Bellona's page

I've noticed that the inside covers of those APs which I've bought most recently (Legacy of Fire and Carrion Crown) seem to contain a lot of "local colour"/information. How are GMs supposed to use this information?

Is it for Gather Information/Diplomacy or Knowledge checks? Are they local colour stories which "everyone knows" (or at least, everyone who is local to the area in question) and so could be used as player hand-outs? Are they for GMs to use as plot seeds if they need to give their party more XP? Or red herrings if the investigation needs to be dragged out for some reason? Or is there some other purpose for them?

May a male witch take the Coven hex and use it to join a hag's coven?

(My apologies if this has already been answered elsewhere, but my search-fu didn't turn up any specific results for this question.)

When will we see wildblooded versions of the six new Sorcerer bloodlines which were introduced in Ultimate Magic? I'm referring to the Accursed, Djinni, Efreeti, Maestro, Marid, Rakshasa, and Shaitan bloodlines.

I'm asking because the UM says: "When creating a wildblooded sorcerer, select an existing bloodline (such as one from ... this book), then select one of the following mutated bloodlines associated with that bloodline." Unless I've seriously failed my Perception skill check, there are no associated wildblooded versions of the Accurses, Djinni, etc., bloodlines in UM.

If PC A wanted to move PC B (an ally ) during A's turn, would using Combat Manoeuvres (Bullrush, Drag, or Reposition) be the best solution? If so, would there be any difference in calculating B's CMD (assuming a willingness to be moved in such a fashion)?

Or should it simply be a function of A's Strength and movement? Something like a "Spring Pick Up and Carry" action or feat? (PC A moves if necessary, picks up B, and finishes rest of movement.)

The Oracle class (APG) draws its spells known from the Cleric's class spell list, but uses Charisma as its spellcasting stat (instead of Wisdom as the Cleric does).

The L 2 Cleric spell Spiritual Weapon specifically mentions using the caster's Wisdom modifier when calculating the spell's attack modifier. Would it not be reasonable (or even RAI) for an Oracle using Spiritual Weapon to base the spell's attack on Charisma instead of Wisdom?

The same question could just as easily be posed for Spiritual Ally, a Cleric L 4 spell in the APG which could also be chosen by an Oracle.

I'm starting a elven sorcerer with the Starsoul bloodline (from APG). At L 3 this bloodline provides low-light vision. As an elf, my character already has that ability.

So my question is as follows: does the character not gain any bonus on that account, or does the range of the low-light vision increase (from x2 to x3 or even to x4)?

If it's not included in the bundle itself, why is the cover art for the Carrion Hill module being used for this bundle?

Has anyone put together a "Plant" patron for the APG's Witch class? I could easily see both a good herbalist witch and an evil Poison Ivy-like witch worshipping the same patron.

If no such patron exists already, I might take a stab at creating one myself (probably taking a lot from the Cleric's Plant domain and/or Decay sub-domain). I just wanted to check first if someone else had already done the work! :)

Apparently my search-fu only wanted to return results relating to Disable Device skill-use and the like, hence this new thread. If the topic has already been dealt with, please direct me to the relevant thread/page.

The Disabled condition on p. 566 of the PFCR (Appendix 2: Conditions) states that a Disabled character "moves at half speed", presumably as part of the single move action which that character can do each round. (Yes, I know that the character can perform a standard action instead and then lose 1 hp at the end of his turn.)

In the same rulebook on p. 189 (Ch. 8: Combat, under Injury and Death), the description of the Disabled condition makes no mention of a reduction in a Disabled character's speed.

So which is it? Does a Disabled character suffer a reduction in speed or not? Or is this a legacy cut-and-paste error?

I'm about to start a campaign with new characters at L 8. In order to encourage party cohesion I'm looking for a short, pre-made adventure, preferaby in a severe enough environment that it would be suicide for a single character just to leave the party. Vast, dinosaur-infested jungles are welcome, as are trackless, vermin-infested deserts, polar terrain, or high mountains. Gathering the party will most likely not be a problem, as the campaign takes place in the Forgotten Realms which is rife with randomly-activated portals and the like. My intention is that when the short adventure is over, the party then discovers a portal or path to a more civilised region.

An alternative could be an "escape" or jailbreak adventure.

The preferred system is 3.5/PF, but I can adapt most other versions of D+D to my purposes. I have most of the Paizo Dungeon magazines, some earlier ones, the 3.0/3.5 WotC web content, and a miscellany of published adventures/adventure collections.

I'm open to suggestions, and hope that the forum members here can me out!

Both of these questions are related to the Raise Dead (C 5), Resurrection (C 7), and True Resurrection (C 9) chain of spells.

First question: both Raise Dead and Resurrection require a M component in the form of a diamond (5,000 gp and 10,000 gp, respectively). M components are used up by a single casting of a spell. The two spells also require the V, S, and DF components. True Resurrection requires V, S, M, and DF components too, but the M component is not specified while the DF is specified as being a diamond worth 25,000 gp. Either that's one very expensive holy symbol, or the diamond should have been listed as being the M component. I suspect the latter to be the truth, but would like some verification.

Second question: do these M component diamonds (5,000 gp, 10,000 gp, and 25,000 gp) have to be single diamonds worth the listed amount, or can a cleric simply amass (for a single casting of such a spell) a number of diamonds, the total value of which equals the required amount (like in 3.5)? (The same question could be applied to any similar M component.)

One of my players is considering a character background which involves having been the victim of a body thief - a being who jumps from body to body, "pushing" the new body's original consciousness into the body thief's previously occupied body. I could just handwave the idea as it's a background element, but what if I do want to use it? What I'm wondering is: what, if any, rules are there which could describe the process?

My first thought was the Magic Jar spell, but that's a rather complicated "shell game" and involves two high-level casters and a certain degree of willingness on both parts.

Is there anything in the psionics rules which could assist in describing the process? I know next to nothing about that part of the game, but psionics sounds like it would the likely place to look for something like that (and it lets me move away from the spellcaster requirement).

Has anyone played a Jade Phoenix Mage, or DM'ed a game with such a character playing? If so, what was it like? Any particular problems or issues to keep an eye on?

The reason why I'm asking is that I foresee being asked by a particular player in a future campaign if he may use the Jade Phoenix Mage prestige class from the Tome of Battle/Book of Nine Swords. While some parts of ToB I could easily do without, I don't mind the Warblade so far and that is a valid entry class for the JPM prestige class.

Essentially, the JPM looks like a gish class - with a rather impressive L 10 capstone ability which can be attained at character level 16 at the earliest (and which puts the character out the action for up to 6 rounds - I might be tempted to houserule that it is a flat 6-round wait). (I might also be tempted to require that L 10 JPM not be taken until a higher character level than L 16.) Providing that the party's other characters have the same power level, JPM looks okay. (In case anyone's curious, the game would be an ungodly mixture of Pathfinder and 3.5.) (And I like the idea of the Ebon Phoenix Mages, particularly as enemies of the JPMs.)

So, any relevant experiences to share?

I'm trying to figure out whether or not the Mount spell (Sorcerer/Wizard 1) will only create a mount for the caster, or if the caster can cast several of them for the entire party.

The relevant wording is "You summon a light horse ... to serve you as a mount ...", by which I assume that only the caster can use the summoned mount. Plus, I have some hazy recollections of earlier editions (1e/2e) where that _might_ have been the case too.

What I definitely _do_ recall from earlier editions about this spell: horse breeders, farmers, and livery stables all over world heaved a sigh of relief when the rules changed - no longer were their horses suddenly disappearing in answer to a mage's call, possibly never to return! :)

I'm confused about the base speed of horses in Pathfinder, and my search-fun didn't turn up anything on that specific topic.

The PRD says that (light) horses have a base speed of 50'. While there are instructions for advancing the basic light horse to a heavy horse, that affects things like Strength but not speed.

The PF core rulebook lists both light horses and heavy horses (p. 174). An unencumbered light horse has a speed of 60' (it basically doubles the distance that a speed 30' character can manage in one hour or day). Only the unencumbered heavy horse has a speed of 50'.

So which is it for the various horses' base speed(s) - 50' or 60'?

If the Oracle's generic class features don't support advice/divination of future events, then Oracle is not a good choice for the class name.

Please consider changing the name from Oracle to something like Mystic - that at least ties in with the various mysteries/revelations which the class acquires, while also referring to the mysterious and varied powers of the divine.

What is a "star child" mentioned in the final revelation for the Heavens mystery? As far as I can tell, it's not from the Bestiary. Is it from one of the adventure paths? Or is it just a poetic way of saying "your character is reincarnated, so use the Reincarnate table from the PFCR"?

Another question: the Guiding Star revelation refers to being able to see a particular star. What rules are in place to adjudicate this? Or is it left up to the DM?

(My apologies if this specific question has already been asked and answered before - my search-fu did not turn up any precise answers from the designers.)

What happens to the number of spells known when a PF Sorcerer takes levels in a prestige class which allows her to continue advancing her spellcasting abilities? How does that affect the abilities which stem from her bloodline? I'm referring to those prestige classes with tables listing "+1 level of existing arcane class" under the Spells per Day column. For example, a Sorcerer (abyssal bloodline) 6 /Fighter 1 /Eldritch Knight 2.

More specifically, in the above-mentioned example does such a Sorcerer (casting as a Sorcerer 7) have 2 spells known at spell level 3, or does she have 2 plus Rage (the abyssal bloodline's bonus spell for Sorcerer 7)?

As far as I can understand, all the other abyssal bloodline abilities would have been cut off after Sorcerer 6. When at Sorcerer 6 /Fighter 1 /Eldritch Knight 2, such a character would gain neither a bonus abyssal bloodline feat nor an increase to her claw damage (despite casting as a Sorcerer 7).

I understand that the Dragon Disciple prestige class is an anomaly (in that it allows the draconic bloodline Sorcerers to continue accruing their bloodline powers), but what about all the other prestige classes - both 3.5 and PF - which improve a Sorcerer's spellcasting? How do they affect the Sorcerer's number of spells known?

Aside from Nightmarish and Genie, what are the bloodlines available for sorcerers? And is the Genie bloodline a "generic genie", or does it distinguish between the djinn, the efreet, the marid, and the dao/earth genie types?

I've gone through the errata for the Dragon Compendium and have also taken a look at a couple of "error-finding" pages, but I'm still puzzled about the errata's changes to the orange, purple, and yellow dragons' breath weapons. I also have a question about the ice demon's ice blade attack.

Have the dragons' breath weapons been "nerfed" to only doing damage (and disregarding secondary and/or alternative effects)? Or am I misunderstanding the errata?

Why are the ice demon's two-weapon attack bonuses (with its ice blades) identical? Shouldn't the second weapon's attack bonus be at a lower value because it's the off-hand? Or am I missing something obvious here?

Some (hopefully official) answers would be appreciated, as these particular monsters could star in an upcoming adventure for my players.

(Apologies for cross-posting this between two threads, but I wasn't sure that I'd get an answer on the other one.)

In a recent game session, we had a Sorcerer use the Dimension Step spell (PH2) to let another character escape from the grasp (grapple) of an Assassin Vine. Dimension Step is from the Teleport subschool of Conjuration magic.

The DM ruled on the fly that it worked that time, but said that similar situations in the future would depend upon any errata, etc. found. The same questions can be raised with regard to spells like Dimension Door, Teleport, etc., as well as characters who are manacled to dungeon walls, fellow prisoners, and the like.

Can anyone point me at some errata, FAQ, or something similar which can clear up this issue? I've already checked the Main FAQ for 3.5 at WotC, and didn't find anything which seemed to answer the question.

Does anyone have any logical houserules to cover situations like this?

I remember having seen a 3.5 version (I think) of the Hordeling, but seem unable to track it down. Can anyone help me with finding it, please?

(It may have been in a WotC product, or it may have been in a third party product.)

Can anyone tell me which deities/faiths are covered in this issue's Faiths of Faerun article?

Why is this issue not available as a .pdf document?

What is the Shadow Chasers (Polyhedron Mini-Game) about?

Uh ... wrong cover art!

Is it just me, or does the mouth/lower facial structure look very odd for an elf?

So, I just bought the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting this past week. It's great stuff, and will definitely see use in the near future.

This brings me to my question: do I need to buy the Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer at all?

I understand that the Gazetteer was a forerunner of the Campaign Setting. Does this mean that _all_ the information in the Gazetteer was repeated (not to mention elucidated and expanded) in the Campaign Setting?