The FAQ That Time Forgot

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Every once and a while I like to take a break from my current design challenges to tackle some frequently asked questions from our files. We've got some bigger issues to tackle soon, but these are a start.

Ultimate Combat seems to imply that the Totem Warrior archetype (from the Advanced Player's Guide) allows you to take more than one type of totem rage powers. Is this an erratum for the Totem Warrior archetype?

No, the line in Ultimate Combat is in error. We will get that fixed in the next printing. Until then, the restriction on only taking totem rage powers from one group remains in place.

When you cast a spell that allows you to make a ranged touch attack, such as scorching ray, and an enemy is within reach, do you provoke two attacks of opportunity?

Yes, you provoke two attacks of opportunity, one for casting the spell and one for making a ranged attack, since these are two separate events. As a note, since all of the rays are fired simultaneously (in the case of scorching ray), you would only provoke one attack of opportunity for making the ranged attack, even if you fired more than one ray.

The Greater Trip feat allows you to take an attack of opportunity against a foe that you trip. The Vicious Stomp feat allows you to take an attack of opportunity against a foe that falls prone adjacent to you. If you have both these feats and trip a foe, do you get to make two attacks of opportunity (assuming that you can)?

Yes, the two triggering acts are similar here but they are different. One occurs when you trip a foe. The other occurs when a foe falls prone. It requires a large number of feats to accomplish, but you can really pile on the attacks with this combination.

Does the ring of continuation (Ultimate Equipment, page 168) allow you to cast time stop with a duration of 24 hours?

This item has had some unintended consequences and needs a fix. Change the second sentence of the description to read as follows: "Whenever the wearer of the ring casts a spell with a range of personal and a duration of 10 minutes per level or greater, that spell remains in effect for 24 hours or until the wearer casts another spell with a range of personal (whichever comes first)."

Charm person makes a humanoid "friendly" to you, as per the rules found in the Diplomacy skill, but it also allows you to issue orders to the target, making an opposed Charisma check to convince the target to do something that it would not normally do. How does that work?

The charm person spell (and charm monster by extension) makes the target your friend. It will treat you kindly (although maybe not your allies) and will generally help you as long as your interests align. This is mostly in the purview of the GM. If you ask the creature to do something that it would not normally do (in relation to your friendship), that is when the opposed Charisma check comes into play. For example, if you use charm person to befriend an orc, the orc might share his grog with you and talk with you about the upcoming raid on a nearby settlement. If you asked him to help you fight some skeletons, he might very well lend a hand. If you asked him to help you till a field, however, you might need to make that check to convince him to do it.

That about wraps it up for this week. Keep those questions coming.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

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Tags: Frequently Asked Questions Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
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Contributor

Thanks, Jason, for making my job easier. Now I can tell my player that it was you who said no to the ring of continuation and not me. :)

Dark Archive

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Thanks for this. I had ruled that Viscious Stomp worked the way that you verify here in my home game, for the same reasons you have listed, so I'm glad that there's something backing it up besides GM fiat and rational thinking (which, in a perfect world, would work all the time).

Please sir, can we have another? (Whenever possible.)

Liberty's Edge

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Finally the double totem silliness can come to an end.

Grand Lodge

Thanks bunches Jason, these kinds of posts are never unwelcome.


6 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

The charm answer didn't really clear things up for me; the example of tilling a field is still within the vague range of something a friend might do for you. How about ordering a man to murder his wife and children?


Thank you Jason!


Nice, thank you.

But in light of this, what does Totem Warrior actually do?


Can you explain what Totem Warrior does?

Do you have to take it to take Totem Rage powers? Are you then restricted to just the totem powers you chose and the ones listed in the archetype? Is there no downside to taking the archetype (such that you aren't restricted in powers)?

Paizo Employee Director of Game Design

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hogarth wrote:
The charm answer didn't really clear things up for me; the example of tilling a field is still within the vague range of something a friend might do for you. How about ordering a man to murder his wife and children?

Well, the point here is that it is really up to the GM to decide what is inside and outside a creature's general willingness. Tilling a field might really depend on the creature (I dont think Orcs care much for farming), but killing loved ones is probably always going to require a check, and might not even work (the creature might take its own life instead, its not your puppet after all).

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Paizo Employee Director of Game Design

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Cheapy wrote:

Can you explain what Totem Warrior does?

Do you have to take it to take Totem Rage powers? Are you then restricted to just the totem powers you chose and the ones listed in the archetype? Is there no downside to taking the archetype (such that you aren't restricted in powers)?

The Totem Warrior was really just put in to give us a place to talk about the powers as a whole. Its not something you are required to take to acquire a group of totem powers.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing


Excellent, thanks.


Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Yay, I'm glad that you're going to errata the ring of continuation. I was dreading the moment that someone in one of my groups tried to abuse that thing.


Glad to see that the Barbarian contingent was correctly ignoring the Totem Warrior archetype.


Quote:

Does the ring of continuation (Ultimate Equipment, page 168) allow you to cast time stop with a duration of 24 hours?

This item has had some unintended consequences and needs a fix. Change the second sentence of the description to read as follows: "Whenever the wearer of the ring casts a spell with a range of personal and a duration of 10 minutes per level or greater, that spell remains in effect for 24 hours or until the wearer casts another spell with a range of personal (whichever comes first)."

10 minutes per level? Not 1 min per level? How many spells does that leave really...? No shield, no beast shape... a quick look using d20pfsrd only shows the following personal, 10min/lvl or hour/lvl spells:

Resinous Skin
Terrain Bond
Planetary Adaptation
Blend
Whispering Lore
Cloud Shape
Commune With Birds
Touch Injection
Veil Of Heaven
EDIT: SEE A COUPLE POSTS DOWN FOR CORRECT LIST

I might be missing some... can anyone add anything else?

Some of these aren't terrible spells, but the item is suddenly a lot less useful.

Also the wording about the spell replacement probably needs changing too, something like:
"that spell remains in effect for 24 hours or until the wearer casts another spell with a range of personal and a duration of 10 minutes per level or greater(whichever comes first)"
Otherwise, casting another short personal spell would end your 24 hour spell, despite the fact that short spells can't be extended anymore, unless that's intentional... in which case... supernerf?!

EDIT: added touch injection, Veil Of Heaven.


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Onepluss999, I thought that too originally.

But after checking out d20pfsrd's spells DB, I was able to find quite a few spells that work with it.

And after checking again, here is the full list of spells the ring works with. Well, of the ones the DB has entries for.

Quote:

Comprehend Languages

Contingency
Disguise Self
False Life
Find the Path
Foresight
Freedom of Movement
Glibness
Longstrider
Meld into Stone
Moment of Prescience
Overland Flight
Read Magic
See Invisibility
Shapechange
Tree Shape
Tree Stride
Zone of Silence
Ancestral Gift
Aura of Greater Courage
Bloodhound
Delayed Consumption
Follow Aura
Guiding Star
Honeyed Tongue
Planar Adaptation
Resurgent Transformation
Shadow Projection
Spite
Threefold Aspect
Tireless Pursuit
Veil of Positive Energy
Perceive Cues
Age Resistance, Lesser
Age Resistance, Greater
Age Resistance
Aura of Doom
Echolocation
False Life, Greater
Ghostly Disguise
Holy Shield
Play Instrument
Skinsend
Cultural Adaptation
Seducer's Eyes

Kinda glad it doesn't work with Beast Shape, tbh.


Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

This is true... I'm doing a search of my own and I'm having trouble finding spells that can be cast on the ring now. There are still a few good options like Shapechange and Disguise Self, but still. Maybe a 1 min/lvl duration would be more reasonable? Or is there some specific spell with that duration that you're worried about?

Edit: ninjaed and disproven ;)


Yeah that's a better list than I thought, not sure why all those are getting filtered out on mine.


Jason Bulmahn wrote:

When you cast a spell that allows you to make a ranged touch attack, such as scorching ray, and an enemy is within reach, do you provoke two attacks of opportunity?

Yes, you provoke two attacks of opportunity, one for casting the spell and one for making a ranged attack, since these are two separate events. As a note, since all of the rays are fired simultaneously (in the case of scorching ray), you would only provoke one attack of opportunity for making the ranged attack, even if you fired more than one ray.

The Greater Trip feat allows you to take an attack of opportunity against a foe that you trip. The Viscious Stomp feat allows you to take an attack of opportunity against a foe that falls prone adjacent to you. If you have both these feats and trip a foe, do you get to make two attacks of opportunity (assuming that you can)?

Yes, the two triggering acts are similar here but they are different. One occurs when you trip a foe. The other occurs when a foe falls prone. It requires a large number of feats to accomplish, but you can really pile on the attacks with this combination.

Huzzah! This had an unbelievable amount of noise generated over it. Glad to see it finally sorted.


You have a lot of spells on there that already last 24 hours (Age resist, threefold aspect, etc), so I wouldn't count those.

I'm not sure what was going on w/ my filters before, but I think this is the list.

Quote:

Comprehend Languages

Disguise Self
Find the Path
Foresight
Freedom of Movement
Glibness
Meld into Stone
Read Magic
See Invisibility
Shapechange
Ancestral Gift
Aura of Greater Courage
Follow Aura
Honeyed Tongue
Veil of Positive Energy
Perceive Cues
Aura of Doom
Echolocation
Ghostly Disguise
Holy Shield
Play Instrument
Cultural Adaptation
Seducer's Eyes
Aram Zey's Trap Ward
Absorb Toxicity
Resinous Skin
Blend
Whispering Lore
Veil Of Heaven
Cloud Shape
Commune With Birds


I did include everything higher than 10 minutes, even if it doesn't necessarily make sense. Like 1 day / lvl spells.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

You need to take the whole table and do some pruning because apparently there are like 10 formulations of 10 min/level

10/level:

Comprehend Languages
Disguise Self
Glibness
Meld into Stone
Read Magic
See Invisibility
Shapechange
Find the Path
Foresight
Freedom of Movement
Aura of Doom
Play Instrument
Ghostly Disguise
Cultural Adaptation
Ancestral Gift
Honeyed Tongue
Perceive Cues
Echolocation
Holy Shield
Resinous Skin
Blend
Follow Aura
Seducer's Eyes
Whispering Lore
Cloud Shape
Veil of Positive Energy
Veil Of Heaven
Aram Zey's Trap Ward
Absorb Toxicity
Commune With Birds
Aura of Greater Courage

1 hour / level:

Longstrider
Overland Flight
Tree Shape
Zone of Silence
Bloodhound
Orchid's Drop
Deadeye's Lore
Touch Injection
Planetary Adaptation
Planar Adaptation
Shadow Projection
Tireless Pursuit
Skinsend
Spite
Eaglesoul
Moment of Prescience
False Life
False Life, Greater
Tree Stride
Resurgent Transformation

Misc qualifying::

Contingency
Guiding Star
Delayed Consumption
Terrain Bond
Age Resistance, Lesser
Age Resistance, Greater
Age Resistance
Threefold Aspect

Liberty's Edge

The charisma check would presumably have circumstance modifiers. I think the issue was that getting them to till a field and kill a loved one should not be the same check.


Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

On the plus site, you don't have to worry as much about accidentally deactivating the ring by casting a random spell with a range of personal now that the list is a bit more limited.

Liberty's Edge

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Happy to see the FAQ back on the attack.


hogarth wrote:
The charm answer didn't really clear things up for me; the example of tilling a field is still within the vague range of something a friend might do for you. How about ordering a man to murder his wife and children?

I'd file this under "obviously harmful orders."

Dark Archive

So... I can still have a 24 hour glibness.... excelent...


I'm happy to see the rest of the FAQ, though disappointed in the Totem Warrior archetype. I feel like listing it is a bit misleading and it should be removed altogether.


ciretose wrote:
The charisma check would presumably have circumstance modifiers. I think the issue was that getting them to till a field and kill a loved one should not be the same check.

The wonderful thing about circumstance bonuses is that the GM is encouraged to hand them out like candy. Because they are usually based on circumstances outside of the rules.


Thanks Jason!

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

Cheapy wrote:
ciretose wrote:
The charisma check would presumably have circumstance modifiers. I think the issue was that getting them to till a field and kill a loved one should not be the same check.

The wonderful thing about circumstance bonuses is that the GM is encouraged to hand them out like candy. Because they are usually based on circumstances outside of the rules.

I know I do. And penalties too.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

2 people marked this as FAQ candidate.
Faqman wrote:
Yes, you provoke two attacks of opportunity, one for casting the spell and one for making a ranged attack, since these are two separate events. As a note, since all of the rays are fired simultaneously (in the case of scorching ray), you would only provoke one attack of opportunity for making the ranged attack, even if you fired more than one ray.

Does this mean if an archer full attacks with the bow, he can draw an AoO from each time he fires an arrow? What about manyshot?


Matthew Morris wrote:
Faqman wrote:
Yes, you provoke two attacks of opportunity, one for casting the spell and one for making a ranged attack, since these are two separate events. As a note, since all of the rays are fired simultaneously (in the case of scorching ray), you would only provoke one attack of opportunity for making the ranged attack, even if you fired more than one ray.
Does this mean if an archer full attacks with the bow, he can draw an AoO from each time he fires an arrow? What about manyshot?

I don't think full attacking with a biow would provoke more than once as it would be like moving past more than one threatened square (provokes once).


Archers have to swallow an AoO each time they fire an arrow, yea.

Manyshot would presumably fall under the same logic as the "simultaneous rays" thing.

It's what makes being an archer in melee a really bad idea.


Ouch. Really? Sucks for them.


keep em coming Jason.


It's what makes this so nice for archers :)


So we now have a new term "event." Not liking the ray AoO wording. Not so much bothered by the tripping one, I can see that, but the double AoO seems harsh and unreasonable to me. Fortunately, not a lot of monsters pick combat reflexes.

If multiple rays are fired, how is that really different from multiple arrows? I understand it mechanically but not practically.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

thanks Jason. I'd like to see these blog/FAQ more frequently :)


so about those flurry of Blows?

Sovereign Court

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Love the FAQ answers. Keep 'em coming.


Man, I should've taken that bet on how fast someone would complain about this not being flurry of blows.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Cheapy wrote:
Man, I should've taken that bet on how fast someone would complain about this not being flurry of blows.

And it wasn't me. Now, about those flurry of blows . . . LOL

MA


I think one of the big hang ups for Charm Person, is what does 'obviously harmful' mean, or is that a GM question? Does it mean causing harm to anyone, or causing harm to oneself? If it's causing harm to oneself, does that mean emotional harm? Physical harm? Financial harm? Political harm?

That was kind of one of the things that really blew up the Charm Person thread awhile back.

That and Ciretose and I don't agree on most things other than Monks need fix.

:P


Azazyll wrote:

So we now have a new term "event." Not liking the ray AoO wording. Not so much bothered by the tripping one, I can see that, but the double AoO seems harsh and unreasonable to me. Fortunately, not a lot of monsters pick combat reflexes.

If multiple rays are fired, how is that really different from multiple arrows? I understand it mechanically but not practically.

Use the term opportunity, if you want. That's all it's describing.

Each of those situations provokes twice. So each counts as two opportunities. Referring to the rule:

PRD wrote:
If the same opponent provokes two attacks of opportunity from you, you could make two separate attacks of opportunity (since each one represents a different opportunity).

The wording is a little unfortunate with Scorching Ray. It does say the rays are simultaneous, but simultaneity isn't really a limiting factor for AoO, as demonstrated by Greater Trip + Vicious Stomp. It'd be better if it were clear that it's a single ranged attack that happens to target multiple enemies.

The Exchange

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d20pfsrd.com has been updated with these FAQs.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

MacGurcules wrote:
It does say the rays are simultaneous, but simultaneity isn't really a limiting factor for AoO, as demonstrated by Greater Trip + Vicious Stomp.

What makes you think those are simultaneous? They're not even the same trigger.


Matthew Morris wrote:
Faqman wrote:
Yes, you provoke two attacks of opportunity, one for casting the spell and one for making a ranged attack, since these are two separate events. As a note, since all of the rays are fired simultaneously (in the case of scorching ray), you would only provoke one attack of opportunity for making the ranged attack, even if you fired more than one ray.
Does this mean if an archer full attacks with the bow, he can draw an AoO from each time he fires an arrow? What about manyshot?

yes, if you have a 16 BAB, and fire 4 arrows (16, 11, 6, 1) then you provoke four attacks of opportunity.

Manyshot allows you to shoot two arrows with one attack, one attack roll, they either both hit or both miss, so only one AoO.


Cheapy wrote:
Man, I should've taken that bet on how fast someone would complain about this not being flurry of blows.

it was more of a passive aggressive joke. that complaint, I have stopped lovign monks and now play brawlers and unarmed fighters to have my monster puncher.


3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Cheapy wrote:

Onepluss999, I thought that too originally.

But after checking out d20pfsrd's spells DB, I was able to find quite a few spells that work with it.

And after checking again, here is the full list of spells the ring works with. Well, of the ones the DB has entries for.

Quote:

NO LIGHT LANCE

Kinda glad it doesn't work with Beast Shape, tbh.

I'm disappointed by this. I want to hold aloft my Light Lance and bathe a radius of 28,798 miles in pure holy light. When I stand on top of a mountain I want to be a shining beacon of good that half the world can see. I want people being awakened by my burning presence at 3AM in the morning going, "DEAR GOD WHAT IS THAT!? IS THAT THE SUN!?" I want the orc army planning a surprise attack to be totally caught off guard. I want to attract Mothra. I want the poor souls of Lordren to see me and go PRAISE THE SUN!

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