DogBoySB's page

Yeah, I also think it's no harmless ruling. It looks like the OP wants to trigger Shield Block and then Champion's Reaction to attack the enemy, making it an automatic AoO when you Shield Block (on top of the effects of Shield Block).

Definitely, that will not happen around my table.

I was mostly just wanting to not have to repair my main weapon as often. XD

For the Champion's Divine Ally in the form of an item, I have to think that the item does not count as the ally. The spirit does, and the spirit is not what is taking damage.

I think it depends on if you consider it to fall under possession, where the possessee takes half the damage the possessed takes. Which is kind of in line with the fact that the shield spirit increases it's hp by half. it's hard to tell because the only place that the spirit and it's abilities are defined is in the chapion class features and as far as I can tell, none of the non-feat class features have tags.

From Targets:

Some effects target or require an ally, or otherwise refer to an ally. This must be someone on your side, often another PC, but it might be a bystander you are trying to protect. You are not your own ally. If it isn’t clear, the GM decides who counts as an ally or an enemy.

As far as I'm aware this is the only official definition of what's meant by an "ally" in the rules. So, the question becomes: is a weapon "someone on your side"? I would say no. The ability's name doesn't override the fact that it's an inanimate object. However, if someone disagrees with me there's already a built in way to do so without the rule quoted above: "If it isn't clear, the GM decides who counts as an ally or an enemy."

Personally I think it's pretty clear, again notice the "who", not "what" even in the description where it says the GM decides, but if one determines that it's ambiguous the default answer is to ask the GM.

The part that really confused me and introduced the rules ambiguity is that the rules don't really define what constitutes a "someone" very well and the divine ally ability does this; "Your devotion attracts a spirit of your deity's alignment." which begin to inhabit said items when you pick either sword or shield. That's where the ambiguity for me lies, does being possessed by a spirit grant an item personhood?

edit: as an adendum to this question because it is related, do intelligent items count as persons?

Now this seems like a silly question for the steed, because the steed is an actual separate creature but in the case of the blade and especially the shield it becomes less clear. I haven't found any specific rules that say they don't count as allies and the section on targeting doesn't specify that an ally has to be a creature. interested because of how it interacts with quick shield block if the answer is yes.

There is something I would like clarified, as it stands now the FAQ heavily implies that you lose access to the free pdf if you delete your nexus account as it was not "purchased directly from paizo" but given freely by nexus.