Silent and Still Spell; the classic way of messing with people's heads. Until today I wasn't even aware that there were those who thought that characters could somehow sense a wizard casting spells without any casting components.
Combat Reflexes and Improved Trip; how to stop people moving past you. Yes, you can trip as an AoO.
Improved Overrun + Spiked Destroyer + Charge Through; knock an enemy down, deal some damage to them and charge another enemy, all in the same round. You can spend even more feats to add an unarmed attack via Vicious Stomp, but that's arguably overspecialised.
Inexplicable Luck + any crafting feat; since you're likely not doing anything else that day the 1/day limitation of Inexplicable Luck isn't a problem and you can reliably add +8 to your crafting check.
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Silent and Still Spell; the classic way of messing with people's heads. Until today I wasn't even aware that there were those who thought that characters could somehow sense a wizard casting spells without any casting components.Yup. There is always a visual component in Pathfinder/D&D magic. Glowing runes, flashing lights, etc. No such thing as stealth casting.
A point of view I hadn't read or heard before today, certainly not in the rulebooks or fiction. The claim seems to rest on an oversight under the spellcraft skill which seems a thin thread to base it on.
also trying to do it a second time (even if you failed the first time) is harder since the DC to intimidate goes up by 5 for each time you've done it before.
My take on the Intimidate build was as a Titan Fighter with an Impacting Large Greatsword with Hurtful, Intimidating Prowess, Cornugon Smash, and Vital Strike.
Add in the Fiery Glare trait and you can always take 10 with Intimidate.
Dazzling display into Shatter Defenses means anyone you hit will be easier to hit next time. Also gives incidental battlefield control as a fighter.
The end result was 8d6 + additive + free intimidate, then another attack for an addition 4d6 + additive.
And by taking 10 she always got 37. 42 if she used a better potion than just Gravely Tonic.
To resist a 37 a level 20 creature would need a wisdom score of 24, a little less depending on its size. A 42 is just that much harder.
Sadly this was a PFS character and Hurtful got banned, really hurting her DPR. Oh well, fun while it lasted.
If you're okay with being evil and selling your soul, add Soulless Gaze with another damnation feat and eventually send them running off as well.
For fighters another nifty option (since they get lots of feats anyway) is the half orc feats that work with cleave (suprise follow through). Cleave, cornugon smash, free hit for those time where ypu got more than one opponent....
I wonder how this would work on a.sulking slayer rogue....
You would need
Power attack
Cornugon smash
Cleave
Greater cleave
Vital strike chain.
Sulking slayer can grab the suprise follow through chain as rogue talents. With unchained you get the intimidate skill unlock which gets nasty fast.
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I'll toss in Butterfly's Sting and Quick Draw. You begin your attack sequence with a 15-20 critical hit range weapon; if you "catch" a crit, you drop the weapon and draw a weapon with a 4x critical hit modifier to deliver the critical hit (you are considered to be your own ally in Pathfinder). Best used with classes that provide good "general" to-hit boosts as opposed to bonuses affecting a single weapon or type (like Weapon Focus).
How about the Hunter class with the following combination:
Combat Expertise (feat tax)
Outflank
Pack Flanking
Paired Opportunists
Broken Wing Gambit
Combat Reflexes for more AOOs, Power Attack for damage, season with additional teamwork feats to taste.
As long as both you and your Animal Companion threaten the same target you're Flanking and get a +4 to hit bonus. So does your Animal Companion.
If you take a penalty to your Armor Class both your Animal Companion and character get full-BAB AOOs with +8 to hit (Flanking, Outflank, Paired Opportunists) against the attacker. Having a 2-handed weapon and a big single-natural-attack AC make it even nastier. With Hunter bonus teamwork feats you can get the whole thing done at about level 6.
You can grab a feat to add str to Intimidate... and we have shown you can REALLY ramp up str... lets see...
Half Orc mutagenic fighter
Get EH (orc)
EH orc will give you +12 to str by itself (+6 inherent, +6 size). Since the orc doesnt count as a polymorph effect, you can use use your mutagen for more str....
Skill focus for intimidate.
I forgot the feat to use str for intimidate
And all of this also ramps ypue damage...
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This is probably nothing you all haven't seen before, but I thought of them on my own so I'm kind of proud of them.
1) Improved Bull Rush on any high-STR build. Unlike Improved Trip, which requires COmbat Expertise (don't get me started), Imp. Bull Rush only requires Power Attack-- a feat you already wanted to take anyway. Bull rushing itself may not seem like the most powerful option, but most people never even attempt it because of the AoO. Once you have the Improved feat, you start seeing all sorts of applications for it.
2) Lookout granted to a mount or AC. Cavaliers can benefit especially from this; normally Lookout is a useless choice because Tactician can't grant it to allies soon enough for it to be of any use. But once you get your mount's Int up to 3, the mount can take the feat, and as long as you're in the saddle, you effectively get to roll twice on Perception checks and take the better result. Any other class with an AC can do this trick as well, but they tend to be WIS-based casters who don't really need it.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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1) Improved Bull Rush on any high-STR build. Unlike Improved Trip, which requires COmbat Expertise (don't get me started), Imp. Bull Rush only requires Power Attack-- a feat you already wanted to take anyway. Bull rushing itself may not seem like the most powerful option, but most people never even attempt it because of the AoO. Once you have the Improved feat, you start seeing all sorts of applications for it.
Fun bit of trivia:
Reposition won't let you move someone onto a hazardous space (like lava or a pit). Just flat-out can't do it.
Grapple will let you try (as part of the "move" option on a successful maintain check), but they get a free escape attempt to save themselves.
But bull rush? No special limiters to it. Line 'em up and send 'em over the edge.
Reposition won't let you move someone onto a hazardous space (like lava or a pit). Just flat-out can't do it.
That's why Reposition is so bad.
It's great for pulling allies out of bad places. Not so great for enemies.
Woah, indeed. Never thinked about it.
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This is less of a feat combination, more so just a cool feat trick. The Escape Route teamwork feat is a nifty feat when used with anyone who takes the Valet familiar, effectively granting both you and your familiar a decent amount of safe movement, which is useful for a spellcaster attempting to withdraw out of melee but still wanting to cast spells. Even better if you can get away with it counting when your familiar is on your person or in a bag! Also nifty for letting your familiar be touched focused, as normally tiny creatures provoke as they have to move into an enemy's square.
Cleave never says your second attack has to be made with the first weapon. Nor does greater cleave.
Benefit: As a standard action, you can make a single attack at your full base attack bonus against a foe within reach. If you hit, you deal damage normally and can make an additional attack (using your full base attack bonus) against a foe that is adjacent to the first and also within reach. You can only make one additional attack per round with this feat. When you use this feat, you take a –2 penalty to your Armor Class until your next turn.
Take power attack, cleave and catch off guard.
Get cleave and catch off guard. Also use a reach weapon. I know this probably doesnt work as writen. Use your reach to hit the guy 10 feet away and then cleave to the guy 5 feet away and bludgeon him with your "improvised" weapon, the haft of your weapon
This is a thread simply to be something new and different.
The idea here is to post some of your favorite Feat Combinations those little known tricks of the trade that most people miss that you think have some extra value.
I'll go first:
Martial Melee Mayhem!
Start by taking Power Attack!
Next go for Hurtful!
At level 6, if you have been pumping Intimidation every level it qualifies you for Cornugun Smash!
Blade of Mercy trait, Enforcer feat, and you can get this party rolling at level 1 as a Human Fighter (or better, Gendarme Cavalier).
My wife's been having a lot of success with Felling Smash + Greater Trip. Hit with a standard action Power Attack (so you can use it with Vital Strike too), and you get a trip attempt as a swift action. If that works, Greater Trip makes them provoke another attack from you.
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My wife's been having a lot of success with Felling Smash + Greater Trip. Hit with a standard action Power Attack (so you can use it with Vital Strike too), and you get a trip attempt as a swift action. If that works, Greater Trip makes them provoke another attack from you.
My unchained monk does something similar with the leg sweep style strike and viscous stomp. The benefit is that this is part of a flurry of blows, so i can make the rest of my full attack against my prone opponent after my aoo from stomp.
This is less of a feat combination, more so just a cool feat trick. The Escape Route teamwork feat is a nifty feat when used with anyone who takes the Valet familiar, effectively granting both you and your familiar a decent amount of safe movement, which is useful for a spellcaster attempting to withdraw out of melee but still wanting to cast spells. Even better if you can get away with it counting when your familiar is on your person or in a bag! Also nifty for letting your familiar be touched focused, as normally tiny creatures provoke as they have to move into an enemy's square.
I like it.
This requires the Master of Many Styles monk and a LOT of feats, but it's still cool.
- Crane Style (all 3 feats)
- Dragon Style (first two feats)
- Tiger Style (first and third feats)
- Power Attack
- Cautious Fighter (or Rod of Balance)
Crane Style will increase the dodge bonus when fighting defensively to +4 (obviously assuming 3+ ranks of Acrobatics) while also reducing the penalty to attack rolls to -1. Cautious fighter (or the rod) increases said AC bonus another two points, for a total of +6 dodge to AC/CMD. Dragon Style and Power Attack together get you twice your Str mod to damage on your first hit and 1.5 times Str mod on the next however many hits. Now, here's the important part: Tiger Pounce lets you apply the penalty from Power Attack to your AC rather than your attack roll. So at level 12, that's a -1 to attack, +2 to AC, and +9 to damage from PA alone. At level 20, the AC bonus and penalty cancel out for a -1 penalty to hit for a +12 bonus to damage. If you're adapating MoMS to the unchained monk, the higher BAB makes it a -1 to hit for a +18 bonus to damage. If you have mythic Power Attack, it's +27 to damage. All that, plus you get to punch someone back the first time they miss you in combat at almost your full, unpenalized attack mod. Hell, toss Combat Reflexes + Snake Style + Snake Fang into the mix and it's potentially THREE such attacks of opportunity per miss against you.
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Pushing assault and lunge- the keep away combo
Push the enemy back with one of your early attacks, and then use lunge so you can finish your full attack. Then take a 5' step back.
A whole lot of enemies will have to move 10' to reach you, which means no full attack. You still get your full attack though, and thus you are doing way more damage. Great for defense while keeping up offense.
Even better when applied to reach builds, since it allows you to get a TON of AoOs, again, and again, and again. You get all of the attacks. Great for keeping up even more offense, which is the best defense.
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Pushing assault and lunge- the keep away combo
Push the enemy back with one of your early attacks, and then use lunge so you can finish your full attack. Then take a 5' step back.
Excellent combination, especially with reach builds that also use something like a spiked gauntlet for 5' range work. Then add in Combat Reflexes (which most builds have anyway) and the Improved Trip line of feats. Gets stronger as iterative attacks are added.
If they get right next to you, PA with the gauntlet, driving them into 10' range. PA again with the reach weapon to drive them back again. Use lunge to try to hit one last time to drive even further away.
When they move towards you, trip 'em with the AOO. If successful, take another AOO to whack 'em again (Greater Trip). On your turn, use PA to scooch their prone butts back out of range, or just beat on their prone selves and let them provoke when they try to stand up again.
You don't particularly even need the gauntlet (plus, that might mess up the handedness of everything- unsure), actually, you just need to switch up the order of actions.
Basically, you take the 5' step back first, and then you can use your reach weapon for the pushing assault/lunging full attack bit.
Same general result.
On another note- lunge is great for reach in general as well- usually, if you attack first, the enemy ends up too close to get AoOs. With lunge, you can attack, and still have them in the sweet spot that is perfect for AoOs when they come at you.
Also, there is the more intended purpose of full attacking a wide area. With lunge, reach, and 5' step, you can full attack anything in a 45' wide circle. Tons of easy full attacks.
Overall, lunge is a great quality of life feat for reach users.
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Yeah, I don't buy it. If you cast with Silent and Still Spell it's a stealthed spell, unless it's obviously casted from your location- like a fireball is streaking from the caster's point of origin, as is magic missile, but a silent and Stilled FEAR spell- there's no way to know who casted that sucker. That's why the caster invests in the feats. That's how I would rule it.A point of view I hadn't read or heard before today, certainly not in the rulebooks or fiction. The claim seems to rest on an oversight under the spellcraft skill which seems a thin thread to base it on.Silent and Still Spell; the classic way of messing with people's heads. Until today I wasn't even aware that there were those who thought that characters could somehow sense a wizard casting spells without any casting components.Yup. There is always a visual component in Pathfinder/D&D magic. Glowing runes, flashing lights, etc. No such thing as stealth casting.
That's a house rule. By RAW, there is still a visual cue that a spell is being cast, even if there is no somatic or verbal component.
This is supported in the art in the book as well.
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People are very concerned with what's official and what is not, what the developers say, and what they don't. I think for myself, and encourage others to do likewise. Logic and reason are more important than what the developers say. D&D has existed in some form or another since 1974, this is just another iteration as far as I'm concerned, one of many, and yes, subject to table variation as the game has always been. What the developers say doesn't overly concern me. Internal game logic does. If a PC invests two or three feats to make make his spellcasting imperceptible, than that is what those feats should do- logic and reason trump a developer FAQ, every single day, and twice on Saturday. Just my two copper pieces.
Still, there is the question of having a shared baseline when we are trying to discuss the game, and then we can later move that baseline as needed for homegames.
It is important because, especially in this online format, we cannot predict or know how other people run their tables- the only thing we know have in common is the baseline.
So working with the text, as well as the commentary from the people who made the product, is useful in establishing that baseline.
It is also a useful tool when there are disagreements at the table- when you have two people arguing a rule, and each person has their own 'logic'. Having a third party, experienced with the text with access to the intent that went into that text, is useful.
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This combination lets you:
Make a Power Attack attack (as part of a Full Attack, or as part of a Single Attack) against a target, then make a free action Intimidate attempt against the target, then, if successful, spend a Swift Action to get another attack against the target!
You know what's even more awesome? Be an 11th level Viking (fighter archetype). At 2nd level they can intimidate as a move action. Pick up the Deadly Stroke feat chain (requires 11 fighter levels). Then just get up in his grill...
Move action intimidate.
Swift action Hurtful attack (triggers Shatter Defenses).
Standard action Deadly Stroke vs. flat-footed AC (double damage and a point of CON BLEED!)
This is less of a feat combination, more so just a cool feat trick. The Escape Route teamwork feat is a nifty feat when used with anyone who takes the Valet familiar, effectively granting both you and your familiar a decent amount of safe movement, which is useful for a spellcaster attempting to withdraw out of melee but still wanting to cast spells. Even better if you can get away with it counting when your familiar is on your person or in a bag! Also nifty for letting your familiar be touched focused, as normally tiny creatures provoke as they have to move into an enemy's square.
This is a really clever idea!
It's kind of fun to roleplay. The character isn't charismatic at all; he's kind of abrasive, actually. However, he knows how to make a logically strong argument (decent int for diplomacy), and the things he says just seem to make a lot of sense (wis for bluff and intimidation).
I like this from mechanical perspective. My first response to your last paragraph of fluff tho...
"you are the physical embodiment of Internet Forum Posters!" Damn those CHA Dumpstats!
haha