Things to Keep in Mind When Playing a Very Small (Tiny/Diminutive) Character (PF/SoP)

[Talverin]

I am making a character for fun using Spheres of Power who will use a crossbow (Probably Light) and either the Barrage or Sniper Spheres from Spheres of Power for combat. However, their 'quirk' is that they will also be using Alteration to change their size as SMALL as it can go! Tiny, for the most part. Increased AC and Dex, stealth, etc, will make it a very fun build.

What are some things to keep in mind when making such a small character? RP, mechanics, all of it! I'm quite curious.

For those of you who enjoy Spheres of Power and know more details of it, I'm building the character at level 7 using Martial Hedgewitch as the class, with the Tinker Tradition as my 'second' tradition.

[zlefin]

i'm not sure how the shrinkage will affect the AC of actual armor worn;

according to http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment/armor#TOC-Armor-for-Unusual-Creatures
armor made for a tiny-sized creature has half the normal AC.
but if you have normal sized armor and it's being shrunk along with you; would that still get halved? and does it only halve the base effects of the armor, or does it also halve the magic bonus (i.e. would a +4 armor only give +2 in practice due to the halving)?

[SangoProduction]

Well, one thing to keep in mind will certainly be damage. Going down in size also means you go down in damage, if you're using weapons, which you appear to want to.

Also, remember that Tiny is about the size of a house cat. You will logically be mostly overlooked unless you make yourself stand out.

[Hunter Noventa]

I am making a character for fun using Spheres of Power who will use a crossbow (Probably Light) and either the Barrage or Sniper Spheres from Spheres of Power for combat. However, their 'quirk' is that they will also be using Alteration to change their size as SMALL as it can go! Tiny, for the most part. Increased AC and Dex, stealth, etc, will make it a very fun build.

What are some things to keep in mind when making such a small character? RP, mechanics, all of it! I'm quite curious.

For those of you who enjoy Spheres of Power and know more details of it, I'm building the character at level 7 using Martial Hedgewitch as the class, with the Tinker Tradition as my 'second' tradition.

If you're using a crossbow, you'll want to go with the Sniper Sphere. It's only possible to use Barrage if you can reliably make a full attack, and you'd need to get your reload time down to a free action. And I'm not sure if that's a houserule or an official one, regarding crossbows, that you can full attack if you can reload as a free action.

The Sniper sphere helps you buff your damage when you use the actual damage boost from deadly shot, which isn't affected by size. In addition, the Snipe talent debuffs (especially Hindering Shot and Tangling Shot) are universally useful, and also not affected by size.

[SangoProduction]

If you're using a crossbow, you'll want to go with the Sniper Sphere. It's only possible to use Barrage if you can reliably make a full attack, and you'd need to get your reload time down to a free action. And I'm not sure if that's a houserule or an official one, regarding crossbows, that you can full attack if you can reload as a free action.

The Sniper sphere helps you buff your damage when you use the actual damage boost from deadly shot, which isn't affected by size. In addition, the Snipe talent debuffs (especially Hindering Shot and Tangling Shot) are universally useful, and also not affected by size.

Oh, you can definitely get the reload down to a free action. I go over how in my SoM guns optimization thread. Let me pull it up...

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?541010-Optimizing-guns!

EDIT: oops, I said move action. Yeah, that's easy enough. I meant free.

[Andor13]

Tiny is the size of a house cat. You'ld look like a big action figure with a crossbow. Expect not to intimidate people.

Remember being a little kid when everything in the world was too big for you? Crank that up to 11. I'd expect you to commonly be mistaken for one of the smaller fey races like a pixie or brownie, which may lead to trouble. Actually speaking of cats, expect to get regularly pounced on by housecats/attacked by dogs. You are the size of prey.

If you get to diminutive, you are a barbie doll. You can hide in someone's coffee mug. You can probably just limbo under most locked doors. A steak knife is a greatsword to you. You are Gulliver in Brobdinag.

[Hunter Noventa]

Oh, you can definitely get the reload down to a free action. I go over how in my SoM guns optimization thread. Let me pull it up...

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?541010-Optimizing-guns!

EDIT: oops, I said move action. Yeah, that's easy enough. I meant free.

Oh I know you can, my Technician did that easily. What I don't know is if full-attacking with a free-reload crossbow is a houserule or an actual rule.

[Drezius]

Oh I know you can, my Technician did that easily. What I don't know is if full-attacking with a free-reload crossbow is a houserule or an actual rule.

It is a official rule.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/crossbow-mastery-combat/

[Hunter Noventa]

It is a official rule.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/crossbow-mastery-combat/

Ah but you need that specific chain of feats, I see. Granted you get rapid Shot from Barrage and Rapid Reload from Expert Reloading, which you'd be dumb not to take if you're using a crossbow. Still have to take PBS and then this feat. I'll have to remember that.

[SangoProduction]

You can do any action at basically any point in your turn, so long as you have the actions left to do it. Considering Free Actions are literally free, you can do it whenever, though some DMs restrict just how many free actions you can take. (Yes, that means you can do one-liners between every attack.)

[SangoProduction]

You can do any action at basically any point in your turn, so long as you have the actions left to do it. Considering Free Actions are literally free, you can do it whenever, though some DMs restrict just how many free actions you can take. (Yes, that means you can do one-liners between every attack.)

Here's a quote from Unchained Action Economy.


Free Actions
Unless stated otherwise in the action’s description, a free action can be taken only on your turn. Theoretically, you can take as many free actions in a turn as you wish, though the GM may apply reasonable limitations on free actions. For instance, although speaking is a free action, since a round is only 6 seconds in length, your GM might stop you from spouting off a long diatribe during your turn (or between turns), and may even rule that if you are casting a rather complex spell with a verbal component, you aren’t able to verbally warn your companions of some danger that you notice before they do. Typically, this limitation shouldn’t be applied to reloading ranged weapons as a free action.

Sometimes a free action stipulates that you can take it only in conjunction with another action, or at a certain time during your turn. In these cases, you must take any requisite actions before you can take the free action.

And an example of a free action?


Draw and Nock an Arrow: You draw and nock an arrow to a longbow or shortbow.

So, if you couldn't do reloads ( as free actions) within an attack rotation, then you couldn't shoot bows at full speed.

[Talverin]

As far as the standing still for full attacks - Spheres of Might works this differently. A 'special attack action' (Such as from dual wielding's Dual Attack or Barrage's namesake) only modifies an attack action. So, you could take a standard action Attack action, and use Barrage for the extra attack (Or two at higher BAB) or a full attack action, and use Barrage for the extra attack there as well. The standard action version would only benefit from Barrage, and not iteratives from BAB. Still pretty nice.

The armor penalty from size is new to me. It's such a minor thing I've honestly overlooked it looking at that table several times.

The idea that I could limbo under locked doors and hide inside normal objects is... also worth some thought. Amusement abounds! The +2 fly per size category shrunk is nice, but will be very necessary given the increased difficulty of flying in any kind of wind.

Any other particular penalties or oddities you guys can think of?

[Elkad]

One difference in PF I just noticed. Which is probably related to it being based on the SRD/OGL.

3.5 DMG has a rule about a 3-sizes smaller creature in the same square as an enemy giving flanking for all adjacent squares.

That rule is not in the 3.5 SRD, or in PF.

3.5 DMG also says Tiny creatures with reach weapons get 5' of reach. Again, not in the SRD or PF.

Pg29 for both.