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I was searching for information on this archetype and I had a question that I asked in a thread in the General forum that I realized may better be placed in the Rules forum. So here it is: Could the ecclestheurge choose an inquisition (which have no domain spells) as their secondary domain and then use Domain Mastery to add spells from another domain?
OK, I was looking at the variant channeling rules and have become a bit confused with it. It states:
A variant channeling either modifies positive channeled energy when used to heal or modifies negative energy when used to harm. When using positive energy to heal, affected creatures gain only half the normal amount of healing but also receive a specific beneficial effect. When channeling negative energy to harm, affected creatures take only half the normal damage but take an additional penalty or harmful effect; a successful saving throw negates the additional penalty or effect but does not reduce the damage any further". What happens to positive energy used to harm (undead) and negative energy used to heal (undead)? Does it get halved with no extra effect, or is it used at full normal capacity? What about the Undeath portfolio (post errata)?
Heal—This works like a standard channel (not halved). Harm—The healing effect is enhanced for undead creatures and those with negative energy affinity. So when positive energy is used to heal (living), it works as normal? And when negative energy is used to harm (living), it... heals undead even though they normally wouldn't be affected? Now I understand that the designer's RAI (as mentioned here) seems to indicate that he intended the Heal effect to work when using whatever energy to heal (so positive vs. living, negative vs. undead) and the Harm effect when using whateber energy to harm (so negative vs. living, positive vs. undead) but that Paizo changed it to what it is now. Thus it's RAW that I'm concerned with here. TLDR
OK. I decided to start a new thread on this specific aspect of things that has begun to confuse me. Core Stuff:
If you don't discharge the spell in the round when you cast the spell, you can hold the charge indefinitely. You can continue to make touch attacks round after round. If you touch anything or anyone while holding a charge, even unintentionally, the spell discharges. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates. You can touch one friend as a standard action or up to six friends as a full-round action. Alternatively, you may make a normal unarmed attack (or an attack with a natural weapon) while holding a charge. In this case, you aren't considered armed and you provoke attacks of opportunity as normal for the attack. If your unarmed attack or natural weapon attack normally doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity, neither does this attack. If the attack hits, you deal normal damage for your unarmed attack or natural weapon and the spell discharges. If the attack misses, you are still holding the charge. At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If the magus makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks. This attack uses the weapon’s critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier. FAQ stuff:
So does all this mean that, during the round the Magus uses Spell Combat, he may only use the weapon/natural attack/unarmed attack in the non-casting (typically main) hand? But outside of Spell Combat, he may use whatever weapon/natural attack/unarmed attack to deliver the spell, just like a regular caster holding the charge? This seems to invalidate the use of other natural attacks (like the Prehensile Hair Hex). What happens to the magus monster (or polymorphed magus) that has no hands (maybe tentacles, maybe hooves) or has several hands? Spell Combat doesn't work with the former (or it only works on a specific limb), and the Magus has to pick one of the other hands not involved in the casting in the latter?
What about the "picking up a weapon in that hand" work, mentioned in the first FAQ? Even though the charge is held in his body, he can pick up a weapon only in a specific hand (presumably the main, non casting hand) to transmit it through that weapon and otherwise risk discharging it if he grabbed the weapon with a different hand? I guess the a similar question on multi-armed Magi, comes to mind here too.
Can the rogue talents that affect sneak attack, also affect the sneak attack from an attack spell (where the talent doesn't specify a specific type of attak like Distracting Attack)? So would an sneak attack ray of frost be able to apply Bleed Attack, for example, to cause bleed damage, or Befuddling Strike / Offensive Defence to have extra effective AC against the opponent? What about Underhanded? Is a spell considered "a concealed weapon that the opponent doesn't know about"? What if it was Quickened? Still/Silent?
Are the bonus damage per die from the bloodline arcanas added to the sneak attack dice or only the original spell dice? For example: A Primal fire elemental Bloodline sorcerer, who also happens to have +2d6 sneak attack from levels in Rogue, shoots off a Scorching Ray at a flat-footed opponent within 30'. Is the damage 4d6+4 +2d6+2 from sneak, or 4d6+4 +2d6? |
