Hi, I'm just about to host a high level evil campaign and our party decided to try the Pathfinder system. One of my players wanted to play a half-tiefling, half-dragon sorcerer that became a vampire later on (thus adding the template over the already existing template of a half-dragon)
Usually I would never allow such a monstrosity however due it being a high level campaign and seeing how the new rule text with vampires they can be any living creature I don't see any problems with it. However I wanted to double check to see if such a creature would be possible and how it plays out. I am still unsure about all the new rules. (I'm still a bit new to pathfinder rules)
I know half-dragons have to be living however since he became a vampire later on I think it may be legal...my main problem is I don't know how the abilities that both templates give add up. Vampires gain a +6 Strength while Half-Dragons gain +8 so does that mean this creature has +14 it's strength score???
Please any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Any abilities they have stack. You might want to remind the player that he can not take part in day time missions, and it is not fair to restrict the party based on his character.
Not sure, but shouldn't those be treated as racial bonuses, and thus not stackable?
The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type don’t generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonus of a given type works (see Combining Magical Effects). The same principle applies to penalties—a character taking two or more penalties of the same type applies only the worst one, although most penalties have no type and thus always stack. Bonuses without a type always stack, unless they are from the same source. (CRB pg 208)
Thanks, found what I needed. That little bit of rule text is what I was looking for =).
Not sure, but shouldn't those be treated as racial bonuses, and thus not stackable?
I'm not understanding this, by this logic, a dwarf half dragon cannot gain the benefit of his racial +2 to CON and the half dragon's +6 to CON, and must choose the better of the 2, making the idea of some templates, like the half celestial and half fiend, redundant, because they are negated ability scores depending on the base creature.
these aren't magical effects we are talking about, it's more about reflecting the racial benefits/hindrances of the "template" creature in question.
I'm going to have a look around the bestiary for a while and figure this one out.
Level adjustments stack, too.
With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses,(CRB pg 208)
This bit is your answer. These things stack, all others do not.
The strength bonuses are racial. therefore stack.
Simple solution: the racial ability bonuses of monsters are never listed (except for those who have only class levels and don't have racial hit dice). So, if the bonuses from templates were not cumulative, how would you know what bonus you should add to each ability score, if you don't know the racial bonuses of the base creature?
In short the ability score bonuses from templates are cumulative, unless otherwise noted (at present I don't remember a single case in which it's "otherwise noted").