Talk:Rules (Apath)

Skills

Skill rules to look at:

• Ultimate Intruige (Stealth)
• Spymaster's handbook

Full Standard Attack

A full standard attack is a standard action, a mix of a full attack action and an attack action.

If you get more than one attack per round because your base attack bonus is high enough (see Base Attack Bonus in Classes), because you fight with two weapons or a double weapon, or for some special reason, you must make a full attack or full standard attack to get your additional attacks. You do not need to specify the targets of your attacks ahead of time. You can see how the earlier attacks turn out before assigning the later ones.

If you get multiple attacks because your base attack bonus is high enough, you must make the attacks in order from highest bonus to lowest. If you are using two weapons, you can strike with either weapon first. If you are using a double weapon, you can strike with either part of the weapon first.

You must take your movement before or after all the attack in a full standard attack, unlike a full attack where you can take a step between attacks. You cannot take this action when you are staggered. When taking this action, you take a -2 penalty on all attacks, including attacks of opportunity, until the beginning of your next round.

Iterative Attacks Replacement

At a BAB of +6, you gain the ability to strike multiple times in the same round with the full attack action or the full standard attack action. You can take one attack per five points of base attack bonus, or fraction thereof. Each attack takes a penalty equal to twice the number of extra attacks you make. This works out to one attack at full bonus for BAB 1-5, two attacks at -2 for BAB 6-10, three attacks at -4 for BAB 11-15, and four attacks at -6 for BAB 16-20.

Strength and Missile Weapons

This replaces the normal Mighty Bow rules and works the same way for all missile weapons, including firearms and crossbows.

• A character using a missile weapon adjusted for him can use half his Strength damage bonus with that missile weapon. This damage bonus only applies out to one range increment away.
• Adjusting a weapon this way takes a DC 20 check of the appropriate Craft skill and costs 50% of the cost of the weapon - this is the base price of the weapon, excluding the cost of special materials, masterwork weapons, or magical enhancements.
• A character with a negative Strength bonus does not do less damage with a missile weapon.

Combat Maneuvers

I think there are too many combat maneuvers, and too many feats that govern their use. I am consolidating them and making the redundant ones into variations of the main maneuvers from the core rulebook. The combat maneuvers I have modified are from the Advanced Player's Guide, and not implemented for creatures from the bestiaries.

You cannot use a combat maneuver to move a creature into a square that is occupied by a solid object or obstacle. A creature moved over a precipice by a combat maneuver can make a Climb check (DC 15) to catch hold of the ledge. You can otherwise move creatures into dangerous terrain as you wish.

Bull Rush, Drag, and Overrun

Bull Rush, Drag, and Overrun are merged into one ability with one governing feat chain. The Improved Bull Rush and Greater Bull Rush feats also apply to Drag and Overrun attempts. Creatures with the Improved Drag, Improved overrun, Greater Drag, or Greater Overrun feats treat these as Improved Overrun or Greater Overrun feats, respectively.

You can only do these maneuvers against an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved Bull Rush feat, or a similar ability, initiating a one of these maneuvers provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. An enemy being moved this way does not provoke an attack of opportunity because of the movement unless you possess the Greater Bull Rush feat.

These maneuvers are not made with weapons, and thus weapon-related CMB and CMD modifiers, like enhancement bonus, do not apply.

Stability Racial Trait: Some characters or types of creatures prove particularly sure-footed, making them more difficult to overthrow and move around the battlefield. Any racial ability that grants a bonus to CMD versus bull rush attempts grants the same bonus against all these combat maneuvers.

Bull Rush

A bull rush attempts to push an opponent straight back without doing any harm. You can make a bull rush as a standard action or as part of a charge, in place of the melee attack.

If your attack is successful, your target is pushed back 5 feet. For every 5 by which your attack exceeds your opponent's CMD you can push the target back an additional 5 feet. You can move with the target if you wish but you must have the available movement to do so. If your attack fails, your movement ends in front of the target.

If there is another creature in the way of your bull rush, you must immediately make a combat maneuver check to bull rush that creature. You take a –4 penalty on this check for each creature being pushed beyond the first. If you are successful, you can continue to push the creatures a distance equal to the lesser result. For example, if a fighter bull rushes a goblin for a total of 15 feet, but there is another goblin 5 feet behind the first, he must make another combat maneuver check against the second goblin after having pushed the first 5 feet. If his check reveals that he can push the second goblin a total of 20 feet, he can continue to push both goblins another 10 feet (since the first goblin will have moved a total of 15 feet).

Drag

You can attempt to drag a foe as a standard action. The aim of this maneuver is to drag a foe behind you without doing any harm. If you do not have the Improved Bull Rush feat or a similar ability, initiating a drag provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.

If your attack is successful, both you and your target are moved 5 feet back, with your opponent occupying your original space and you in the space behind that. For every 5 by which your attack exceeds your opponent’s CMD, you can drag the target an additional 5 feet. You must be able to move with the target to perform this maneuver. If you do not have enough movement, the drag goes to the maximum amount of movement available to you and ends.

Overrun

As a standard action, taken during your move or as part of a charge, you can attempt to overrun your target, moving through its square. If your overrun attempt fails, you stop in the space directly in front of the opponent, or the nearest open space in front of the creature if there are other creatures occupying that space.

When you attempt to overrun a target, it can choose to avoid you, allowing you to pass through its square without requiring an attack. If your target does not avoid you, make a combat maneuver check as normal. If your maneuver is successful, you move through the target's space. If your attack exceeds your opponent's CMD by 5 or more, you move through the target's space and the target is knocked prone. If the target has more than two legs, add +2 to the DC of the combat maneuver attack roll for each additional leg it has (similar to the bonus against trip maneuvers).

You can end your move in the space of a creature of a size category smaller than yours. If, after an overrun, you share the space of a smaller creature that creature is pushed to the free space of its choice adjacent to you. This movement never triggers attacks of opportunity.

Disarm/Steal/Sunder

These three combat maneuvers have been grouped together. All abilities pertaining to any of these combat maneuver apply to all, and the feats pertaining to disarm replace those pertaining to steal and sunder. Steal and disarm are merged into one maneuver, while sunder remains a separate maneuver governed by the same set of feats.

Disarm and sunder are attack maneuvers, meaning they can be made as an attack rather than as a standard action. All the usual modifiers to attacks apply, including weapon bonuses. Weapon Finesse works with these maneuvers, allowing the user to replace Strength with Dexterity when calculating CMB. Someone with a natural attack or Improved Unarmed Strike can do these maneuvers without a weapon at no penalty. Otherwise, attempting these manuvers unarmed incurs a -4 penalty. If you do not have the Improved Disarm feat, or a similar ability, attempting to disarm a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.

Disarm (Steal)

The disarm and steal maneuvers are really one and the same, the steal maneuver having become but a paragraph of the disarm maneuver. Certain weapons give a bonus on disarm.

If your attack is successful, your target drops one item of your choice that it is wielding or carrying (even if the item is wielded with two hands). If your attack exceeds the CMD of the target by 10 or more, the target drops the items it is carrying in both hands (maximum two items if the target has more than two hands). Alternatively, you may choose to cut any lanyard or weapon cord the target is using. If your attack fails by 10 or more, you drop the weapon that you were using to attempt the disarm. If you successfully disarm your opponent without using a weapon, you may automatically pick up the item dropped.

Items that are held in the hands or simply tucked into a belt or loosely attached (such as brooches or necklaces) are the easiest to disarm. Items fastened to a foe (such as cloaks, sheathed weapons, or pouches) are more difficult, and give the opponent a +5 bonus (or greater) to his CMD. Items that are closely worn (such as armor, backpacks, boots, clothing, or rings) cannot be taken with this maneuver.

A rogue with the Weapon Snatcher rogue talent can do this maneuver using the Sleight of Hand skill.

Sunder

If your attack is successful, you deal damage to the item normally. Damage that exceeds the object's Hardness is subtracted from its hit points. If an object has equal to or less than half its total hit points remaining, it gains the broken condition. If the damage you deal would reduce the object to less than 0 hit points, you can choose to destroy it. If you do not choose to destroy it, the object is left with only 1 hit point and the broken condition.

There is no such thing as a critical hit when sundering, but items being sundered take full damage and not half damage.

Feint

Note: Though the feint action is located here, near the rules for combat maneuvers, and while it seems like it might BE a combat maneuver, feinting is NOT a combat maneuver. The Paizo PRD is organized with the feint rules located in the same placement.

Feinting is a standard action. To feint, make a Bluff skill check. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + your opponent's base attack bonus + your opponent's Wisdom modifier. If your opponent is trained in Sense Motive, the DC is instead equal to 10 + your opponent's Sense Motive bonus, if higher. If successful, the next melee attack you make against the target does not allow him to use his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). This attack must be made on or before your next turn.

Feinting as a Move Action: With the Improved Feint feat, you can attempt a feint as a move action.

Combat Trickery

This merges aspects of the Dirty Trick, Reposition, and Trip combat maneuvers, and all of these are improved by the feats that govern trip. Trip and Reposition have been merged into a single maneuver.

Dirty trick and Trip are are attack maneuvers, meaning they can be made as an attack rather than as a standard action. All the usual modifiers to attacks apply, including weapon bonuses. Weapon Finesse works with these maneuvers, allowing the user to replace Strength with Dexterity when calculating CMB. Someone with a natural attack or Improved Unarmed Strike can do these maneuvers without a weapon at no penalty. Otherwise, attempting one of these maneuvers unarmed incurs a -4 penalty. If you do not have the Improved Trip feat, or a similar ability, attempting these maneuvers provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.

A rogue with the Trick Feint rogue talent can use his Bluff skill modifier in place of CMB with these maneuvers, and does not trigger attacks of opportunity when doing so.

Dirty Trick

You can attempt to hinder a foe in melee. This maneuver covers any sort of situational attack that imposes a penalty on a foe for a short period of time. Examples include kicking sand into an opponent’s face to blind him for 1 round, pulling down an enemy’s pants to halve his speed, or hitting a foe in a sensitive spot to make him sickened for a round. The GM is the arbiter of what can be accomplished with this maneuver, but it cannot be used to impose a permanent penalty, and the results can be undone if the target spends a move action.

If your attack is successful, the target takes a penalty. The penalty is limited to one of the following conditions: blinded, dazzled, deafened, entangled, shaken, or sickened.

This condition lasts for 1 round. For every 5 by which your attack exceeds your opponent’s CMD, the penalty lasts 1 additional round. This penalty can usually be removed if the target spends a move action. If you possess the Greater Trip feat, the penalty lasts for 1d4 rounds, plus 1 round for every 5 by which your attack exceeds your opponent’s CMD. In addition, removing the condition requires the target to spend a standard action.

Trip (Reposition)

You can only trip an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If the target has more than two legs, add +2 to the DC of the combat maneuver attack roll for each additional leg it has. Some creatures—such as oozes and creatures without legs—cannot be tripped.

If your attack is successful, you may either make the target fall prone or move your target 10 feet to a new location. For every 5 by which your attack exceeds your opponent’s CMD, you can move the target an additional 5 feet. The target must remain within your reach at all times during this movement, except for the final 5 feet of movement, which can be to a space adjacent to your reach. You can move while executing this maneuver in order to keep the target within reach at all times, and such movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity from the target.

An enemy being moved or tripped does not provoke an attack of opportunity because of the movement unless you possess the Greater Trip feat.

If your attack fails by 10 or more, you are knocked prone instead.

Falling prone works differently while flying or swimming. A creature that is tripped while swimming and that lacks a swim speed is unbalanced, as if having failed a Swim check. A swimmer or flying creature takes a crash dive when tripped, moving straight down a distance equal to half its speed before regaining control. If a flier crashes into the ground in this way, it takes damage as from a fall of this height and ends up prone on the ground if it takes any damage.

Pathfinder Skill List

Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int ), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Dex), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (Engineering) (Int), Knowledge (Geography) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Knowledge (Nobility) (Int), Knowledge (Planes) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Magic Device (Cha)