Hot answers tagged pathfinder
73
stoppableforce mentioned some of the changes. I'd like to go into more detail and analysis.
General
Re-balanced XP. The amount of XP to gain levels has been re-adjusted to better mesh with the character wealth by level charts (e.g. Starting gold vs 13.33 encounters of thr appropriate CR's worth of treasure). This means that after 5th level, it requires ...
64
It's a relic of earlier systems.
From the "Dungeonomicon:"
Material Components: A Joke Gone Way Out of Hand
Material components are a joke. I'm not saying that they are metaphorically a joke in that they don't act as a consistent or adequate limiting factor to spellcasting, I mean that they are actually a joke. Material components are supposed to ...
46
The biggest issue with paladins is when their partners' behavior is judged as if the paladin himself had done the deed. If your DM is willing to avoid that pitfall, may I suggest...
A paladin who does not expect non-believers to obey the laws of his faith. He hopes that through his shining example his teammates will come to see the value of his code, but ...
46
There's a two step process needed here.
Say to your players what you just said to us
Then mind your own business
Have they not noticed that imbalanced loot is throwing off their party balance? Or is it that they don't care? If they do not care and are having fun, it is not a problem. If they haven't noticed, then just telling them "Hey gear is ...
45
Grease is a phenomenal spell for its spell slot, especially once you get a few Caster Levels under your belt so that it lasts. For many, grease is the go-to 1st-level combat spell after the first few levels.1
There are a number of reasons for this.
Area Effect
Grease has a goodly-sized area, that simultaneously isn’t so large that it’s ...
41
I should have been more thorough in my research.
The following comes from the Falling Section of d20pfsrd.com:
A character cannot cast a spell while
falling, unless the fall is greater
than 500 feet or the spell is an
immediate action, such as feather
fall. Casting a spell while falling
requires a concentration check with a
DC equal to 20 + ...
38
Yes, this spell will control a lich.
Control Undead states:
This spell enables you to control undead creatures for a short period of time. You command them by voice and they understand you, no matter what language you speak. Even if vocal communication is impossible, the controlled undead do not attack you. At the end of the spell, the subjects revert ...
33
Yes
Because of the nature of the rulebook, it includes things that are not part of the SRD. The website, while it contains a lot of the core rules, does not include all of the information that is laid out in the Core rulebook (Like the specific rules on how to make a character step-by-step, for example).
The d20pfsrd.com contains a vast wealth of ...
32
No, it was not an evil act
Was it a Good act? Probably not. But there's that N in the middle for the act to fall under. On the one hand, the pirates were helpless, and thus not an immediate threat. However, on the other hand, they were enemy combatants brought down by a legitimate weapon of war. If you weren't in the lawless wilds, a case might be made for ...
31
Naetuir is right – Bard is exactly what you're looking for here, even to the point of being a bit of a joke. Using "Fighter: melee dps Wizard: buffing Thief: skills" as the main set of requirements, lets see what we can do to build a straightclass Bard Elan, as compared to his needlessly complicated twin brother Nale. (Who's a wizard, not a sorcerer, as per ...
31
I'm working on the assumption that D&D alignment is an objective mechanic: in a world where alignments can grant magical power and create planes of existence, and a spell can tell the difference between a man who saves babies for Pelor and a man who eats babies for Pelor, alignment must be objective and intent counts for very little.
This is a social ...
30
They don't actually need it.
I realize this is radical, but bear with me. We need to not expect them to be masters of wilderness survival --in all honesty, they aren't. Animals die in the wild all the time. They starve, they freeze, they get lost, they fall in caves and can't get out. That said, they're actually not awful at Survival and the way they're ...
29
Yes...depending
Alignment causes a lot of arguments around the D&D community. There are a pair of rock-solid methods: the Sanctify the Wicked spell, and the redemption rules, both of them found in the Book of Exalted Deeds. The BoED can be a controversial book in some groups, but those rules are a definite method of getting the lich back on the straight ...
27
Increased characterization will provide interesting theoretical optimization challenges, reduce the strategic options of the DM, and make it more likely for you to actually play a game session.
I'm actually going to expand the question slightly:
What are the benefits of increased characterization?
As stated, any attempt at characterization theoretically ...
27
Monte Cook introduced the "dire" animals in D&D 3e, according to this blog post:
When we were developing 3E, we recognized that we needed animals that could serve as appropriate foes and allies for mid- and high-level characters to help druid and ranger abilities continue to be valuable. It was my idea to create "dire" versions of various animals, ...
26
Balance is overrated. You want to give them the feat so they'd be better prepared, aka stronger, right? Now they are. The original intent is to deviate from RAW balance for a good reason. There is no cosmic balance you need to serve beyond that. If they are appropriately powered for your personal game, they are balanced by definition.
Unless you erred and ...
26
Under section 4 of the Character Creation Outline it states "...and the choice of gaining a hit point or a skill rank each time a character gains a level (including his first level)..."
So, yes, the favored class bonus does apply at 1st level.
26
I would say no, for several reasons:
Ray of Frost on the PFSRD.
Ray of Frost does not freeze things, by RAW. There are spells that specifically say that they cause certain elemental effects (for example, Fireball specifically says that it "sets fire to combustibles") but Ray of Frost is not one of them. While it might be able to cool water or make a ...
26
According to The ever useful d20PFSRD:
In a round of combat, you can do either :
1 Full-round action OR
1 Standard action plus 1 Move action (in any order) OR
2 Move actions (effectively trading your Standard action for a Move action)
Plus a combination of :
1 Swift or Immediate Action AND
Any number of Free Actions
A few special cases
The 5 ft. ...
25
This is an extremely tricky and delicate situation. As a DM, I generally do not allow social skills (Diplomacy, Intimidate, etc) to be used on other PCs, and while I've never had the issue come up, I don't think I would allow mind-control magic to be used either. The reason?
People play RPGs to participate in a group story with a character under their own ...
25
Introduce NPCs and plotlines/quests to handle redistribution and to bring the "lagging" PCs up to "speed" via personalized rewards (and, if very, very badly needed, punishments.)
Examples:
If your ranger has barely any items, run a sylvan quest for whose completion he is given a magic bow made / customized especially for him by a dryad.
If it's your ...
24
The short form is that no one has access to the numbers really needed to prove that beyond the shadow of a doubt. There are two bits of data we do have to indicate relative sales, both of which are flawed.
ICv2 Magazine surveys the hobby sales channel, and frequently reports the top 5 RPG sellers in order - but there is no metric in their rankings to ...
24
All Summon spells fall under the Conjuration school, which imposes additional restrictions.
Specifically:
A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of ...
23
I would say "yes," as it's generally good practice to say yes to clever PC ideas. The spell description does make it sound like the spell effect is effectively a big world-ball coated in napalm.
Now, it is big (5 foot diameter!), so I would count it as a Medium creature and simply make it subject to the various relevant Combat Maneuvers - Bull Rush and ...
23
You can wear them, but their effects might not stack.
In this case, two rings of protection won't stack, because the rings provide a deflection bonus to AC, but deflection bonuses don't stack with other deflection bonuses.
23
No, not generally. Spellcasting in D&D or Pathfinder is a routine process -- you select the spell, and then cast it. The character is presumed to be so proficient at this process that there is no chance of failure under normal circumstances.
However, there are some special cases where there is a random chance of failure. Two of them require the ...
23
Your total bonus column is your total bonus column, and it's comprised of your Ranks, your Ability Modifier, and any other modifiers you might have. So your first option is the right one - Ranks describes the number of skill points you explicitly put into that skill. Anything else is your "total skill modifier", not the number of Ranks.
23
Races of Stone page 133 has an expanded use of Sleight of Hand to hide spellcasting chants and gestures.
Complete Scoundrel page 85 has the Conceal Spellcasting skill trick. That costs 2 skill points, and requires Concentration 1, Sleight of Hand 5, and Spellcraft 1.
Cityscape has Deceptive Spell on page 60, and Invisible Spell on page 61. These are ...
23
Basically, it's a bunch of vials of acid, alchemist fire, and the like, wrapped up together in a fine-mesh net, attached to a staff with rope, and wielded in a similar fashion to a mace.
Spoony, from the Counter Monkey blog series, mentions Alchemist's Fire every now and then. It's great, and everyone thinks it's great, but here's the thing: eventually, ...
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