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Can an alchemist or wizard have several touch injections active at the same time?

I've checked the magic chapter about combining magic effects and the closest match, in my eyes, is this option:

Same Effect with Differing Results: The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.

I figure two uses of touch injection (each time holding a different type of elixir/infused extract/poison/potion) gives varying effects, thus the above quoted section applies. This would render the first use of touch injection impossible to access until the the second one is used.

I'm thinking this would be a way for an alchemist to get around action economy limitations of using extracts. Basically, use touch injection as many times you want on your choice of self-buffs, then let them all out as full-attack action using iterative attacks (and two-weapon fighting?) when the fight begins. Am I correct in that this would be possible?

A Sikigami Kami is a tiny creature from Bestiary 3. It has an odd special ability:

Improvised Weapon Mastery (Ex) A shikigami gains Catch Off-Guard and Throw Anything as bonus feats, and adds its Charisma modifier instead of its Strength modifier to damage done with any improvised weapon, as attacks it makes with such weapons seem supernaturally lucky in landing damaging blows. Although a shikigami is Tiny, it never provokes attacks of opportunity when it attacks an adjacent foe with a melee weapon. If a shikigami critically hits an opponent with an improvised weapon, it deals ×3 damage. A shikigami is proficient with improvised weapons.

This bolded part doesn't actually do anything, does it?

A Sikigami has no way of attacking an adjacent foe, unless 'adjacent' in this context means 'in the same square' - in which case the attack doesn't normally provoke attacks of opportunity. It's the moving into a square occupied by an enemy that provokes ...

I don't know how I would run the Sikigami at my table.

I'm looking at the monstrous lycanthrope template from Green Ronin Publishing and thought of a question.

Do a monstrous lycanthrope gain any defensive abilities from its base monster? Damage reduction, immunity to mind effects, energy resistances etc.

The defensive abilities section only grants DR /silver and makes no mention of existing abilities. It seems weird that a were-red dragon would be susceptible to sleep and fire damage or a were-treant is as easy to manipulate with mind magic as any human.

It is made stranger by the fact that the lycanthrope gains subtypes from the base monster (in all forms nonetheless), so a were-elemental is immune to crits and sneak attacks.

I'm trying to write up a monster and would appreciate some criticism.

Any thoughts?

The name 'root oxen' isn't set in stone.

I'm hoping the stat block is without errors, but please mention it if you see anything glaring. And since English isn't my first language I'm also listening to advice regarding grammatical errors, poorly constructed sentences (especially the special abilities might need a look) etc.

I know I'm fairly close to the target statistics of a CR 7 creature, but I'd love some input on the monster balance-wise. I'm thinking it might be a bit soft, especially against casters. It is a magical beast, so it doesn't seem far fetched it would have spell resistance or other defenses.

I chose not to give the root oxen a burrowing speed. The rules for burrowing are poor (or rather, absent) and the monster isn't intended to be one that harrows the party by appearing and disappearing in the soil at whim. The process for a root oxen to burrow under a tree is to slow to be measured in feet per round.

I considered giving it a Plant Empathy style ability. That the root oxen could via magical means gain the trust and protection of mindless or animal-intelligent Plants. I like monsters that appears in concert with other monsters, it makes for easier encounter design. But I couldn't find an appropriate plant which might fill such a role. Maybe you know of one, or can suggest another way of pairing the root oxen with another creature.

A treasure of some sort would be nice. Give another reason to fight the oxen, rather than just being randomly attacked by one (or several). What harvest-able part of an oxen would be valuable, and why?

So, my PCs encountered a representative of a seelie court and struck a bargain with her. One PC, a human swashbuckler, managed to squeeze out an additional perk from the fey. The swashbuckler had previously been cursed and will rise as an undead in the event of his death. The fey representative promised to break this curse 'in due time'.

I have a couple of ideas on how the fey will break the curse. Fey, being chaotic and strange, will obviously not settle for a simple Remove Curse spell (and the PC, seeing as the fey will fix everything, hasn't opted to pay a spellcaster for the spell either).

One of these ideas I have involve a duel. A fey fencer challenges the swashbuckler on a duel, and if the later wins, the curse is lifted. I could need some help with making this duel work.

I've glanced at Ultimate Combat's rules for duels, but wonder if it's worth adopting an entire, new rules subsystem for just a single event.

As for the fey fencer, I'm considering basing it on either an Atomie or Liminal Sprite. The Atomie is already fencer-themed, but it's abilities doesn't really benefit it this time (Reduce Person on a Swashbuckler isn't a debuff). The Liminal Sprite is generally awesome and I was planing on utilizing one soon anyway, but it might make a worse chassis for my fencer. I might combine the two somehow (there's an amlgam creature template).

Anyway, I thought I'd tack on a few class levels on this fey, to make it on par with my 4th level swashbuckler PC. The fey fencer is, in a way, a fey counterpart to the PC, so straight swashbuckler levels can work. But I might need something else. The biggest problem, I think, for the fey fencer is its tiny or diminutive size - i.e. zero reach. Are there any archetypes or other abilities I might explore to meditate this? Anything else I should have in mind?

Might be a stupid question, but do you need to hit when using Shield Material Expertise and a Darkwood shield?

Benefit(s): When wielding a shield made of one of the materials listed below, you can use the listed ability twice per day.

Darkwood: As a free action as part of an attack with your shield, you can drive splinters of your shield into your opponent, dealing an amount of bleed damage equal to 1 + the shield’s enhancement bonus.

When you make an attack with a shield, you can take a free action and deal bleed damage to your opponent. It doesn't mention a need to hit, but auto-damage sounds a bit ... unusual, so I might at well ask.

I'm thoroughly confused by what modifiers applies to combat maneuver checks. Right now, I'm caught up in size modifiers.

Regular attacks are modified my a size modifier. Small +1, Medium +0, Large –1, Huge –2 etc.

Combat maneuvers are instead modified by a special size modifier. Small –1, Medium +0, Large +1, Huge +2 etc..

But what about when you make maneuvers with your weapon? This FAQ states that when utilizing a weapon to attempt a maneuver, that »weapon’s bonuses apply to the roll«. The context is Combat Finesse, i.e. you are allowed to apply your Dex mod to (certain) maneuver.

The FAQ is worded rather generally, isn't it? That all bonuses you normally apply to an attack with the weapon are applied when you use it to make an attack.

Does this mean that when using a weapon for a combat maneuver, you apply both the normal and the special size modifier?

The paladin spell Rally Point confuses me.

School enchantment (compulsion) [good, mind-affecting]; Level paladin 1

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, DF
Range 5 ft.
Area one 5-ft. square
Duration 1 minute/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

You create a spot that has the power to briefly hearten any good creature who comes into contact with it. A good creature who enters this square (even if simply as part of its normal move) gains a +2 morale bonus on attacks, saving throws, and 2 temporary hit points per caster level for 1 round. Nongood creatures gain no benefit from this spell. A creature cannot benefit more than once from the same casting of this spell.

The Range is 5 ft. and it affects one square. That means a (small or medium sized) paladin can cast it at her own or an adjacent square, right?

Are any (good) creature already standing in the square affected? Or do you actually have to enter the square after the spell is cast? Are any means of entering a square legal: 5 ft. step, teleportation, being involuntarily pushed into it etc.?

Do all the bonuses increase with caster level? So Rally Point cast by a 5th level paladin (with CL 2) would give +4 on attacks and saves and 4 temporary hit points. Or is it only the temporary hit points that increase with the caster level?

I'm not sure how the spirit binder wizard archetype works.

Soulbound Familiar (Ex)

/.../
A soulbound familiar has the base attack bonus and base saving throws of the loved one's favored class (using the spirit binder's level as its level).

Normally, familiars use their master's base attack bonus and saves as calculated from all the master's classes. So a wizard who dips a level of fighter gives that +1 BAB to her familiar.

Does this hold true for soulbound familiars too? I.e., a soulbound familiar has the BAB and saves of its favored class at a level equal to the total level of its master. So a soulbound familiar with barbarian as its favored class whose master is a spirit binder wizard 4/rogue 4 would have BAB +8.

Or are only spirit binder wizard levels counted for the purposes of the soulbound familiar's BAB and saves?

My gut feeling says that the masters total level should be used.

Lost Talents (Ex)

A spirit binder's soulbound familiar possesses some of the ability of the lost loved one, and it is capable of learning more. At 1st level, 5th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, the spirit binder's familiar gains a new feat for which it meets the prerequisites.

This ability replaces Scribe Scroll and the wizard's bonus feats.

Again, how are levels counted? How many feats does a familiar of a spirit binder wizard 1/rogue 4 (so a total of 5 levels) gain? I'd say only one, the Lost talents feature replaces the wizard's bonus feats, and a wizard 1/rogue 4 wouldn't have gotten a wizard bonus feat at level 5 so the familiar doesn’t gain anything extra.

But what if the master has multiple classes that with grants a familiar? A familiar of a spirit binder wizard 1/eldritch guardian 4, for example.

Slow Reactions* (Ex): Opponents damaged by the rogue's sneak attack can't make attacks of opportunity for 1 round.

So the unchained rogue talent Slow Reactions denies enemies their attacks of opportunity. Can they still use their AoOs to do other stuff? Like the Swashbuckler's Parry and Ripost, which uses up an AoO.

Oh, and by the way, things lasting 1 round ends at the beginning of my next round, right?

Swarming: Ratfolk are used to living and fighting communally, and are adept at swarming foes for their own gain and their foes' detriment. Up to two ratfolk can share the same square at the same time. If two ratfolk in the same square attack the same foe, they are considered to be flanking that foe as if they were in two opposite squares.

When are two ratfolk in the same square considered to be attacking the same foe? Is a readied action the only way both for participating ratfolk to benefit from flanking in the same round?

I'm looking at the grenadier alchemist archetype.

Alchemical Weapon (Su)

At 2nd level, a grenadier can infuse a weapon or piece of ammunition with a single harmful alchemical liquid or powder, such as alchemist's fire or sneezing powder, as a move action.

Is a bomb an eligible target for the infusion? I.e., is it possible to coat a bomb with alchemist's fire for extra damage or a tanglefoot bag for some entanglement?

I've gathered that bombs are generally considered weapons, so I guess it should be possible.

So I was looking at the mammoth flea.

Its offense looks lite this:

Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +4 (1d8+3 plus blood drain and disease)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks blood drain (1d2 Con), disease

First, I'm confused by blood drain. The universal monster rules on Blood drain states the following:

Blood Drain (Ex) The creature drains blood at the end of its turn if it grapples a foe, inflicting Constitution damage.

Format: blood drain (1d2 Constitution); Location: Special Attacks.

I'm inclined to believe Paizo has taken a very roundabout way of saying that the flea deals 1d2 Con damage with its bite, but I'm not sure. Does the feal have to grapple its opponent in order to drain blood?

Secondly, where's that damage and attack bonus coming from? Take a look at its statistics:

Str 13, Dex 17, Con 13, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 6
Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 19

With Str +1, BAB +3 and a size modifier of -1 its bite should be +3 (1d8+1), right? Or am I missing something?

The same goes CMD and CMD. Those doesn’t look right.

Say a human is standing in an area of darkness. Some 80 ft. away is an enemy, carrying a torch.

Can the human see the enemy? Fire an arrow towards it?

Does it matter if the area of darkness is created by the Darkness spell or not? (we're still not talking about supernatural darkness, but ordinary darkness created by magic)

On the off chance of any of my players reading this: bugger off!

I need help with a part of an adventure. I have this wizard and magic shop keeper who new too much and was killed by the big bad evil guy because of it.

But his death was both brutal and tragic, so I figure he didn't stay dead. It makes sense story-wise too, since I want to pass on some of his knowledge to the PCs.

I figure he became a ghost. As the bestiary entry says, a ghost benefits from a strong and detailed backstory. And I think I have one.

However, a lone ghost hardly makes an interesting encounter - or at the at least not several encounters. I need to populate the complex haunted by my ghost with more monsters.

So, what are my options?

It feels a tad bit too evil to go for necromancy. Sure, as a ghost the guy is now evil. But more in a tormented, sad way. I want to keep a bit of grey scale and necromancers tend to become all out over the top bad guys.

Then I thought he could create constructs. But creating constructs requires you to manipulate stuff. And a ghost is incorporeal. Are there ways around that? I'd hate to rely solely on GM fiat, a bit of believability is nice.

I'm trying to use the lycantrope template to make a human unchained rogue into a were-giant toad.

I'm confused by ability scores and size changes.

Ability Scores: +2 Wis, –2 Cha in all forms; +2 Str, +2 Con in hybrid and animal forms. Lycanthropes have enhanced senses but are not fully in control of their emotions and animalistic urges. In addition to these adjustments to the base creature's stats, a lycanthrope's ability scores change when he assumes hybrid or animal form. In human form, the lycanthrope's ability scores are unchanged from the base creature's form. In animal and hybrid form, the lycanthrope's ability scores are the same as the base creature's or the base animal's, whichever ability score is higher.

The rogue I statted, the base creature, have the following ability scores:

I should increase Wisdom and decrease Charisma by two in every form. That's easy, I think. I simply get Wis 12 and Cha 10.

In hybrid and animal form I use the base creature's or animal's ability scores, whichever is better. But do I apply the modifiers (+2 Wis, –2 Cha in all forms; +2 Str, +2 Con in hybrid and animal forms) only to the base creature and then compare them to the animal, or are the modifiers applied afterwards?

My base creature has Str 13, while a giant toad has 19. When becoming a lycanthrope and assuming hybrid or animal form, is his strength 19 or 21?

Normally, transforming into other forms works like spells such as beast shape. Those come with ability score changes depending on the size of the form taken. So transforming into a large animal gives you +4 Str and -2 Dex (and a natural armor increase). Are these changes applied to lycantropes?

I would love to receive some help with my next session.

We play a rather urban focused campaign. The PCs are ambassadors sent to the huge capital of an important kingdom.

The encounters the last few sessions have been a bit too heavy on the "cramped dungeon" style, which suits the strengths of some PCs but works less well for others. So I'd like larger, more spacious encounters with opportunities to move and use ranged weapons extensively this time.

In the immediate vicinity of the capital lies a large swamp, or rather more of a marshy delta where a tributary flows in to the main river. Obviously this wetland is considered haunted, home to all sorts of evil. There's half-sunken ruins, a near-constant mist shrouding the area. You know, a good adventure environment.

So far, the swamp hasn't featured in the campaign, it has only been mentioned. Now I feel it's time the PCs went there (since it allows those spacious encounters I want).

What I need is a good reason for the PCs to venture in.

The PCs are lead by a paladin and none is especially greedy. Rumours of treasures to find aren't going to spur them to action as much as something threatening people. But I don't want a clear-cut rescue mission (because I've had one recently). I want grayscales and I need a sort-of plausible reason it's the PCs, and not the city watch or some other armed force who gets involved.

So I thought »what if up-to-no-good-people disturbed something even worse?«. Smugglers, grave robbers or other criminals make enemies with or releases some sort of monster(s). The smugglers wont go to the watch for help, and if the monsters (initially) only threaten the paupers and outcasts dwelling on the rim of the swamp few - other than the PCs - would care.

But I don't know what sort of monster I need. So I ask here. Appreciate all help.

I'd love some help improving my level 13th elf magus (kensai) build. This character is an NPC who might come to fill a sort of mentoring roll later in my campaign. She is, or at least was, part of an adventuring group and is thus built a bit more like a PC - I want her to function as a cog in a party, rather than as a solo encounter. I don't need a super-optimized build, but I don't want players that laugh at poor choices I made for her, and I need the practice building a (fairly) high level character.

Rules-wise she's an NPC, with a 15 point build and NPC gear (or rather, "NPC automatic bonus progression", but that shouldn't matter).

I chose the Kensai archetype to get both Dex and Int to AC as well as some crit abilities and other nice things, but I'm giving up all armor and some spellcasting. To synergize with Kensai, I gave her Staggering Critical and Tripping Strike. I'm not sure if this is at all viable.

I'm a bit worried about a low AC, at 22. This can be improved by Shield, there's plenty of other defensive spells like Displacement and with Flamboyant Arcana she can spend arcane pool points to parry like a swashbuckler. Still, I wonder if she's to scrawny. But maybe that's just magus for you?

The spell list is very much a placeholder, I know it will need some improvement. I'm finding it hard squeeze in enough touch spells for that nice magus damage when there's so much defensive buffs available. Still, spells are easy to swap out so its not my first priority.

I haven't gotten around to stat up her skills yet. I know she could use a high Fly skill, but if there's any other skills that's important for her to function in combat I'd love to hear it.

I'm allowed to chose a single trait for my NPCs, but I haven't even thought about one for this character yet. Suggestions welcome.

In the spoilers below you'll find the stat block (hopefully fairly in compliance with standard entry format), a breakdown of special abilities (mostly class features) should you want a quick reference and lastly an example on what she does with a full attack action.

I welcome all constructive criticism, from tips on a single detail to suggestions to scrap the whole build for something completely different (the only thing that's really set in stone is that she has to be an elf and be at least decent in melee).

Since there seems to be a suspicion that Dervish Dance will get an errata, making it impossible to use with Spell combat, I was wondering:

Is it possible to make a decent Elf Magus without Dervish Dance?

Okay, I suppose a bow-wielding Magus is possible with Myrmidarch or some other archetype. But the iconic, sword-wielding battle wizard-type magus.

Dervish Dance set you back with 2 feats and all you got was Dex instead of Str to attack and damage. Surely, those can now be used to mitigate a lower attack score. Though, not pursing a really high Dex might hurt you AC too.

Or should one pick up three levels of Unchained Rogue? That gives you Dex to hit and damage, as well as better Reflex save base, Evasion and a rogue talent. And the mobile Magus should have little trouble setting up a flank for 2d6 sneak attack. Or is the loss of spellcasting to heavy?

There's a rogue talent from Player Companion: Blood of Shadows that lets you entangle people when arriving with dimension door.

When a rogue with this talent uses dimension door as a spell or spell-like ability, including the abundant step or shadow jump class feature

And there's an arcane school power in the Teleportation sub-school that gives you an ability that works as dimension door.

Shift (Su): At 1st level, you can teleport to a nearby space as a swift action as if using dimension door.

Do these work together?

I suspect a strict reading of the rules answers answers it with ano, since Coying Shades require Dimension door as a spell or spell-like ability, while Shift is a supernatural ability which works as dimension door. But I might as well ask.

Okey, so I'm the exact opposite of well-versed in Pathfinder lore.

But if the Plane of Shadows is a dark reflection of the Material Plane ...

and fey, who originates from the 'First World', a primordial blueprint of the Material Plane, regularly interact with the Material Plane ...

shouldn't fey also be present on the Plane of Shadows? Are they? Do those fey differ from their material counterparts?

So, in the prologue of my current campaign, the PCs were attacked a bunch of poor fishermen. Then four strange riders appeared, obviously guiding the fishermen. The four attacked the crew from the boat the PCs travled with and, seeing that these four were obviously quite powerful, the PCs fled.

At this stage of the campaign, I didn't have everything figured out. Now, a few real sessions later, the PCs are about to uncover some clues about this NPC party - and I need to start iron out the details.

Their role in the campaign, their goals etc. are pretty much done. The mechanical part is less so. I don't need to stat out them completely, but to have there race/class configuration would be nice.

So, given these limitations, can I get help sketching up a viable adventuring party:

-One's a hobgoblin
-One cast a powerful curse, so probably a cleric. Human-sized
-Two were decent mounted warriors (though probably not optimized - high BAB and a few points in Ride would probably suffice for them to cut down on some sailors with ease). One of these riders is an elf, the other one is probably a human or at least something similar in size.

Benefit: Once per day, when a rogue with this talent hits a creature with a melee attack, she can move up to 30 feet without provoking attacks of opportunity. The movement must end in a space adjacent to the creature hit with the melee attack.

Can I use this talent to move through squares occupied by enemies?

I needed some simple, treasure-less critters for the upcoming session and settled for the giant flea from Bestiary 4.

But when I started reading the statblock properly, I was perplexed by this:

Skills Acrobatics +0 (+20 when jumping); Racial Modifiers +20 Acrobatics when jumping

/.../

Uncanny Leap (Ex) As a full-round action, a giant flea can jump up to 120 feet. A flea can treat this jump as a charge, as long as the leap is made in a straight line.

Does the flea have to roll Acrobatics to make this uncanny leap? I think the fact that it has an acrobatics score and a jumping bonus implies it. Because if it does have to roll, it can't make it since a 120 ft. jump has a DC of 120.

I'm confused about the Advanced Class Guide Ranger archetype Wild Hunter.

At 1st level, a Wild Hunter gains Animal Focus (Su) as a Hunter. This replaces favoured enemy.

At 4th level, a Ranger (including a Wild Hunter) gains Hunter's Bond, choosing either to bond with her companions or to gain an animal companion or. The first option allows the Ranger to transfer her favoured enemy bonus to allies.

But a Wild Hunter doesn’t have favoured enemies. Not until 7th level does the Wild Hunter gain the ability to share her Animal Focus with allies.

Is the rules really such that a Wild Hunter must choose an AC or go with a literally unusable class feature for three levels? Or am I reading this wrong?

Say I want to cast a spell from a wand, but want others to believe that I cast the spell myself. How would I accomplice that?

When increasing ability scores of monsters (by giving them extra racial hit dice, templates or class levels), do you increase the DCs of any spell-like abilities?

In the case of supernatural abilities, such as ghoul fever, the disease states which ability score the DC is based of - clearly indicating that any increase (or decrease) of that ability score affects the DC.

But I'm not entirely sure the same logic applies to spell-like abilities. The monster entry doesn't say which ability score the spell-like is based on (although, I assume it's almost always Cha). I'm looking at the PRD for driders,dryads and mites. Each of those has spell-like abilities with set DCs, and each of those DCs match the formula 10+Cha mod+spell level (if we assume sorcerer/wizard spell level). If these monsters have their Cha increased, does the DCs of their abilities follow?

In the unlikely event that any of my players frequent these parts of the internet: this thread is a spoiler! Bugger off!

For story reasons, I need an intelligent undead to lose its immunity to mind-affecting effects.

I could of course simply use GM fiat, state that this particular member of the living dead is susceptible to influence, but I try to minimize breaking rules like that.

So I'd love to find some rule that I can apply which solves the issue. So far, I've only found the 3pp Shadow-Traced creature template. I'm fine with 3pp material, though I'd prefer Paizo stuff, and the template has a nice thematic feel that would actually work in the intended case. But the template has issues so I turn to you for tips.

Templates, spells, items, feats, class features; what-ever could I use to make the immunity to mind-affecting effects go away?

The Shadow-Traced Creature template interests me, but I've got a few questions about how it works. Would be nice to get them answered.

At will a shadow-traced creature may create three independent semi-real copies of itself as an immediate action. Shadow traces act on the base creature's initiative and each has half the base creature's hit points. Traces have duplicates of the base creature's abilities, magic, and equipment, but such equipment is semi-real: weapons disarmed from a trace vanish after 1 round and ammunition fired by a trace vanishes after use. If any of the traces are reduced to 0 hit points it is destroyed. Destroyed traced cannot be recreated unless all of the traces are dismissed or destroyed. If all traces are destroyed, the shadow-traced creature is staggered for 1 round and he cannot create more traces for 24 hours; otherwise, they last until the end of combat or until the creature takes a full-round action to dismiss them.

1. Surely, a Shadow-Traced creature can't have more than 3 traces active at the same time? The ability doesn't forbid the creation of 3 traces every turn, but I truly believe that's not the intent. Might as well ask, though.

2. Where does the traces appear? In the same square(s) as the "parent creature"? In adjacent squares?

3. Are the traces easily distinguishable from the parent creature, or is there a risk of confusing real and trace creatures with each other?

While at least one trace is active shadow traces mirror but weaken the spellcasting ability and spell-like abilities of the base creature. All magical effects from the traces or their base creature are considered illusion effects with the shadow subschool and are only 50% real if affected creatures make a Will save to disbelieve the illusion.

4. How does the change of magic school work? Say a Shadow-Traced creature casts Dominate Person on an Elf. Normally an Enchantment, the Elf would get a +2 bonus to resist due to Eleven Immunities. But it's now an Illusion, not an Enchantment, so the Elf doesn't benefit from Elven Immunities, right? Or is the spell treated as both an Enchantment and an Illusion?

5. What does 50% real mean? I suppose it's possible to halve spell damage, but there are a lot of spells out there that I have no idea how to make less "real".

Since there are multiple threads on the subject without an apparent consensus, I thought I'd try and make an FAQ request.

How does the spell Grease work when cast on the ground in a 10 ft. square? If prone within the greased area, do I need to make an Acrobatics check to stand up? Do I need to make an Acrobatics check and/or pay extra movement when moving out of the area? When am I flat-footed - only when moving in greased squares, the entire move action after having moved in grease or perhaps until the start of my next turn?

I'd love some help with hitting that FAQ button. Feel free to discuss too, won't hurt.

I'm looking at the Engulf ability:

Engulf (Ex) The creature can engulf creatures in its path as part of a standard action. It cannot make other attacks during a round in which it engulfs. The creature merely has to move over its opponents, affecting as many as it can cover. Targeted creatures can make attacks of opportunity against the creature, but if they do so, they are not entitled to a saving throw against the engulf attack. Those who do not attempt attacks of opportunity can attempt a Reflex save to avoid being engulfed—on a success, they are pushed back or aside (target's choice) as the creature moves forward. Engulfed opponents gain the pinned condition, are in danger of suffocating, are trapped within the creature's body until they are no longer pinned, and may be subject to other special attacks from the creature. The save DC is Strength-based.

Format: engulf (DC 12, 1d6 acid and paralysis); Location: Special Attacks.

At least two questions springs to mind.

It says Engulf is a standard action and that the »creature merely hast to move«. Can it move up to its speed with this standard action?

What happens on subsequent rounds if the creature has engulfed something? It's pretty strait forward what the creature does in orther to engulf something, but then I'm at loss. Engulfed opponents are pinned, does this mean the grappling rules now kick in and the engulfing creature has to role CMB checks?

Say my character stands on top of a rocky outcropping, 10 ft. high. She's 10 ft. from the ledge, so she has the possibility of a running start. She has a movement of 30 ft. Some 25 ft. from the cliff, 35 ft. from my character, stands an enemy. Say she jumps out from the cliff, aiming to land adjacent to the enemy. The jump is thus 20 ft. long and incorporates a 10 ft. drop.

A normal 20 ft. long jump has a DC of 20 (plus modifiers). Intentionally falling (jumping down) 10 ft. allows a DC 15 acrobatics check to negate the damage (which would otherwise be 1d6 non-lethal and render you prone).

How do I make this jump? Do I roll twice, once for jumping 20 ft. straight out and once for falling 10 ft.?

I have a noblewoman who plays an important role in the upcoming session. She needs a noteworthy guard and servant. I'm turning to you for ideas.

This guard should be non-human (in a human-dominated society), I'm thinking maybe halfling or gnome but I'm not sure.

The guard should probably be a martial character, at least not a full spell-caster. Preferably using melee weapons or unarmed attacks, since its hard to use ranged weapons within the confines of a cramped building.

But both halfling and gnomes have a malus to strength and I'm not used to building low-strength martial. Rogue maybe?

The guard is low-level, say below level 5, so I don't want a build that is supposed to work at level 16+ ;)

What race, class, archetypes and options do you recommend?

I came across this question while looking up the bard archetype duettist.

Duettist gives you a familiar and at 4th level it gains Performing Familiar (Su):

At 4th level, a duettist's familiar learns how to create supernatural effects with its performances, just like its master. The familiar can use any of its master's bardic performances, but only the familiar or the duettist can have a performance active at any given time, not both.

How does the familiar's performace work? Does it use your Perform skill or its own? (yeah, I know, familiars use your skill points. But not always, and they use their own ability modifiers)

How is the DC of performances calculated? With the bards Cha mod or the familiar's? Most familiars have real sucky charisma ...

There are plenty of feats relating to bardic performance. Like Discorant voice and Lingering performance. If the master has one of these, can the familiar's performance benefit from them?

I'm removing alignments as per this blog-post.

One of the effects of this is that outsiders (or anyone else for that matter) can't have damage reduction bypassed by aligned weapons.

Thus, I have decided to add a new material, besides adamantine, cold-iron and silver, which bypasses appropriate damage reduction. The working name is azure bronze, made from ordinary copper and a special type of of tin originating in worlds beyond the material plane.

I need help with writing appropriate rules and pricing the material in a balanced way. I want it to be considerably better than cold-iron or alchemical silver. It would also be nice if azure bronze could give something nice to martials, a way for them to help casters.

Azure bronze can be used to make any item normally made from metal.

Weapons made of azure bronze disrupts magical defences. A creature damaged by an azure bronze weapon have a 10% risk of loosing 5 points of spell resistance until the end of its next turn. This effect does not stack, nor can it reduce spell resistance below 5.

HP/inch 30; Hardness 10; Weight as steel

Is this reasonable at all? How should I price weapons made of azure bronze? I'm guessing it should at least cost as much as adamantine, i.e. +3000 gp.

So, my campaign might come feature this adorable critter as a familiar.

I don't know how to run this bunny-robin, rules-wise.

European robins are almost thurshes, or rather, they were classified as such a while ago. Anyway, like thurshes they have a rather beautiful song. So I'm inclined to give a bunny-robin the supernatural speak ability.

D20pfsrd lists hare as a familiar on their list, but they don't link to a stat block and I don't recognize the (probably obscure) source.

There is a statblock for rabbits which I think might be a good start for the bunny-robin. The rabbit is CR 1/6, so hardly too high.

The rabbit's speed of 50 ft. is impressive, but the bunny-robin with its bird legs is probably slower - maybe 30 ft. or even lower over land? The bunny-robin also has wings, so it might be reasonable to give it a fly speed. But it doesn't look aerodynamic or anything, so its fly speed should be low. 20 ft. maybe? There isn't any rules for glide-only flight, is there? Because that could also fit.

As for the bonus granted, I might go for +4 on initiative as a hare (and many other familiars) or +3 on Diplomacy like a thrush but I happily accept any advice on the subject.

Can a swarm convert its standard action to a move action? Can it then deal damage twice?

Can a swarm take a five foot step to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity? If yes, does it still do damage?

Tried searching for answers and found this thread which is the same as my first question, but since I had an additional question and no clear consensus was reached I though it'd post this thread anyway.

When using area spells such as sleep, do I need to see the targeted grid intersection?

Area spells says this as to how they're aimed:

Area: Some spells affect an area. Sometimes a spell description specifies a specially defined area, but usually an area falls into one of the categories defined below.

Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point where the spell originates, but otherwise you don't control which creatures or objects the spell affects.

Further more, I need line of effect

Line of Effect: A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what a spell can affect. A line of effect is canceled by a solid barrier. It's like line of sight for ranged weapons, except that it's not blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors that limit normal sight.

You must have a clear line of effect to any target that you cast a spell on or to any space in which you wish to create an effect. You must have a clear line of effect to the point of origin of any spell you cast.

A burst, cone, cylinder, or emanation spell affects only an area, creature, or object to which it has line of effect from its origin (a spherical burst's center point, a cone-shaped burst's starting point, a cylinder's circle, or an emanation's point of origin).

So I can't target a grid intersection behind a wall. But can I use it in complete darkness or through obscuring mist? It feels a bit much to accurately pinpoint a grid intersection some 100 ft. away.

This has probably been asked before, but my searches didn't yield an answer.

Do you need limbs to make natural attacks? Do different natural attacks compete for the same limbs?

Creatures with natural attacks and attacks made with weapons can use both as part of a full attack action (although often a creature must forgo one natural attack for each weapon clutched in that limb, be it a claw, tentacle, or slam).

This line seems to indicate that natural attacks do need limbs and that claws, tentacles and slam attacks "compete" - you can't use say 2 claws and one slam attack unless you've got three limbs available.

Yet the rule is about using weapons in conjunction with natural attacks, and I suppose I should not extrapolate and assume it means anything but exactly what it says.

Lots of templates grant natural attacks. What attacks does a fast zombie troll have? It already has two claws, can it use those in conjunction with the two slams granted from the template or does it have to choose? That about a fast zombie gray ooze, with one slam attack from the beginning, one from zombie and one extra "while using full attack" from the fast modification of zombie?

So, I was reading up on spells for an upcoming NPC and encountered a spell I don't know how to aim.

Hypnotism has:

Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)

Area several living creatures, no two of which may be more than 30 ft. apart

Area several living creatures, no two of which may be more than 30 ft. apart

/.../

Your gestures and droning incantation fascinate nearby creatures, causing them to stop and stare blankly at you. In addition, you can use their rapt attention to make your suggestions and requests seem more plausible. Roll 2d4 to see how many total HD of creatures you affect. Creatures with fewer HD are affected before creatures with more HD. Only creatures that can see or hear you are affected, but they do not need to understand you to be fascinated.

Can I aim this spell at all or does it just affect every creature within range as long as everyone is no more than 30 ft. apart, staring with those with the lowest HD?

Say I have one group of creatures north of me, all within range of the spell and none further than 30 ft. from any other in the group. I also have a similar group of creatures south of me. Now, those are more than 30 ft. from the northern group (the spell diameter is at least 50 ft). Which enemies are affected?

Does Hypnotism affect allies?

Well. Can a creature use her move action and transform her standard action to an additional move action while using Stealth?

What penalty at Stealth would that incur?

I have a question about this FAQ:

10-Foot Reach and Diagonals: I’m confused about reach and diagonals. I heard somewhere online that you don’t threaten the second diagonal with a 10-foot reach but that you somehow get an attack of opportunity when opponents move out of that square, but the Rules Reference Cards show that you do threaten the second diagonal. Which one is correct?

The cards are correct. As an exception to the way that diagonals normally work, a creature with 10 feet of reach threatens the second diagonal. These changes will be reflected in the next errata.

How does this work for large and larger creatures? Do they count diagonals normally? Is there a difference between natural reach and added reach from a reach weapon for big creatures?

I think this image illustrates what I mean.

Without a reach weapon, a large creature with 10 ft. reach threatens all adjacent squares and some one square away. If natural reach is counted as normal, it would be as alternative 1 shows. If it's treated as a reach weapon, it would be as alternative 2.

Alternative 1 makes sense, with even larger creatures it gets ridiculous if diagonals aren't counted normally. That square gets humongous. But if natural reach is different from weapon reach, then a medium creature with a reach weapon can stand in the corner 2 squares away from a larger creature and attack, without the large creature being able to strike back (without first moving). Despite the fact that both has 10 ft. reach!

With a reach weapon, you can with the same logic get either alternative 1 or alternative 2 - counting distances normally or as per the reach weapon errata.

My alternative 3 is sort of a compromise. Here, I've counted the second diagonal as only costing 5 ft. of reach as you do with medium creatures wielding reach weapons, but every other diagonal is counted normally. This is a bit complicated, but solves the problem of weapon reach being superior (in some respects) to natural reach without very large creatures striking over vast diagonal distances.

So, what is it?

When adding class levels to monsters they "receive +4, +4, +2, +2, +0, and –2 adjustments to their ability scores". If the monster is lacking an ability score, such as Constructs and Undeads both lacking Con, which adjustment should I drop? The –2, or is that somehow cheating?

Also, how do monsters with class levels gain feats and ability score increases? Say a monster has 3HD. I add a single class level. Does the monster gain an ability score increase, since it now has 4HD? Or does it gain a feat as a first level character?

Notice, this thread is a SPOILER for anyone playing with me as their DM. You know who you are! Bugger off!

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With that taken care of: I have an NPC who's the latest in a long line of custodians of a massive bridge built by the now long gone dwarven empire.

The custodian - chosen and educated by her predecessor - maintains the bridge and deals with those travelling upon it. The bridge upkeep should at least in part be a magical endeavour.

The player characters are unlikely to end up in combat with the bridge custodian (or are PCs really ever unlikely to fight anyone?) so I don't really need a complete stat block. Nor to I expect the game to provide exactly the powers and spells needed, this NPC will and should rely heavily on GM fiat.

But I think it would be nice to at least base her in existing game rules. I cleric have a different flavour than a wizard or alchemist. Maybe an adept (I'm a fan of using NPC classes whenever I can) would suffice.

So, what do you think is the most appropriate class for this bridge engineer? Any items, spells, feats or other things that you can recommend me to look up?

What is the caster level of a spell-like ability?

I thought it always was equal to hit dice, but then happened to notice the Pixie whose CL is high as its DH.

When increasing the HD of a monster, the CL of any spell-like abilities should go up, right? What about when adding class levels to a monster?

The Bloodrager archetype Blood conduit have a class feature called spell conduit. On page 82 in Advanced Race Gudie and on the PRD it reads as:

At 5th level, as long as a blood conduit is wearing light armor or no armor, he can deliver bloodrager spells with a range of touch through bodily contact. When he succeeds at a combat maneuver check to bull rush, grapple, pin, reposition, or trip an opponent, or makes an unarmed strike against an enemy, he can as a swift action cast a touch spell on the creature, requiring no further touch attack roll. If this spell would usually require a successful touch attack, his successful combat maneuver check or unarmed strike counts as this attack. This ability replaces uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge.

I see two problems with how this is written.

First, a lot of combat manoeuvre checks doesn’t really involve bodily contact. Tripping with a reach weapon. Or at range with bolas. Technically, wouldn't you be able to use Spell Conduit after casting Hydralic Push

You call forth a quick blast of water that knocks over and soaks one creature or square. You can use this blast of water to make a bull rush against any one creature or object. Your CMB for this bull rush is equal to your caster level plus your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier, whichever is highest. This bull rush does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Hydraulic push extinguishes any normal fires on a creature, object, or in a single 5-foot square which it is targeted against. Magical fires are unaffected.

I mean, you make a Combat manoeuvre check to bull rush. With a beam of water and not your body, but spell conduit just require a bull rush.

Of course, the text reads can deliver bloodrager spells with a range of touch through bodily contact. And that could exclude any ranged attempts at using spell conduit.

But that leads me into my next observation. Natural attacks aren't mention as a way to use spell conduit. I find this to be an especially glaring omission when bloodragers can so easily gain access to natural attacks; both the Abyssal and Draconic bloodlines give you claws and they where included in the same book.

Yet the text on spell conduit is rather precise at what constitutes bodily contact, instead of just saying that contact is required and letting the players figure out what that means. Which leads me to believe that you don't touch bodies when using a slam attack. Unless natural attacks somehow is counted as unarmed strikes or something.

So, can I use spell conduit with a whip but can't use it with my claws?

A torch or similar light source illuminates 20 ft. How do you measure that?

With area affecting spells you normally (always) measure from a grid intersection. A 20 ft. radius is then clearly 4 squares in either of the four main directions.

But with a torch, carried by a character, does that make sense? Should the player designate an adjacent intersection where the torch effectively is?

Or should the radius be measured from the centre of the character's square? That would mean it reaches 3.5 squares. Round that to 4, and a 20 ft. for a light source is longer than 20 ft. for a spell. Which doesn’t feels right.

It takes 1d4 hours to use Diplomacy to gather information. Craft checks are (sometimes) made by the week.

Can spells like Eagle's Splendor or Owl's Wisdom, that count their duration in minutes, be used to boost such checks?