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I don't think a speck of dust is really defined as an object in Pathfinder, but you could use a rock or even a marble if you like. For blade, you're basically smashing them with the rock (the name may be "blade" but it doesn't have to be a blade and can deal bludgeoning damage), whereas with whip, you've basically got a super long morningstar-type thing with the chain made of aether and the rock as the ball at the end.
Nice! I've always imagined a Geo keeping a marble of stone or metal hovering over their open palm and sending it crashing into enemies one after the other like a reusable sling bullet, like Magneto does in that movie. :D
For Kinetic Blade and Impale, I rather imagine extruding that «pet marble» into a meter-long stiletto spike in a split second, sort of like the liquid terminator does with the milk-drinking innocent bystander in Terminator II. :Þ
Hey Mark,
When a rule uses the term "two-handed weapon" is it referring specifically to the weapon category two-handed melee weapon or is it referring to any weapon that requires two hands to use.
The question comes up in regards to the titan maulers massive weapons ability. It allows you to use any two-handed weapon that is one size category larger than the character. Unlike the Titan fighter, the titan mauler does not specifically mention melee weapons. Would a medium sized Titan Mauler be limited to only large two-handed melee weapons or could a titan mauler also use a large longbow or large musket (both weapons that require two hands).
I always have a hard time finding the FAQ list. Can you provide a link to the full FAQ list so I can bookmark it?
Kalindlara has it right; you basically click on the book you want along the right.
Follow-up question. If my ally has used up their available AoOs for that round, but I haven't, would Paired Opportunists still activate? but with only me being able to make the AoOOutflank gives the ally an AoO, not the critting character. I think it works like this (assuming adjacent but flanking allies with Outflank and PO, or just adjacent allies with Seize and PO):
Ally A gets a critical hit, triggering Outflank or Seize, and then due to PO both characters get an AoO. Ally B actually gets a critical hit off that AoO; this triggers Outflank or Seize, giving both of them another AoO. If you guys keep critting, I think you can probably keep taking more and more AoOs, subject to your Combat Reflexes limit or Desna deciding she's paid you back for whatever you used to bribe her for that many crits and ending your crit spree.
Okay yeah, thanks for clearing that up. It's pretty awesome how paired with a high critical rate build, this can prove to be a fatal combination. Can't wait to try it out
It seems to be related to provoking an AoO, so I would say yes. However if your ally didn't threaten/couldn't take AoOs (let's say total defense?) I would say no. It's getting even more into nitty gritty on an already complex interaction, though, so I wouldn't blink if someone else reversed either answer.
...Potentially something to look into! Since I have to be logged in with my personal account, which makes me uncomfortable, I probably won't be active enough for a satisfying AMA though.Today I had a brainstorm that turned out to be a bust where I thought I might be able to make a "Mark Seifter, Game Designer" page and thus have a Facebook page without having to log into my personal Facebook page (which makes me feel super privacy invaded every moment I'm on there for a variety of reasons). However, I just discovered that I have to be logged into my personal account anyway to deal with that page, thus logging in for the first time in maybe a year or two, so seems like a bust. Anyways, the upside is that I do have that page now and you can like it at facebook/MarkSeifterGameDesigner. If I get enough likes, I probably won't notice due to having to log into Facebook, but then maybe I'll post some cool game design stuff on there when I do.
I wonder about the overall use/interest in those sorts of fan pages (Facebook or otherwise), so feel free to respond in this thread about your experiences with them (or opinions for lack of experiences). On the plus, side, it seems like it could be a good way to foster a positive discourse, perhaps, kind of like these AMA threads usually are much nicer and more fun than an average thread.
You might consider dropping into the Pathfinder RPG group from time to time. It has nearly 11,000 followers and many of them don't seem to know about, or use the Pazio forums. Might be interesting to see what they have to say, or maybe do an AMA post on there, or something.
You only need a different e-mail and possibly a different phone number to make a new facebook account.
In
Wow, I actually got 34 followers while not really having anything up there but my gender and a picture of an empyrean. If I can actually hit 100, I think I'll do this make-a-new-account-to-administrate thing and then start adding some actual content. I was thinking consolidating the Harrowed Medium spirits that I posted in the playtest thread, but in another thread, putting up a few Unchained Poison System versions of more CRB poisons came up as something of interest. Hmm, maybe people can vote between those.
Mr. Mark Seifter,
If one were to use the playtest Medium should one use the spell list and spells known of the final version?
You'd ignore that spell list and use the lists per spirit from the playtest. Maybe add on the knacks from that list, though, just for fun. I'm considering it.
Dear Mark!
I have a somewhat time-critical question, since the answer might influence what kind of character I'll be playing for the next year or two...
I'm preparing a Kineticist for an upcoming campaing, and I'm really excited to finally get the chance to play one. I've been pining for this ever since the playtest came out! :) Since we're playing Hell's Rebels, I'm even going for a Halfling Overwhelming Soul, although everybody is moaning about how bad the OS is. I'll risk it. Between the high Charisma and the Kintargo background, she could go for Air/Air and be an opera singer. :D
However! The main problem I have with Air/Air is how incredibly empty the first five levels are. Sure, flight at 6th is golden, and there's Torrent, Magnetic, and Chain later, but before that, the fun and versatility that other Kineticists get seems lost on the Aero. (I'm sure you agree that Gusting Infusion is rather pointless, and there's nothing appropriate for Electricity...)
So my questions are:
* Will you publish new low-level infusions soon, especially for Air and Electricity? Might we be allowed to get a sneak peek at them?
* If not, would you be willing to give your inofficial blessing on one or two fan-made infusions?For instance, something harmless but fun such as this would completely sell me on the Aero/Aero:
Buffeting Infusion, 1st level, 1 Burn, air. Whirling eddies tug at the target of your air blast, foiling its balance and imposing a –2 penalty on armor class for one round (Reflex negates).
Shocking Infusion, 2nd level, 2 Burn, electric. The target of your electric blast suffers debilitating muscle spasms, inflicting the Shaken condition for one round (Fort negates). On a critical hit, the target is Stunned instead (reduced to Shaken with a successful save). Only living creatures and robots are susceptible to this infusion.
Whaddya think? :)
Air has 15 options among infusions and utilities starting from 1st level (counting universal) and 10 all on its own (the highest of all five elements), so I don't really agree that it has a dearth (and 7/15 are infusions). I wouldn't prioritize 1st-level wild talents to air over other elements, though in general my hope is to balance future RPG line releases among the five elements so that one element doesn't get out of whack.
As to the specific two homebrews you mention, shocking should probably be a 4th (it could honestly be a 3rd for a new element if it was a "keystone" ability for that element as I like to think of them, like wings of air is for air, but air already has its keystones) and lose the stun on a crit even so, but buffeting looks about right for a 1st-level. I'm guessing my group wouldn't allow shocking if one of the players proposed it. Doesn't mean it isn't a good fit for your group, though, so no reason not to propose it to them and see what they think.
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Hi Mark,
thanks for your immediate-action reply! :)
I'm surprised that Air should have the largest number of wild talents, but you're right, it does. I suppose I had that wrong impression because almost none of the Air talents struck me as memorable compared to what the other elements get in the early levels. Earth gets entangling and bowling, Fire gets burning and an AoE, Water gets entangling and slick -- all gameplay-definingly useful and fun options. Meanwhile, Air gets gusting, pushing, and thundering, none of which strike me as useful on a regular basis. Did your playtesting prove otherwise?
As for the homebrews: I suppose I'm underestimating the Shaken condition, then. I would have figured it was less debilitating than Entangled or Prone. Is it the penalty to saves? Would you find a 2nd-level rating appropriate if the drawback were merely a –2 to attacks for one round?
I'll ask my GM about Buffeting Infusion, then. :)
Thanks for sharing your expertise and wisdom!
Hi Mark,
thanks for your immediate-action reply! :)
I'm surprised that Air should have the largest number of wild talents, but you're right, it does. I suppose I had that wrong impression because almost none of the Air talents struck me as memorable compared to what the other elements get in the early levels. Earth gets entangling and bowling, Fire gets burning and an AoE, Water gets entangling and slick -- all gameplay-definingly useful and fun options. Meanwhile, Air gets gusting, pushing, and thundering, none of which strike me as useful on a regular basis. Did your playtesting prove otherwise?
As for the homebrews: I suppose I'm underestimating the Shaken condition, then. I would have figured it was less debilitating than Entangled or Prone. Is it the penalty to saves? Would you find a 2nd-level rating appropriate if the drawback were merely a –2 to attacks for one round?
I'll ask my GM about Buffeting Infusion, then. :)
Thanks for sharing your expertise and wisdom!
It all depends; for water, you were looking at utility as well as infusions, so for air, I'd say air's reach is a low-level keystone that's truly defining for the element. Getting 60 feet instead of 30 without using an infusion proved to be extremely useful in playtests, as there's a lot of times that things are beyond 30 feet but much fewer that they're beyond 60 feet. If you are on a flipmat or map that fits on one (fairly likely in published adventures), even in an open field where the whole map is used for one fight, you can shoot at a high percent of the area. Having a twice as long torrent later on can also be pretty fun, or using extreme range to hit enemies from far beyond where they can retaliate, and even later, it means you can ride the blast twice as far. I'd say air's reach is an option that is relevant right away and remains relevant throughout your career. One of my aspects of the playtest and then beyond was when several posters would debate which element was "best," each using solid and cogent arguments to defend their champion but unable to reach a conclusion; a situation like that is my #1 goal of good game design (to give an example of something that fails this, the fact that scale mail is one of our core armors and is exactly the same as breastplate in all other ways but a few gp, down to weight, but 1 lower AC); anyway, those who champion air use air's reach quite a bit in their analyses, so it seems an agreed-upon keystone from my data (and I intended it as such).
As for shaken, it's a combination of the saving throw penalty, the way fear stacks (combine with any other fear source and frightened), and the amount of widgets that have built up over time around the condition. I agree that prone can be worse, but tripping is usually harder to land and doesn't work on fliers. Fort save vs -2 on attack rolls seems pretty in line for something for lightning at 2nd, yeah. Honestly, though, I prefer to have more flavorful infusions like gusting available than more of them that are just number-alterations like the two you mentioned. Being able to take out cloud spells (even the mighty cloudkill or annoying stinking cloud) without even slowing down your normal attack routine might not come up every game, but it's enormously useful when it does. It also makes it feel more like a master of the element to me than a numerical penalty does (not to say I didn't use them, but I tried to limit them for that reason). It's an interesting thing about game design for Pathfinder that since crunching the math is easier to measure than the qualitative benefits of non-math abilities, first-look optimization tends to gravitate towards them more.
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Hi Mark,
thanks again for the insights!
I hadn't thought about Air's Reach that much since I assumed I had to take Extended Range anyway. But you're right: Distances larger than 30' come up very often (as anyone knows who's ever tried to Haste the entire party while being last in initiative), whereas distances larger than 60' are rather rare. And while I don't have experience with 30' lines, I can well imagine that it's hard to catch more than two enemies in one, especially if you want to maintain a healthy distance to them. A 60' line must be a big relief in that respect.
As for Shaken, I didn't expect it would stack up to Frightened (being from the same source and all), but it's true that a lot of other class abilities and feats work off of Shaken. My intention was also for it to be a bodily rather than emotional effect, so that was a bad choice to begin with.
As for preferring numerical bonuses over narrative ones: I think the underlying problem is just that numerical bonuses have well-defined situations in which they apply, and they come into play often and in a tangible manner. More narrative effects like Gust of Wind depend a lot on the GM's interpretion and are typically more situational. A friendly GM might also be willing to allow making narrative use of effects with numerical benefits, whereas the inverse (turning fluff into crunch) is much trickier.
That said, though, I do think that Electric blasts having a shocking effect and Air blasts having a buffeting effect make a lot of narrative sense, too... How would you feel about a Shocking Infusion whose effect is to turn the damage non-lethal? Would that be appropriate for Level 1, 1 Burn? I can certainly see applications for that.
In any case, I feel much better about choosing Air now. Flight and Chain are certainly worthy capstones, and I can see how Air's Reach and Torrent can work to pad out the space between them. My impression of Air as a boring element might have stemmed from the time when Torrent wasn't yet errata'd to work with Electric. As it stands, Air/Electric actually gets its AoE two levels earlier than, say, an Earth/Fire, since it doesn't need to sacrifice its 7th-level wild talent.
I will probably play a Halfling Air/Electric Overwhelming Soul for Hell's Rebels, then, and keep an Earth/Metal or Earth/Fire Con-based build in the back of my head for another game.
Thanks again for your help! :)
(By the way: When is that book with Kineticist-related material you were working on due to be published? Meesa want!)
The FAQ page says it was updated today but I don't know what today's FAQ is.
The FAQ page says it was updated today but I don't know what today's FAQ is.
The update was from the awesome folks at the community team getting in the change for the drawing weapon FAQ. Today's FAQ, while it'll be up soon, isn't up yet. Here's a random question from me: Does anyone know off the top of their heads which FAQs have either been included in errata or now say something confusing with respect to a later errata doc? I'm hoping to eventually pulls those out, the latter especially.
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Abilities that work “as a spell”: How do I calculate the DC of an ability that says it works as or like a particular spell?
Some abilities that work as a spell tell you what their DC is, like the bard’s fascinate performance. An ability that doesn’t tell you anything about its DC has a DC of 10 + the spell level + the key spellcasting ability score of the class that granted it (or Charisma otherwise). In the case of a spell with multiple spell levels, use the spell level from the class that granted the ability if that class has the spell on its spell list, and otherwise use the spell level that’s most appropriate (usually sorcerer/wizard for an arcane ability, cleric for a divine ability, and psychic for a psychic ability).
Also, we managed to get in an extra that floated in from off-queue (it had numerous, literally over a dozen before I stopped looking and probably two or three dozen, threads about it but somehow all with extremely low or no FAQ clicks) due to felicity, so since it's from off-queue, adding that in for a twofer, especially since there might not be one next week with me at Owlcon.
Oracle Bones Mystery: What exactly does the raise the dead revelation mean when it says you can summon a skeleton or zombie to serve you? Do I need a corpse? If not, can I just summon whatever I want, like a tarrasque fast zombie?
The raise the dead doesn’t require a corpse; you summon the creature (rising up out of the earth is a potential visual for this effect). You summon the base creature from the Bestiary in either case (human skeleton or human zombie) aside from the modifications from the revelation (adding extra HD, fast or bloody, and the advanced template). At the GM’s discretion, an oracle with a noticeably different body or bone structure might summon skeletons and zombies with this ability that look cosmetically more similar to the oracle than to a human, but this doesn’t affect their game mechanics.
(By the way: When is that book with Kineticist-related material you were working on due to be published? Meesa want!)
It's not going to get more content than other classes do or anything, so don't expect more than a page to a two-page spread, but I'm trying to keep it around that much in any book where we can. Now, keep in mind that as a Designer, I work on the RPG line, so that's the line I'm talking about.
Here's a random question from me: Does anyone know off the top of their heads which FAQs have either been included in errata or now say something confusing with respect to a later errata doc? I'm hoping to eventually pulls those out, the latter especially.
I know the titan mauler FAQ is outdated after the errata made the class able to do what the FAQ says it specifically is not intended to do.
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Hey Mark!
Question concerning incorporeality.
A PC has Gray Goo inside him; the PC activates his Spectral Shroud to become incorporeal.
Is the Gray Goo- inside the PC- also incorporeal?
And, how about the gear? If the sword the PC has is ghost-touched, he may use it against corporeal enemies, correct? Otherwise, no ghost touch means no attacking with that weapon?
Hello Mark,
Have you had anything particularly interesting or fun happen in any of your games lately?
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Hey Mark, got a bit of an odd one concerning natural attacks.
I'm playing a Draconic bloodline Bloodrager, and intend to go into Dragon Disciple at level 6. At level 7, I will gain a bite attack from the PrC.
I've been debating some feat choices, and one that appeals to me is Eldritch Heritage (Serpentine) to gain the 1d4 damage + 1 Con damage bite attack. Let's say I have this up and running by 7 as well.
So, can I now in a full-attack action (in addition to my claws):
a) take 2 bite attacks, one from the Dragon Disciple and my Serpentine as well.
b) choose one or the other.
c) take the Dragon Disciple bite attack for the superior damage (1d6+1.5 * STR/Power Attack), but also add the poison.
d) Some other thing I haven't considered.
Thank you for your time.
P.S. I am aware that my usages of the Serpentine bite will be a limited uses/day and require swift actions to be used in a given round.
Hey, Mark, here's my Q: why was the UnMonk made so that it relied on unarmed strikes?
Style Strikes + Ki Pool only granting an unarmed strike are the big offenders in making the class unarmed-dependent. Several Ki Powers are unarmed exclusive as well.
Ascetic Style helps but it's a little bit sad you have to give up your Style feats just to use weapons effectively.
Hey Mark!
Question concerning incorporeality.
A PC has Gray Goo inside him; the PC activates his Spectral Shroud to become incorporeal.
Is the Gray Goo- inside the PC- also incorporeal?
And, how about the gear? If the sword the PC has is ghost-touched, he may use it against corporeal enemies, correct? Otherwise, no ghost touch means no attacking with that weapon?
There's not really good rules in general for swallow whole, infestations, or anything with a creature inside of another when the exterior creature does something weird like teleportation magic or turning incorporeal. Presumably, these wouldn't automatically expel the interior creature (particularly for an infestation) but also probably shouldn't allow a caster to overload the limit on the spells in question (for instance, swallowing a bunch of fellow PCs to bring more people along on a teleport. I'd say that the cleanest ruling would be that the exterior creature can only do "weird stuff" if the effect would also be able to cover the interior creature as a good general ruling, but you might need to adjust it a bit for specifics.
You're right about gear; only ghost touch weapons will still work while incorporeal (armor too).
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Hello Mark,
Have you had anything particularly interesting or fun happen in any of your games lately?
Yes; my (heavily modified) Jade Regent game just finished their second-to-last session ever on Saturday. They defeated a Shen and gained amazing powers they're about to fling against the BBEGs. No more details because it would involve spoilers for Jade Regent (whereas clearly a Bestiary 5 monster was not in the original AP). Go team!
Hey Mark, got a bit of an odd one concerning natural attacks.
I'm playing a Draconic bloodline Bloodrager, and intend to go into Dragon Disciple at level 6. At level 7, I will gain a bite attack from the PrC.
I've been debating some feat choices, and one that appeals to me is Eldritch Heritage (Serpentine) to gain the 1d4 damage + 1 Con damage bite attack. Let's say I have this up and running by 7 as well.
So, can I now in a full-attack action (in addition to my claws):
a) take 2 bite attacks, one from the Dragon Disciple and my Serpentine as well.
b) choose one or the other.
c) take the Dragon Disciple bite attack for the superior damage (1d6+1.5 * STR/Power Attack), but also add the poison.
d) Some other thing I haven't considered.
Thank you for your time.
P.S. I am aware that my usages of the Serpentine bite will be a limited uses/day and require swift actions to be used in a given round.
It seems like it would be (b). It looks like serpentine bloodline doesn't have any text for creatures who already had a bite going into the bloodline.
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Hey, Mark, here's my Q: why was the UnMonk made so that it relied on unarmed strikes?
Style Strikes + Ki Pool only granting an unarmed strike are the big offenders in making the class unarmed-dependent. Several Ki Powers are unarmed exclusive as well.
Ascetic Style helps but it's a little bit sad you have to give up your Style feats just to use weapons effectively.
I'd rather not see a debate in this thread, and this seems a rather loaded question, but that being said, I'll answer the question this time and see what happens.
Interestingly, there have also been a fair number of posts about weapon monks being buffed too much by Unchained monk (they get 1.5x Strength damage now in flurry), and really weapon monks were pretty much just better than unarmed pre-Unchained (temple sword, for instance), which wasn't a good state of affairs (imo, it's best to shoot for advantages for each one but err on the side of unarmed because there's plenty of other classes that are good at weapons, so having weapons eclipse unarmed for monk is way more of a problem than the reverse).
Overall, Unchained monk buffed both weapon and unarmed from the basic monk in different ways. Weapon monk is still doing better damage, and the coolest part of the two rules points you discussed is that the weapon monk has good reason to mix in a few unarmed moves through his routine, which is refreshing considering the way specialization in a single weapon leads to never seeing those kinds of mixed routines in Pathfinder like you do in movies and other media.
Even if you make unarmed strikes every once in a while and equal or underspend compared to the all-unarmed monk (frex, If you have 36k, armed can have a +4 monk weapon and a +1-equivalent AoMF for 36k, but the unarmed monk has to spend 36k for the +3 AoMF alone and can't afford +4 anything, so the armed monk making one unarmed attack is +1 enhancement on all attacks but 1 and -2 on the one unarmed attack), you're still doing better damage (1.5x Strength, better accuracy, and better crits eclipse the increasing damage dice on the unarmed strikes). Unarmed strikes can make up some of the damage with Dragon Style chain, but the armed monk can then put those feats somewhere else (incidentally, if attempting to maintain balance and options to select between both armed and unarmed monks, I wouldn't recommend using Ascetic Style because then the armed monk takes it while the unarmed monk takes the Dragon Style chain, and the armed Ascetic Style monk then becomes vastly strictly better than the unarmed Dragon Style monk in every category, including future content that attempts to help the poor unarmed monk).
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Sneak Attack Questions
1. If a Rogue is a Knifemaster and then takes levels in Snakebite Striker Brawler, Arcane Trickster, Master Spy, or whatever else grants sneak attack, do the d6's for the new class stay d6's or do they follow the Knifemaster d8/d4 progression? (This question comes up a lot. I think it's d8/d4 since the sneak stab ability just changes the sneak dice totally, but I'd like your opinion on it.)
2. Does the Knifemaster Sneak Stab with Sneak Attack count as d6 sneak attack for prerequisites for prestige classes or feats? (I think this is a pretty clear cut yes since you don't give up your sneak attack feature, but thought it was still a fair question to ask)
3. If an Unchained Rogue takes the Arcane Trickster prestige class (Or Snakebite Striker Brawler or others that grant sneak attack), do the levels in the new class bypass concealment like the Unchained Rogue or do they work like a Core Rogue's sneak attack where it doesn't work with concealment. (This is from a recent thread that came up. :p)
Thanks in advance!
for 1 and 3 I can tell you that if anything works for sneak attack it applies to all sneak attack you have. So knifemaster works for other classes sneak attack and if you have the ability to SA from concealment it effects all sneak attacks.
Mark - The Skald's Raging Song ability says:
"When the skald begins a raging song and then on each ally's turn, if the ally can hear the raging song, that ally must decide whether to accept or refuse its effects. This is not an action. Unconscious allies automatically accept the song. If accepted, the raging song's effects on that ally last for that ally's turn or until the song ends, whichever comes first."
That makes it sound like your ally would only gain the benefits and penalties of Inspired Rage during his or her turn. That seems pretty weird since:
#1 - it would let you (the ally) gain attack bonuses during your turn without suffering an AC penalty during the turns of enemies who might attack you
#2 - You'd lose the Con bonus in between turns, likely leading to allies who pop in and out of consciousness since unconscious allies can't refuse the raging song.
#3 - A lot of the available rage powers wouldn't work very well when shared
#4 - It would be pretty weird if the song ended during the ally's turn. I mean, it could happen, but it would be kind of odd (maybe the ally cast Silence?)
I'm guessing and hoping that the decision to accept the song should grant an ally the benefits and penalties of the song until the same decision is made on that ally's next turn (or the song ends). What do you think?
Mr. Mark Seifter,
What would you suggest as a good capstone ability if one was to import the 3.5 Pact Binder into pathfinder?
Also, are there any vestiges that you would reflavor, beside removing references to specific deities?
Hey, Mark, here's my Q: why was the UnMonk made so that it relied on unarmed strikes?
Style Strikes + Ki Pool only granting an unarmed strike are the big offenders in making the class unarmed-dependent. Several Ki Powers are unarmed exclusive as well.
Ascetic Style helps but it's a little bit sad you have to give up your Style feats just to use weapons effectively.
I'd rather not see a debate in this thread, and this seems a rather loaded question, but that being said, I'll answer the question this time and see what happens.
Interestingly, there have also been a fair number of posts about weapon monks being buffed too much by Unchained monk (they get 1.5x Strength damage now in flurry), and really weapon monks were pretty much just better than unarmed pre-Unchained (temple sword, for instance), which wasn't a good state of affairs (imo, it's best to shoot for advantages for each one but err on the side of unarmed because there's plenty of other classes that are good at weapons, so having weapons eclipse unarmed for monk is way more of a problem than the reverse).
Overall, Unchained monk buffed both weapon and unarmed from the basic monk in different ways. Weapon monk is still doing better damage, and the coolest part of the two rules points you discussed is that the weapon monk has good reason to mix in a few unarmed moves through his routine, which is refreshing considering the way specialization in a single weapon leads to never seeing those kinds of mixed routines in Pathfinder like you do in movies and other media.
Even if you make unarmed strikes every once in a while and equal or underspend compared to the all-unarmed monk (frex, If you have 36k, armed can have a +4 monk weapon and a +1-equivalent AoMF for 36k, but the unarmed monk has to spend 36k for the +3 AoMF alone and can't afford +4 anything, so the armed monk making one unarmed attack is +1 enhancement on all attacks but 1 and -2 on the one unarmed attack), you're still doing better damage...
Thanks for the answer! It wasn't really a loaded question - I was honestly curious on the design choice.
What I found interesting is that, historically, the Monk has been GP-gated to spend on ki focus/ki intensifying to make unarmed strikes more appealing, but still having the option to do so, and I feel like there's no such elegant solution right now.
Bodywrap of Mighty Strikes is somewhat cheaper than an Amulet of Mighty Fists for the weapon build, but combining with the fact that weapon builds are encouraged to pick ki focus as well, I feel that the style ends up making a magic-item reliant class much more so.
That being said, if this was the objective, I can see where it's coming from. I have been very satisfied with the Unchained Monk in most regards otherwise.
Hey Mark!
My friend and I are trying to make Rick and Morty for Pathfinder Society. (He's playing Rick, an alchemist, and I'm playing Morty.) We're playing it up as "this dimension's Rick and Morty," so I have a lot of freedom class-wise. The problem is that I'm hitting a brick wall option wise.
I want monsters to punch me in my soft, Morty face.
I've been looking at various feats and abilities that give monsters incentives to punch Morty in the face. So far I've got Wounded Paw Gambit (and its upgraded form, Broken Wing Gambit) as well as the Antagonize feat. Can you think of any other feats or abilities that give my enemies incentive to punch me in the face?
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I don't get why people are so worried about enchanting monks. If anything, they should be compared to two-weapon fighters, and they have it much easier there. A permanent Magic Fang on the Monk is 2500 gp, that's pretty much the price of a single magic weapon. Adding a special ability is 4000 gp (for the Amulet of Mighty Fists), whereas it would be +6000 gp for a weapon. Agile is a particularly awesome choice for Monks. If you want a higher enhancement bonus, you can get a permanent Greater Magic Fang for 7500 gp. Sure, it could potentially get dispelled, but when is the last time you've seen a Monk get dispelled? Presumably there's more tempting targets in your party for such things. Even then, the risk isn't that much greater than having your precious magic weapon get sundered by a giant. If you're that worried, you could just buy your Cleric a Pearl of Power III and have them cast Greater Magic Weapon on you once per day. In any case, getting to pay for enhancement bonuses and special abilities on two separate tracks is a huge money-saver.
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I think Mark wanted to avoid rather than engender a Monk debate. In the interest of hypocrisy I'll add to the derail by saying I think the choice to encourage even weapon based Unchained Monks to mix in unarmed strikes seems like a fun one.
I've enjoyed the fact that Vicious Stomp and Enforcer make it useful for one of my current PCs to mix unarmed strikes into the action even though he generally wields a heavy flail. Having more reasons to punch, kick, and slap enemies might help combat feel a little more dynamic.
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Hi Mark,
has there ever been an official ruling on whether the Gnome's Pyromaniac and the Dwarf's Stonesinger alternate racial features work with Pyro- and Geokineticism, respectively?
Cheers!
By their wording, it seems that they wouldn't work, since they aren't any of the things on the list. From story thematic perspective, something like that would seem to make sense, but that particular benefit would have fairly chaotic and sometimes overpowered effects on the class's math, so it would probably be better to come up with an alternative benefit for kineticists using elementally focused racial options (frex, maybe something like +1 vs SR with fire wild talents and on saves against fire for gnomes, since they're replacing gnome magic and illusion resistance).
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Sneak Attack Questions
1. If a Rogue is a Knifemaster and then takes levels in Snakebite Striker Brawler, Arcane Trickster, Master Spy, or whatever else grants sneak attack, do the d6's for the new class stay d6's or do they follow the Knifemaster d8/d4 progression? (This question comes up a lot. I think it's d8/d4 since the sneak stab ability just changes the sneak dice totally, but I'd like your opinion on it.)
2. Does the Knifemaster Sneak Stab with Sneak Attack count as d6 sneak attack for prerequisites for prestige classes or feats? (I think this is a pretty clear cut yes since you don't give up your sneak attack feature, but thought it was still a fair question to ask)
3. If an Unchained Rogue takes the Arcane Trickster prestige class (Or Snakebite Striker Brawler or others that grant sneak attack), do the levels in the new class bypass concealment like the Unchained Rogue or do they work like a Core Rogue's sneak attack where it doesn't work with concealment. (This is from a recent thread that came up. :p)
Thanks in advance!
For (2), I agree that it should work, though probably not by extremely strict RAW of the way the prereq is phrased.
For the others, I like Chess Pwn's answer below your post, but I'm not sure it's clear-cut in that direction for PFS (Unchained overall invites GMs and players to mod things for their own groups, so in other groups it won't matter as much). One thing's for sure, though, I think, and I'll take it from the perspective of the gaming group / GM modding in Unchained rogues: You have two main options:
1) Do as Chess Pwn suggests and just say that once you go Unchained sneak attack, you have that for all classes. The consequences here are that Unchained rogue 1 dip onto another class with sneak attack progression grants a boost, and also that since you're using Unchained rogue sneak attack, you definitely have to play by the rules on it (so no trying to use the other classes to weasel in those asterisk * rogue talents that were removed for the Unchained rogue due to being freebies folded into debilitating injury, such as offensive defense, and trying to double-dip the penalties). This becomes tricky when the multiclass character takes Unchained rogue later in her career, though. The build adjudication is trickier overall. In a home game, though, you can adjudicate it more easily just by saying "Hey, Bob, just don't take anything that doesn't work with Unchained rogue if that's going to show up later in your build," but in PFS, that's dicier.
2) Separate out the two sneak attack progressions as Unchained and chained. This would mean that some but not all is lost in concealment for a multiclassed character, and it would mean that the multiclassed character could take, for instance, offensive defense, though then offensive defense would apply a penalty based only on the dice from the chained sneak attack. This answer is less elegant and requires more work to figure out the math during play, but it's easier to adjudicate the character during the build, especially if the levels are interlaced weirdly or among a variety of different classes.
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Mark - The Skald's Raging Song ability says:
"When the skald begins a raging song and then on each ally's turn, if the ally can hear the raging song, that ally must decide whether to accept or refuse its effects. This is not an action. Unconscious allies automatically accept the song. If accepted, the raging song's effects on that ally last for that ally's turn or until the song ends, whichever comes first."That makes it sound like your ally would only gain the benefits and penalties of Inspired Rage during his or her turn. That seems pretty weird since:
#1 - it would let you (the ally) gain attack bonuses during your turn without suffering an AC penalty during the turns of enemies who might attack you
#2 - You'd lose the Con bonus in between turns, likely leading to allies who pop in and out of consciousness since unconscious allies can't refuse the raging song.
#3 - A lot of the available rage powers wouldn't work very well when shared
#4 - It would be pretty weird if the song ended during the ally's turn. I mean, it could happen, but it would be kind of odd (maybe the ally cast Silence?)I'm guessing and hoping that the decision to accept the song should grant an ally the benefits and penalties of the song until the same decision is made on that ally's next turn (or the song ends). What do you think?
Good catch! It seems like it should say that it lasts until the ally chooses to not accept the effects at the start of a turn or until the song ends, whichever comes first, rather than using the more awkward wording it has. For all the reasons you stated, I would explain it to players that way.
Mr. Mark Seifter,
What would you suggest as a good capstone ability if one was to import the 3.5 Pact Binder into pathfinder?
Also, are there any vestiges that you would reflavor, beside removing references to specific deities?
There's an old WotC website article with some epic vestiges in it, so you could consider granting one of the weaker of those as a capstone, though it may prove too strong, so perhaps tone one down a little (I don't really remember how strong they were because I built my own epic vestiges for my campaign world based on using them as templates; the dead goddess of peace and joy and the first ruler of a devil-binding empire who exited reality as a loophole to escape a contract with Asmodeus himself). You could probably just make small flavor changes in Pathfinder for all of them, but if you mean Golarion in particular, you would probably be looking at some replacements for similar entities in the world lore.
Hey Mark,
Shooting this to you as I want some rules/homebrew advice.
I have a thing for Angelic heroes. Love the Paladin... Love the Aasimar... Love all of it... Save for the Empyreal Knight archetype...
That one is just bad.
Anyway... So I want to make a PrC based around the concept of a Paladin (must have the Divine Bond with a weapon class feature) who does the whole divine bond by calling the spirit into their body.
Unfortunately it feels kinda like I'm just letting them cast Angelic Aspect.
So what do you think the game effects would be of physically bonding with a Celestial spirit?
So the idea is a PrC about bonding with a celestial spirit called in through a divine bond weapon to become an amalgam of yourself and the spirit? This sounds like it could be a medium archetype, so based on that instinct, you could consider something similar to the medium's abilities as a place to start. Another possibility is to riff off of a spiritualist with the phantom in her head and using ectoplasmic manifestation (but with celestial instead of ectoplasmic stuff) and then potentially grant bonuses to the weapon based on the spirit like the spirit-bound blade spell.
[Bodywrap of Mighty Strikes is somewhat cheaper than an Amulet of Mighty Fists for the weapon build, but combining with the fact that weapon builds are encouraged to pick ki focus as well, I feel that the style ends up making a magic-item reliant class much more so.
That being said, if this was the objective, I can see where it's coming from. I have been very satisfied with the Unchained Monk in most regards otherwise.
Oh, that's really smart! I totally blanked on the bodywrap, but it saves you a bunch of gold over time, and you're right that it's perfect for this situation.
Hey Mark!
My friend and I are trying to make Rick and Morty for Pathfinder Society. (He's playing Rick, an alchemist, and I'm playing Morty.) We're playing it up as "this dimension's Rick and Morty," so I have a lot of freedom class-wise. The problem is that I'm hitting a brick wall option wise.
I want monsters to punch me in my soft, Morty face.
I've been looking at various feats and abilities that give monsters incentives to punch Morty in the face. So far I've got Wounded Paw Gambit (and its upgraded form, Broken Wing Gambit) as well as the Antagonize feat. Can you think of any other feats or abilities that give my enemies incentive to punch me in the face?
Sacred shield paladin comes to mind. Half damage to anyone but you until they get rid of you, and you're providing an enormous AC bonus to everyone else adjacent too.
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How did you and Linda enjoy OwlCon? How did your games go?
Owlcon was a lot of fun. We got to meet a bunch of great players and GMs and run some cool games, plus Chris from Owlcon was a great handler, always keeping us fed and getting us to the right places. I'm sure I'll post about it in more detail later, too, including the juicy teasers about Ultimate Intrigue I revealed (I didn't know that I was going to get to do so because I'm usually ultra-conservative about that kind of thing, but Jason had a meeting with me beforehand and said to reveal plenty of stuff about Intrigue, but not much about Horror, and not mention anything about <redacted Fall book>).
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Hello Mark!
Is it the intention of the juggler bard to only ever be able to hold two weapons and still be able to cast spells, or should that number progress at the same rate as the maximum?
As written, a level 18 bard can juggle 7 items and use any of them without penalty, however, he can only hold 2 and be considered to have a hand free for spells; same as a level 2 bard.
At 2nd level, a juggler can hold and wield (in other words, “juggle”) up to three items or weapons in his hands. The juggler must be able to hold and wield an object in one hand in order to juggle it.
This ability doesn't grant the juggler additional attacks, though it does allow him to use different weapons as part of a full attack. As long as he is juggling fewer than three objects, the juggler is considered to have a free hand (for the purposes of drawing a weapon, using somatic components, using Deflect Arrows, and so on). At 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter, the maximum number of objects the juggler can juggle increases by one, to a maximum of seven objects at 18th level.
If the juggler is affected by any action or condition that would require a concentration check while he is juggling, he must attempt a Sleight of Hand check to continue juggling and avoid losing concentration. The check's DC is the same as a concentration check, treating the spell level as twice the number of objects being juggled.
If the juggler fails his Sleight of Hand check, he drops all juggled objects but one, determined randomly.
This ability replaces versatile performance.
I can't speak to intent; it's not from the RPG line (it's from Player Companion: Ranged Tactics Toolbox). I agree with you that as written, they can only juggle two things and cast.
Mr. Mark Seifter,
What would a mythic demigod Pact Binder look like to you? Now, of course mechanically I know what it would take, but I am wondering about the flavor and what not in your estimation.
Mr. Mark Seifter,
What would a mythic demigod Pact Binder look like to you? Now, of course mechanically I know what it would take, but I am wondering about the flavor and what not in your estimation.
Honestly, it seems a little strange for a demigod to get its power from being a vestige binder, since it's a demigod, which are usually pretty high up on the totem pole compared to vestiges, so I'm not sure. I did have a half-celestial epic level villain with 1 binder level in 3.5 though (epic vestiges had required that didn't include binder level, so it was a worthwhile dip for a cerebromancer; he also had a little bit of incarnum too, so all the things). He was basically a mad idealist who wanted to remake a better world and reincarnate everyone in it. He succeeded in his plan pretty much 100% thanks to one of the players insisting that we include an overpowered spell (celerity) for his bard to use.
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I've put up some details about Owlcon and a summary of my revelations there about Intrigue on my game designer Facebook page. Go go Intrigue!
@Mark - Thanks for the confirmation on the Skald's Raging Song.
@Mark - Thanks for the confirmation on the Skald's Raging Song.
NP. Due to the confusing wording, the other interpretation is also certainly valid, but you expressed exactly why I think it's not the best one to use.