Draconic's page

Is it legal for a spell to have a virtual spell level of negative one (-1st)?

The official answer to the above will determine whether or not a level 0 spell can be legally chosen as the spell chosen with the magical lineage trait.

This thread is not asking about lowering the total modified spell level below the level of the unmodified spell (it cannot be lowered below - this has clearly been answered in the FAQ). My question has never been given an official answer.

What my search has revealed is many misread/overlook the wording of the magical lineage trait, and interpret it as reading you lower the modified spell level by 1, when the actual wording of the trait clearly states you treat the spell's actual level as 1 lower (before applying the spell level adjustments for the metamagic feats).

I asked people to FAQ it in the general rules forum, to no avail.

I would like an official ruling instead of us having another 5+ years of player debate (which is technically a debate whether or not a spell can have a virtual level of negative 1) regarding if you can choose a 0 level spell with the magical lineage trait.

A link to the rules forum thread is http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ufwm?Magical-Lineage-and-picking-a-level-0-spe ll

Many posts and comments on the forum boards regarding magical lineage. Most of them regarding the possibility of making a level 1 spell into an at-will spell. This is not what this thread is about.

Spent the last three hours looking for the answer on here. It appears there was never an official answer given.

My question is: can you use magical lineage with a level 0 spell?

Two or three posters did point out that by the wording of the trait you can not use the trait with a level 0 spell.

"Pick one spell when you choose this trait. When you apply metamagic feats to this spell that add at least 1 level to the spell, treat its actual level as 1 lower for determining the spell’s final adjusted level."

The wording prevents the merciful spell metamagic feat to be used (as it does not meet the prerequisite of being a metamagic feat that adds at least 1 level to the spell).

The wording would make the level of a cantrip/orison/knack be one less than lv 0. 1 lower than 0 is -1. There are a few ways this can be interpreted. One is that the -1 is only there for the calculation of the final adjusted level of the metamagic'd spell and thus you can legally choose a level 0 spell for magical lineage. Another way is that the lowest spell level is 0, which prevents a cantrip/orison/knack from being a legal option to choose for the magical lineage trait. The third way is to view it that the DEVs' RAI is that you can choose a level 0 spell with the magical lineage trait.

One of the posts some people linked/posted by one of the DEVs included the DEV say there were going to fix the wording. They fixed the wording to prevent the cheese of adding a +0 spell level metamagic feat to create a level 1 at-will spell.

From what I have gathered there has not been an official ruling/FAQ regarding whether or not it is legal to choose a level 0 spell for the trait. Based on the posts regarding the trait, most people believe the RAI is that you can choose a level 0 spell (though by RAW you cannot).

Please FAQ flag this post so we can get an official ruling regarding this.

Has Paizo published an official table for Golarion's human ethnicities yet, and if so which book(s) contain it?

Scenario: A player has earned a number of chronicle sheets that his PFS character has not attained the character levels to have the chronicle sheets applied to his character yet. Then he plays his character in a lower-level scenario and dies. What happens to the accrued held chronicle sheets?

The above becomes even more important with the new changes to the PFS guide regarding that a player must choose the PFS character to apply pre-gen towards before playing the scenario. Common sense theory would mean the held chronicle sheets should be applied to a different PFS character number - since it does not make sense that a character who died permanently at a lower level went on to adventure in scenarios post-death.

My entire months-long plans could be wasted as my players are accruing and holding a number of higher-level chronicle sheets for their PFS characters so that after I finish running the AP and then a few low-level PFS scenarios so that their PFS characters will be high enough level to have the held chronicle sheets be applied so I can run a sanctioned high-level module for their characters. I then plan on running them through an entire PFS scenario campaign with the last chronicle sheet from the AP applied to brand new level 1 characters (using the over 200 dollars worth of scenarios I purchased last month).

I do not want to break away from the current AP to play a few low level scenarios for their PFS characters which they will not be playing again for over a year) just to ensure their PFS characters are not at risk of dying and the players permanently losing the benefits of the 10 chronicle sheets they will have earned (6 from AP, 4 from PnP) from playing and earning chronicle sheet credit for over a years worth of play time. My players are having a blast with the AP and having to pause the campaign for at least 6 weeks (we only play once per 2 weeks)could cause one of the players to lose interest in showing up (because he joined the group to play a steady campaign, not one that gets paused for weeks at a time).

My thread was locked before I could post this explanation.

Do I have an ulterior motive? No, I do not.

Unless your definition of ulterior motive includes "Trying to make a more overall friendly environment for anyone to play PFS (or any public venue leisure activity/game)"

The question your officer has not answered is this:

What is the most common reason/circumstance/situation that makes someone become skeptical?

I ask the above question to everyone above now.

The reason I made the thread the way I did was to get people's initial 'gut reaction' to the word skeptical.

I could have simply asked people if they think there is any negative context to the word skeptical (skepticism), but by doing so they would have been deprived of giving their initial gut response to how they view the word without giving it more thought. I ask that question now as well.

Who thinks the word skeptical has a negative context to it (even if it is only a wee bit)? Who thinks it does not.

What I have been trying to do is help the overall community by making someone (who could let others know) that some people view that word with negative context.

So unless having a good motive equates to having an ulterior motive, No, I do not have an ulterior motive.

If you had the choice to play at one of the two following gaming venues, which one would you choose (and why)?

Gaming house A "a friendly, welcoming and encouraging place to play your favorite game".

Gaming house B "a friendly, welcoming and skeptical place to play your favorite game."

I am running the Skulls & Shackles AP and Plunder & Peril module for my group. I would like to implement scenarios into the campaign that take place in the Shackles and/or are pirate-themed. Which scenarios offer those parameters?

For the purposes of my home campaign PFS players, are they allowed to use books from my collection of Pathfinder books for their PFS characters? I know if they do that will not be able to play their PFS characters at another table unless they personally purchase the dead-tree or pdf of the relevant books they use options from for their characters.

I am the one in my group who likes adding and having a large selection of gaming books for my preferred rpg (Pathfinder). As long as I (as the GM) is comfortable with my players using rules from sources I have (they are my books), does that make it legit for my players to make use of the (much more) character options for their PFS characters by making using of the many PF books I own?

Hi. I am running my group through the Skulls and Shackles AP, the Plunder and Peril module and the Wardens of the Reborn Forge. This will give them PFS credit from level 3 through level 15, with one missing level (either lv 8,9 or 10). Both modules allow the home-brew rules 'pre-gen credit) [Kudos, Paizo.]

I would appreciate any shared knowledge so I can fill in the missing level (although I know my players will probably need to play official iconic pregens for it using the standard PFS rules).

For those of you who are interested, the following order allows you to use home-brew campaigns towards PFS credit.

Skulls and Shackles Part 1 (Wormwood Mutiny)(lv 2-4) (lv 3)
Plunder and Peril Part 1 (Rum Punch) (lv 3-5) (lv 4)
Plunder and Peril Part 2 (Dangerous Waters) (lv 4-6) (lv 5)
Plunder and Peril Part 3 (Black Coral Cove) (lv 5-7) (lv 6)
Skulls and Shackles Part 2 (Raiders of the Fever Sea) (lv 5-7) (lv 7)

Skulls and Shackles Part 3 (Tempest Rising) (lv 7-9) (lv 8 or lv 9)

Skulls and Shackles Part 4 (Island of Empty Eyes) (lv 9-11) (lv 9 or 10)

Skulls and Shackles Part 5 (Hangman's Fortress) (lv 11-13) (lv 11)
Wardens of the Reborn Forge Part 1 (lv 11-13) (lv 12)
Wardens of the Reborn Forge Part 2 (lv 12-14) (lv 13)
Wardens of the Reborn Forge Part 3 (lv 13-15) (lv 14)
Skulls and Shackles Part 6 (Lucrehold) (lv 13-15) (lv 15)

The search feature did not bring up any obvious result that answered the below question.

The Bull Rush Strike feat states that the movement caused by the bull rush (caused by the critical hit) does not provoke attacks of opportunity. It has Improved Bull Rush as a prerequisite, but not the Greater Bull Rush feat.

If you have the Greater Bull Rush feat as well, then does the movement from the bull rush (from the critical hit) provoke attacks of opportunity?

Is there a character sheet that specifically incorporates the automatic level progression from Pathfinder Unchained?

Kindly provide a link to whatever ones you know about.

Thank you.

Hi. I have registered for a PFS number. I have read and know that allows me to run a PFS game with my gaming group. What I would like to know is the following:

Can I start with season 1 (or season 0) and have my players earn XP from them or do you only earn XP from current season scenarios? I am thinking of purchasing the pdfs of the previous seasons if they are still valid for my players and myself to earn XP from playing them.

The rules says that players playing through adventure paths can do so using variant rules to earn credit towards XP, Fame/prestige for their characters. Is that accurate? I prefer to use some house rules as well as some of the alternate rules (wounds and vigour, piecemeal armor being two of them).

Would my players need to be register with their own PFS number before I run them through an adventure path or can they register for one at some point during or after they have played through any adventure paths I run for them?

I am currently playing in a game that someone else is running an adventure path for the group. Am I able to gain XP for it if the GM does not have a PFS number?

Is there a statue of limitations for how long we can get credit for running/playing in a adventure path? How long is the statue of limitations if there is one?

I own the creative rights of the variant rules provided within. Feel free to use them, but do not take credit for them, as they are my intellectual property. Paizo owns the copyright and creative rights of the core rules my variant rules are based off of. These alternate rules are only minor tweaks to incorporate ‘guns’ and gunslingers into campaigns that do not contain black powder, but they are my minor tweaks.

For players and storytellers who like the idea of guns and gunslingers but not the complications and whatnot of introducing black powder to their campaign worlds.

In case anyone else has already come up with other alternate rules to incorporate ‘guns’ into their campaign that does not include black powder, feel free to post a link. Any similarities between my alternate rules below and others’ alternate ‘gun’ rules are purely coincidental. As can be seen, my alternate rules are easy to envision (and thus might already have existing similar rules posted on the message boards). I assure you I did not copy any one’s idea (aside using the Pathfinder rules as written as my ‘chalk board’.

First off, the ‘guns’ have the following game statistics.

You will be able to see that I use the crossbows as my basics.

I changed the increased threat range to a higher critical multiplier. It is not easier to score a critical hit, but when you do you do more damage than a standard weapon does. Imagine a baseball player hits the baseball and line drives it right into the pitcher’s face, groin, etc. It is hard to hit the ball with such precision, but when you do hit such ‘soft spots’ it really lays the target low.

The damage type is changed from piercing to bludgeoning for obviously reasons. As these guns are ‘gear works’ contraptions that use a mechanism not unlike a real life air-powered bb gun.

The range is reduced to a third the range of the crossbows as bullets are not nearly as aerodynamic as bolts (and arrows) are.

Hand Gun; 100 gp; Damage 1d4 (1d3 Small); Critical x3; Range 10 feet (5 range increments); Weight 2 lbs. ; Damage Type: Bludgeoning

Heavy Gun; 50 gp; Damage 1d10 (1d8 Small); Critical x3; Range 40 feet (5 range increments); Weight 8 lbs. ;Damage Type: Bludgeoning

Light Gun; 35 gp; Damage 1d8 (1d6 Small); Critical x3; Range 20 feet (5 range increments); Weight 4 lbs. ; Damage Type: Bludgeoning

Repeating Heavy Gun; 400 gp; Damage 1d10 (1d8 Small); Critical x3; Range 40 feet (5 range increments); Weight 12 lbs. ; Damage Type: Bludgeoning

Repeating Light Gun; 250 gp; Damage 1d8 (1d6 Small); Critical x3; Range 20 feet (5 range increments); Weight 6 lbs. ; Damage Type: Bludgeoning

Loading a gun requires two hands to load and loading a gun provokes an attack of opportunity.

Reloading a hand gun or a light gun is a move action.
Reloading a heavy gun is a full-round action.
Reloading a repeating gun (whether light or heavy) with a bullet clip is a full-round action.

You can shoot a hand gun with one hand without penalty. You can shoot a hand gun with each hand, and take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons.

You can shoot a light gun or a repeating light gun with one hand with a -2 penalty on attack rolls. You can shoot a light gun or repeating light gun with each hand, and take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons, and these penalties are cumulative with the attack penalty for shooting a light gun or repeating light gun with one hand.

You can shoot a heavy gun or a repeating heavy gun with one hand with a -4 penalty on the attack rolls. You can shoot a heavy gun or heavy repeating gun with each hand, and take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two one-handed weapons, and these penalties are cumulative with the attack penalty for shooting a heavy gun or repeating heavy gun with one hand.

Misfires: These guns have misfire value of 1. On a misfire the misfire value goes up by 4 and the gun gains the broken condition. If the gun already has the broken condition when it misfires, it instead gains the jammed condition. It requires the same amount of time and action to reduce a jammed condition to a broken condition as it does to remove the broken condition. A jammed gun cannot be used to shoot at all.

Unlike black-powder guns, these guns only do bludgeoning damage and do not target touch AC.

Rapid Reload feat: When taken for one of the following guns it reduces the reload time as follows:
Hand gun or light gun becomes a free action.
Heavy gun or a repeating gun (regardless if it is heavy or light) becomes a move action.

The Gunslinger

The gunslinger only requires a few changes, the most important ones being deeds that work due to black powder-powered bullets.

Make the following changes to the Gunslinger to create gunslingers that exist in campaigns in which black powder does not exist.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Gunslingers are proficient with simple weapons, light and one-handed martial weapons, the hand gun, the light gun, the heavy gun, the repeating light gun and the repeating heavy gun. Gunslingers are proficient with light armor and the armored coat.

Gunsmith: A gunslinger begins play with a battered gun, which cannot be repeating heavy gun or a repeating light gun.

Gunsmithing feat: This feat is changed in the following ways:
Crafting Guns: You can craft a gun in one day, as each of the five guns has a value of less than 1000 gp.
Crafting Ammunition: You can craft regular (non-special material) bullets for 1/10th the market price. You can craft bullet clips (including the five bullets) for half the market value. Bullet clips are what repeating guns use as ammunition.

Gun Training: At 5th level, a gunslinger chooses a specific gun (hand, light, heavy, repeating light or repeating heavy). The gunslinger gains a +1 to attack and damage rolls when attacking with that kind of gun. At 9th, 13th and 17th levels, a gunslinger chooses another type of gun and gains a +1 to attack and damage rolls when attacking with that kind of gun. The bonuses from guns he chose at earlier levels increase by an additional +1 at each of these levels as well. At 13th level, a gunslinger never misfires with the gun he chose at 5th level. At 17th level, a gunslinger never misfires with the gun he chose at 9th level.

Deeds

Level 1 Deeds

Gunslinger’s Dodge

Quick Clear

Up Close and Deadly: As the Pistolero deed, but it only applies when attacking with hand guns. A gunslinger whose Gun Training attack bonus effectively negates the attack penalty for shooting a specific gun one-handed can also use Up Close and Deadly when he uses the gun one-handed.
For example a gunslinger who chooses the light gun as his first Gun Training weapon would be able to use Up Close and Deadly while using a light gun (but not a repeating light gun) one-handed when he reaches 9th level (as the +2 Gun Training bonus effectively negatives the -2 attack penalty for firing a light gun with one hand).
Another example would be a gunslinger who chose repeating heavy gun at 5th level would be able to use Up Close and Deadly when he reaches 17th level, but would not be able to use Up Close and Deadly with a non-repeating heavy gun.

Level 3 Deeds

Gunslinger’s Initiative

Pistol Whip: Hand guns do 1d3 damage, light guns do 1d6 damage and heavy guns do 1d8 damage. This deed only costs a grit point if you decide to make a combat maneuver check as a free action to knock the target prone.

Fast Guns: As the Musket Master Fast Musket deed, which allows the gunslinger to reload any gun as a move action as long as he has at least one grit point.

Level 7 Deeds

Deadshot

Startling Shot

Targeting

Level 11 Deeds

Bleeding Wound (though not powered by black powder, the body part hit and the angle it is hit could cause bleed damage, which could be external or internal).

Lightning Reload: The gunslinger can now reload any gun as a swift action as long as he has 1 grit point. If the Gunslinger has Rapid Reload with the heavy gun or a repeating gun he can reload that gun as a free action as long as he has 1 grit point.

Twin Shot Knockdown: As the Pistolero deed.

Level 15 Deeds

Evasive

Slinger’s Luck

Gunslinger’s Resilience: As the Gun Tank’s Gun Tank’s Resilience

Level 19 Deeds

Cheat Death

Death’s Shot

Stunning Shot

Worth the read.

The Race Points can be seen to follow a certain pattern...which when you reverse-engineer the mathematics you discover that the standard (10 RP) races start having less than the advanced and monstrous races as soon as they reach character level 6 and higher.

By looking at the table in the sidebar at the top right of page 3 in the Advanced Races Guide beta test, you can see that the adjusted level of races (no matter how many race points they were designed with) decreases by 1 at 6th character level and every five characters thereafter (6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, etc.) (Note: I included levels above 16th level to show this part of the formula.)

With the current beta test race point allotment, this means that all races have at least 10 race points at level 1. The beta test rules as written have all races that started with more than 10 points at level 1, have their level adjustment reduced by 1 at character level 6 and every 5 character levels they attain thereafter (to a minimum of a +0 level adjustment). This means that the standard (10 race points) races keep becoming more under-powered compared to non-standard races at character level 6 and every five character levels gained after that.

To keep things balanced, starting from level 1 and maintaining the balance among all the races as they level up, we have two Solutions:

Solution 1:

All races only have 10 race points of racial abilities at level 1. At 6th character level, and every five character levels thereafter each race gains 10 more race points (though could get less points at these higher levels). For standard races, simple things such as improving existing level one abilities (low-light vision, darkvision for example) merely increase in range or they gain additional similar racial abilities that they gained at 1st level. For example, humans could gain another bonus feat and/or extra bonus skill ranks. For advanced and monstrous races (who only started with 10 race points at 1st character level) they can spend these extra race points when they gained them at the higher levels to gain more racial abilities. (Note: the cosmetics of the race can be exactly as you envision it at first level, such as wings that do not allow you to fly until you reach 6th level and spend the appropriate amount of race points to make your wings functionally (or improves your existing flight racial ability).

Solution 2:

Since the formula can be seen that 10 race points are 'automatically bought off for free at 6th character level and every five levels thereafter...that works out to 2 race points gained per character level gained past 1st level. Instead of needing to wait every five character levels to gain more race points (and avoid suddenly developing/increasing several racial abilities), each character can spend these race points as they gain them (and being able to save them to acquire higher-cost racial abilities at the higher levels).

Both the above solutions would keep all the various races (allowed as PC races) balanced from the get-go and keep them balanced no matter what character level they are.

Feedback?

I am not touching on the individual race point costs of the various racial abilities. That is a matter of comparing them. My thread post is regarding keeping the races balanced as in how many race points they gain/acquire.

I would suggest that the races start with 10 race points, then gain 1 race point each time they gain a character level.

Though many do not agree with several of the race point costs of the racial abilities in the beta test, I am going to use their race point costs for some of the following examples, in which races start with 10 race points at level 1 and gain 1 race point each time they gain a character level.

Humans
Start as standard (+2 to any ability score, bonus feat, +1 skill rank per character level). At 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th level they gain another bonus feat.

Dwarves
Start as standard (as per the Core Rulebook). At 2nd level they gain relentless; at 3rd level they gain poison resistance (which overlaps and does not stack with hardy); at 4th level they gain stubborn; at 8th level they gain ferocity; etc.

A Plant-type creature could start with the Plant type and the spell-like ability to use the spell entangle twice per day; at 2nd level it gains another daily use of the spell; at 6th level it gains the ability to fly (using its leaf-life skin to be able to make use of air currents) with a speed of 30 feet with clumsy maneuverability; at 8th level its fly speed increases to 40 feet (poor); at 10th level its fly speed increases to 50 feet (average); at 12th level its fly speed increases to 60 feet (good); at 14th level its fly speed increases to 70 feet (perfect); at 16th level its fly speed increases to 80 feet; at 18th level its fly speed increases to 90 feet; and at 20th level its fly speed increases to 100 feet (with perfect maneuverability). You could imagine that such a plant creature's leaf-like skin continues to grow which allows it to be better manipulate the air currents and its own 'skin' to attain faster and better maneuverability of flight as it levels up.

I do believe the way to making a working stream-line AND balanced system so that all races (whether standard, advanced, monstrous) stay balanced across all the levels is to FIRST come up with a formula for how many race points ALL races gain, both at first level and at higher levels. Once this formula has been finalized, THEN start pricing the various race point costs of all the racial abilities.