The answer to Divine Guidance doesn't have to be a poem, though, so it doesn't really "force" your GM to write a poem.
Being that this thread is intended for humor (see OP), this minor point you bring forward is completely non-sensical, and here is why:
If I survive to 15th level, and train my Religion skill to Legendary, then pick up this Legendary feat, my GM would be remiss not to write poems when my character, with reasonable frequency, consults their lexicon of religious parables.
How could you not agree!?
Because that gets old fast. Also, it doesn't suit all deities.
Asmodeus doesn't write poems, he writes legislation.
Cayden may have a bawdy limerick here or there, but he "is not known to have taken the time to write a book or manual describing his divine teachings", so I assume whatever passes for his holy texts are drunken notes written on napkins.
Nethys? Scholarly textbooks.
Shelyn would probably use poems, though.
Also, because for most people, being forced to write poems on the spot is a chore, chores aren't fun, so if you demand your hints come in the form of poems, you're probably reducing the amount of fun at the table.
The answer to Divine Guidance doesn't have to be a poem, though, so it doesn't really "force" your GM to write a poem.
"We have found the mystic well, but what are we actually supposed to do with it now?"
"As the scripture of Cayden Cailean says: Chug, chug, chug, chug!"
A Headband gives you one "full skill" (that is, the maximum amount of ranks you can have in that skill, generally equal to your character level) per +2 Int bonus after having been worn for 24 hourd. Which skills these are are fixed for each headband.
If you increase in level, the granted ranks increase accordingly.
If a level 20 character wears such a headband for a day, they'll get 20 ranks in the skills that the headband grants (not stacking with existing skill points).
If they hand their headband over to their level 1 friend, said friend would only get 1 rank, in the same skills, and still not stacking with existing skill ranks.
A headband grants no other skill ranks, be it at level up or whatever, except those it grants as part of their "full skills".
Wuxia heroes will want a long talk with this person...
No, seriously, in wuxia stories, it's the warriors who have a way easier (and safer) path for ascending to a higher plane of existence, not the caster equivalents. Quite the striking opposite of European chivalric stories, really.
Also, European myths tend to portrait immortality as an impossible goal for the vain and foolish… when in wuxia stories, "eternal youth" sometimes seems like the minimum "you must be this tall to ride" test, and the Monkey King acquired immortality several times over before the main part of the journey to the west even really started.
I was kind of peeved that psychic surgery could only restore memories, not remove them. Amputations are surgeries, too!
Also, Damnation of Memory doesn't spare the targeted creature, which may leave it remembering its own life as a bystander, attributing all of its own actions to others. However, it doesn't actually make it forget anything that happened, just how it happened.
It's my understanding you can make Perception/Sense Motive checks to see if someone is possessed or mind controlled, […]
Yes and no. It is certainly possible (PF1: SG 25 for general Enchantment, SG 15 for Dominate), but generally not feasible in combat ("Trying to gain information with Sense Motive generally takes at least 1 minute, […]")
But yeah, a GM should give some hints if that's what they're going for. A GM who would throw out-of-context Dominated good guys at you is just as likely to have an evil spellcaster Veil prisoners or another group of heros as hobgoblins, drow, or whatever your group is otherwise fighting.
So, you either trust your GM to not throw morality questions at your characters out of context, or you look for another group.
"Success: The target is on the right path to the exit. If the target
was already on the right path, it escapes the maze and the
spell ends."
So a Success only gets you out of the maze if you have not strayed from the "right path" via a prior Critical Failure result. If you have an uncanceled Critical Failure result, all a Success does is cancel it.
Basically, clerics have shifted from "open to essentially anyone not outright opposed to the god" to "actual exemplars of their faith".
The gods can (Probably? No rules for it yet, but the edition is new.) still hand out some blessings and help to anyone who seems cool in their eyes, but separating "the god thinks some stuff you do is kinda nice, have a gold star" from "you are a leader of the god's faith" is something I rather like about the new edition.
- lost his Runelord title long ago, already had two successors,
- non-evil lich doesn't have the same impact as non-evil demon (or demon lord)
- is his redemption actually canon, or just optional? Sorshen's and Nocticula's redemptions aren't just official canon, they also have a huge impact on the world, one in the form of a new country, the other in the form of a new deity, placing both front and center.
Basically, when it comes to "exceptional" redemption - demons, demon lords, ancient powerful wizards - it's only been "pretty ones" so far.
Sure, you could redeem any low-level humanoid schmuck that passes you on the way, but that's because "humanoids can be redeemed" is the basic assumption. When it comes to "breaking the rules" and redeeming ancient evils, they've all been the lustful kind of evil so far.
On the other hand, with some luck, we might get to redeem a gold dragon soon, so there's that?
They call themselves Frostburn Goblins (under the assumption that "Frostburn" means "burning up the frost"), and their motto is "Elves can't freeze you if you're on fire!"
Since none of them were frozen by an elf so far, and the elves are clearly distressed by the sight of burning goblins, instantly start trying to put them out, and are generally wary the moment the goblins start playing with fire, the goblins must be doing something right!
This is tricky. On one hand, wysps are explicitly mentioned in the Greater Elemental Whispers talent, and it states "If your improved familiar dies, you can still contact its voice in your mind and gain the Alertness feat, but you can’t cause it to manifest. If you pay the usual costs for replacing a familiar, you manifest a new form for your elemental friend."
On the other hand, the Living Battery ability isn't exactly a standard death, and explicitly rules out resurrection.
Specific may trump general, but it's not clear which is which here.
I'd allow it to be restored as usual. It's not like there's a mechanical difference between giving the old one a new body or getting a completely new one.
A Cloaker can be worn as a cloak that... eats you?
Although, now I'm thinking that taxidermied cloaker is a fashion statement.
They're intelligent, non-evil, (not immune to mind-affecting,) and their description states that "stories linger of cloakers that ally with other creatures, hitching a ride on their backs and aiding in their ally’s protection for their own inscrutable reasons."
They can use their Moan ability to help their "wearer", they just have to use their Moan abilities outside of fights until the wearer succeeds at the saving throw and becomes immune for 24 hours.
Snowcaster elves apparently enjoy a reputation as "nomadic demon-worshipping cannibals who can freeze a man's blood with a glance".
And by "enjoy", I mean "as long as it keeps annoying visitors away, sure, let's keep that story around." - they're actually predominantly Chaotic Good.
Seems like prime "goblins heard stories, thought it sounded awesome, now the snowcasters can't get rid of them" material.
Not if they choose them as signature spells. Those can be heightened (or lowered down to their minimum level, if they were learned as a higher level spell) at will, and sorcerers get one signature spell per spell level they can cast, so it's not that much opportunity cost.
So, a sorcerer specialising in them gets tons of options.
Type Goblin Shortstack into the internet with the safe search off.
I've played Corruption of Champions, so "sexy goblin" isn't really strange to me. It just doesn't mesh all that well with Paizo's depiction of goblins. "[…] they often bear scars, boils, and rashes. […] Their jagged teeth fall out and regrow constantly, […]. Mutations are also more common among goblins than other peoples, […]"
(…but really, the minute looking that up was already to much effort for a cheap "Goblins are ugly and Calistrians are seductive" joke.
Goblins can easily worship her for general hedonism and revenge.)
Aasimars and Tieflings in the Bestiary only have the humanoid trait so it wouldn't have been an issue anyway.
Fair enough, hadn't noticed that. It's still nice that now you're only limited by level difference and immunities, not by creature type.
And while I'm at it, to add to the Illusory Disguise thing
Previous post on Illusory Disguise:
Porridge wrote:
Illusory Disguise: The first level version of this spell is pretty much like Disguise Self (albeit with a fixed 1 hour duration instead of a 10 min/level duration). But the second level version allows you to disguise your voice and scent as well, and the third level version also allows you to disguise yourself as specific individuals!
PF1 worked really hard to make it really difficult to disguise yourself as a specific individual, because (I think) they worried about the narrative power this might give the players. I'm really glad they changed their mind about this in PF2. Allowing players to disguise themselves as specific individuals enables another great world-building narrative device, that of the magical imposter taking the place as someone else. And it allows the players to get up to the kinds of crazy hijinks that a lot of players really enjoy. Similar remarks apply to:
Veil: The base version of this spell is now only 4th level (instead of 6th), and disguises up to 10 creatures for an hour. But the fifth level version allows you to disguise their voices and scents as well, and the seventh level version allows you to disguise them as specific individuals!
Now the entire party can disguise themselves as the duke, his wife, and their two most loyal servants in order to convince the mayor to stop the execution, or disguise themselves as the four high-ranking members of Norgorber's cult who they've tracked down, in order to...
It now (again? I think that was how 3.5 handled it) allows you to Disguise yourself as anything with the same "body shape" - not as PF1, "creature of the same Type, but possibly different Subtype".
On the upside, many undead are immediately within reach, as are various constructs, and pretty much anything else that has a mostly humanoid shape and roughly the same size.
It's more of a nerf for "exotic" bodyshapes, since now an aberration can't use Disguise Self to pretend to be any other kind of aberration.
Also, wings might be an issue - I'd be curious if you could make illusory wings (opening up a lot of disguises) or hide wings (allowing Strix to pretend to be another type of humanoid).
I do agree that our redeemed succubi (it's actually both Arueshalae and Nocticula) being dressed less provocatively has unfortunate implications that should be addressed.
Side Rant:
I'm… slightly annoyed that it's always the pretty ones that get redeemed.
Arueshalae, Nocticula, and now Sorshen all have that in common. A succubus, the succubus queen, and the runelord of lust.
It's time that Zon-Kuthon gets turned back into Dou-Bral. Preferably while keeping his scars.
Charm, Suggestion: Once spell manifestations became an explicit part of the PF1 rules, spells like Charm Person and Suggestion became too risky to use against anyone who wasn't already hostile, since the target would know you're casting the spell, and if they made their save, would get pissed off. In PF2, Charm now states that unless the target critically succeeds they think you've only cast a harmless spell. And with Suggestion unless they critically succeed they won't even realize you're casting a spell.
Now, Charm is weaker duration-wise in PF2, since it now lasts one hour instead of 1 hour/lvl. But the 4th level version of Charm lasts until you next perform your daily preparations. From p480, it looks like doing your daily prep is optional, so if you decline to do that it you could extend the duration of this Charm indefinitely... a great thing for a Wizard to do on some key figures before he retires!
Another important thing to note:
I kept looking for "Charm Monster". Or, in fact, any spell to Charm (rather than Dominate) a non-humanoid. After all, Dominate had that Heightened option to affect any kind of target, so why doesn't Charm get the same option?
Turns out I didn't pay attention, since Charm has no restrictions based on creature type, no Heightened required. Sure, some are immune to Emotion and/or Mental effects and the Incapacitation tag limits it, but Charm always had trouble with those and now this one spell works against humanoids, fey, animals, dragons, or whatever else you could cast Charm X on in PF1.
Also means that Aasimars and Tieflings won't have "lesser charm immunity" during low levels.
I remember seeing people present why ring of regen is not having regen... someone mind reposting that? I dont recall and cant be bothered to try to dig for it.
long story short:
The Ioun Stone works like the Ring of Regeneration.
The Ring of Regeneration works like the spell Regeneration.
The spell Regeneration actually doesn't give you the monster ability Regeneration, but essentially just Fast Healing with the added ability to regrow limbs.
I mean, bringing it in line with similar items may be a sensible house rule, but the item explicitly - yes, explicitly - says that you count as four levels higher in regards for what powers you can use (and also for what these powers do).
And no matter how sensible or reasonable a house rule is, it's still a house rule, not RAW.
How would you read the sentence "The wearer treats her sorcerer level as 4 higher than normal for the purpose of determining what bloodline powers she can use" as anything but granting early access? That's about as explicit as it gets.
Yes, it's out of line with later, similar items, but that doesn't change the rules for this item.
Quite to the contrary, it explicitly says "The wearer treats her sorcerer level as 4 higher than normal for the purpose of determining what bloodline powers she can use and their effects."
So no to your no. The robe does give early access.
I wasn't the one who altered the conversation. I just wanted to know about the math.
Math would already be "advice", since you're not asking how rules work, but which choice is more advantageous.
Also, half of the math was based on D&D 3.5, which isn't pathfinder rules, making the rules forum the wrong place anyway (WotC would be 3pp, if anything).
Technically, it only really prevents "Activating a touch-triggered symbol by using it to touch someone", but a Hat of Symbol of Death seems similarly abusable.
Considering all these homerules and other changes to the setting - several of which are relevant to the question - and the fact that the original question wasn't even actually about rules, but math, this really shouldn't be in the Rules Questions forum.
I know that Baba Yaga has three symbols of death on her body, don't recall offhand what the statblock said happens though, or if she can activate them as free/standard action by removing clothes/raising hand or what have you.
Hopefully that helps (granted a cr 30 creature is not great precedent, but...)
If you look at the relevant ability description (Link to her on Nethys, it's under "Permanent Spells"), it actually implies that inscribing Symbol spells on people is not possible normally.
Baba Yaga's statblock wrote:
Baba Yaga has also devised a way to inscribe symbol spells upon her person.
As in, she found a way, but it's far from something anyone could do.
(Also, she has 4 or 5 symbols of death, depending on weather the "soles of her feat" are one or two. But usually you probably only have to roll against those on her chest, shoulder blades, and on her head, since she's standing on the last one/two.)
And that right there is the part about alignment that I really don't like. When one player at the table (GM included) starts trying to control another person's character or feels like they can/should at least influence the choices that the other players make because 'it fits your character's alignment better'.
No one gets to tell you what your character would do (unless there are Compulsion spells involved or such, which is an entirely different matter), but if you decide that your character stabs orphans for giggles, they do get to tell you that your character isn't Good.
There are a lot of problems with alignment (as demonstrated by the many variations of occasionally contradictory moral philosophies around), but "people tell me how to play my character" is a problem with people, not with alignment.
After looking around a bit, I found the Ataxians, Tiny Outsiders associated with Cayden Cailean. Their Magic Jar ability is even "willing target only".
"Ataxians love to possess worshipers of the Drunken Hero and experience life in an “enormous” body, and they seize the chance whenever they can. Many tales of a drunken peasant single-handedly defeating a gang of ruffians can be attributed to the unexpected intervention of one of these servitors."
They'd probably pay in alcohol rather than gold, though.
Also, Astral Dragons and Prism Dragons of sufficient age - they're neutral/chaotic neutral, at least.
@Firebug: Those give Spellcraft bonuses, but they don't increase Crafting speed.
Unless you're suggesting that the "+5 for double speed" modifier can be stacked multiple times with itself, anything past the first +5 Spellcraft is pointless for this topic.
I’m weird. The thing is, I often get my characters reshaped by the game they’re played in.... None of that was in the original plans, but the character got reshaped by the game.
That's not weird. That's perfectly normal, and it is good.
Seconded. No character concept of mine ever survived contact with actual play.
Sage Familiar is nice for Knowledge checks, they free up some skill points for you and are probably the best for a skills-y character if you or your DM don't enjoy you constantly saying "and my familiar uses Aid Another...". It can stack with Figment Familiar if you want to do the Die for Your Master trick suggested upthread. […]
The greatest use for the Tumor Familiar is having a Sage Figment Tumor with ranks in the Heal skill telling you that you're a hypochondriac and that it doesn't exist.
Uhh…
For one, permanency shouldn't be required.
Same kingdom (animal), same class (mammals), same size (medium), at least for the humans also related (human to human) means duration factor 9 or 11, either way, it's permanent.
But… Polymorph Any Object emulates Greater Polymorph emulates Alter Self.
They won't get the "+2 to everything" the Azlanti had, they'll just get a +2 to Strength for taking a medium form with Alter Self.
Now, I don't want to derail this highly scientific thread, but I think the experts here can shine some light on another matter:
Are Androids fully functional and anatomically correct?
Uh, I'm not Diego Rossi, but I'm pretty sure that's not what he meant.
You get "(1 HP and 1 SP) or (1 FCB) in total", not "[...] in addition to your usual FCB".
If you take the racial FCB, Fast Learner has no effect for that level.
It only takes effects for levels where you take an extra HP/extra SP, giving you an extra SP (in addition to your HP) or vice versa.
Requires you be a Teifling or have undergone the demon ritual to become a half fiend
Demonic/Improved Posession requires "Demon or half-demon".
As far as I know, tieflings don't count as either. Maybe there is a way to make them count as such, but not by default.
Thank you for your critique! I must respectfully disagree though.
A Teifling is, in a very literal sense, a half demon. One parent was a demon after all. (Unless they came from a devil or something.)
There exists nothing in the rules called a "half demon" but there are Teiflings and half fiends which fill that design space and are, if you read the flavor text, half demon....
Where do you get your flavor text from? According to Archive of Nethys, which is now the official SRD, "Most tieflings never know their fiendish sire, as the coupling that produced their curse occurred generations earlier."
The Pathfinder Wiki (not really official, but still useful) says "Though tieflings have the blood of fiendish beings, their ancestry is at least one step removed from the original introduction of that blood; the child of a union of a mortal with a fiendish being is a half-fiend, not a tiefling."
This is apparently from Book of Fiends, but I'm currently away from my books.
And I was... not ninja'ed, since I just didn't notice that literally every post between this and Lockewood's says the same. Badly failed perception there.
