring in a balanced replacement. Learning.

Back to abuse central. One of the Ranger abilities was to grant a bite attack. With Two Weapon and Greater Trip I can hit someone with my Halberd, bash them with my heavy shield, perform a trip combat maneuver with my teeth? then hit them with my halberd again because being greater tripped provokes an attack of opportunity. I think this is legal but it sounds so silly to trip someone with your teeth.

a fighter with a reach weapon is standing in a 5' wide corridor. In front of him is a human ally. In front of the ally is an Orc, who is most definitely not an ally. The fighter wants to tap the Orc with his lucern hammer reach weapon, but the ally in front is disrupting his shot. What is the penalty in this case?

Atomicgamer, I'm actually not trying to break the system, more exploring the boundaries as a way of testing my understanding of what is legal. I can't help myself, its just the way I think. I am old enough to know when to take a few steps back from the line as playing a broken character is fun for no one. If I play a sub-optimal character I want it to be because I choose to, not because I don't understand how the rules interact.

More questions today. A Tower Shield cannot bash.

1) Can a Mithral Tower Shield Bash?

2) Can a Mithral Tower Shield have the Bash special magic feature?

3) Would a Bash from a Spiked Heavy Mithral shield qualify as a light weapon for purposes of two-weapon fighting?

4) Could a character with a Light Mithral Shield use the shield like a Buckler and wield a two-handed weapon? If they could, could they attack with a two-handed sword and do a shield bash in the same turn?

5) If I had a heavy steal shield +1 with the Bash special feature, what would be the impact of adding a spike?

6) Can a two-weapon fighter use Heavy Shield to Bash and call it the primary weapon, then use a rapier or some other light weapon to qualify for the -2/-2 of two-weapon fighting?

7) Can a Phalanx Soldier with a properly sized and legal one-handed reach pole-arm and a Heavy Spiked Shield make a single attack turn one with the pole-arm at no penalty, a single attack turn two with a shield bash at no penalty and two attacks turn three, one with the pole-arm, one a shield bash, with a -4/-4 two-weapon fighting penalty (due to two non-light weapons)? If the third round bash was swapped for an armored spike attack, that would bring the two-weapon penalty back down to -2/-2, right?

8) A Phalanx Soldier attacks with a two-handed pole-arm using one hand. Add the strength bonus as a one-handed attack or a two-handed weapon?

At least I've gotten to the point where I know what I don't know. Your answers really help me put the pieces together in my head as to what's legal, and what's not. Thanks.

I'm old-school D&D 1.0 and like to focus heavy on the combat, light on the role play, extra light on the cities. I'm also struggling to absorb the few thousand pages of overlapping rules that make up Pathfinder and have a group of kids to DM for. I've completed module 1 of Second Darkness and found it an absolute bear to DM.

1) What modules/Adventure Paths are combat heavy?

2) What modules/Adventure Paths come with those nice little blocks of text that say read this to the characters and include all the monster stats without requiring to look them up?

3) Which of the above have a relatively linear game-play or some predictable path that the characters will follow?

Thanks. Let me test my understanding.

My two-weapon fighting human fighter could:
1) Wield a tower-shield in one hand, and a small sized falcion (two-handed weapon) in the other hand. Let's say it's a special weapon that he's attached to for some reason and ignore that it isn't all that useful. Wielding it this way would cause a -2 for wrong sized weapon. Is there a penalty for the Tower Shield?

2) My two-weapon human fighter could have a small sized quarter staff in each hand and make 4 attacks. All 4 attacks would have a -6 to hit. -2 for the wrong sized weapon, -4 for the second weapon not being light.

3) My two-weapon human fighter could have a small sized quarter staff in his primary hand and a tiny quarterstaff in his secondary hand and make 4 attacks. The primary attack would be -2 for size, -2 for TWF = -4. The secondary hand would be -4 for size, -2 for TWF = -6.

Why would I do such a thing? If I had enough bonuses to hit and damage, four attacks could work out nicely, however, this is really just a thought experiment, for the time being.

4) If I wanted to two-weapon fight with double weapons, what's the optimized solution?

I'm unclear on how weapon sizes work.

Can a first level fighter use a two-handed weapon, like a pole-arm, as a one-handed weapon with a -2 to hit due to it being one size too big for one hand?

Can my fighter use two pole-arms, one in each hand, taking a -2 with each due to size and a further -2 from the two-weapon fighting feat?

Could my fighter wield two quarter-staffs (double) -2 with the two-weapon fighting feat -2, and get four attacks per turn?

Can a medium fighter use a size small pole-arm one-handed, taking the -2 for it being the wrong size?

These penalties seem too low so I'm wondering what I'm missing.

As a Skirmisher I'm planning to take Surprise Shift. It sounds really good, but I'm not clear on how to make the best use of it. What skills/feats/etc. does it stack best with? Assume the same character fighting with a reach weapon plus spiked shield and a focus on bull rush, trip and combat patrol to generate lots of AoO. How does Surprise Shift help? New enough not to fully get exactly what you can jam into a round, old enough to know better.

I've building a Fighter (Phalanx Soldier) Ranger (Skirmisher) Hell Knight mutt and have some questions about how feats interact.

1) At 4th level Fighter a Fighter can swap out a Bonus Feat. Let's say my Ranger 3/Fighter 4 decides he wants to drop the Endurance feat that was a Ranger Bonus Feat. "Upon reaching 4th level ... a fighter can choose to learn a new bonus feat in place of a bonus feat he has already learned." RAW makes me think I can drop any bonus feat received in any class, but not a non-bonus feat (which seems like a pain to keep track of).

2) Let's say I don't like my Ranger Combat Style Feat, which does a pretty good imitation of a bonus feat, can my fighter drop one of those? Standard disclaimers apply.

3) Fighter 4/Ranger 7/Hellknight 2: I get fitted for my Hellknight armor, put it on, and promptly lose my Ranger's Combat Style Feats. The only real question here is, is there a loophole I'm missing that doesn't cost me two feats as soon as I put on some fancy armor? Would Mitral Hellknight Plate give my Ranger Combat Style Feats back?

4) Just to confirm, Rangers and Hellknights are not Fighters as far as Feat Prereqs are concerned, so I can't take the Pin Down Feat without reaching 11th level Phalanx Soldier.

This game brings reading comprehension to a whole new level.

"Surprise Shift : (****) A 5-foot step as a swift action, which you can combine with a 5-foot step. Make that step up guy eat it. Or get a full round of attacks against that guy who was just out of reach. Combine with the Lunge feat for even more awesome results."

I'm just not getting it. I want this to be a useful skill, but since I can't use it like an immediate action during someone else's turn, it seems of limited use. That tells me I simply don't understand the ability properly.

1) Does this capability allow a 5' step and a Surprise Shift in the same turn?

2) Do I now move 5' further than I used to or am I still limited to my normal max speed?

3) I use a reach weapon and my opponent leaves my threat square and moves adjacent with me. I'm looking for that magic skill that will allow me to take a step back, force my opponent to burn his move action, which then would provoke an AoO. This would work if Surprise Step was an Immediate Action, but as a Swift Action, how does it help me in this situation?

4) My enemy is in front of me and I would like to attack. Under what circumstances is Surprise Shift helpful? I'm thinking I could move up, hit him, then step back, but with a reach weapon this doesn't seem to buy me anything. What techniques am I overlooking?

5) I've just up-leveled and now have Lunge. How does this improve my situation?

Perhaps next time. What I didn't want was another hey help me develop my character thread. I figured asking questions about Whirlwind Attack in a Whirlwind Attack thread would be more useful from an archive perspective. That said, I did end up asking more questions that went further afield than I had originally intended. In any case, I have the answers I sought; I will now find a dark cave in which to contemplate my learning's and disturb you no further.

Here's a feat that comes close to what I was looking for:

"Pin Down (Combat)

You easily block enemy escapes.

Prerequisite: Combat Reflexes, fighter level 11th.

Benefit: Whenever an opponent you threaten takes a 5-foot step or uses the withdraw action, that opponent provokes an attack of opportunity from you. If the attack hits, you deal no damage, but the targeted creature is prevented from making the move action that granted a 5-foot step or the withdraw action and does not move."

But I won't be able to take it because I'll never be an 11th level fighter. Unless.... Obviously the Fighter Archetypes qualify as fighter levels, but do related classes like Ranger and Paladin? Do Prestige classes like Hell Knight and Low Templar?

Thanks Gauss, that clears things up considerably, though I fear I'll have to reference your words repeatedly to figure out which combinations are allowed and which are not allowed.

I see your point on Whirlwind. Great Cleave isn't quite the same as it requires your subsequent targets to be adjacent and you have to hit them each in turn or the train stops, but I can see how it's clearly related.

"Surprise Shift (Ex): The [skirmisher] ranger can move 5 feet as a swift action. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity and does not count as a 5-foot step."

Does this do what I'm looking for? I'm not fully up to speed on the actual mechanics of combat, but if I can make a swift action such as Surprise Shift after my opponent performed his 5' step and before he performs his attack, then it would force the opponent to burn a move action to become adjacent to me before he could attack, which would trigger my reach AoO. Do I have that right?

If we are looking for feats to add, the one I need and can't seem to find is the Step Back feat. Like the Step Up feat, this allows a 5' step, but instead of following, you move backward. The exact wording can be left up to someone else, but when my opponent is at 10' from me, just where I want him with my reach weapon, and he takes a 5' step to attack me, I want to take a 5' step back to stay out of his range and keep him in my range. Now the enemy will compensate by taking an extra step toward me and performing an attack, but that converts his step into a move action and I think generates an attack of opportunity since I threatened the original square. The counter argument is once I have Combat Patrol or Lunge I can gain the AoO without the step back, so maybe this feat wouldn't be necessary, but if it were worded right and available at a low level, I think people would find something like this useful without being overpowering.

If I've missed it, please tell me if there is a way, any way, to AoO someone who takes a 5' step toward you out of your threatened reach square and into an adjacent square.

Why? Whirlwind seems too powerful to me. My build is working toward it, but adding whirlwind attack to shield slam, two-weapon fighting, lunge, combat patrol, greater trip, skirmisher upending maneuvers, combat reflexes, enlarge person, shield master phalanx soldier one-handed pole arm ability and +5 spiked shield seems, well, words fail me. I'm sure there are other feats that could add to the pain, but this buzz saw build has both feet over the line as far as I can tell.

Now I'm only third level Pathfinder and a 1.0 veteran, so maybe this kind of lawnmower man will truly by necessary to make sure the bed bugs don't bite, but it doesn't seem balanced to me. I'll have to decide by 13th level if I want to max cheese or not. YMMV.

Sorry for glomming onto an old thread, but this is close enough to related.

A character with a reach weapon and a dagger goes into a whirlwind. The reach weapon attacks opponents at 10 range, but not 5 range. Does the dagger get a shot at the folks at 5 range?

At first I thought no because two-weapon fighting is a feat the character has, but two-weapon fighting does not convey extra attacks, it only modifies the to-hit penalties.

Then there's that stick problem with:
"Benefit: When you use the full-attack action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at your highest base attack bonus against each opponent within reach. You must make a separate attack roll against each opponent."

Is the dagger eliminated by "giving up your regular attacks" or included by "make one melee attack ... against each opponent within reach"

Now lets replace the dagger with a shield using the shield slam feat:
"Benefit: Any opponents hit by your shield bash are also hit with a free bull rush attack, substituting your attack roll for the combat maneuver check (see Combat). This bull rush does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Opponents who cannot move back due to a wall or other surface are knocked prone after moving the maximum possible distance. You may choose to move with your target if you are able to take a 5-foot step or to spend an action to move this turn."

If I whirlwind with a shield bash as my primary attack, does each whirlwind hit also cause the free bull rush attack? Or would bull rush in this sense be considered an extra attack?

The errata I would like to see for Whirlwind is to eliminate it.

Specifically I'm asking if you can take your 9th level Feat as the final pre-req for a prestige class. Wraith, your quote is very informative, but I kept looking for it in the wrong book. My bad.

Does it? I'm not finding it. All I'm finding is where it says:
"To qualify to become an arcane trickster, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria."

I'm not seeing that critical word "before" that you mention, hence the question.

Thanks for the reference. What I'm not understanding is if a character can take a pre-req feat at the same time he takes a takes a dependent feat, why can't a character take a pre-req feat at the same time he takes a dependent class level? For pre-reqs to work one way in one example and another way for another example seems at best odd and at worst unnecessarily complex. Do you know of a reference that would prevent a character from taking a pre-req and a dependent class level at the same time?

Follow on question. In the event that I receive two feats in the same level, can one of the feats be dependent on the other?

For example a Fighter 1/Ranger 2 wants to take Improved Shield Bash and Shield Slam (which has ISB as a dependency).

Can you provide a reference for your answer?

When becoming a prestige glass that has a feat as a level 1 pre-requisite, can you take the feat at the same time you take level 1?

Example:
To become a Stalwart Defender the following feats are required:
Feats: Dodge, Endurance, Toughness

At 10th level a character has Dodge and Endurance, but is lacking Toughness.

At 11th level a feat is granted and the character takes Toughness. Can the character become a 1st level Stalwart Defender at 11th level, or does the pre-req requirement require waiting until 12th level?

July now and still no FAQ update. They must still be rethinking their mistake not to include a +2 CMB for Trip weapons on Trip attacks. Ruling must be coming any day now. Any day.