So I'm sure you've gotten this question before. I'm currently running Wrath of the Righteous for my players and they're all playing Paladins.
Some say that their smite ability should be able to overcome the Mythic/Epic DR of the Shadow Demon Eustoryix. I'm inclined to agree since they themselves are Mythic. One of the things they want to do is bring in a group of something like 20 of the regular paladin army to back them up. Does the Smite ability of regular non-mythic Paladin overcome the DR of a mythic creature?
I ask because in the army battle rules, Soltengrebbe is noted as having a high defense rating making him an almost impossible army fight, but if the Paladins could use their Smite ability to overcome that, he should be counted as a much easier fight for them.
Creative Director
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My favorites during the gallbladder recovery era were the frosted cinnamon/brown sugar ones. I'm off the diet in 8 days. I might have to celebrate with a pop tart.What is your favorite 'guilty pleasure' food?That changes... but right now I'd probably say Pop Tarts. They were my #1 comfort food to eat when I was recovering from gallbladder surgery.
Also up high on the list: Reeses peanut butter cups, dark chocolate salted caramel corn, Doritos, and coffee flavored It's-It ice cream sandwiches.
Pop Tarts, I'm kinda addicted to those.
Just one?
Probably not. The Guvment doesn't let them package them in one-packs, after all...
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Thanks James,
That's cool to hear about her, she has been my favorite Pathfinder deity but I don't know enough about her. Does the new deity book give more insight or history to the core gods?
Edit: And I too loved the smores pop tarts for years.
It should. That's the purpose of the book, after all. But probably not enough insight or history to satisfy someone who wants to know everything, or who's been studying everything of what we've written to date about a deity.
My favorites during the gallbladder recovery era were the frosted cinnamon/brown sugar ones. I'm off the diet in 8 days. I might have to celebrate with a pop tart.What is your favorite 'guilty pleasure' food?That changes... but right now I'd probably say Pop Tarts. They were my #1 comfort food to eat when I was recovering from gallbladder surgery.
Also up high on the list: Reeses peanut butter cups, dark chocolate salted caramel corn, Doritos, and coffee flavored It's-It ice cream sandwiches.
Pop Tarts, I'm kinda addicted to those.
Not to get too personal, but was the gallbladder surgery previous to the diet? I assumed they were, like, cause and effect level connected. (Look, I don't read your blog, like at all, and If I've insulted you with an improper question about something you've explained there, it's all my fault.)
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How is it that the beholder and mind flayer were excluded from the OGL, though dozens of other monsters created specifically for D&D (that is, not orcs or goblins, etc) were not?
For many years, the OGL was not in its finalized form. WotC put the first version out with the understanding that when the final version was set in stone, some years after 3rd edition's launch, that THOSE rules would be the ones folks had to follow. As it turns out, the 3.5 release is when WotC nailed down the OGL text (if I recall correctly), and when they did, they decided to make a dozen or so monsters product identity—they chose to keep those iconic D&D monsters to themselves, in other words, to strengthen their own brand. Among those (relatively few) monsters they chose as being iconic D&D monsters were the mind flayer and the beholder.
All of the monsters they chose to hold back were from the Monster Manual. They didn't have to do this for monsters in the MM2 or Fiend Folio or Monsters of Faerun or other books because those weren't open content in the first place.
WotC COULD Have made the entire Monster Manual closed content if they'd wanted, or they could have expanded their list to include every monster that was invented specifically for D&D. They kept it pretty tight to a small list of core creatures though (a few of which, like the githyanki and the displacer beast, would in retrospect be varying shades of difficult ones to justify as having been "created for D&D").
Orcs and goblins wouldn't have been something they could protect in that way, since they come from mythology. They could have protected the stats for a D&D goblin, I guess, but anyone could build a non-closed d20 version of a goblin and since it draws on the same mythology it would have been nearly identical, and would have not only caused confusion, but would have been a PR disaster for WotC to have attempted.
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Creative Director
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So I'm sure you've gotten this question before. I'm currently running Wrath of the Righteous for my players and they're all playing Paladins.
Some say that their smite ability should be able to overcome the Mythic/Epic DR of the Shadow Demon Eustoryix. I'm inclined to agree since they themselves are Mythic. One of the things they want to do is bring in a group of something like 20 of the regular paladin army to back them up. Does the Smite ability of regular non-mythic Paladin overcome the DR of a mythic creature?
I ask because in the army battle rules, Soltengrebbe is noted as having a high defense rating making him an almost impossible army fight, but if the Paladins could use their Smite ability to overcome that, he should be counted as a much easier fight for them.
I don't allow smite from a non-mythic paladin to overcome DR/epic of a mythic creature.
And that ruling is reflected in how the non-mythic paladins can't really hurt Soltengrebbe. That fight is SUPPOSED to be the one where the PCs first get to really show off how they're not just plain-old heroes, and letting their army of paladins do that fight for them misses the whole point of mythic adventures entirely.
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Not to get too personal, but was the gallbladder surgery previous to the diet? I assumed they were, like, cause and effect level connected. (Look, I don't read your blog, like at all, and If I've insulted you with an improper question about something you've explained there, it's all my fault.)My favorites during the gallbladder recovery era were the frosted cinnamon/brown sugar ones. I'm off the diet in 8 days. I might have to celebrate with a pop tart.What is your favorite 'guilty pleasure' food?That changes... but right now I'd probably say Pop Tarts. They were my #1 comfort food to eat when I was recovering from gallbladder surgery.
Also up high on the list: Reeses peanut butter cups, dark chocolate salted caramel corn, Doritos, and coffee flavored It's-It ice cream sandwiches.
Pop Tarts, I'm kinda addicted to those.
No offense taken at all, but spoilered to prevent "too much info" syndrome...
As it turns out, there are several things that lead to someone's gall bladder failing. One of them is being overweight and then losing a lot of weight. Another is having a genetic predisposition for it. Another is being female and having kids. I had two of those (the first two, obviously) working against me. As it turns out, a week or two after I had mine out, my younger sister had the same thing happen to her (she had the second two working against her) and she had to have hers out as well.
But yeah... losing weight is pretty much a GREAT thing to do and it's important for health reasons and all overweight people should do it... but the gallbladder thing is pretty much one of the few actual increased health risks to someone if they are overweight and then lose a lot of weight.
No offense taken at all, but spoilered to prevent "too much info" syndrome... ** spoiler omitted **...Not to get too personal, but was the gallbladder surgery previous to the diet? I assumed they were, like, cause and effect level connected. (Look, I don't read your blog, like at all, and If I've insulted you with an improper question about something you've explained there, it's all my fault.)My favorites during the gallbladder recovery era were the frosted cinnamon/brown sugar ones. I'm off the diet in 8 days. I might have to celebrate with a pop tart.What is your favorite 'guilty pleasure' food?That changes... but right now I'd probably say Pop Tarts. They were my #1 comfort food to eat when I was recovering from gallbladder surgery.
Also up high on the list: Reeses peanut butter cups, dark chocolate salted caramel corn, Doritos, and coffee flavored It's-It ice cream sandwiches.
Pop Tarts, I'm kinda addicted to those.
Being female and having two or more kids? All the gender equity in Golarion makes sense now! It's a creative direction conspiracy!!
(Sorry, I had to.)
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"What is so hot it is cool, and yet so cool it is hot?"
"Umm...Pop Tar-"
"IT'S NOT POP TARTS!"
Sorry, couldn't resist the joke. :D
Just got the second volume of Mummy's Mask and had some questions regarding the Egyptian Gods.
I remember reading somewhere that the reason they appeared in Osirion is because some of Osirion's original settlers were planar migrants from Egypt that brought their faith with them.
Is this true?
If this is true, where did these gods come from, as there's little indication they existed in our world? You've said before that Golarion's gods aren't powered by belief like Forgotten Realms' are, so they weren't conjured by the peoples' belief in them.
Also, given these gods are still capable of granting spells to their faithful, where in the Great Beyond do they hang out? Where's Duat in the cosmology? How does Ra, for example, get along with Sarenrae? How does Osiris get along with Pharasma? Were Apep and Ydersius frat buddies or something?
SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!
Hi James hope your doing great was wondering
1. from what we all have seen of the new godzilla movie, what do you think so far
2. have you checked out monte cooks numenera
3. just want to say thanks for this years products..a banner year indeed
( now the waiting for said products well that sucks lol )
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James, I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed as I was not able to find anything on the subject.
Per the PRD, a vow of silence gives a player one extra Ki point per six monk levels. However, the Ultimate Magic .pdf (Second printing; January, 2012) I just purchased and downloaded last weekend indicates the same vow gives a player one extra Ki point for every monk level. I could not find any errata or FAQ which states anything to the contrary.
So, my question is which is correct? I am playing The Moonscar this weekend with my PFS 16th level monk and need a ruling as the difference in Ki points would be huge - 16 additional Ki points vs. 2 additional Ki points. Please help!
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Creative Director
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"What is so hot it is cool, and yet so cool it is hot?"
"Umm...Pop Tar-"
"IT'S NOT POP TARTS!"
Sorry, couldn't resist the joke. :D
Just got the second volume of Mummy's Mask and had some questions regarding the Egyptian Gods.
I remember reading somewhere that the reason they appeared in Osirion is because some of Osirion's original settlers were planar migrants from Egypt that brought their faith with them.
Is this true?
If this is true, where did these gods come from, as there's little indication they existed in our world? You've said before that Golarion's gods aren't powered by belief like Forgotten Realms' are, so they weren't conjured by the peoples' belief in them.
Also, given these gods are still capable of granting spells to their faithful, where in the Great Beyond do they hang out? Where's Duat in the cosmology? How does Ra, for example, get along with Sarenrae? How does Osiris get along with Pharasma? Were Apep and Ydersius frat buddies or something?
SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!
The implication is that the old gods of Osirion left Osirion and ended up being worshiped in Egypt. Where they came from before Osirion is unclear, but IIRC they go to the Forgotten Realms AFTER they're done in Egypt if you adhere to that sort of overall timeline.
The Great Beyond is big enough for all of them... there's a LOT of blank space on that particular map. The Osirion Gods would likely be all hanging out in their own corner or adjacent corners somewhere, I suspect, in the Duat, but we've not revealed much about where or how that is. In my version of Goalrion, Osiris and Pharasma are the same entity, in any event. But in the actual print Golarion, the old gods of Osirion don't do much mixing with the other deities.
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Creative Director
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My favorites during the gallbladder recovery era were the frosted cinnamon/brown sugar ones. I'm off the diet in 8 days. I might have to celebrate with a pop tart.What is your favorite 'guilty pleasure' food?That changes... but right now I'd probably say Pop Tarts. They were my #1 comfort food to eat when I was recovering from gallbladder surgery.
Also up high on the list: Reeses peanut butter cups, dark chocolate salted caramel corn, Doritos, and coffee flavored It's-It ice cream sandwiches.
Pop Tarts, I'm kinda addicted to those.
Do you like the commercials?
Dunno. Haven't seen one for Pop Tarts in forever.
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Creative Director
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Hi James hope your doing great was wondering
1. from what we all have seen of the new godzilla movie, what do you think so far
2. have you checked out monte cooks numenera
3. just want to say thanks for this years products..a banner year indeed
( now the waiting for said products well that sucks lol )
1) I think it has potential to become my new favorite movie, or at the very least to land in my top 4 movies.
2) Yup. I Kickstared it. Haven't had a chance to do much more than flip through the book yet though; it's on my "TO READ" bookshelf with a lot of other books.
3) Yay! Thanks!
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James, I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed as I was not able to find anything on the subject.
Per the PRD, a vow of silence gives a player one extra Ki point per six monk levels. However, the Ultimate Magic .pdf (Second printing; January, 2012) I just purchased and downloaded last weekend indicates the same vow gives a player one extra Ki point for every monk level. I could not find any errata or FAQ which states anything to the contrary.
So, my question is which is correct? I am playing The Moonscar this weekend with my PFS 16th level monk and need a ruling as the difference in Ki points would be huge - 16 additional Ki points vs. 2 additional Ki points. Please help!
The one that is correct is the one your GM says is correct.
If I were your GM, I would allow the option that gave you more ki points, and since the internet apparently thinks Paizo hates monks this'd be a good step in the right direction.
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2) Nope. Some monsters simply lack the body parts to use items. Snakes can't wear boots, for example.What about using something like the Demonic Eye implant from Book of the Damned (assuming a kind of implant that would work on a demon)? It mentions that the part of the creature's body corresponding to the consumed body part (eyes) will change to match it, so would that "produce" eyes?
What happens if the creature was using alter self to gain eyesight (and used magic items corresponding to the eyes), but reverted to its natural form? Do the items pop out until it reverts to a form that has them?
Nope. I'd say it wouldn't give her eyes.
And if you were altering self to gain eyes, then the eyes would either fall off or would just sit there on your face and grant no advantage when you changed back.
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James, I noticed quite a few of the demigods from Chapter 2 of Inner Sea Gods were not on the deity list in the Appendix. Any chance they can get articles in the AP line? Or the Campaign Setting line?
Which of the demigods from Inner Sea Gods' chapter 2 were missing? My understanding was that every deity mentioned in that book is on the list in the back.
We'll talk more about the kyton demagogues some day. Inner Sea Gods wasn't the right time or place to start that ball rolling though so we didn't mention them at all.
Which of the demigods from Inner Sea Gods' chapter 2 were missing? My understanding was that every deity mentioned in that book is on the list in the back.
Well I did notice Razmir is missing from the Appendix list...but than again I was surprised he made it into the book at all. Must be that the Cult of Razmir is more influential at Pazio than I previously thought.
Question:
I noticed that Taldan now supports temples of Sarenae. So is this a retcon...or more of what their stance now is? As in the past they banned the religion...but under further thought decided against it.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Which of the demigods from Inner Sea Gods' chapter 2 were missing? My understanding was that every deity mentioned in that book is on the list in the back.The following were mentioned, but no names for any were given:
- Kyton Demagogues
- Asura Ranas
- Primal Inevitables
- Protean Lords
- Psychompomp Ushers
- Rakashasa Immortals
Where do I go to give my support for deities coughSzurielcough that have already had articles getting Obediances?
I don't think they have them because I don't think they need them as much. demons care about the destruction and mayhem you can cause in life, whereas devils care more about deal-making and getting your soul when you die and Daemon's simply want to devour your soul and destroy.
so technically,
Demons:Have obedience's due to the need for constant loyalty.
Daemons: Don't have Obedience's because they are patient creatures who only care about devouring your soul after death and bringing the world to it's inevitable end.
Devils: don't have Obedience's because "The Deal is the Obedience", as long as the contract is sealed and completed bringing your soul to hell, they don't mind if you wander off and do something different because as long as the details of the contract are followed your soul is theirs
Empyriel Lords:Have Obedience's in order to help followers remain true to the virtues of good they portray.
Sorry! :-(
Well foo... Okay then.
Moving on...
Suppose a Van Helsing-like character was writing a guide to hunting succubi. What sort of weaknesses would she notice?
On a completely different tangent, how would Brevoy interact in an official capacity with a Stolen Lands nation that was ruled by a synod of epopts (say, one for each Empyreal Lord) rather than a king and his court?
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"What is so hot it is cool, and yet so cool it is hot?"
"Umm...Pop Tar-"
"IT'S NOT POP TARTS!"
Sorry, couldn't resist the joke. :D
Just got the second volume of Mummy's Mask and had some questions regarding the Egyptian Gods.
I remember reading somewhere that the reason they appeared in Osirion is because some of Osirion's original settlers were planar migrants from Egypt that brought their faith with them.
Is this true?
If this is true, where did these gods come from, as there's little indication they existed in our world? You've said before that Golarion's gods aren't powered by belief like Forgotten Realms' are, so they weren't conjured by the peoples' belief in them.
Also, given these gods are still capable of granting spells to their faithful, where in the Great Beyond do they hang out? Where's Duat in the cosmology? How does Ra, for example, get along with Sarenrae? How does Osiris get along with Pharasma? Were Apep and Ydersius frat buddies or something?
SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!
The implication is that the old gods of Osirion left Osirion and ended up being worshiped in Egypt. Where they came from before Osirion is unclear, but IIRC they go to the Forgotten Realms AFTER they're done in Egypt if you adhere to that sort of overall timeline.
The Great Beyond is big enough for all of them... there's a LOT of blank space on that particular map. The Osirion Gods would likely be all hanging out in their own corner or adjacent corners somewhere, I suspect, in the Duat, but we've not revealed much about where or how that is. In my version of Goalrion, Osiris and Pharasma are the same entity, in any event. But in the actual print Golarion, the old gods of Osirion don't do much mixing with the other deities.
So I had it backwards then, Egypt's deities were imported from Golarion? Cool!
Wonder if the Olympians or Aesir are hanging out somewhere...
Have you read the XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery book by Tracy Hickman?
If so, what's your XDM number?
I would like to think that it was not intentional but RAW does an aasimar with 1 level wizard / 1 level fighter qualify for eldritch knight prestige class? Even though it lists as "able to cast 3rd-level arcane spell's'?" Do plurals stand for nothing?
A more interesting question, what Game of Thrones house would you be from... if by choice? if by personality?
Mr James Jacobs, how is the myrmidarch's ranged spellstrike supposed to work? How does one cast a spell (standand action) and get a full attack action (full round action) in the same round? Is this a special abilty allowed by the class feature or is there something I am missing? Please you extensive examples and small words as it has been a long day of work and mine brain is mush...
Dear James,
Can an artifact be used to Sunder another artifact?
Grapple checks.Sorry! :-(Well foo... Okay then.
Moving on...
Suppose a Van Helsing-like character was writing a guide to hunting succubi. What sort of weaknesses would she notice?
Is that a attempt at misinformation?
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Creative Director
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Which of the demigods from Inner Sea Gods' chapter 2 were missing? My understanding was that every deity mentioned in that book is on the list in the back.
Well I did notice Razmir is missing from the Appendix list...but than again I was surprised he made it into the book at all. Must be that the Cult of Razmir is more influential at Pazio than I previously thought.
Question:
I noticed that Taldan now supports temples of Sarenae. So is this a retcon...or more of what their stance now is? As in the past they banned the religion...but under further thought decided against it.
There's a very good reason Razmir isn't on that list.
And that Taldor thing is part of us fixing some unfortunate bad ideas that crept into print, yes.
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Creative Director
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Which of the demigods from Inner Sea Gods' chapter 2 were missing? My understanding was that every deity mentioned in that book is on the list in the back.The following were mentioned, but no names for any were given:Come to think of it, I am pretty sure not a single one of those categories has ever had a named demigod, unless there is something in an AP (I don't read them to avoid spoilers). The Qlippoth Lords are listed in the Appendix, but no mention of them anywhere else in the book.
- Kyton Demagogues
- Asura Ranas
- Primal Inevitables
- Protean Lords
- Psychompomp Ushers
- Rakashasa Immortals
Those demigods are not ones yet that we've done anything with at all, which is why we didn't say much more about them. The Qlippoth lords are mentioned because they've actually had some design work done on them in Pathfinder #64. The others you list have not yet. Some day we'll change that though.
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Where do I go to give my support for deities coughSzurielcough that have already had articles getting Obediances?I don't think they have them because I don't think they need them as much. demons care about the destruction and mayhem you can cause in life, whereas devils care more about deal-making and getting your soul when you die and Daemon's simply want to devour your soul and destroy.
so technically,
Demons:Have obedience's due to the need for constant loyalty.Daemons: Don't have Obedience's because they are patient creatures who only care about devouring your soul after death and bringing the world to it's inevitable end.
Devils: don't have Obedience's because "The Deal is the Obedience", as long as the contract is sealed and completed bringing your soul to hell, they don't mind if you wander off and do something different because as long as the details of the contract are followed your soul is theirs
Empyriel Lords:Have Obedience's in order to help followers remain true to the virtues of good they portray.
Nope. The Horsemen need them too, as much as any and all deity or demigod needs them. There are worshipers of daemons out there.
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Creative Director
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James, I've been hearing from some of my friends that the people at Paizo hate Summoners. Is this true? (Maybe not all of you but some or many)
I'm not a fan of summoners, but I'm about 1/50th of the people at Paizo. There are folks at Paizo who love summoners.
I'm also not a fan of dwarves, but they're in the game as well.
The game is for more than just me or you. There's going to be parts of it that don't appeal to any one person.
In any case... not sure why it would matter?
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Suppose a Van Helsing-like character was writing a guide to hunting succubi. What sort of weaknesses would she notice?
On a completely different tangent, how would Brevoy interact in an official capacity with a Stolen Lands nation that was ruled by a synod of epopts (say, one for each Empyreal Lord) rather than a king and his court?
Cold iron, and a need to overcomplicate plots, and an almost impossible to stem lust.
And Brevoy would react with nervous fear to any new powerful group in the Stolen Lands, synod or kingdom or whatever. It wouldn't really make a difference to them who their neighbors worship or (to the paranoid) CLAIM they worship.
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Have you read the XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery book by Tracy Hickman?
If so, what's your XDM number?
I have not read it.
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I would like to think that it was not intentional but RAW does an aasimar with 1 level wizard / 1 level fighter qualify for eldritch knight prestige class? Even though it lists as "able to cast 3rd-level arcane spell's'?" Do plurals stand for nothing?
A more interesting question, what Game of Thrones house would you be from... if by choice? if by personality?
The whole "Spell-like abilities" counting as prereqs for prestige classes is, in my opinion, an error, and one we need to remove from the faq/errata ASAP. I've talked to Jason about fixing it but that whole process is unfortunately slow and cumbersome and all that.
Spell-like abilities are not spells. If they were (and thus could fufill spellcasting prerequisites) they wouldn't be classified as spell-like. They'd be... well... spells.
And as for Game of Thrones hosues? Probably Stark.
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Creative Director
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Mr James Jacobs, how is the myrmidarch's ranged spellstrike supposed to work? How does one cast a spell (standand action) and get a full attack action (full round action) in the same round? Is this a special abilty allowed by the class feature or is there something I am missing? Please you extensive examples and small words as it has been a long day of work and mine brain is mush...
Great questions for the rules forum. And a FAQ click. Especially since I don't know what a myrmidarch is... I don't have an encyclopediac knowledge of the rules, and in fact am MUCH more focused on all the other books we doo apart from the hardcover rulebooks.
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Hey James!
I'm sure that this would make a great question for the rules forums, but I'd thought I'd ask you too since you probably write up a lot of stat blocks. In the Bestiary, the rules for advancing a monster by adding HD (and, presumably, advancing a monster with class levels which would include additional HD) say this:
Once you have determined the number of additional Hit Dice possessed by the creature, use this number to modify its other statistics. Start with ability scores. For every 4 additional Hit Dice gained by the monster, add 1 to one of its ability scores. In addition, make any modifications to its ability scores based on an increase in size, as noted on Table: Size Changes.
So does that bold part literally mean for every 4 HD you add, or was it an easier way of saying, "For every HD you add that makes the total divisible by 4." I ask because I always thought that every creature, no matter what, added an ability point when they hit 4 HD, 8 HD, etc. After breaking down many creatures' stat blocks in the APs, however, I noticed that an ability point wasn't added unless the creature specifically received 4 additional HD from a source.
For example, a creature that is 3 HD and then takes 3 levels of a class, is 6 HD total. I would have thought a point is added when it hit 4 HD, but every stat block I break down to prove this proves me wrong. Then, I see a creature with 3 HD and 6 levels of a class. They have the 1 point added for having 4 new HD, but not an extra one for going past 8 HD total.
If this is more of a "ask the rule forums" thing, I understand.
James,
Have you ever heard of Super Dinosaur - it's a comic targeted for a slightly younger set that stars a 15 or so foot intelligent T-Rex, who has a "harness" sort of exo-skeleton.
I mention it because I found the design of the Rex in harness to be pretty cool looking: