Clarification of weapon listing for a noob!

[MrSumOne]

That helped so much, things are much clearer now. Let me just ask one more clarification question: So I get the whole Hit Dice thing, when it says (4d10+2d8+6), but when it says (HD9) with no rolls, is this just for keeping track of spells that need a certain amount of HD to hit?

Also, I came across something else that was slightly confusing, withdrawing and 5-foot step in relation to attacks of opportunity. It seems to me like the rules are saying any time a PC or monster steps into an enemy&#8217s threat zone, the enemy gets a free attack instantly, right? If I'm reading this right, then doesn't that mean there will be constant interruptions during a fight? And how can you avoid this? Do you use the withdraw and 5-foot step somehow?

And one last thing, I noticed the ability modifier table goes into the 40s, but you only get a point towards an ability every few levels, so why do they go up so high on the table?


Thanks everyone for helping so much, I really appreciate it!

 

[BlubSeabass]

HD in spell description

Sometimes, indeed, you'll see HD being mentioned in spell descriptions, like in sleep or Planar Ally. Most of the times, this means the number of HD you can affect. It doesn't matter what kind of HD it is (d6, d8, etc.), it just looks at how much it can affect. For example, sleep would allow you to put 4HD worth of creatures to sleep. Kiramor, for example, has 6 HD, and would be unaffected. Two normal wolves with 2 HD (2d8+4, bestiary pag. 274) would both be affected, since 2+2 = 4HD, but the third wolf in the area would be unaffected (since it can only affect up to 4HD). Remember, its about the ammount of HD, not the actual HP!

Why is this? Well, for many monsters and humanoid enemies, HD roughly represents the level of the monster. So a low level spell like sleep shouldn't be affecting high level monsters. As I said before, this is not entirely fair, since the HD does not equal for the same level. A human needs 6 class levels (and thus 6 HD) to be just as strong as a "challenge level 6" animal who has 9 HD. That's because human HD's have so much benefits (class features), while animals HD's only raise stats. So ironically, the HD-defined spells are weaker against the targets who should be weaker! With a 4 HD sleep you could affect a level 4 human (1 HD per level), but only a "challenge level 2" animal with 4 HD (roughly 1.5-2 HD per level).

Attack of Opportunities
Attack of Opportunities (AoO) are the free instant attacks you describe, and one of the main reasons why Pathfinder can be such a tactical game. You can only make one AoO each round. To start, a character gains an attack of opportunity against an enemy, if that enemy moves out of his threatened area. You can only threaten with a melee weapon. There are other actions who provoke an attack of opportunity as well, they are all listed on pag 183 of your core rulebook. See this as leaving an opening for the opponent to strike.

This does interrupt battle quite some times. Surrounding a player with 2 enemies, would for example grant flanking bonusses to the attackers. But now, when that player wants to get out of the situation, she must endure 2 attacks of opportunities! This is all about tactical movement and placement.

As you have noted however, you can avoid these attacks of opportunities. 5-foot step a free action that allows you to move 5 feet without provoking an AoO. It does however not allow you to move anymore in the same turn you used it. Withdraw allows you to move double your speed, and this movement doesn't provoke an AoO for the first square you leave.

How would you use this? Well, offensively, AoO are a great way to discourage movement, and you can lock in enemies. They also break concentration of spellcasters when they're casting a spell, forcing them to do a concentration check. Some feats give great bonusses. Combat Reflexes allow you to do more attacks of opportunities, and Stand Still allows you to stop someones movement with an AoO.
Defensively, 5 ft steps can make you move out of a threatened area so you can cast your spells or shoot your bow without worrying and without getting a AoO. Withdraw is great when you're in a pickle and need to move away fast.

Hope that clears things up!

 

[billd91]

And one last thing, I noticed the ability modifier table goes into the 40s, but you only get a point towards an ability every few levels, so why do they go up so high on the table?

If you open a Bestiary, you'll find some creatures with stats that do go pretty high. The table's range makes it convenient to look up the modifiers for those stats.

Also, characters may only add 1 every 4 levels, but magic items can add more. Belts and headbands can increase individual stats by +6. Books can add up to another +5. Certain spells can add more like righteous might with a +4 size bonus to strength and constitution. Again, the table makes looking up modifiers for stats that high convenient.

 

[Dingo333]

The reason that the table goes to 40 is because you can get, if not that high, close to it

Say I have an 18 before racial modifiers
My race adds another +2 (20)
I am level 20 and have added all those points to 1 ability (25)
The cleric casts the buff for that ability on me (29)
I pick up in my travels a tome or manual for this ability that gives +5 permanent (34)
I also buy a headband or belt for this ability +6 (40)

And it can go higher then that as well,
Say this was strength and the wizard cast enlarge person (42)
Or it was Int and I got the alchemist master discovery for +2 int (42)
Or it is dex and I just wild shaped into a Huge Air elemental +6 (46)

Stats can go really high, but it takes a lot of levels and money (a +5 book and a +6 belt are 173,500 gold together) and you are kinda excluding all your other stats for this

 

[MrSumOne]

Everything makes sense now. So when you move OUT of someone's threatened space, or INTO someone's space, they get an AoO, but only 1 a turn unless a feat changes that, right?
I guess the days of not using a playmat and figures are gone, keeping track of the positions and distances seems like it requires a board!
Looking for range penalties, anyone know what page it's on? I've been going through the book a page at a time, but seem to be missing it.
Also, do you get +3 to all the skills your class starts with, or only the ones that need training?

 

[jasonbostwick]

Close, but a small correction - you only take AoOs for moving OUT of an opponents threatened space.
When you first engage with an opponent, you don't take an attack.

Regarding skills:
You get a +3 bonus to skills that you have trained ranks in that are also class skills.

When you level up in a class, you gain skill ranks as listed in their description - for a fighter, for example, this is 2 + INT bonus.

A dwarf fighter with an Int of 10 will get 2 skill ranks each level. At first level, he might choose to one of these into Ride (a class skill) and the other into Acrobatics (which is not a class skill for him). Excluding an other bonuses, he will get +1 to Acrobatics checks (from the single rank) and +4 to Ride (+1 from the rank, and +3 because he has trained a class skill).

If this dwarf later takes a level of rogue, a class with Acrobatics as a class skill, he will gain the +3 trained bonus to Acrobatics checks.

 

[BlubSeabass]

Close, but a small correction - you only take AoOs for moving OUT of an opponents threatened space.
When you first engage with an opponent, you don't take an attack.

Yes, but he says moving into someone's space, not someone's threatening area . That actually does provoke an attack of opportunity. Like when you want to grapple or overrun them.

Ranged penalties are range increment (page 144, under "range"), shooting into melee (page 184) and cover (page 195) are the most common ranged penalties.

 

[MrSumOne]

Well, I tried to GM my first game last night, and while it went ok, it felt a little flat. It seems like I had some problems with dual weapons, flanking, and some spells (wtf is a d3?! Lowest I have is d4!). Would anyone be willing to GM an online game with me so I can see how it's actually done? Just one sesson so I can take some things away from it...

 

[Mojo_Rat]

a d3 is usually rolled on a d6 1-2 is 1 3-4 is 2 5-6 is 3.

if your new id recommend trying a pre made module. it helps lot for seeing how the game is intended to be set up for encounters etc.

 

[jasonbostwick]

Would anyone be willing to GM an online game with me so I can see how it's actually done? Just one sesson so I can take some things away from it...

I can't offer to GM a game, but another way to 'see how its done' would be to listen to/watch some podcasts/vides of people playing D&D. If you google "Actual play" you should be able to find something like that.

Gamers Haven is a good example, but there are a lot more.

That said, you seem to have a way better idea about how the game works than I did when I first started GMing - no need to sweat the minor details as long as everyones having fun.