Ask a Simple Question 22: Bah weep gragnah weep nini bong

[wotmaniac]

Q143: The Intimidating Strike feat says, "You cannot use this feat to worsen an opponent's fear condition beyond shaken," but can you first Intimidating Strike a guy in order to set up Imperious Command? By which I mean, if you Intimidating Strike a guy causing him to be shaken for the rest of the encounter can you then make them Cower for the rest of the encounter with a successful Imperious Command?

A 143:  Yes.  The standard fear rules state that when stacking two fear effects, you take the most powerful effect (usually adding them together) and it applies for the longest duration of any of the effects.  Intimidating Strike can't worsen someone's fear (so it doesn't stack in that way) but it has nothing about any inability to keep a duration going, so if any other fear effect hits while Intimidating Strike applies, it will continue at that fear level for the remainder of the duration of IS.

JaronK

I believe I just might stand corrected.

[bkdubs123]

Q413a: Of course, Intimidating Strike cannot be used to increase a creature's fear level, but does it stop another usage of fear from stacking with it? For example, can I cause the Shaken status with Intimidating Strike and later employ a Frightful Presence type ability to increase that status to Frightened (shaken + shaken)?

[Barbarossa]

Q98: Is there anything, by RAW, that allows someone to make an attack of opportunity on an object that passes through a threatened tile?

... or, if the object is being carried, I guess you could use your AoO to sunder.

This is exactly what I want to do, actually. My party is about to cross a valley full of giants hurling giant objects at each other, and I'm trying to find ways to use my crazy powerful sunder abilities to break the boulders before they hit me. My rationale is that a moving object could still provoke reflexes, and as long as it uses up one an AoO it should still be balanced. I'm just trying to get some rules-backing before the game so that I can discuss it with my DM beforehand, and thus we can modify our plans as needed.

Your rationale fails to take into account that it's not your turn, so you don't get to make any attacks unless you have a rules-based exception that says you do.  Attack of opportunity is "A single extra melee attack per round that a combatant can make when an opponent within reach takes an action that provokes attacks of opportunity.  Cover prevents attacks of opportunity" (emphasis mine).  A boulder, while it may have been launched by an opponent, is not an opponent and therefore is not covered under this exception.

You can try to argue to your DM that it's balanced to allow it, but if you're looking for rules support, it supports you not being able to do this.

So if I found a way to make the rock sentient and evil and I were lawful good, I could attack it because it becomes my enemy?[/lawyering]
I know that it'd be difficult to sunder the boulder, but my character does incredible amounts of damage in this situation, as does the boulder. It's a gigantic sphere of bread coated in adamantine thrown by a heavily optimized Hulking Hurler.

Q144: Is there any scaling to the Deflect Arrows feat? The feat states that projectiles up to a certain size (I think sized for large or smaller attackers) can be deflected, but if the feat-wielder is colossal, can he deflect bigger projectiles?

[Bozwevial]

Q144: Is there any scaling to the Deflect Arrows feat? The feat states that projectiles up to a certain size (I think sized for large or smaller attackers) can be deflected, but if the feat-wielder is colossal, can he deflect bigger projectiles?

If you can somehow nab Exceptional Deflection, you can deflect any ranged attack, including spells that require a ranged touch attack.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Q144: Is there any scaling to the Deflect Arrows feat? The feat states that projectiles up to a certain size (I think sized for large or smaller attackers) can be deflected, but if the feat-wielder is colossal, can he deflect bigger projectiles?

If you can somehow nab Exceptional Deflection, you can deflect any ranged attack, including spells that require a ranged touch attack.

Add on snatch arrows.  Then have your party monk dual wield CL 20 disintegrate spells.

[kevin_video]

Q 144 How does one get a masterwork exotic weapon at 1st level?

Take a level in Samurai from CW.

Looking for more of a general way of doing it. And don't want a katana/bastard sword.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Craft skills (so you can build it yourself) + merchantile background feat (so you start off with enough money for raw materials?

[kevin_video]

Craft skills (so you can build it yourself) + merchantile background feat (so you start off with enough money for raw materials?

The only problem is making that DC 20 to make it. Probably need to take max ranks, have a decent INT score, and Skill Focus (Craft) to pull that off at 1st. Still, it's all I've got.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

If you have arcane spellcasting, you can cast magecraft for a +5. 
Take 10 +5 (Magecraft) +4(ranks) + 1 (int) makes a DC 20 check easily

Even if you don't have spellcasting, guidance is a cleric orison, so should cost about 5gp for a casting
Take 10 +4 (ranks) +1(guidance 5 gp) +2 (Masterwork tool @ 50 gp) +3(intelligence) gets you there as well.

If you have a familiar or other buddy, the +2 aid another bonus can work as well.

A dwarf gets a racial +2 to stone/metal crafting.

So no need to burn a feat, really.  What exactly do you want to make?

[kevin_video]

If you have arcane spellcasting, you can cast magecraft for a +5. 
Take 10 +5 (Magecraft) +4(ranks) + 1 (int) makes a DC 20 check easily

Even if you don't have spellcasting, guidance is a cleric orison, so should cost about 5gp for a casting
Take 10 +4 (ranks) +1(guidance 5 gp) +2 (Masterwork tool @ 50 gp) +3(intelligence) gets you there as well.

If you have a familiar or other buddy, the +2 aid another bonus can work as well.

A dwarf gets a racial +2 to stone/metal crafting.

So no need to burn a feat, really.  What exactly do you want to make?

A whip dagger for an undead campaign.

[Archmage Joda]

A 145 The SRD version of action points lets you get 1 extra use of an X/day class ability for the cost of 1 action point.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/actionpoints.htm

But for non-class abilities, I don't know. Maybe emulate a feat that gives you bonus uses of the specific X/day ability. (Which is almost what your question asks.)

Oh no, the class abilities thing was pretty much precisely what i was looking for, thank ye kindly.

[snakeman830]

Q 144 How does one get a masterwork exotic weapon at 1st level?

Take a level in Samurai from CWOriental Adventures.

Fixed that for you.  CW Samurai only gets the proficiencies, not the weapons themselves.

[kevin_video]

Q 146 Can you Weapon Finesse a quarterstaff?

[GawainBS]

Q 146 Can you Weapon Finesse a quarterstaff?

A 146: Aye, a feat from a Dragon Magazine. One about monks styles. Animal Monk styles, IIRC. Same as Kunfu Genius, IIRC.

Q 147: What is the best/most versatile/highest base damage two handed Martial bludgeoning weapon without reach?

[Maat_Mons]

The only weapons I can find that fit your criteria are heavy flail, greatclub, maul, and warmace.  You are presumably proficient with simple weapons too and you can use one-handed weapons in two hands, so you might consider a broader search.  In any case, maul and warmace (both from Complete Warrior) are the only non-exotic bludgeoning weapons I can find outside of the Player's Handbook. 

[JaronK]

Q413a: Of course, Intimidating Strike cannot be used to increase a creature's fear level, but does it stop another usage of fear from stacking with it? For example, can I cause the Shaken status with Intimidating Strike and later employ a Frightful Presence type ability to increase that status to Frightened (shaken + shaken)?

A413a:  There's no order to stacking... if something says it doesn't stack, then it simply doesn't stack.  IS will never help get anything above shaken.  As such IS is only useful for extending durations... there's no way to stack it.  If you want along duration fear effect that does stack, I'd suggest the Inspire Awe variant for bards, found in Dragon Magic.  You lose Inspire Courage but gain a fear effect that lasts as long as you keep using the Bardic Music and has a DC based on your perform check.  Consider also Haunting Melody, a feat that adds a fear effect to bardic music (which should stack to Frightened) and Requiem (so you can make music so gothy that even undead are freaked out).  And you only need a single level of Bard for this, though with only one level you can only do it once per day (but you can do it all day muttering to yourself creepily if you took Perform Oratory).

JaronK

[GawainBS]

The only weapons I can find that fit your criteria are heavy flail, greatclub, maul, and warmace.  You are presumably proficient with simple weapons too and you can use one-handed weapons in two hands, so you might consider a broader search.  In any case, maul and warmace (both from Complete Warrior) are the only non-exotic bludgeoning weapons I can find outside of the Player's Handbook. 

I trudged through Crystalkeep to find the stats of these, and found the Executioner's Mace. 2d6, B&P or B&S. Great! Thanks for pointing in the right direction!

[kevin_video]

Q 146 Can you Weapon Finesse a quarterstaff?

A 146: Aye, a feat from a Dragon Magazine. One about monks styles. Animal Monk styles, IIRC. Same as Kunfu Genius, IIRC.

Unfortunately, it's not a feat. It's an Ex ability given to you from the Monkey style. It does say that it allows you to use Weapon Finesse with both ends of the staff.

So is this the only way to do it, or can you do it normally?

[Littha]

Q 144 How does one get a masterwork exotic weapon at 1st level?

Take a level in Samurai from CWOriental Adventures.

Fixed that for you.  CW Samurai only gets the proficiencies, not the weapons themselves.

Especially considering it doesn't need to be a katana, as per the note at the end of the ancestral daisho ability.

[GawainBS]

Q 146 Can you Weapon Finesse a quarterstaff?

A 146: Aye, a feat from a Dragon Magazine. One about monks styles. Animal Monk styles, IIRC. Same as Kunfu Genius, IIRC.

Unfortunately, it's not a feat. It's an Ex ability given to you from the Monkey style. It does say that it allows you to use Weapon Finesse with both ends of the staff.

So is this the only way to do it, or can you do it normally?

Only one that I know of, I'm afraid. Dualwield Light Maces and pretend they're a staff?