Alleran's page

In a recent session, an interesting situation came up (not me, but one of my players). His improved tumor familiar (small elemental; he's an alchemist/wizard multi) was killed, but since we have a druid it promptly had a Reincarnate spell cast on it... which has led to a slight problem, in that it has reincarnated, based on the list, as a half-elf.

Except, of course, that a half-elf does not technically qualify for being a familiar that I'm aware of. I ruled that yes, Reincarnate and other resurrection-based spells can work on things from the Improved Familiar list, but does it remain a familiar? Or would the bond be "broken" and thus it would be separated?

Now, I'm not opposed to letting it remain as a half-elf familiar ("A wiz-erm, druid did it!"), but can anybody see any particular problems or similar that could arise? Or interesting plot hooks I could work in surrounding his familiar? Is there precedent for something like this occurring? The player also has Leadership, and has voiced to me the possibility of allowing him to swap out his current cohort for his new half-elf familiar (so it would be a cohort and still benefit from the familiar bonuses, but he'd no longer have his current cohort).

As a reference, this player is largely not an optimiser, so I don't have much fear that it'll see any abuse if I do allow it. Although opinions on any potential abuses I might need to curb are also welcome.

I posed a few questions on this to James Jacobs, and was redirected here for FAQing. It concerns the interaction of the Beyond Morality ability with various other elements of the game (and alignment system, specifically). It seems to have some perhaps-unforeseen repercussions on a variety of game elements. The text of the ability, for reference purposes:

Beyond Morality (Ex): You have no alignment. You can become a member of any class, even one with an alignment requirement, and can never lose your membership because of a change in alignment. If you violate the code of ethics of any of your classes, you might still lose access to certain features of such classes, subject to GM discretion. Attempts to detect your alignment don't return any results. If a class restricts you from casting spells with an alignment descriptor, you can cast such spells without restrictions or repercussions. If you're the target of a spell or effect that is based on alignment, you're treated as the most favourable alignment when determining the spell's effect on you. Any effects that alter alignment have no effect on you. If you lose this effect, you revert to your previous alignment.

Now, this ability raises some questions that I can think of, and possibly some that others can come up with. First, the obvious stuff seems to be that spells like Holy Word (and friends), Detect Evil (and friends), and similar types of magic won't work. This is no issue, and is spelled out in the ability. The problem comes up in how it interacts with certain other abilities.

1) For example, the Divine Source power allows the possessor to grant divine spells. The domains selected by the character taking it must match alignment if possible, unless alignment is neutral. This is an immediate issue, because somebody with Beyond Morality has no alignment. What is the most favourable alignment to treat them as for this purpose? Can they just select any two domains that they want?

2) Clerics must be within one step of the god they follow. If you have Divine Source and are a demigod, and also have Beyond Morality... what alignment are you for purposes of the one step rule that your clerics need? Can you literally have a cleric of any alignment, from LG to CE? Are you considered neutral? Or something else? Can you even have any clerics at all, since they obviously would be incapable of being your clerics?

3) How does somebody with this ability interact with spells like Atonement? The text of the relevant section:

Redemption or Temptation: You may cast this spell upon a creature of an opposing alignment in order to offer it a chance to change its alignment to match yours. The prospective subject must be present for the entire casting process. Upon completion of the spell, the subject freely chooses whether it retains its original alignment or acquiesces to your offer and changes to your alignment. No duress, compulsion, or magical influence can force the subject to take advantage of the opportunity offered if it is unwilling to abandon its old alignment. This use of the spell does not work on outsiders or any creature incapable of changing its alignment naturally.

I think the question here is obvious, considering the text of Beyond Morality as "you have no alignment" - clearly there is a disconnect. How does this ability interact with atonement spells? Does the caster count as whatever alignment he feels like counting for in context of the ability? So, for example, one morning he could cast the spell to redeem a CE character to LG, and that afternoon he could corrupt a LG paladin to CE? Does the spell even work for him at all? There is plenty of reference to being the target of effects concerning alignment in the Beyond Morality text, but not if you're the source of it.

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Those are the three most notable concerns I came up with after perusing the ability for a little while. There may be others that have been noted elsewhere as well, but I do think this ability needs a bit of clarification on just what it entails.

Winter Witches (the archetype) are limited to taking a patron from the following themes:

Ancestors, deception, enchantment, endurance, moon, occult, portents, stars, transformation, trickery, water, winter or wisdom.

Now that there's a new patron (Fate) that is used by Baba Yaga, would it be reasonable to include the Fate patron among these ones? It would seem to fit both with the general pattern of winter witch patrons (e.g. occult, portents, wisdom - they all fit to Fate as well) as well as with Baba Yaga in general (she is, after all, the one who created Irrisen, and witches seeking to follow in her footsteps are noted as often choosing the Fate patron).

Was it intended to be permissible for Winter Witches by design, or should it not be allowed? Because thematically at least, I can't see any reason to prohibit it.