Amorgan's page

When a fire elementalist wizard uses the dancing flame ability with the detonate spell, can the wizard exclude his/her own square and thereby avoid the automatic half damage from the explosion?

A typical black bear has a strength of 17 (which is a +3 ability modifier). So a black bear caught in a trap that requires only a DC 20 strength check to break is always going to escape in about 2 minutes (i.e., the length of time required for the bear to effectively take 20 on the strength check). The black bear would be caught by the DC 24 and DC 26 strength check traps.

A typical brown bear (i.e., a grizzly) has a strength of 21; so it could escape a trap that requires a DC 24 or less in about 2 minutes, but would be caught by the DC 36 strength check trap.

A typical polar bear has a strength of 25; so it could escape even the DC 26 trap in about 2 minutes. Polar bear hunters would need to use traps rated to at least DC 28.

In light of that, I'm using the DC 26 strength check for bear traps in any campaign that I run. If its a locale with polar bears (or dire/cave bears), I'll increase the DC and the cost.

So what it comes down to is this question of intent:
Did the writer of Sun's Blessing have Alignment Channel in mind and deliberately restrict it?
*OR*
Did the writer of Sun's Blessing simply use the wording most appropriate to a "basic" cleric, and special cases (like the ability to harm something other than undead with positive energy) are supposed to modify its function accordingly?

I'm personally leaning toward the latter, but I have a Sun Domain cleric with a grudge against...

A good cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships a good deity) channels positive energy and can choose to deal damage to undead creatures or to heal living creatures. An evil cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships an evil deity) channels negative energy and can choose to deal damage to living creatures or to heal undead creatures.

That tells me that the answer to the question "Unchanged from what?" is "Unchanged from the amount of damage dealt to undead creatures by good clerics and dealt to living creatures by evil clerics." The cleric of Sarenrae mentioned in the OP, therefore, should do the same amount of damage to evil outsiders using the alignment channel feat that the cleric would do to undead. The amount of damage that the cleric would do to undead includes bonuses from the Glory and Sun domains; therefore, to do the same amount of damage to evil outsiders we should include those bonuses.

At 7th level, the temporal celerity revelation of the oracle's time mystery offers the following advantage:

At 7th level, you can always act in the surprise round, but if you fail to notice the ambush, you act last, regardless of your initiative result (you act in the normal order in following rounds).

The Surprise Round

If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round. You can also take free actions during the surprise round. If no one or everyone is surprised, no surprise round occurs.

Here is my question: Does the 7th level temporal celerity revelation power offer any advantage when no one or everyone is surprised?

My guess is that the answer is: No. If no one or everyone is surprised then no surprise round occurs, and, when no surprise round occurs, the 7th level temporal celerity revelation power has no effect.

One could, however, argue that because a 7th level oracle with temporal celerity "can always act in the surprise round" then there is always a surprise round when that oracle starts a battle. If no one or everyone is surprised then the oracle is the only one to act during the surprise round.

What are other people's thoughts? Thank you.

You are probably thinking of Monkey Grip from D&D 3.5. That feat let your character use a larger size weapon in one hand. For swords, that was mechanically the same as using a two-handed weapon in one hand.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. :)

Here's the basic question: For purposes of determining what is "once per day", does the magic of a pearl of power work when the spell is recalled or when the recalled spell is cast?

Here's the situation: My character was a low level prepared-spell caster who wouldn't have time to prepare spells the next morning. He had cast only one first level spell. He had an unused first level pearl of power. I told my GM that I wanted to use the pearl to recall the spell before the day ended so that my spells would be fully prepared for the next game day. My GM ruled that this wouldn't work and explained why (more detail on that below).

I found his interpretation of the RAW reasonable, but unconvincing. Obviously, his interpretation is the rule for his campaign (and I am happy with his interpretation as a player because it ultimately makes pearls more useful). I also, however, run my own Pathfinder campaign, and I would like to hear others' interpretation.

The operative text for pearls of power is:

Once per day on command, a pearl of power enables the possessor to recall any one spell that she had prepared and then cast that day. The spell is then prepared again, just as if it had not been cast.

My interpretation is that my character invokes the pearl with a command word (which is a standard action). The magic of the pearl works on my character at that moment and causes my character to recall the lost spell. After the spell is recalled, my character again has it prepared, exactly the same as if it had not been cast. The magic of the pearl of power could then be used again to recall another spell the next game day.

My GM interprets the RAW differently. He explained that, in his view, the magic of the pearl works when the recalled spell is cast. He compared the pearl to the Magius Spell Recall class ability. The operative text for that ability is:

With a swift action he can recall any single magus spell that he has already prepared and cast that day by expending a number of points from his arcane pool equal to the spell’s level (minimum 1). The spell is prepared again, just as if it had not been cast.

Under his interpretation, a caster uses the pearl to recall a spell, but then draws upon the magic of the pearl to power the spell when casting it rather than the caster's own magical reserves. Recalling a spell the day before would offer no advantage to my character because the magic of the pearl wouldn't actually be expended until the next day when the spell is cast. (The upside to his interpretation for me as a player is that he also sees the act of recall the spell as a swift action like Spell Recall or perhaps even part of the spellcasting action like a Runestone of Power.)

I'd appreciate hearing other players' and GMs' thoughts. Thank you.

Make at least some suggestions on crafting by cohorts. One leadership feat can effectively be turned into many creation feats,

Btw, anyone got a link to a thread on that topic?

Along the same lines, what about crafting by constructs? "Homunculi are little more than tools designed to carry out assigned tasks. They are extensions of their creators, sharing the same alignment and basic nature." Does that mean that homunculi can craft magic items on behalf of their creator, using the creator's crafting feats? Also, is there any limit on how many homunculi a character can have?