For a non-spellcaster (like a Rogue), Spellcraft is mostly useful for identifying what spells an opponent is casting. That's about it.
The Heal skill is for non-magical first aid activities like stopping a wound from bleeding, helping to treat poison or disease and a few other things like that. It doesn't give you any healing magic.
Spellcraft can't be used to cast spells; it can be used to identify spells as they are being cast. The CRB should have a breakdown of all of the skills and how they work; you can also find most of the information on the official online resource doc at http://paizo.com/prd/.
You can find information on using Heal as well. You can't do "Long term care" on yourself, per the skill description, but it appears that all other type of care - first aid, treating caltrop etc. injuries, treating poison and disease, and treating deadly wounds - can be done on yourself, assuming that you're conscious (i.e., at positive HP).
As for using skills in combat, there is no skill that really allows you to dodge an attack; combat in Pathfinder (like in D&D) tends to be fairly static - the attacker rolls an attack against your character's AC (armor class), and if the roll exceeds it, it generally hits. 'Dodging' is generally covered by feats (like Dodge) and class abilities that generally grant dodge bonuses to your AC, making it harder for enemies to hit you.
Now what she COULD potentially do is use 'ready an action' to respond to an attack by moving away when the enemy approaches; you can find information on readying actions in the PRD.
[edit]A couple of things to note: The Heal skill does include an option called "Treating Deadly Wounds"; this allows you to actually restore hit points to a character using the Heal skill. It can only be done once per day.
And in regards to Spellcraft and readying an action: Your wife's Rogue could state she is readying an action to, say, throw a dagger at an enemy if he appears to be casting an offensive spell. She would then make a Spellcraft check to try and identify the spell if someone starts to cast, and if it were an 'offensive' spell (i.e., one that would directly do damage to her), then her readied action would trigger and she could throw the dagger (which would force the spellcaster to make a concentration check to avoid being interrupted and losing the spell).
Hello everyone - I apologise for most likely reposting these questions. but I couldn't find a solid answer.
To get started, I bought the BB along with the core rule book for extra reading. My wife and I built her a character As listed below v.
Elf Rogue + according to the book she gets a total of 10 skill pts.
because of her race, class and Int Mod. (+2)
ST 12 (+1)
Dex 18 (+4)
Con 14 (+2)
Int 15 (+2)
Wis 10 (0)
Cha 10 (0)she chose the majority of her class skills to get the bonus'.
but had extra,
SOOO she chose (Spell Craft) as a skill.. It is highlighted in grey (trained only) - The book says that's ok.. But can she actually cast spells? Or, is there a list of spells she could use? Is it only good for identifying magic stuff ? This skill lost me ! She is only lvl 1 and we've managed to get to the 5th area of the BB quest.
As the others note, Spellcraft does not let you cast spells. As a rogue, she can use it to identify spells as they are being cast by spellcasters. That's pretty much it at the moment.
IF at 2nd level, she takes "Rogue Minor Magic" as her rogue talent and chooses detect magic as the spell-like ability she gains, then she can also use Spellcraft to identify magic item properties when she casts detect magic. For example, if she studies the magic aura of a sword she finds, she can use Spellcraft to determine that it is a +1 sword.
As this is a solo campaign, I would strongly, strongly, strongly recommend she train the Use Magic Device skill if she has not, as that will enable her to use this skill to cast spells from scrolls and wands, which she otherwise would not be able to do as a non spellcaster. This can give her some versatility and give her some access to magical healing, should she find an appropriate item, such as a wand of cure light wounds.
(Heal) she also chose the Heal skill.. We will be playing alone so there is no other PC to heal. can she cast Healing on herself. beyond the (no) to long term care. ?
I would not use the term "cast healing"; the Heal skill isn't magical, it's literally doing the work of a first aid provider or physician--bandaging wounds, etc. The description of the skill is pretty clear about what you can do with the Heal skill. To herself, she should be able to heal bleeding damage, heal damage done by caltrops and such, do the "Treat deadly wounds" action (provided she has a healer's kit), treat poison, and treat disease. She can't do the "first aid" action on herself, which is to stabilize a dying character, because dying characters are unconscious. And you are correct, she cannot provide long term care to herself.
Remember for regaining hit points in general, she will also regain hit points equal to her class level plus her Constitution modifier for every 8 hours she rests. This requires no skill check.
And the whole Combat phase... she's trying to use her skills during combat.. like dodge during an attack.. Can someone link me a Combat guide for NEW with variations (not just the CRB breakdown.. :)
I am not sure what you mean, but let me try to help where I can:
Dodging during an attack is static--she doesn't have to roll anything; it's why Dexterity is folded into Armor Class, that accounts for your ability to dodge. If she's dodging a magical effect, that is covered under Reflex saves; you only allow Reflex saves if the spell or effect she's avoiding says you can roll a Reflex save explicitly.
Otherwise, she's actually making it harder on herself than it needs to be.
If a skill can be used in combat, it will be described as such in the skill. Most skills are not used in combat; you roll your attack roll and combat maneuver bonus as needed; defenses like AC and CMD are static; again your ability to dodge, etc. is already calculated into the number. You will roll your saving throws.
Skills that are used in combat, most often:
- Acrobatics: If you are using the beginner's box, this is irrelevant because IIRC there are no attacks of opportunity. But in a full game of Pathfinder, you can use Acrobatics to "tumble" past an opponent without provoking an automatic attack if you start off next to them or need to move adjacent to them. Acrobatics may also be required to traverse difficult terrain or to jump onto a platform. If you're using a pre-written adventure, they usually are clear about when those options come into place.
- Bluff: You can use bluff to feint. Not going to repeat the rules for feinting here; they are in the core rules.
- Knowledge: You can use Knowledge skills to identify a creature's weaknesses and special abilities. The CRB describes which Knowledge subtype applies to which kind of monster (e.g., use Knowledge (planes) to id a demon, use Knowledge (religion) to id undead, etc.).
- Heal: You can heal bleeding damage, caltrop etc. damage, and give first aid in combat with the Heal skill.
I don't know of any combat guide that is not the core rulebook combat guide. What kind of guidelines are you looking for? I would guess the Beginner's Box has the easiest breakdown.
Lastly, a word of unsolicited advice:
If you can, find yourself a group. Solo adventures are cool, and sometimes if you have trouble finding players or scheduling, it's the choice you've got. But balance wise they can play very differently, and then when you join a group later it can become challenging. You'll both learn the system better with a group of people to help corroborate how the rules work, and get a much better feel for how the game was really meant to be played.
But however you play, have fun and good luck.
In a round, you get a move action, a standard action, a swift action, and a number of free actions. A move action will allow you to move up to your full base movement speed (difficult terrain notwithstanding). A standard action will allow you to make a single attack, cast a spell, or use some other ability that takes one action. You can move first and then standard, or standard and then move; you can't move partway, standard, and move again (without the appropriate feats).
Swift actions can essentially be done at any time, but you're limited t one per round. Free actions are things like shouting a warning, dropping a weapon - things that take so little time to do that they don't 'count' in the round.
Although I'm not certain that "(drop) a GP" is, but other than that, all of your described rounds of actions look kosher.
Weapon Finesse allows you to use your DEX rather than your STR modifier on your to-hit rolls for any light weapons, any weapons that have the finesse type in their description, or anything specifically called out in the feat.
As for stealth with ranged weapons, they just clarified this in an FAQ:
If you start your round concealed at least 10' away from an enemy (like, behind the statue), and the enemy wasn't previously aware of you, he doesn't know where you are. You can then make a single ranged attack against him (which would treat the target as being denied his DEX bonus to AC, and grant the rogue her sneak attack damage), and duck back into cover.
After you attack, however, you must then make another Stealth check at a -20 penalty, opposed by the target's Perception; if you succeed, then the target still doesn't know where you are, if you fail then he knows where the shot came from. He doesn't necessarily know exactly where you are, so if you haven't yet moved, you could take off from behind the statue and run for another point of cover, using Stealth again.
In the above case the difficulty of the attack is the target's AC without its DEX modifier included; a target unaware of an incoming attack cannot react to it, and doesn't get to include its DEX mod in its AC.
A saving throw is only made if the spell or ability specifically calls for it. Normal melee attacks will not; things like poisons, which a Rogue might eventually get, or things like a Fireball (which gives a Reflex save to avoid some damage) do.
Basically, here's how readying an action works:
On your turn, you can forego taking any immediate action and instead say, "I want to do X when Y happens." X is either a move action or a standard action (like an attack), not both; Y is some specific trigger that must occur before you'll take the action.
The moment that the 'trigger' is met, you immediately interrupt the target who triggered the action and take whatever readied action you stated. At that point, your initiative changes to just before whatever enemy triggered your action. If play comes back to your next turn and nothing's triggered your readied action, then you basically did nothing in the previous round.
As an example, you could say something like, "I watch the man in the black robes, and if he starts casting a spell (waving hands around, muttering, etc.) then I flip a dagger at him." If the robed man begins casting a spell, then you interrupt his turn and get to throw your dagger.
Another example: "If the wolf charges the cart, then I'll move to intercept it." Again, when the wolf begins to charge, you get to interrupt the charge and move your character into the charge's path (which would trigger an attack of opportunity against the wolf).
Exactly the answers I needed
Thank you
Hogarth
Xaratherus
Reecy
DeathQuakerThat hacked down a good majority of my stumps :P
-More help Pls(combat)
-following what im reading.*I Could (attack) with my short sword then (move to speed) (30') and then (drop) a GP. as my turn ? - seems excessive
Assuming you had your Gold piece in your hand to start your turn, yes. Attacking with a weapon is a standard action, moving your speed is a move action, dropping a held item is a free action. You can do all of those in one turn. If the item was not held, it is a move action to retrieve it.
or
*lean around a statue, fire an arrow, and duck behind the statue again.
Yes, in fact leaning around a corner is completely free, the only action here is firing the arrow.
*(last move)+ roll for stealth ?
Not sure what you mean by last move, but so long as you are moving through some kind of cover or concealment you can roll for stealth as part of the move action, it isnt a separate action.
*open a door, fire an arrow, then drop prone ?
Move action, standard action, free action, certainly fine here.
and how does stealth work with these. could I remain stealth and fire ? (range?) vs enemy perception
It is very difficult to attack and remain stealthed, though you can do it.
From the description of the stealth skill:
Sniping: If you've already successfully used Stealth at least 10 feet from your target, you can make one ranged attack and then immediately use Stealth again. You take a –20 penalty on your Stealth check to maintain your obscured location.
So while its possible, unless you are either very far away (distance adds to their perception dc) or very good at stealth, they will see you.
The Feat (Weapon Finesse) static for all melee attacks ?
Any weapon that is light or has the finessable quality yes for all attacks.
When does an enemy make a (Fort, Ref, Will save) ? or myself ?
which is for which. lol ? sry >< the Saving throw rolls got me too.
You make a save when targeted by an ability that requires it. For instance if a wizard casts a sleep spell on you, you make a will save to resist it. If you (as a wizard) cast fireball on a group of goblins, they make a reflex save to avoid it. The spell or ability in question will indicate what kind of save needs to be made.
eg.. Im stealth behind the statue. Fire an arrow at non aware goblin. which check does the goblin make, none ? just the AC ?
*basically my wife is trying to snipe gobs without being seen.. how would that play out?
If when the arrow is fired the goblin is unaware (your wifes character successfuly stealthed up to it from behind the statue) it is flatfooted, and thus has a reduced ac value (lacking any dexterity or dodge bonuses). Heres how it plays out.
Your wife moves behind some statues or other cover using stealth. The goblin gets a perception check made opposed to your wifes stealth to determine if the goblin notices her. If it beats her, it sees her, and presumably combat ensues.
If your wifes character gets a higher stealth then the goblins perception, your wife gets whats called a surprise round. She gets to make a free standard action (such as an attack) before the goblin can react and can attack it flatfooted. Afterwards she can 'snipe' as described above, but at a -20 penalty the goblin will probably notice her. You then roll for initiative and proceed with the combat (assuming the goblin is alive after the first shot).
