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The Take Cover Basic Action states:

Source Core Rulebook pg. 471 4.0
"Requirements You are benefiting from cover, are near a feature that allows you to take cover, or are prone.
You press yourself against a wall or duck behind an obstacle to take better advantage of cover. If you would have standard cover, you instead gain greater cover, which provides a +4 circumstance bonus to AC; to Reflex saves against area effects; and to Stealth checks to Hide, Sneak, or otherwise avoid detection. Otherwise, you gain the benefits of standard cover (a +2 circumstance bonus instead). This lasts until you move from your current space, use an attack action, become unconscious, or end this effect as a free action."

Cover States

Source Core Rulebook pg. 477 4.0
"Cover is relative, so you might simultaneously have cover against one creature and not another. Cover applies only if your path to the target is partially blocked. If a creature is entirely behind a wall or the like, you don't have line of effect and typically can't target it at all."

Are "the benefits of standard cover" gained through the use of the Take Cover basic action relative like normal cover?

Force Ward: "If an attack deals less damage than you still have as temporary hit points from force ward, it still reduces those temporary hit points but otherwise counts as a miss for the purpose of abilities that trigger on a hit or a miss."

Gather Power: "If the kineticist takes damage during or after gathering power and before using the kinetic blast that releases it, she must succeed at a concentration check (DC = 10 + damage taken + effective spell level of her kinetic blast) or lose the energy in a wild surge that forces her to accept a number of points of burn equal to the number of points by which her gathered power would have reduced the burn cost."

So, what happens if an attack fails to break the Force Ward while the telekineticist is gathering power?

Does it count as a miss, and no check is needed?

Or would they have to make the concentration check as normal?

Please & thank you :)

Halfling favored class ability: "Increase the capacity of the kineticist’s internal buffer by 1/6 point."

and

"Healing Buffer (Su)
At 6th level, a kinetic chirurgeon’s internal buffer has double the usual maximum size, and she can use it only when she would accept points of burn for the kinetic healer wild talent.

This ability alters internal buffer."

Does the bonus from the halfling favored class ability get doubled by Healing Buffer?

If no, would the internal buffer gained from favored class still be limited to healing only?

Or can you just not take that favored class ability?

Does the amount of non-lethal damage you take from each point of burn count as a "level dependent variable" as far as Negative Levels or Energy Drain are concerned?

Thanks you :)

The Shaman's Life Link Hex states:

"Life Link (Su): The shaman creates a bond between herself and another creature within 30 feet. Each round at the start of the shaman’s turn, if the bonded creature is wounded for 5 or more hit points below its maximum hit points, it heals 5 hit points and the shaman takes 5 points of damage. The shaman can have one bond active per shaman level. The bond continues until the bonded creature dies, the shaman dies, the distance between her and the bonded creature exceeds 100 feet, or the shaman ends it as an immediate action. If the shaman has multiple bonds active, she can end as many as she wants with the same immediate action."

Scar Hex States:

"The target may make a Will save to resist this hex. These scars do not interfere with the target’s senses or prevent it from using abilities, but may affect social interactions. The witch can use her hexes on the scarred target at a range of up to 1 mile, and she is considered to have a body part from the target for the purpose of scrying and similar divination spells. They persist through disguises and shapechanging.

The witch can withdraw this hex from a target as a move action at any range. The number of supernatural scars the witch can maintain at once is equal to her Intelligence bonus; once she reaches this limit, she must remove the scar from a current victim in order to mark another. Effects that remove curses can remove the scar."

My question here is if the Life Shaman Scars her allies, at what range

a) can the Shaman initiate a Life Link?

and

b) does the Life Link Break?

Also to be noted:

"Witch Hex: The shaman selects any one hex normally available through the witch’s hex class feature. She treats her shaman level as her witch level when determining the powers and abilities of the hex. She uses her Wisdom modifier in place of her Intelligence modifier for the hex. She cannot select major hexes or grand hexes using this ability. The shaman cannot select a witch hex that has the same name as a shaman hex."

but this does not pertain too much to the situation as far as I am aware other than wis int swapping fro shamans using witch hexes.

Looking for RAW answers if possible.

Thank you all for your time and attention

Lame Oracle Curse states "One of your legs is permanently wounded, reducing your base land speed by 10 feet if your base speed is 30 feet or more. If your base speed is less than 30 feet, your speed is reduced by 5 feet. Your speed is never reduced due to encumbrance."

The question here, if you are using a form of movement other than land speed, like flying or swimming etc. Is your speed still never reduced due to encumbrance?