Darafern's page

I'm hitting an issue at my table with leap feats+ boots of bounding, and lava leap. I had a player insist they could Leap (as a part of lava leap) 60 feet with no check.

Lava Leap specifically changes the Leap action by setting the maximum distance to your land speed. There is no check, as Leap doesn't involve one. Since Lava Leap sets a maximum distance, those other feats and items mentioned can't exceed it. So the character could Lava Leap for 45 feet, like you had ruled.

Adventure boons are not bought with AcP. They can be downloaded for free for the character the adventure chronicle was applied to. You can only ever download those boons for the character that earned them, so there's no point in waiting to download them.

Once you have downloaded the boons, their contents will tell you whether they apply only to that character, a character of your choosing, or all your characters. Depending on the boon, you might be able to transfer those that only apply to the character that played the adventure to another character with bequethal boons.

However, it doesn't make specific mention of whether a familiar received would have either the Learning Spells nor the Undying ability covered in the Witch's dedicated familiar section (page 181).

There is an official clarification from the designers for this in this Youtube video: Ask a Paizo Designer #9: Multiclass Witch's Familiar.

There are no pregens that are higher level than 5, and there are no plans for such. The comment you saw about higher level pregens coming is probably from a time when there were only level 1 remastered pregens, and levels 3 and 5 were still upcoming.

Unfortunately you won't be able to participate in that adventure without having a PFS character that is of one of the levels required for that adventure.

Fortune and misfortune effects can alter how you roll your dice. These abilities might allow you to reroll a failed roll, force you to reroll a successful roll, allow you to roll twice and use the higher result, or force you to roll twice and use the lower result.

Since hero points do not fall under the other listed situations, they follow the first option of rerolling a failed check.

I believe a few versatile heritages used to be always available, but aren't currently listed in the guide. Off the top of my head this was Changeling, Aasimar, and Tiefling.

That information has moved under Player Core sanctioning in Character Options:

Pathfinder Player Core

All Pathfinder agents have access to the following Uncommon options:
Ancestries and Heritages: changeling and nephilim versatile heritages (pages 76-79).

Unless you have a +1 weapon from a chronicle. You can't get a +1 rune until 3rd level.

+1 weapons and +1 runes are 2nd level items, not 3rd, so any character can buy them if they can afford them.

You can always purchase the following items so long as you’re in a settlement of at least 5,000 residents (and scenarios might sometimes provide additional allowances or limitations):

Any common equipment in sanctioned Pathfinder content with an item level less than or equal to your character’s level (minimum 2).

Ring of Wizardry has appeared in Adventure mode adventures already, but hasn't been made accessible in PFS through those adventure chronicles. I would not expect to see them in PFS at all.

Darafern wrote:

Ascalaphus wrote:

And spellhearts!

One thing to remember with Spellhearts and Eldritch Trickster is that you can't activate them unless you have a Basic Spellcasting Feat.

Spellcasting archetypes have a special rule for using scrolls, wands and staves with just the dedication feat, but no such rule exists for spellhearts.

Spellhearts use the "Cast a Spell" activation component which requires you to have the spellcasting class feature, which you won't have until you pick a Basic Spellcasting Feat.

Cantrips are spells you cast though.

As long as the Dedication allows you to cast cantrips, it allows you to use Spellhearts.

The relevant rules:

Cast A Spell

If an item lists “Cast a Spell” after “Activate,” the activation requires you to use the Cast a Spell activity to Activate the Item. This happens when the item replicates a spell. You must have a spellcasting class feature to Activate an Item with this activation component.

A spellcasting archetype allows you to use scrolls, staves, and wands in the same way that a member of a spellcasting class can, and the basic spellcasting feat counts as having a spellcasting class feature.

A spellcasting dedication gives you the Cast a Spell activity, but not the spellcasting class feature. So even though you can cast your own cantrips with Cast a Spell, you can't activate items with Cast a Spell.

And spellhearts!

One thing to remember with Spellhearts and Eldritch Trickster is that you can't activate them unless you have a Basic Spellcasting Feat.

Spellcasting archetypes have a special rule for using scrolls, wands and staves with just the dedication feat, but no such rule exists for spellhearts.

Spellhearts use the "Cast a Spell" activation component which requires you to have the spellcasting class feature, which you won't have until you pick a Basic Spellcasting Feat.

If you have a character that uses shadow magic and likes to create areas of dimlight or darkness, clockwork goggles (from Gears gadget boon) is a relatively cheap way to help your allies deal with your magic - I bought a bunch of darkvision elixirs before these were available, but once those have been consumed by my allies, I'll be equipping them with the goggles to help them mitigate my cloak of shadows focus spell.

Why would you buy clockwork goggles instead of continuing to buy darkvision elixirs? The goggles are more expensive and have a shorter duration. They can be worn, but take one more action to activate than the elixirs and also require a free hand, so there's no benefit there either. Both are single use consumables as well.

Only because Mark Seifter's earlier comment was brought up, I'll quote his follow-up.

I looked up the flanking thing and it currently says nothing about melee at all. So my memory of an earlier version doesn't really apply. So even more than usual, don't use my memory of the earlier version to make a ruling of flanking.

I mean I know I always say that, but this time also the text is different.
In any case, I've filed a flag for us to decide about it, and that if we want flanking to work with ranged attacks made within your reach while you are flanking, to look at adjusting produce flame since it loses that edge.

A link to his post on the Arcane Mark discord server

I do not see a breakdown of how much Reputation you need for each Tier.

I realize this can be found on archivesofnethys, but figured the chart should also at least be linked in the Guide.

PFS actually uses a different chart, not the one on Nethys: Table 6-2: Reputations

It's hard to find because it's hidden under the same structure issue that affects many parts of the guide, where something that looks like a list header is actually important rules information.

Sadly, it ends up making more sense to just look elsewhere. Arcane Armor Training is such a terrible option just to get some bard casting on the investigator.

I recommend Psychic Detective as it turns your investigator into a psychic caster, so armor won't hinder you at all. The spell list will be different, but still very useful.

The guide lists several effects that have to be taken care of, or the character is considered dead. However, how they can be taken care of is unclear, unless I've missed something.

Characters can always use gold earned during the adventure to clear conditions and those costs must be deducted on the scenario Chronicle by the GM.

Since all spellcasting services are uncommon (CRB 294), player characters don't have access to them. They are not mentioned in this Guide, or in the Character Options blog.

The possible costs are also unclear. Spellcasting services states that uncommon spells should cost at least 100% more than common spells, and that spells that take a long time to cast should cost at least 25% more. The spells mentioned before match those qualifications. What would be the final costs for these services?

It would be helpful if the guide had a section that clarifies how condition clearing, and possibly spellcasting services, are accessed, if there are any level restrictions on them, and what the total costs are.

How long was the Hao Jin Tapestry in existence, and how long did it take from its beginning until the last piece from Golarion was transferred there? Even a rough number in decades or hundreds of years would be useful.

I haven't been able to find any timeline between her birth and when she abandoned the material plane around 350 years later.

I'm making an Elf character that is from the Tapestry, and trying to find out if they could have been born on Golarion, or would they have to have been born in the tapestry, if their age was around 400.

Here are some of my thoughts on some of the changes to the guide that were made today. Removing redundant and repeated information makes it much easier to read, but there are some issues with the layout and the changes to content.

School consumables
The Player Basics section says "At this point, you can select your free consumable item or items from the list below." indicating you could pick from any of the schools. However Character Creation says "Each Pathfinder Training (except Field Commission) also grants a bonus consumable at the beginning of each mission."
Are the consumables restricted to the faction you have chosen at character creation?

Boons
The last sentence for Promotional says "Characters may only benefit from one advanced boon during an adventure."

Front page layout
- The front page is needlessly complex, needing you to switch to different vertical tabs before you can open a link. Navigation would be much easier and clearer if the content was not split behind tabs, and every link hidden behind them was available on the front page.
- On first glance the primary links inside the tabs look like headers, not links, especially as the following links are indented to the right of the images in the Players and Game Master tabs.
- The front page defaults to the Volunteer tab, which is an odd choice.

Darafern wrote:

Based on what I've been told, Regional Support Program games will also be considered premiere. Because of this the only difference between a weekly RSP gaming store game and a con game is that the scenario being run will be sponsored by Paizo for the con. As far AcP is concerned, there will be no incentive or benefit for running con games compared to RSP games. Even when you compare regular games to premiere games, the difference is quite minimal.

This is news to me. Where did you hear it?

From our local venture officer.

Getting a race boon for running a single PFS1 or SFS game at a con is a great help in getting people who normally don't run any games at all to run a game. For a small supported con, it can be a big difference in getting to the required 15 tables at all, or without overworking the people who like to GM more.

Based on what I've been told, Regional Support Program games will also be considered premiere. Because of this the only difference between a weekly RSP gaming store game and a con game is that the scenario being run will be sponsored by Paizo for the con. As far AcP is concerned, there will be no incentive or benefit for running con games compared to RSP games. Even when you compare regular games to premiere games, the difference is quite minimal.

For people who don't like to GM, the difference between running one game and running eight to get an ancestry boon can be massive.

It is great that players can now earn the ability to buy boons just by playing, but the incentive to run con games with these rules is pretty much nonexistent. I don't have numerical suggestion on how much more beficial running games at con should be, but it should be enough to entice people to run games.

I'm assuming that GMs continue to be able to receive chronicle sheets for adventures run, but I can't find the language anywhere. Can someone please confirm and/or direct me to the right place?

The guide assumes that you read all the subpages in order. Simply checking the GM section, for example, won't give you the full picture, so searching for rules can be a bit tedious.

You can receive a Chronicle sheet for a given adventure twice: once for playing the adventure and once for running the adventure as a GM—even if you run the adventure multiple times, though each time you GM an adventure contributes to your GM glyph rating and rewards.

Are arrows destroyed when they are fired? Are non-magical ammunitions, like arrows, consumable?

B. He gets his normal 8 ranks plus one from his natural intelligence, and the ranks his headband gives to swim increase to three.

You should also get a specific bonus language from the headband as per this FAQ: http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9qos. It's unclear what happens if that bonus language isn't on the list of Halfling bonus languages.

You can also have a large Owlbear companion at 7th level by playing a Totem-Bonded Hunter.

• Freebooter (Ranger): What interests me with this archetype is that it changes the Ranger's very situational Favored Enemy bonus to something that can be used against every opponent. The ability to give a bonus to party members is a nice addition.
  Giving every Ranger the possibility of changing Favored Enemy to something universal, even if its less powerful, would make the class a lot more interesting to me.
  
• Goliath Druid (Druid): The ability to change into large, and later huge, humanoids is fun and different enough from what the druid can normally do.
  
• Swarm Monger (Druid): Similarly to the previous one, having a swarm companion is very different from what the druid normally does. The change in focus from pure nature to urban decay also expands the roleplaying possibilities when playing a druid.
  
• Invulnerable Rager (Barbarian): Completely changes the focus of the barbarian from a nimble warrior to a one that charges head on with his willpower fueling him. Also expands roleplaying possibilities.
  
• Urban Bloodrager (Barbarian): The ability to stay more in control while raging expands the possibilities of barbarians into more areas of expertise. The Bloodrager version is better, though, as it doesn't trade away its Fast Movement ability.
  

In the Know Direction interview with Erik Mona and Logan Bonner it was mentioned that Gunslingers and firearms won't be in the playtest or the Core rulebook, since they don't fit the standard fantasy trope. They want to give GMs an easy way to exclude firearms in their games if they want to, by not integrating them deeply into core.

They also mentioned that they want gunslingers and firearms to remain rare, so that every fighter won't easily have a backup firearm.

Knighthood and noble titles so far exist as convention or scenario boons. This indicates to me that such titles are intended to be something that not every character can have.

I think this is a good thing, because there is less of a chance that most of the party are nobles when the group interacts with NPCs that care of such things. This gives those noble characters a chance to shine and be different from everyone else.

Hmm where is that info from?

From this post by Jason Bulmahn.

Oh Perfume.

Does nearly the same thing, +2 to Diplomacy checks, for 1 GP/Dose. 1 dose lasts 24 hours, which is the length of most PFS scenarios.

According to the item description the common 1 gp and the rare 10 gp versions do nothing mechanically. The item description specifies that the exotic variants give that bonus, but those cost 100 gp per dose, and are sold in vials containing ten doses. So you need to pay in 1,000 gp increments for ten days of bonus.

This is another case where item descriptions can be a bit misleading.

Reading through the blog gives me a picture of a planes faction, not a nature faction. The only reference to nature I see is when effects of elemental forces are mentioned, and even then the elemental planes seem more in focus than nature and life. The faction seems more suited to a wizard or a kineticist than a hunter or even a druid.

As such if feels that the faction is a nature faction only because it's called such, not because of what it actually is, or what its goals are. Because of this I feel that the Concordance does not fill the need for a nature inclined faction in Pathfinder Society.

Liberty's Edge getting new leadership is a good thing. I've been less inclined to play my only Liberty's Edge character since playing scenarios involving Mandris. If the change seems positive going forward, I might make new characters to join them.

I have three nature inclined characters that will still be looking for a faction that fits them, as the Concordance doesn't fit them or seem interesting at all. Even a boring "nature for nature's sake" faction, as mentioned in the blog, would fill the needs of my characters better.

I also have several characters that are interested in archeology, history or similar matters which have been members of the Scarab Sages. They will no longer have any fitting factions to join. I'm not saying that Scarab Sages needs to stay, but that there should be a new faction that fills the void created by its loss.

When making new characters I find that I often have a hard time finding a fitting place for them in factions unless I pick the faction first, and then think of a character that would fit them. Pathfinder Society's theme of "explore, report and cooperate" allows for a wider range of interests than what are covered by the current factions.

There are ways to increase the natural reach of a character. This might accomplish what you're after.
Here's some of the ways this can be done:

• The Bloodrager's Aberrant bloodline increases your natural reach by 5 feet during raging when you've reached fourth level.
  
• For a Swashbuckler, or another class with the panache feature, Swordmaster's Flair Blue Scarf increases the user's reach with one handed or light piercing weapons by 5 feet. Characters without panache can use the item once per day.
  
• The Long Arm spell increases the caster's natural reach by 5 feet.

I picked Soralyon as a deity for one of my PFS Paladins. This was because at the time the published paladin codes that existed didn't seem to fit the character, and I could create one myself that would fit him. Since the only thing published about the deity at the time was a few lines in a single book, Inner Sea Gods, it seemed like a safe bet that a conflicting code wouldn't be published soon.

I'm curious as to why do you restrict your choice to only these seven deities?

What balances Bit of Luck is that the person giving it is basically sacrificing their turn, their standard action, to help another character with theirs. Of course it is not perfectly balanced when a character sacrifices their one attack to help an archer make three.

Some of the ways Bit of Luck can be beneficial for a character to use on themselves is to help with move actions such as climbing, or if they anticipate that they have to make important saving throws before their next turn.

You can simply declare it. The Cavalier's Mount ability lists a requirement for a week of mourning if your mount dies, but says nothing about changing mounts. Even if you have to have the mourning period when you voluntarily change mounts, this can happen between scenarios in PFS.

What is unclear to me is the rule that specifies "This new mount does not gain the link, evasion, devotion, or improved evasion special abilities until the next time the cavalier gains a level." Does this limit your mount until you reach level 5, or does the level up to 4th qualify your new mount for the abilities since the new mount and class level are gained around the same time?

You can add a spell as a lower level spell according to this post by James Jacobs, the usual preface of forum posts not being official rules withstanding.

The confusion might be coming from the special rules in PFS. The mystic past spells follow the same spell levels as scrolls, as per Additional Resources.

Any spell selected with the mystic past life alternate racial trait must follow the same guideline used for determining the spell level for a scroll found on page 25 of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide.

Darafern: The only issue is that the flag given doesn't work with the feat. Read that flag once. Carrying a flag requires a free hand to hold but if you hold a flag in your hand you don't have a free hand so you then can't carry the flag...Paradox. Unless you have to use it like slashing grace and then it's even weirder.

You need a free hand to hold the flag. Which means you can't hold other things in that hand at the same time, or hang the flag from other items such as your backpack or a longspear. So the point is that you have to sacrifice the actions of one hand to give the bonus.

Darafern wrote:

Hmm wrote:

You can wield a spear with flag-bearer on it.

Just to clarify, this only works if you have the wondrous item Banner of the Ancient Kings. The flagbearer feat requires you to hold a specific item, a flag, in a free hand, so you can't attach it to a spear or another item or weapon. The Banner includes specific wording that allows it to work with the flagbearer feat and a longspear.

Read Banner: "This is a banner, flag, or pennant. You tie it to a pole, lance, or polearm."

There are multiple flag listings and at least one allows it to be attached to a spear/polearm.

The Flagbearer feat is quite specific:

As long as you hold your clan, house, or party’s flag (see page 293)

The feat specifies one item, flag, listed on a specific page.

You must hold the flag in one hand in order to grant this bonus.

And you need to hold the flag in one hand, so a spear or a longspear wouldn't qualify.

You can wield a spear with flag-bearer on it.

Just to clarify, this only works if you have the wondrous item Banner of the Ancient Kings. The flagbearer feat requires you to hold a specific item, a flag, in a free hand, so you can't attach it to a spear or another item or weapon. The Banner includes specific wording that allows it to work with the flagbearer feat and a longspear.

If you can point me to somewhere that makes the weapon/non-weapon distinction for rods you're talking about, I'd be curious to read it.

Sure. Here's the quote (emphasis mine):

Physical Description: Rods weigh approximately 5 pounds. They range from 2 feet to 3 feet long and are usually made of iron or some other metal. (Many, as noted in their descriptions, can function as light maces or clubs due to their hardy construction.) These sturdy items have AC 9, 10 hit points, hardness 10, and a break DC of 27.

And the same page includes the description for metamagic rods which doesn't mention that they could be used as weapons.

Now I can safely get that Scabbard of Many Blades and store all those metamagic rods I'll spend the rest of my career obtaining ;-)

Rods are only light maces or clubs if their description mentions this, and metamagic rods' descriptions do not. This means metamagic rods are not weapons. What is unclear is what Scabbard of Many Blades's description is referring to: all rods which are considered one-handed weapons for the purpose of the item storage limits, or just rods which actually are one-handed weapons. I personally think it should be the latter for consistency.

I'd say the current mix is good. Organizing tier 1-5 scenarios is easiest because people always have characters to play them with. With higher tier scenarios it's more about chance because the character tier spread is much wider.

For next week our local group had scheduled a new 1-5 and a 7-9. The 1-5 filled up within a few hours. There weren't enough players for the 7-9, or even a 5-9 that was tried as its replacement. When the second table was replaced with a second copy of the new 1-5 scenario it instantly got several signups from mostly veteran players.

When you get an animal companion or a mount as a class feature those animals are not bought with gold, unless the class specifies otherwise.

If your character doesn't have an animal companion or mount class feature, you need to pay if you want an animal. Note that those animals do not advance with you and don't follow the druid animal companion progression.

Trick training and gaining rules are listed in this FAQ: How can I teach tricks to an animal using Handle Animal?

So, if your animal companion dies, or you change to a different animal, your new one starts with only the bonus tricks granted by the druid animal companion feature. Since downtime between scenarios is undefined the rituals or other required waiting times happen automatically before the next scenario.

The Teleportation Conjurer Shift ability says, "1st level, you can teleport to a nearby space as a swift action as if using dimension door." Does that mean you can't take any other actions after using this ability?

That is correct. Once you spend a swift action to shift your turn ends.

So although in PFS you need to choose from the Unchained Evolution list, a familiar is allowed to take any evolution (except for wing buffet if you do not have any wings).

Good to know. I had not noticed this recent ruling yet. At least one local player will be quite happy.

Evolved Familiar for Bite and Claw attacks?

I'll just note that this would not work in PFS because you have to use unchained evolutions. All the unchained extra attack evolutions have a subtype dependency which eidolons can have. As such you can not give familiars extra attacks with evolved familiar.

If you're not playing PFS the legality will depend on your GM.

The item you're looking for in the errata is:

Page 102—In the Sleuth archetype’s Make It Count deed, change all three instances of “inspired strike” in the first sentence to “studied strike”. In the Spiritualist’s Strong Life ability, at the very beginning, add “At 2nd level,”. In the sidebar, in the parenthetical third sentence, add “do not” before “gain twice”.

That errata is hard to find by searching the document. I noticed because I have the latest printing version as a PDF which has includes the change and could look at the specific page item.

Oh well, doesn't really matter, Basilisk blood is not the spell and only works on creatures petrified by that specific Basilisk and within the hour, so it already has enough limitations.

Where is it said that it has to be the same basilisk? The ability description just specifies "a basilisk":

A creature petrified in this matter that is then coated (not just splashed) with fresh basilisk blood (taken from a basilisk no more than 1 hour dead) is instantly restored to flesh.

But you can only benefit from one promotional boon at a time, which makes the Starfinder Player Folio useless if you want to benefit from a reroll.

However discussion on the Starfinder part is off topic for this subforum.