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I am playing a Ekujae fighter in PFS. Thematically, I purchased some Thistle Arrows. Hostorically, they are an older item from Golarion, 3.5 - found in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting:
Thistle Arrow: These arrows are a specialty of the Ekujae shamans, who craft the arrowheads out of the thistles of a toxic plant that most creatures find highly caustic. They deal normal damage but then become embedded in the wound and deal an additional 1 point of damage each round for 1d6 rounds from their irritating sap. Creatures immune to poison are immune to this extra damage. A creature can remove an embedded thistle arrow as a move action without provoking attacks of opportunity, but doing so deals an additional 1d3 points of damage as the thorny barbs are pulled free. A DC 12 Heal check (made as a standard action) can pull free a thistle arrow’s head without dealing any additional damage. A single thistle arrow costs 1 gp.
Obviously, the old Campaign Setting book is not pfs legal - however, in Adventurer's Armory, there is a section that brings some old 3.5 items forward (that weren't done so in the Inner Sea World Guide).
Converting Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting Items
This book updates several items from the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting to the Pathfinder RPG rules. Items not listed may be used without conversion.
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Thistle Arrow: Crafted from the thistles of a poisonous plant, these barbed arrows deal damage as a bleed effect for 1d6 rounds after a hit.
PFS Additional resources states that it is legal (or doesn't exclude it from it's otherwise blanket legality):
Pathfinder Player Companion: Adventurer's Armory:
Only the 2nd printing of this book or the 1st printing augmented by the current errata (released 7/21/11) are legal for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play.
Everything in this book is legal for play with the following exceptions: a pseudodragon is not legal for purchase unless you're a wizard with the Improved Familiar feat, elephants are never legal for play, and armored kilts are not legal. As of June 10, 2016, slaves are no longer available for purchase. A PC can only purchase an animal, mount, or similar creature if its Challenge Rating is lower than that character's level; creatures with a Challenge Rating of 1 or lower are exempt from this restriction, as are horses.
So, the actual pfs legal source is AA, and it doesn't actually contain the rules for the thistle arrow, just a summary of their effects. Is it expected that the excerpt from the campaign setting book is valid rule text for these items in pfs? Alternatively, is the text in AA all that we have to go on? In which case, there is no price, and no description of WHAT the bleed effect is. What materials do I need to have to use these arrows, and am I going to run into a lot of table variation and problems if I keep these arrows on my character? Many of the other items in this 'conversion' section
The bow is secondary for this guy, who is otherwise a dual wielding build, I just liked to dive head first into the Ekujae theme, and these arrows seemed perfect.
Just want to avoid table variation on this - most the items in this AA list have since been reprinted in their entirety in later publications, but the thistle arrows, unfortunately, didn't end up in anything newer than Adventurer's Armory. Seems it would be a simple campaign clarification to simply spec out the 'updated' arrows.
My proposed clarification, which is essentially the original rules, with the 'modification' from adventurer's armory integrated in.
The modification is defining the persistent damage as a bleed effect.
[b]Thistle Arrows:[b] This arrow does an additional 1 point of bleed damage for 1d6 rounds, or until removed via a DC12 'Provide First Aid' heal check. The arrow can also be removed as a move action but this inflicts 1d3 damage. Creatures immune to poison are also immune to the bleed effect of these arrows. Each arrow costs 1gp.
I think the AA is all that is needed. Arrow damage plus bleed plus extra damage when removing? Seems a little much.
The issue is, if you were to see just the text from AA, how would you rule the arrow works? How much bleed damage does it do?
Venture-Captain, Nebraska—Omaha
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"A bleed effect" to me means the damage from the arrow (1d6 or 1d8) only is bleed for 1d6 rounds. Any other damage boast are not damage from the arrow so would not increase the bleed amount.
Your proposed clarification is too much because of the extra damage cause from removing the arrow.
At look least that is how I view it.
Personally, I don't believe they're PFS-legal. The item as a whole wasn't printed in AA; just a line about how to convert a specific 3.5 item to Pathfinder. And yes, I had an archer that would have liked to use them, so this isn't just archer-hate.
With that out of the way, and looking at both sets of text... I suspect your proposed clarification matches the intent.
I would have leaned that way as well, except the Armored Kilt is in that same section, and the Additional Resources entry for the book explicitly excludes that item - to me that means all the other items are legal.
"A bleed effect" to me means the damage from the arrow (1d6 or 1d8) only is bleed for 1d6 rounds. Any other damage boast are not damage from the arrow so would not increase the bleed amount.
Your proposed clarification is too much because of the extra damage cause from removing the arrow.
At look least that is how I view it.
The extra 1d3 damage is if it is pulled out as a move action without the heal check. And that IS how the item is originally written. My proposed clarification is actually quite a bit weaker than the original, because in the original form, it was not tied to the general 'bleed' rules, which meant that multiple arrows stuck in would add to the persistent damage. With it being tied to bleed, however, multiple arrows will not stack.
it would be insanely overpowered if the bleed was the arrow damage. 1d6 or 1d8 bleed over 1d6 rounds is insane. 1 bleed over 1d6 rounds (as the original item is written) is perfectly reasonable.
Wanting to bump this now that the forums appear to be staying alive for more than a day at a time. Is the PFS1 still going to be the subject of new rulings/campaign clarifications, or are things essentially locked in now in the 1e space?