zaragoz's page

Greetings from Spain

Ok. I have some doubts about grappling and the escape action.
Sometimes, the rules listed an Athletics DC and others, an Fortitude DC.

- On page 242. Grapple Action: "You attempt to grab an opponent with your free hand. Attempt an Athletics check against their Fortitude DC."

- On page 470. Escape Action: "Attempt a check using your unarmed attack modifier against the DC of the effect. This is typically the Athletics DC of a creatura grabbing you..."

- On page 620. Immobilized Condition: "If you're immobilized by something holding you in place and an external force would move you out of your space, the force must succeed at a check against either the DC of the effect holding you in pace or the relevant devense (usually Fortitude DC) of the monster holding you in place."

So, I don't know but this isn't very clear. Is there any official explanation?

Hi everyone!

Ok. I am a little lost about that rule:

Chain Group (Core p. 275)
The armor is so flexible it can bend with a critical hit and absorb some of the blow. Reduce the damage from critical hits by either 4 + the value of the armor’s potency rune for medium armor, or 6 + the value of the armor’s potency rune for heavy armor. This can’t reduce the damage to less than the damage rolled for the hit before doubling for a critical hit.

Please, I'd appreciate if someone could give me a couple of examples about the topic, because I'm not able to fully understand it.

Thanks

Greetings

I've started browing the Core Book and I got surprised with the Paladin's class ability Glimpse of Redemption.
Am I the only one who thinks It's a little overpowered? I mean, it has no TS and, as a reaction, you can make fail or weaken a succesful attack from a foe every round.

May I be missing some point in that rule?

Hi everybody

I'm re-reading the playtesting rules again and, though some doubts had been clarified to me, others have raised.

For example, goblins has a 25 Speed.
In the Sneak description, it says that yo can "Stride up to half your
Speed".
Does it mean than a gobling PC could sneak 10 ft rounding down?

Futhermore, if a goblin has the Very Sneaky feat, this one lists "You can move 5 feet farther when you take the Sneak action, up to your Speed
(see page 158)."

I'm lost now. May it be an errata? Because it mentioned up to your Speed, not half your Speed.

So, how long may a goblin stride while sneaking?
And a goblin with the Very Sneaky feat?

Thank you for your feedback

Hi from Spain to everyone

Well, I've made a first reading of the playtest rules. I liked very much some changes, but there are a few points that shocked me.

I know that D&D and later Pathfinder are RPG with an abstract combat system. There are other RPG more realistic, but I liked Pathfinder because it mantained some kind of balance. It was hard but not a killing system. There were no "second winds", where any PC could heal himself with no help, what made some encounters pointless and harmless.
Let's see them.

I find incomprehensible that there is no natural healing rules. I think that Medicine skill should list some king of long term treatment. Also, everybody should have a chance of self recovery.
Maybe that this is the main problem in the death/dying system. I think that the new system helps PCs, but that minimezes the threat of many encounters and hazards. NPCs and monsters die at 0 HP, but PCs are some kind of superheroes. Damm, you fall unconscious at Dying 1, and if a ogre hit you again, or a fireball bursts near you, you only becomes Dying 2. It's a joke.
What is more, a unconscious PC at Dying 1, could remain that way forever, without any risk, until he succeded with the Fortitude TS.

I don't know, but the old system, with a loss of 1 HP/round and death at negative Constitution seemed to be fairer.

Ok. That's my point. Thank you for your time.

Hi from Spain

On my last gaming session, one of my players used a Summon Monster IV to summon a hound archon, giving it the order of casting its "Aid" spell-like ability on two allies who were unconscious and dying.

My doubt was that "Aid" isn't a healing spell, but I ruled that if the temporary hit points gained put them above 0 hit points, they could act until the effect dissipated.

What do you think about this use of temporary hit points. Is it correct?

Greetings

Hi from Spain

My party has a ninja with the vanishing trick. So I've been having some doubts about invisibility lately.

For example, on my last game, group faced some giant spiders, which have the tremorsense ability. In other situations, they have also fought against monster with the scent ability.

I assume that a creature with any of this abilities can pinpoint an invisible opponent, but it still has the 50% miss chance due to concealment.
Besides this, an invisible attacker deny the DEX bonus to those creatures, though they have this abilities, which is pretty useful for a ninja or rogue because their sneak attack.

Am I right?

Hi from Spain

Honestly, sometimes there are game situations that makes me doubt about the clarity of the rules.
I'm meaning about the use of spell-like and supernatural abilities. Spell system is well detailed. You must rest some time and then you prepare your spells, or not, if you are an spontaneous caster.

But what happens if you are, for example, a cleric and have spent your daily uses of channel energy?
Maybe that you possess an ability that works 1/day. What about this?

I remember that in old D&D and AD&D, we ruled that this type of powers could be used XX times per every natural day (that is abilities were reloaded at midnight though that were a little unnatural), but I also read some supplement that stated you have to wait 24 hours between uses. When you only have 1 use, that rule could be easy, but if you are a cleric with 6 o more uses of channel energy, keep tracking of the exact momento of every use is madness.

I'd appreciate any idea.

Greetings

Hi everyone

One of my players, who is playing a conjurer wizard with the dimensional steps ability, asked my about this option:

You are against an enemy spellcaster/archer/etc. Could you ready a use of dimensional steps as an standard action, to teleport yourself away if your opponent fires an offensive spell/arrow, making him miss the attack?

I'd appreciate any idea.

Greetings from Spain

I have a couple of doubts about the Summon Monster spell.

Reading the spell's description it says that "It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability. If you can communicate with the creature, you can direct it not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions."

In the case of a Sorcerer/Wizard who cannot communicate, I am not sure about the spell's limits. I mean, you summon the creature and it attacks the nearest enemy. Ok. But, after that. Can you change the enemy? When the first enemy is defeated, how the creature acts? Does it follow attacking the nearest enemy or remain defending you?
Please, I'd appreciate any clarification.

By the way, there is another rule that I don't fully understand. In the chapter about Magic appears this paragraph relative about the Conjuration School: "A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower, but it is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can't be summoned again."

I'm a little confused. This means that I cannot summon this kind of monster again? But, if you summon multiple creatures with the same spell, you are not using the same creature at all. Please, could anyone explain to me the meaning of this rule?

Greetings from Spain

In our last game session a couple of feats made me think about their right use.
They are two metamagic feats: elemental spell and merciful spell.

Say that we have a wizard who knows both of them.

In its description, Elemental Spell says that you "may replace" a spell's normal damage or spleit the spell's damage.
So, if you cast a fireball and have this feat with the acid type, I assume that you can deal all fire damage, all acid damage or half fire damage and half acid damage. Is that correct?

On the other hand, Merciful Spell doesn't use up a higher-level spell slot. So, could a wizard have all his damaging spells learnt with this feat and choose if they deal lethal or nonlethal damage at the precise moment he is casting them?

Please, I would appreciate some clarification.

Thank you everybody for your time

Hi everyone from Spain

I have a little doubt. One of my PCs is a bard who is thinking about choosing "Blistering Invective" as a 2nd level spell.
He asked me about using this spell against undead and I am not very sure about its capabilities.
It's an evocation effect, but also you make a Intimidate check and Undead are immune to morale effects. Also it's language-dependant so I am doubtful about using the spell against some kind of mindless undead.

So, please, could anyone give me some help?

Thank you

Hi everybody from Spain !!!

Last game session my group had serious doubts about grappling rules.

I've already read some messageboards about the topic, but I wasn't able to find an official answer that settled the question.
Neither is in the FAQ Archive.

So I don't know very well how apply the rule.

When a grappled PC has a penalty of -4 Dex and -2 to hit rolls, and when he loses his Dex bonus against opponents that are not grappling with him (as listed in combat chart)?

Please, could someone give my a clue about the matter.

Thank you very much.

Hi everybody

I have a question for the board. Some Bardic Performances list a range of effect (usually 30 ft), but some of them don't, for example Inspire Courage.

It is said that if the performance has a visual component, you only need have a line of sight to the bard, so that one is clear. But in the case of having an audible component it is a little confusing to adjudicate a range of effect in the middle of a combat or other noisy or chaotic situation.

How do you solve this problem?

Thank you and greetings from Spain

Hi everybody !!!

I have a little doubt about the Versatile Weapon Spell in the Advanced Player's Handbook.

The spell description says that it works like greater magic weapon only that the weapon affected can bypass DR.
But, that weapon, also gain the enhancement bonuses from greater magic weapon?
I noted that the spell duration is reduced from 1 hour/level to 1 min /level so I think that you got also the bonuses, but I would like new points of view.

Thank you,and greetings from Spain

Hi everybody!!!

Sorry about this mix but I have become a little confused.

1- Broken condition
In the Additional Rules section, it's said: "Objects that take damage equal to or greater than half their total hit points gain the broken condition".

Ok. But if you go to the Glossary: "Items that have taken damage in excess of half their total hit points gain the broken condition".

So, In the case of an object with 10 hp, when it gains the broken condition? With 5 hp remaining?

2- Grappled condition
In a similar way, in the Combat Chart, it's listed that a grappled foe loses his Dexteriry bonus, but only if attacker is not grappling.
In the Glossary it is said: "Grappled creatures cannot move and take a –4 penalty to Dexterity".

I'm not sure, but I think that this -4 penalty it's only used for the 2 adversaries that are grappling. If any other guy attacks them, then they lose their Dexterity bonus. Is it correct?

3- Two-Handed Weapons
Finally, this one is from Advanced Player's Handbook. A fighter with the Two-Handed Fighter archetype, could use his abilities with a one-handed weapon used with their both hands, for example a longsword.
I think that it's very reasonable, but I'm not completely sure.

Ok, that's all.
Thank you everybody and greetings from Spain

Hi everyone!

Yesterday, I was designing a kind of pirate scoundrel to oppose to my PCs and read the dirty trick rules, with the feats Improve and Greater Dirty Trick. It's very colorful, but on the other hand, removing the condition imposed is very easy.
I think that would be more realistic that this action of removing that condition should provoke and Attack of Opportunity (cleaning your eyes and so on requires your attention...).

Any thoughts about it?

Greetings from Spain

A simple question that came to my mind, and I get a little confused.

If you have a wand with a touch spell (shocking grasp, for example) and you use the wand but miss the touch attack, can you hold the charge as with normal touch spells?

If the answer is affirmative, you could have your wand charged at the beginning of a combat so that you don't have to waste an standard action after.

Thanks !!!

Honestly, I think that this feat should have greater prerequisites, at least to force people to wait until a BAB +6, and obtain multiple attacks, to be consistent with the penalties that the feat imposes.

An example of a PC that one of my players is designing:

4th level fighter (archetype Two-Handed Fighter)
Str 20 (starting 17 + 2 because human + 1 4th level increment)

Feats: Power Attack, Furious Focus, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Weapon Specialization (greatsword), Cleave, Shield of Swings.

Ok. So he can use Power Attack without penalty always with his only attack:
Melee: Greatsword +10 = +4 BAB + 5 Str +1 Weapon Focus
Damage: 2d6 +10 (Str because uses Overhand Chop) +2 (Specialization) +6 (Power Attack) = 2d6+18

A little overwhelming for a 4th level character, isn't it?

And another question...
If that character uses Cleave and hit with his attack using Power Attack, the extra attack that he gets, has -2 penalty to hit because Power Attack + Furious Focus?

Thank you and greetings from Spain

Hi everyone and greetings from Spain!!!

A player in my party has a monk PC and is very fond of movies like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

He asked me about the possibility of making attacks in the middle of a jump, and jumping while tumbling in the same move.

For his first question I think that this is a kind of Spring Attack maneouver because jump is part of this movement, and he is taking a standard action between his movement.

But I have some doubts about the second one.
Using the Acrobatics fot tumbling halves your speed so your DC for using Acrobatics for jumping is increased. But I don't think of other effects in using the same skill both ways at the same time.

I would like some opinions about this.

Thank you

Hi

Ok. One question.
As the monk increases his level, he can choose new effects to his Stunning Fist ability.
When he reaches 4th level, he can use this option to fatigue an enemy, but the book doesn't say how much time this effect lasts.
Can I suppose that the effect is permanent until the target is able to rest?
Or it has a prefixed duration and is there missing information?

Thank you from Spain
And congratulations. Last weekend my group browse a litle the SRD and a PDF copy that one of our players bought and we are impressed by your work.

Hi everyone

I don't know if someone has already listed these errata, but better safe than sorry... :-))

During our last gaming session, we found some errata that can be important related to skills and the character sheets that you can download in this web site.

Character Sheet:
The Key Ability is wrong in the following skills:
Disable Device is based on DEX, not INT.
Spellcraft is based on INT, not DEX.
Swim is based on STR, not DEX.

Also, Sense Motive doesn't appear as a class ability in the Rogue description, but it does on the summary table of skills for classes.
I haven't looked up carefully, but I bet that may be useful to examine the subject searching for new possible errata.

Grettings from Spain

Zaragoz

Hi everybody

I friend of mine show me a copy of the Gamemastery Critical Deck and I liked it very much.
It gives to the combat a deeper sense of variety.
I would like to know if Pathfinder is going to have a similar system, and if the Critical and Fumble Decks will be compatible with the combat system in the future rules.

Greetings from Spain !!!

Hi everybody

In my gaming group we have always considered Rage ability as a two-edge power.
I explain myself, the increased CON is the biggest cause of mortality among barbarians, more than the very adversaries, and much more in high levels.
When the Rage duration finishes, the hit points gained by CON enhancement are lost, and in many times a barbarian has his hit points reduced below the death threshold (in Wizards -9 hp, now in Pathfinder - CON value).
So many barbarians are highly dependants of any party member with healing abilities.
In many situations, a lonely barbarian will not use his Rage ability, because is a suicide pact.
It's Ok for the DM, because a lot of bad guys can fight as if there is no tomorrow, but when you are playing a Player Character...

I would rule that Rage does not enhance your CON ability.
In change, it gives you a number or temporary hit points equal a 2 x your number of barbarian class levels (which would be increased to 3 in higher levels).
In addition, it gives you a +2 bonus to Fortitude and Will Saving Throws.
The Strength enhancement and AC penalty should be mantained.

What do you think about this?

Greetings from Spain

Zaragoz

Hi everybody

I'm a little worried about that subject.
There are some effect that can be pretty unbalancing.

Reading almost every power at 1st level, they sound like having integrated "Wizards Reserve Feats" in a your rules system.

On the first hand, it's a good idea, because a spellcaster is never out of all his capabilities, as they are limitless effects.
On the other hand, they have no TS, so I think that they can be abused by malicious players.

For example, the "Blinding Ray" of the Illusion School of Magic.
Is there a TS for that effect?
If the answer is "no", he can virtually hold an enemy out of combat for 1 round (and his mates can hack and slack him pretty easy.

In the case of Evocation School of Magic. They have a limitless supply of energy bolts dealing 1D6 +1 every 2 levels.
Ok that not seems pretty impressive, but thinking about your "Acid Splah" thread, an evoker of 10th deals 1D6+5 points of acid damage, and he already enters in the category of "Item Destroyer".

That's all folks

Thank you very much for your wonderful work.

Greetings from Spain

Jesús

Hi everybody

I'm a little worried about that subject.
There are some effect that can be pretty unbalancing.

Reading almost every power at 1st level, they sound like having integrated "Wizards Reserve Feats" in a your rules system.

On the first hand, it's a good idea, because a spellcaster is never out of all his capabilities, as they are limitless effects.
On the other hand, they have no TS, so I think that they can be abused by malicious players.

For example, the "Blinding Ray" of the Illusion School of Magic.
Is there a TS for that effect?
If the answer is "no", he can virtually hold an enemy out of combat for 1 round (and his mates can hack and slack him pretty easy.

In the case of Evocation School of Magic. They have a limitless supply of energy bolts dealing 1D6 +1 every 2 levels.
Ok that not seems pretty impressive, but thinking about your "Acid Splah" thread, an evoker of 10th deals 1D6+5 points of acid damage, and he already enters in the category of "Item Destroyer".

That's all folks

Thank you very much for your wonderful work.

Greetings from Spain

Jesús

Hi everybody

Well, in our last D&D Campaign, we started to use this optional rules, a kind of mix between the rules listed in Unearthed Arcana, and Conan d20.
It's not perfect, but in my group we always liked that logic. Maybe because of the influence of other games more realistics, like Runequest.

On the other hand, I have always had the feeling that when PCs reach level 11th or 12th, the Base Attack Bones is pretty high, but ACs are almost the same. So you always hit with your first attack. The only difference is with your second and maybe third attack.

When I read Conan d20 RPG, I liked very much the concept, but it was very difficult for me to adapt to the D&D 3.5 rules with its variety of armor types and weapons.
But I really think that a more realistic D&D combat should be oriented to that way.

Greetings