A Few Questions

[Kapfel]

So for my groups second attempt at Pathfinder (DM with 15 years of 2nd ed and the rest of us about 2 years) we had a magus and monk introduced to the party. The monk seemed way over powered for a level one encounter. One of the questions that came up was the use of vital strike with FOB. is this possible? The second question came about when handling touch based spells by the magus. I came across a really good guide on touch based spells using the magus and an orc in the example. I forgot to book mark and can't find it again. Last but not least, I think the group is confused on the actions. we had people moving then casting, we had people casting then moving, we had running then melee, I think someone along the lines we got the different actions all goofed up. Is there another resource for explaining it. We all have the core book but we are stilling messing it up.

[Adam Moorhouse 759]

You cannot use Vital strike with FoB.

It sounds like you guys need to read up on actions, and action types in combat.

Standard Action + Move Action + Swift Action is a lot different than second edition. Very specific wording is used here, especially with combat feats, so this is an area to get to know really well.

[Dameragon]

I'll answer a couple of these

1) The Monk cannot use Vital Strike as part of a Flurry of Blows. FOB is a full attack action. Vital Strike only allows you to use it when you are using an Attack Action. Attack actions and Full attack actions are two different types of actions. (In the Core Rulebook read page 181)

2) You can take both a move action and a standard action in one round (In the Core Rulebook read page 181). You can take them in any order. Thus if the spell only takes a standard action to cast, you could move then cast or cast then move.

3) Running is a Full-Round action (See the table on page 183). If you run you can't do anything else that round.

[Grick]

Kapfel wrote:

I came across a really good guide on touch based spells using the magus and an orc in the example. I forgot to book mark and can't find it again.

This might be it. (strut strut)

The key to the magus is to fully understand how touch spells work for everyone, and then know the small ways in which a Magus can do them differently. It's also a lot easier to start at level 1 and really see what spell combat can do without mucking about with spellstrike.

Kapfel wrote:

Is there another resource for explaining it. We all have the core book but we are stilling messing it up.

Common Terms at d20pfsrd

One thing that might help is have people declare what action type they're using to do each thing.

Maybe think of it as each player having three little paper tokens. One says "Standard Action" one says "Move Action" and one says "Swift Action" As they use each of these, flip them over to show what actions they have left. Also write across both the standard and the move "Full Round Action" but break it up so it goes across both tokens. In order to use a full round action, they have to flip both Standard and Move actions at the same time. (-edit- Here's what I mean: Action Tokens)

So, for the monk, in order to use Flurry of Blows, he need a full round action. He flips both of those over. In order to use Vital Strike, he needs to use the attack action, which is a standard. He can't flip over standard (it's already flipped) so he can't use Vital Strike.

Don't feel about about Vital Strike. The attack action is poorly worded, and it'll come back to bite you a number of times. In general, always be aware of the word "Action" and only use it when you mean it. Don't use flurry and then say you get two attack actions, you don't, you get two attacks. It's all the same action.

Lastly, don't worry about it too much. Have fun, and learn as you go.

[Halfling Barbarian]

I may have missed something, but did you say a level one encounter? If so vital strike shouldn't be an issue, as it requires a Base Attack Bonus of 6...

[Jiggy]

One last piece of advice:

Listen to Grick, he's pretty sharp.

[Kapfel]

Thank you everyone for the help. The token explanation was really good and yes Grick it was your guide I was referring to.

As for the level one using vital strikes I just looked it up and I guess our monk didn't read the pre-req. Thank you for pointing this out, the player must have missed it and the rest of us are just as unfamiliar as he is. Their are eight players in the group not including the DM and none of us have played pathfinder before. I suspect we will be learning for years to come.