
Fluffylove |

Apologies if you've already answered this.
How do CR & Numen interact?
Something with class levels and minimum or below numen is 1 CR lower than normal right (past level 2)? This includes if they have ZERO wealth too?
And monsters - if they're around the value of minimum numen they're normal listed CR, but if they're at zero they're at minus 1? Are they at +1 if they're at Par? Does it become +2 if they're at maximum? Would you round to the closest value (Zero vs. Minimum vs. Par vs. Max)?
Finally, what about monsters with class levels? Do you consider numen from the standpoint of whichever makes up the majority of their CR? (class levels or monster advancement)?
Thanks in advance!

Kirth Gersen |

Thank you very much for these, one question springs to mind on reading through them with demons and devils, they have levels in outsider which I couldn't find directly like the other new ones is it something still in the works or would it be the plane-touched race from the base documents?
Assume that demons, etc. spend their racial feats on the Outsider type, and racial traits to get 6 skill points/level. Outsider racial HD provide full BAB, d10 HD, and +1 AC per 2 HD; 2 of them = +1 CR (like NPC levels).

Kirth Gersen |

Something with class levels and minimum or below numen is 1 CR lower than normal right (past level 2)? This includes if they have ZERO wealth too?
Example: A 10th level fighter with NPC wealth (or less, including 0) is CR 9. A 10th level character with PC wealth is CR 10.
And monsters - if they're around the value of minimum numen they're normal listed CR
Yes
, but if they're at zero they're at minus 1?
No; they're the same. Minimum numen is already pretty low, compared to actual class/racial features.
Are they at +1 if they're at Par?
Yes.
Does it become +2 if they're at maximum?
No. They'd only have maximum if they've crafted the excess, which requires feat and skill expenditure.
Finally, what about monsters with class levels? Do you consider numen from the standpoint of whichever makes up the majority of their CR? (class levels or monster advancement)?
N/A -- it's the same chart either way. Look at the base CR and read the line. If close to par or above, add +1 to the final CR. If not, don't.

Kirth Gersen |

A question if I may - do the text files you sent out in 2014 take precedence over the 2013 PDF? I have noticed that there are a few differences between them.
I don't know -- I didn't make the PDF -- but if in doubt go with the more recent stuff, I guess. There's been nothing "official" recently, anyway.

Scavion |

Arakhor wrote:A question if I may - do the text files you sent out in 2014 take precedence over the 2013 PDF? I have noticed that there are a few differences between them.I don't know -- I didn't make the PDF -- but if in doubt go with the more recent stuff, I guess. There's been nothing "official" recently, anyway.
Yar, I think those are my pdfs. They're merely updated with the Egg of Coot errata. You can tell if the file names have something like "Updated" or "Second Version" but some files have never had errata so wont say that.

Arakhor |

I think one of the most obvious examples of differences would be the feat Alertness (text file) or Sixth Sense (PDF), where the DC for someone trained in Stealth to catch them flatfooted in 10 + Perception in the PDF and 14 + Perception in the text file.
Another example is the Skill Focus feat. The PDF has this sentence - Each +1 competence bonus to a class skill from this feat counts as a “virtual rank” in that skill, for purposes of qualifying for other feats, qualifying for class skill abilities, penetrating spell resistance (in the case of Concentration), etc. - which is missing from the text file, whereas the text file includes the sentence - In addition, your critical success range for that skill (Chapter 1) increases to 19-20. - which is missing from the PDF.
Obviously, it's up to the end-user to resolve any differences, but I thought I'd ask. For the record, Tyler Winter's folder full of Kirthfinder PDFs, particularly the Feats chapter, reflects the changes to the textfile, rather than the 2013 mega-PDF (the 641-page edition).

Kirth Gersen |

10 + Level of Ki Power + Cha/Wis (Serenity)
(Exactly as if you were using a spell + the Spellstrike feat.)
I'd probably also allow a Serenity analogue, selectable as a feat, that works off of Con ("Prana Practitioner" or something). In fact, you pretty much need something like that for Str just to make constructs with SLAs actually work.

Kirth Gersen |

As it works as a strike feat you could apply it on attacks that qualified to trigger strike feats yes? For example on a critical with critical focus or on AOO's with combat reflexes.
A strike power follows the general rules for [Strike] feats. It can be used as part of an unarmed attack (a melee attack that deals unarmed damage and spell effects on a hit) or as a melee touch attack that simply delivers the spell. In either case, the attack and discharge (if the attack hits) generally take 1 standard action. Other activating conditions for [Strikes] can also be applied; see Chapter 5.

Firewarrior44 |

Unlike a cleric or archivist, you do not need a holy symbol as a focus, nor any material components; rather, the forces that manifest in you mean that you yourself are a living divine focus for your incarnate spells.
Does this apply to expensive material components too? Raise dead, Heroic fortune restoration etc?

Kirth Gersen |

Incarnate Spellcasting wrote:Unlike a cleric or archivist, you do not need a holy symbol as a focus, nor any material components; rather, the forces that manifest in you mean that you yourself are a living divine focus for your incarnate spells.Does this apply to expensive material components too? Raise dead, Heroic fortune restoration etc?
That's a good question. The intent was that it would, essentially, be the same as the sorcerer's Eschew Materials. That said, the numen system has freed me up from tracking gp too closely, so if I were running the game I probably wouldn't worry too much about expensive costs, either. If the referee/campaign treats monetary wealth as being still important by the time you can cast raise dead, that's a different story, but I personally tend to assume most PCs are the equivalent of barons or crime lords or whatever by the time they hit 9th level.

Kirth Gersen |

A caster can easily exceed par by having too many active spell effects (fire trap, secret page, etc.) in place, but that's essentially a minor form of crafting.
Crafting, BTW, works pretty much the same way as finding excess loot, except instead of relying on DM fiat in the form of stocking said loot in the adventures, it relies on DM fiat in the form of allowing enough crafting time and amenable locations in the adventures. Both of those are fairly easy to abuse at higher levels, but at least "max" numen provides a hard cap in the rules despite any particular DM's relative largesse.

Firewarrior44 |

How do you rule effectively permanent effects like dominate person? Which with a day/level duration can easily be kept up indefinitely. My gut tells me to charge Numen for them if the spell is being maintained in such a manner.
I find crafting fairly easy at mid levels too, as highly skilled followers can be acquired with a low CR (All NPC class levels), For Example at level 9 you could have a dedicated blacksmith who is a level 10 or 11 expert as a follower (CR 4.5/4), who forges all your magical weapons and armor.

Kirth Gersen |

How do you rule effectively permanent effects like dominate person? Which with a day/level duration can easily be kept up indefinitely. My gut tells me to charge Numen for them if the spell is being maintained in such a manner.
Yes, exactly so. If the effect is constantly active, I'd treat it like a continuous magic item. That will get spelled out if I ever get to properly revising the rules.
I find crafting fairly easy at mid levels too, as highly skilled followers can be acquired with a low CR (All NPC class levels), For Example at level 9 you could have a dedicated blacksmith who is a level 10 or 11 expert as a follower (CR 4.5/4), who forges all your magical weapons and armor.
That's certainly doable. I don't even have a huge problem with it. It's interesting that Frank Trollman (of the Tomes fame/infamy), at one point, in 3.5e, was actually just giving everyone in the world greater magic weapon at will, and reported that the game worked better that way.

Kirth Gersen |

Ah i thought it was 0.5 per NPC Class level - 1. So 11 / 2 - 1 Or 4.5
Yep, 0.5 per class level. But working on animals and vermin has pretty well convinced me that you can best build the -1 CR (for NPC gear/stat array) in by counting the first three NPC levels as if they were two, and then just proceed normally. So for 11th, you'd have 3 levels (CR 1) + 8 more levels (/2 = +4) = CR 5, rather than 11/5 = 5.5 - 1 = 4.5.
Then again, I'm pretty sure the error bars on a CR calculation are wider than 0.5, so in the end it probably doesn't matter very much.

Kirth Gersen |
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My Skull & Shackles home game finally has given us a view of the barbarian as a PC, and convinced me to make some revisions. The need for (basically) two character sheets was getting to be a drag, so I decided to maybe go the Unchained route and just use a straight bonus:
Rage (Ex): As a free action, a barbarian can call upon inner reserves of strength and ferocity, granting additional combat prowess. Starting at 1st level, you can rage for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + your Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, you can rage for 2 additional rounds. Temporary increases to Constitution, such as those gained from spells like bear's endurance, do not increase the total number of rounds that you can rage per day. You can enter rage as a free action. The total number of rounds of rage per day is renewed after resting for 8 hours, although these hours do not need to be consecutive.
While in a rage, you gain the following:+1 morale bonus to all d20 rolls (attacks, combat maneuver checks, initiative, saving throws, skill and attribute checks, etc.) and to all static d20 target values (AC, CMD, special ability DCs, etc.). This bonus overlaps (does not stack with) morale bonuses from other sources (spells, a bard’s inspire courage ability, etc.). However, during any round in which both effects are active, you choose which of the bonuses to accept, and that round does not count against your daily rounds’ worth of rage.
Temporary hit points equal to your rage bonus x your total number of hit dice. When your rage ends, any temporary hit points not already lost disappear.
Temporarily immunity to the effects of minor conditions (Chapter 7). These conditions are not removed; they are merely suspended until your rage ends. While in a rage, you cannot cast spells, use any Intelligence-based skills, or use any other ability that requires patience or care on your part; the use of spell-like abilities is generally permitted, however.
You cannot use Intelligence-based skills, and your effective Intelligence score for other purposes is reduced by an amount equal to your twice rage bonus (to a minimum effective score of 2). When your rage ends, you take 1 point of damage per round spent raging (not reduced by damage reduction) and are fatigued for a number of rounds equal to twice the number of rounds spent in the rage. If you are already fatigued, you become exhausted instead (if already exhausted, you become unconscious). You cannot enter a new rage while fatigued or exhausted unless you succeed at an Endurance check (Chapter 4) to ignore that condition. If you fall unconscious for any reason while raging, your rage ends, and you are at risk of death when you take the damage from your rage ending.

Kirth Gersen |

I assume the bonus goes up by 1 each time it normally went up by 2
Exactly right -- lesser rage = +1, improved rage = +2, greater rage = +3, mighty rage = +4, primal rage = +5.
For damage, instead of a static bonus, you get Vital Strike as a bonus feat (+1d6 at BAB +1) and apply that damage to all attacks made while raging.I'll post a full table and revised text when I get a chance.

Kirth Gersen |

BARBARIAN (Revised)
HD: d12; BAB: Full
1st Endure elements, furious counterstroke, power attack, rage (+1), totem, vital strike
2nd Damage reduction 1/–, lesser rage power
3rd Totem ability
4th Totem feat, lesser rage power
5th Improved rage (+2)
6th Damage reduction 2/–, improved rage power
7th Totem ability
8th Totem feat, improved rage power
9th Greater rage (+3)
10th Damage reduction 3/–, greater rage power
11th Indomitable will
12th Totem feat, greater rage power
13th Mighty rage (+4)
14th Damage reduction 4/–, mighty rage power
15th Tireless rage
16th Totem feat, mighty rage power
17th Primal rage (+5)
18th Damage reduction 5/–, primal rage power
19th Perpetual rage
20th Totem feat, primal rage power
Saves: Barbarians gain a +2 class bonus to Fortitude and Intuition saves.
Bonus Skills: All barbarians automatically receive one free rank per class level in Athletics, Endurance, and Perception. These are otherwise treated as class skills, but do not count against your total number of skill points.
Class Skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Craft (any), Handle Animal, Knowledge (linguistics, lore, warfare), Planar Sense, Profession (sailing), Stealth, Survival.
Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
Endure Elements (Ex):
Furious Counterstroke (Ex):
Rage Attack/Damage Bonus
Lesser +1/+2
Improved +2/+4
Greater +3/+6
Mighty +4/+8
Primal +5/+10
Power Attack: All barbarians gain Power Attack as a bonus feat at 1st level.
Rage (Ex):
While in a rage, you gain the following:
When your rage ends, you take 1 point of damage per round spent raging (not reduced by damage reduction) and are fatigued for a number of rounds equal to twice the number of rounds spent in the rage. If you are already fatigued, you become exhausted instead (if already exhausted, you become unconscious). You cannot enter a new rage while fatigued or exhausted unless you succeed at an Endurance check (Chapter 4) to ignore that condition. If you fall unconscious for any reason while raging, your rage ends, and you are at risk of death when you take the damage from your rage ending.
Totem (Ex):
Vital Strike (Ex):
Damage Reduction (Ex):
Rage Powers:
Totem Ability (Ex):
Totem Feat:
Improved Rage (Ex):
As the name implies, improved rage is an improvement to your normal rage, not a separate ability to be kept track of separately. Likewise, the greater rage ability (q.v.) is an improvement to your improved rage, and so on.
Greater Rage (Ex):
Indomitable Will (Ex):
If you are affected by an enchantment spell or effect while not in a rage, you can choose to activate your rage as an immediate action so as to delay the onset of the effects (assuming you have rounds of rage remaining for that day).
Mighty Rage (Ex):
Tireless Rage (Ex):
Primal Rage (Ex):
Perpetual Rage (Ex):

Firewarrior44 |

Spoiler: Hide
Starting at 15th level, you are no longer fatigued at the end of your rage, nor do you take damage for your rage ending.
Isn't this part redundant as the barbarian is immune to fatigue causing effects at 6 ranks in endurance (Which a barbarian gets for free) and fatigue and exhaustion at 11?

Kirth Gersen |

Barbarian wrote:Starting at 15th level, you are no longer fatigued at the end of your rage, nor do you take damage for your rage ending.Isn't this part redundant as the barbarian is immune to fatigue causing effects at 6 ranks in endurance (Which a barbarian gets for free) and fatigue and exhaustion at 11?
Ooh -- good catch. Will need to replace that ability.

Kirth Gersen |

Played some more with the barbarian this weekend, cleaning up rage powers and so on. Also replaced tireless rage (which, as FW44 correctly pointed out, was obsolete) with an additional totem ability at 11th -- this in turn led to a serious revision of those (and re-balancing, insofar as some of the totem abilities were feats, and really should have just been entries in the bonus feat list).
More details to come when I get it all worked out.
Any suggestions for 11th level totem abilities (and/or lower-level, for ones where the 7th level ability is more appropriate for 11th level) are welcome.

Firewarrior44 |

There is a distinct lack of comically over sized giant sword's. Unless I missed one for over sized weapons. So perhaps something that lets you use over sized weapons?
Perhaps the maximum size of the weapon wielded could scale with the rage type you have available?
Also having a very, very,very big sword/stick/club seems fitting for a barbarian

Kirth Gersen |

Giant's stance and/or powerful build are both options.
If you want your Medium character to wield Colossal greatswords... well, let's see... lead blades + powerful build + Giant's Stance = damage as Gargantuan; chalk up the difference as cosmetic (if the DM is like me, he/she can picture your sword as slightly larger; whereas you can imagine it being the size of a Buick for some reason, and everyone's happy).
EDIT: Even simpler -- since bonus damage while raging is now tied to Vital Strike, at BAB +6, your 2d6 greatsword is doing +2d6 (almost as if Huge), +4d6 at BAB +11 (almost as if Gargantuan), and +6d6 at BAB +16 (almost as if Colossal). Pretend it's actually that much bigger while you're raging. The mechanics are the same (so unfortunately the extra damage doesn't multiply on a crit), but otherwise you get to imagine a sword the size of a building, if that's your thing.