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Derklord wrote:

Drewzer wrote:

I’ve recently been considering creating an Unchained Rogue who uses Catch-Off Guard

I hope you realize that the "unarmed opponents" the feat talks about are those who have no weapon ready, don't have Improved Unarmed strikes (or active touch spells), and no natural weapons.

I was wondering what, if any tactics the OP wants to use to lock in her(?) Sneak Attack Damage.

My original idea for the build was using disarming and TWF and eventually taking Break Guard, though there’s always the issue of enemies having natural attacks ect.

I really hate when the writers think they have a clever idea and don't care about making it clear and functional.

I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s really annoying finding a cool spell or weapon and then realising I have to try and work out how on earth it actually interacts with the rest of the rules (Battle Poi Warpriest, I’m looking at you...)

The rules surrounding improvised weapons are just rather thin on the ground and relying on GMs ruling in my favour just feels bad. There’s always the possibility of me asking a couple of the regular GMs for their opinion on rulings, and treat corner cases as and when they come up.
Failing that, I can always add it to my ever growing pile of possible home game characters

I will preface this by saying I’m asking this largely with regards to PFS rules but any help is appreciated

I’ve recently been considering creating an Unchained Rogue who uses Catch-Off Guard, using Stiletto Boots as her improvised weapon. It seems that rules regarding Improvised Weapons are a bit thin on the ground, and I want to try and get some idea as to if can ever work, so I have a few questions

Are Stiletto Boots able to be used in conjunction with Weapon Finesse, and if so, would they be valid choice for an Unchained Rogues Finesse Training?
Would they count as a weapon for things like Heirloom Weapon? What about Magic Weapon? Weapon Focus?
Could you buy silver or cold iron versions of them? I don’t think you can buy masterwork versions of improvised weapons but at this point I don’t know what rules to look at

Drewzer wrote:

I want to take some levels in Evangelist in my Warpriests future, but I’ve come to realise this may be thicker than it seems as I worship the Empyrean Lord Korada.

Does Korada count as a deity with respect to the “must worship a deity prerequisite of Deific Obedience, or am stuck only being able to take Celestial Obedience?

Strictly as written, no. You need the Deific Obedience feat, and therefore would need to worship a deity that specifically grants a Deific Obedience boon (Or an Eldest, per the exception in TFW:RotF.)

BotD specifically states that Fiendish Obedience does NOT directly qualify for those classes (it suggests the PCs be two levels higher to enter the prestige class). Similarly, you have to be at least level 7 to become a mystery cultist (Celestial Obedience) or Proctor (Monitor Obedience) so those should not qualify as an Evangelist either.

Presumably, the developers considered Celestial, Fiendish, and Monitor Obedience boons to be slightly "better" than Deific Obedience and therefore require a two-level delay in the early access via Prestige classes.

Dang. Well, it’s nice to finally get a solid answer, even if it isn’t in my favour. Thanks!

It does somewhat make me wonder why Crimson Templar’s can gain Deific Obedience as a bonus feat, as worshiping Ragathiel normally wouldn’t grant you access to it, though that’s probably a question for a different time

I want to take some levels in Evangelist in my Warpriests future, but I’ve come to realise this may be thicker than it seems as I worship the Empyrean Lord Korada.
Does Korada count as a deity with respect to the “must worship a deity prerequisite of Deific Obedience, or am stuck only being able to take Celestial Obedience? And if not then why the does the Crimson Templar’s gain access to it if considering they have to worship the Empyrean Lord Ragathiel?
Heck, if I do end up gaining access to Deific Obedience (I’m looking at you Divine Champion ) would I even get access to the boons?

I know there’s some text before the feat Fey Obedience that allows the Feysworn, Evangelist, Sentinel and Exhalted to use the same boons, though it seems Celestial Obedience doesn’t have this text, annoyingly because Deific Obedience and the 3 prestige classes that go with it were published after Celestial Obedience, and there’s been no campaign clarification, at least from what I’ve seen, that would allow it to do the same thing.

I’ve been trying really hard to make this work, and I really hope someone can give me an answer to whether it’s actually achievable or not.

...There is no way you can saddle a tiny owl. That means the owl has to pick the wizard up with either its talons or beak. Flying involves rapid up and down movements, and a total lack of anything to brace against. The wizard should be flailing about like a flag,

I agree. I feel like if my Familiar has to attempt a fly check to do something my wizard will probably have to make a concentration check, though I feel that will be something I will need to discuss with the GM

I'm not sure the owl is strong enough to fly and carry its master. Most winged creatures need to be in light encumbrance to fly.

I haven’t found anything that says they have to. I know flying mounts can’t fly in Medium or Heavy encumbrance or barding (P.162 of the CRB) but I haven’t seen anything like that relating to flying creatures. I know it was a thing in 3.5, though I think in Pathfinder it only really affects fly speed

Recently I’ve realised that by utilising the powers of Heavyload Belt and Powerhouse Pelt I can increase my owl familiars carrying capacity up to the point where my 150lb wizard counts as a medium load in terms of carrying capacity.

Before I consider actually doing this, I want to ask what some the effects of doing this may be, for example: Would I still get to use all my actions while in the air? What action would it be for my Familiar to pick me up? What happens if my Familiar tried to pick up a hostile creature? If my Familiar was hit while flying, would I have to make a concentration checks? Depending on how I’m lifted, would my wizard need to have enough strength to hold on hanging from the owl?

I’d prefer to have an ideas as to how this might function before I inform my GM about this rather weird intersection of rules and my possible intentions for it

Page 458 of the CRB states “If no activation method is suggested either in the magic item description or by the nature of the item, assume that a command word is needed to activate it.”

I’ve been looking at the items Dawnflower Sash and Gossamer Amberstone . The Sash’s Cure Light Wounds ability explicitly states that it is command word activated, whereas the Amberstone’s Cure Light Wounds ability doesn’t state this. However, looking at the statement from the Core Rules it seems to imply that it is command word activated, even though it isn’t stated in the items description.

Does this mean that any wondrous item that allows you to cast a spell has to be command word activated? If so why does the Sash only state that it’s Cure Light Wounds ability is command word activated but not it’s Feather Fall ability?

Name Violation wrote:

Use additional item slot and give it healers gloves

if I remember correctly in PFS additional item slot can only give slots their form allows (those slots are not normally available in PFS)

You are correct. All familiars have access to their neck, armor and if applicable saddle and horseshoe slots. Additional items slot will simply allow the familiar to wear a magic item in another body slot that they qualify for

Command word seems to be a problem. If you're not particularly set on the owl, Raven can speak Common and activate wands (though will need some UMD training for that)

Technically no. In PFS only some improved familiars can use command word items or completion triggers. I’ve already got a system for making the owl talk though which makes this problem somewhat more annoying.

Can an owl pour a potion down a PCs throat (or otherwise administer it to wounds) in PFS?

Possibly. It doesn’t state anywhere I’ve seen that they can’t, but I’d assume it would be a GM call as to if an owl physically could. It seems inefficient though, as you’d still have to take a full round action to give someone the potion as well as the move action it would take to get over to them

My PFS Wizards owl Familiar has been a rather useful over the past few sessions and I have decided that I want to give him the capability to heal, or at least be able to heal someone whose just gone down back to consciousness. However, this has been a trickier endeavour than I was expecting as it seems that there aren’t that many magic items that heal someone other than yourself and also don’t require a command word (curse you PFS ruling on non improved Familiar being unable to use command activated items)

So far the only items I have managed to find that really work are the Gossamer Amberstone, Milanite Armor and the Holy Mask of the Living God, and the Amberstone is the only real item that actually does what I want without having to jump through hoops (O Dawnflower Sash, why did you have to have a command word trigger?)

Does anyone know of any other items that could work or any other way in which I may be able to pull off this something similar?

TWF with shields should work pretty well for a warpriest, considering their extra damage via sacred weapon. If you're a half-human you can pick up another feat via favored class bonus. TWF does depend on your starting with 15+ Dex, and I don't know what you have already.

I’ve definitely considered it as an option, as I kinda want to play a Half-Orc and the Tusked alternate racial ability would also work with lots of full attacks. Having to start with a Dex of 15 would be painful to my stats though as I probably wouldn’t be taking weapon finesse, and my actual bonuses to hit seem like they’d be pretty low at early levels

You're wedded to beating people with shields? And if you take Shield Brace you can wield a polearm with a shield, which solves that problem. Human would allow the whole build to be online by level 3, but not being human delays that by two levels.

Another option instead of Combat Reflexes and Bodyguard, at least at low levels? The Saving Shield feat. You don't have to Aid Another which means you don't have to satisfy the positioning requirements with a reach weapon and so forth. That said, it still might make sense to do so? And if you really want Combat Reflexes/Bodyguard you can retrain it at level 5 when you have enough feats to make it work.

Somewhat yes. I just like the general idea of it I guess. I would have gone down the Bodyguard line in an instant if not for the PFS FAQ that says you also need to threaten whoever is attacking your ally. Saving shield is pretty neat though I don’t really like loosing out on the immediate action as it may affect my ability to use fervour next turn but I might just be being picky.

I’ve recently started playing a Warpriest in PFS, as I wanted to play a shield based character and I felt that a Warpriest would be a fun class to play.
However...
What I’ve found is that most of the fighting styles and feat tree either require me to jump through too many hoops to make them good or just generally are rather mediocre at best, and I’m not really sure where to go from here

• Two-handing shields and Power Attack are both good but I don’t really know what to follow it up with.
• Vital strike required the Weapon of the Chosen feat tree which limits me to worshiping one specific deity which feels not great.
• The Bodyguard line seems really cool and flavourful but considering the FAQ and the fact I probably won’t be wielding a reach weapon it feels lacklustre.
• I could take two levels in Ranger for Shield Slam but at that point I might as well play a Ranger instead.
• I’m also not keen on playing a human which doesn’t exactly help out my feat situation.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions for a shield based build I’m all ears, because it feels like I’ve run out of good options

No, I'm afraid not. You need it for the feat prerequisite and you need it for the class.

Awwww man... Feels bad knowing I probably won’t be able to take a prestige class because of my characters specific fighting style

Oooooo! Actually, having just had a look I think the only way I can get round it is by taking the Divine Champion archetype which would give me it as a bonus feat and I don’t have to meet the prerequisites, though it feels like more effort than it’s worth for a feat which won’t do much

I’ve recently started playing a shield wielding Warpriest and was having a look at the Evangelist prestige class, as it seems pretty flavourful as well not being too bad of an option. However, I realised the the deity that I’m worshiping doesn’t have an obedience, which would lock me out from becoming an evangelist from the start.

Is there anything I can do about this asides from worshiping a different deity?

I have recently been considering purchasing a Ring of Eloquence for one of my characters when they level up, and I wanted to ask about what languges can be inscribed on the ring.
Its decription says: "Normally the languages are Common, Dwarven, Elven, and Gnome. Less often, such rings are attuned to Giant, Goblin, Orc, and Undercommon, and rings with different sets of languages might also exist." which makes me think that you have a choice of what languages the ring gives you access to, but that seems rather good considering the fact it could then give you access to languages like Druidic or Thassilonian.

Can I choose the rings languages, or am I just able to choose betwen the two different option listed in the item description?

Most duration/save DC have a "1/2 your cleric level (minimum 1)" rule which would grant you at least a +1 for both of those. I would recommend finding one that isn't reliant on saves and has no extended duration. I feel like there's a fair share of those. It all comes down to the actual wording in the domain ability you're considering though.

Agreed. Most domains that I'm considering have the half your cleric level (minimum 1) rule. There's a lot of fun powers you can give a Familiar and I'm having a had time choosing a favourite.

For the sake of discussion though, what would happen with powers that don't have a minumum of 1 rule (the Light Subdomains Blinding Flash ability comes to mind here). It's not obvious what the effective cleric level of the Familiar should be in these situations.
RAW makes me think the Familiar has an effective cleric level of 0. However having looked at the Believers Boon feat, it specifically states that "Your effective cleric level in regard to this ability is 1st level" making me think RAI the Familiar has an effective cleric level of 1.

There's honestly not much difference between an effective cleric level of 1 or 0 with respect to save DCs or duration, I'm just curious as to what the answer would be at this point.

If people have problems that are less to do with reporting (I personally have the issue that I accidently deleted my XXXX-01 number and I'd like to see if theres any way that I can recover it), is there anywhere currently that we would be able to contact to see if we can fix it while the reporting errors emails address is currently dead?

The Emissary Familiar Archetype has the ability Domain Influence, which reads:
"At 3rd level, the emissary gains a spark of divine power from the deity its master worships. Choose one of that deity’s domains that grants a 1st-level domain power usable a number of times per day equal to 3 + the user’s Wisdom modifier. The emissary can use that power once per day. This replaces deliver touch spells."

My question is how would the duration, or save DC, of this domain power be calculated?
Because the familiar would no levels in cleric, is it treated as having an effective cleric level of 0 when it comes to calculating a powers duration/save DC, or does the Familiar use its total hit dice/its masters level as an effective cleric level? Do you include the Familiars Wisdom modifier when working out the save DC?

I'm considering using this in PFS so any clarification here would be really useful

Another possibility would be to take the Spark of the Uncanny feat and then retrain it away at 5th level when you no longer need it (or keep it if you want your familiar to be able to talk with other people, or let it evolve into Improved Familiar if you prefer).

That was my other plan if this didn't work out.

I've been looking around for a while for a way for my Wizard to be able to communicate with her owl familiar, as it has the sage archetype and I don't want to wait until 5th level until I can speak to them, and I think I may have found an easy way to do it, and I'd like to run it past other people, just to see if it would work.

The method would involve using a wand of Speak Local Language on your familiar. Simple as that.
Now my question here is, does your familiar count as a creature, as the spell description it says that it functions "as tongues" (except it only grants the ability to speak and understand 1 langauge), which has a target of 1 creature?

If this works, then there's basically nothing stopping me from carrying around a wand of Speak Local Language and tapping my famiiar whenever I think a knowledge check is in the near future, as it has a duration of 10/minutes a level. And for 2PP, it would be pretty easy to aquire