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So the recent Errata (3) to the CRB added the following Page 476: Flanking was ambiguous on what happened if you made a ranged attack while within reach of a foe you are flanking. To make it clear that only melee attacks benefit from flanking, change the second sentence to read "A creature is flat-footed (taking a –2 circumstance penalty to AC) to melee attacks from creatures that are flanking it." First, I have to say I'm not a fan of this errata as getting shot from behind seems just as hard to deal with as being stabbed, but regardless, this isn't what the post is about. The issue is "Melee Spell Attacks". More specifically, can you flank with such an attack? As it stands, I'd say this errata actually points to no. Why? Because a Melee Spell Attack is never defined as a melee attack. In fact, it is defined almost explicitly as not being a melee or ranged attack at all. Take the following text from the CRB When you use a Strike action or make a spell attack, you attempt a check called an attack roll. Attack rolls take a variety of forms and are often highly variable based on the weapon you are using for the attack, but there are three main types: melee attack rolls, ranged attack rolls, and spell attack rolls. Spell attack rolls work a little bit differently, so they are explained separately on the next page. There is a whole lot of information on that page, but none of it once touches on "melee" or "ranged"; simply how to calculate a spell attack roll and that it targets AC. The CRB seems to suggest that a spell attack roll is never a ranged nor a melee attack. This would mean that it wouldn't benefit from flanking, even if it was something like Shocking Grasp. The only spell that seems like it might work is Produce Flame since it says "melee attack" specifically. I feel like this means that either Produce Flame or the entry on spell attack rolls is inaccurate. Either we need an errata on Produce Flame to say "melee spell attack roll" and not benefit from flanking or we need the text for spell attack rolls to state that a melee spell attack is still a melee attack for purposes such as flanking.
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You are awoken early in the morning by an urgent summons from Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin (male human). As you arrive you are shown directly into his private office, where he and the Grand Lodge’s head archivist, Zarta Dralneen (female human), are examining a list of items.
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You begin your adventure in the Lantern Lodge in Goka, where you meet with Venture-Captain Amara Li
An Earthly Treatise on Magic As a scholar residing on the planet of Earth, I lack the ability to apply any form of controlled testing to the theories presented by my Golarion colleagues. Additionally, I lack the ability to witness the results of magic or experiment with its inner workings, I have to rely on written documentation solely, and even that is limited. Only so much of Golarion’s extensive research into the phenomenon manages to reach across the metaphysical distance separating us and posit itself into written accounts for those of us on Earth to peruse. Contrarily, it may be that with our seemingly more modern and technological focused society, we have more access to these accounts than even those living on Golarion do while bringing in a unique perspective from a world with no magic at all, although there have been some reports of magic throughout our history, it appears many, if not all of them have been disproven as superstition and faulty grasp on reality. Of course, there is still the matter of the missing Soviet soldiers that disappeared about fifty years ago, but the time they disappeared in was a strange one rife with tension and potential conflict on a massive scale, so the truth may remain hidden to us for some time yet. Regardless, I digress, so let’s focus on the matter at hand. Recently, we have received a tome of knowledge from Golarion known to our scholars as Secrets of Magic. In this tome are four treatises focused on the four traditions of magic known to the people of Golarion. We received the treatises known as Principles of Elementary Thaumaturgy, Journeys of the Spirit and Flesh, A Letter from Djavin Vhrest, and On Primal Practice 1. What I am about to suggest may shock you, but I believe it to be, at the very least, an idea just as likely as those posed in the aforementioned treatises. I posit that all magic is the same. How can that be, you may be asking? Surely we know from both this text and ones before that there are at least four traditions of magic, right? Well, yes, but I think the idea of traditions is a limitation self-imposed by the people of Golarion. At the same time, I believe that Thassilonian Rune Magic 2 was on track to break free of the bonds of these traditions. What is magic but energy? What is the caster but a builder using the energy to build that which they desire? As we on Earth can see the various rules governing spells and their level of degree, I feel we are in an opportune place to describe a unique perspective on both rune magic and its interactions with the traditions. Before I continue this train of thought, I want to supply the reasoning for the choices I present ahead. As stated before, I lack the ability on Earth to test my theories or watch any tests on the subject of magic altogether. Therefore, I am using examples involving the lowest degree of spells in the hopes that, should my treatise make it back across the planes to Golarion, my theories can be tested by any magical scholar due to their ease of accessibility. Now, on to the matter at hand, examples of my first theory. Take a look at some spells shared across these traditions of magic. Magic Weapon 3, the ability to enchant a weapon with a fragment of magical power, is known to three of the four traditions; Arcane, Divine, and Occult. However, Primal is not left out of this entirely, boasting a slight variation with the spell Magic Fang 4, having the same effect but with tooth and nail rather than manufactured steel. I begin to wonder if, when taking a look at these spells’ visual runes, there is only a slight variation as well. Everything about these two spells is the same except for the type of object they affect, leading me to believe you’ll see one, maybe two runes different between the two spells. I would imagine then that if a Wizard 5, for example, were to alter the runes in their Magic Weapon spell to match those in Magic Fang, if they would not produce the same results. In fact, magic users could likely write these runes directly, without the standard need for long preparations of memory constructs, and create the desired effects. However, I will discuss this in more depth in my second theory of magic. Another two spells worth look at are those of Pet Cache 6 and Alarm 7. In both cases, these spells are available to all traditions regardless of the essences 8 they command. Perhaps it is because the effects of these spells are so simple that they barely begin to tap into the control of essence, or maybe it is because both are so generally useful that practitioners on Golarion have already broken past their system of traditions but have not yet realized it. Finally, while less accessible than the previously mentioned spells, all traditions can Summon 9. These summon spells are not always the same, but any tradition can perform this type of spell. Based on my theory, I suspect you will see similar results in this study as in research with Magic Weapon and Magic Fang. The runes on these summon spells will be extraordinarily identical with only minor alterations. While a Summon Animal 10 spell may feature runes connected to nature or animals, the base runes of the spell to cause a summon at all are likely to be the same across all traditions. Using a similar example, if Wizard wanted to summon a fey creature like an occult caster, I believe that simply casting the base summon runes and then adding the runes standard to Summon Fey 11 would have nearly identical results, circumventing the barrier of tradition. Next, I want to discuss the origin of magic in its raw state. Where do casters get their magic from exactly? I believe that all magic comes from the same place, and most residents of Golarion have not yet discovered this connection. Magic comes almost entirely from one place, from within. Druids 12 may believe that their magic flows from nature into them, and Clerics 13 may believe something similar with their Gods, but if true, there is little explanation where a Wizard or Bard draws their powers from. I suggest that there is little explanation for this because this is wrong. Druids do not draw power from nature and Clerics, not from the divine. In all cases, magic comes from inside the caster and from nowhere else. Why, then, do we see rituals honoring nature in On Primal Practice or the belief among the faithful of Nethys in Journeys of the Spirit and Flesh? The simple answer is because these practitioners believe these things to be accurate, and their faith in these things is enough to harness their internal energy and manifest it outward. Do we not all have our habits? Our routines when we wake up in the morning to get us ready for the day? These magical concepts are no different; they are a form of meditation that helps these magic users focus their energy on things they want to accomplish. Toff Ornelos in Principles of Elementary Thaumaturgy mentions the idea of a memory palace 14 with different floors, each with its own degree of magic. Toff’s idea is close to reality, but it only scratches the surface of how spellcasting works. Take a step back for a moment from the primary spellcasters and think instead upon those with only minor magics. These, to those of us on Earth, would be called Focus Casters 15 and include types like Champion 16, Monk 17, and Ranger 18. These types do not cast any spells at all; however, it is essential to understand that those who can cast spells have similar abilities. I introduce this concept now because I believe the energy they use is an excellent example of the internal origin of magic. In recent years we have seen these focus casters with the ability to cast their magic in a similar capacity to cantrips, though admittedly at a much slower rate. However, the most crucial detail about these focus spells comes not from their near unlimited usage but the interaction when a user receives training in two different disciplines. The best example is that of a person training as both a Monk and Champion. We can see that this focus caster can easily convert the energy from their Monk spells into fuel for their Champion spells and vice-versa, yet, most critically, we know that Monk spells can come from the Occult Tradition while Champion spells are always Divine. At the same time, we see that “recharging” this type of magic involves a 10-minute ritual of sorts designed to focus such energy. What else can explain this phenomenon other than that traditions are simply mental blocks imagined by the people of Golarion and that all magic comes from the same, internal place? Thus, my theory is that instead of a memory palace, as suggested by Toff, magic is simply limited internally by the body’s capabilities to withstand channeling different degrees of magic. Instead of imagining a memory palace, imagine something akin to the chakra points on a body, each designed to limit the flow of magic. There are ten degrees of spells, so too are there ten points of limitation inside the body. As a spellcaster progresses their power, knowledge, and energy flow, these points unlock to allow more powerful magics to flow. It is important to note that we have recently discovered that Magus 19 and Summoner 20 have found...exploits, for lack of a better word, that allow them to focus these energies into different purposes. As a Magus becomes more experienced, they switch the flow of these points to empower their body and Arcane Cascade abilities while the Summoner forces the energy in these points to flow outward and directly into their Eidolon. In both cases, this means that both types of person cannot use the exploited points to control energy into spells, but in exchange, increases the power of the Magus itself or the Summoner’s Eidolon, respectively. What do I hope to accomplish by publishing my treatise? While unlikely, I hope my work finds its way to Golarion for the people there to test my theories directly. Without such occurrence, I can only make loose conjectures based on what little research we see on Earth. Assuming my research is spread around Golarion, I implore academics and spellcasters alike to approach my research with an open mind, again with the understanding that what is assumed knowledge to them may be entirely unavailable knowledge to me. What magic they can visibly see and experiment with is utterly unheard of in my world.
1 Bonner, Logan & Seifter, Mark. Pathfinder: Secrets of Magic. Paizo, 2021. Pg. 8-15.
You arrive in the town of Artume by ship, accompanied by Venture-Captain Holgarin Smine.
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Each of you receives a summons from Venture-Captain Evni Zongnoss, requesting your presence at the Vodavani Lodge in Caliphas, a city in Ustalav.
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Arriving by messenger to each of you is this invitation! Following the invitation's suggestion, you arrive at the Grand Lodge in Absalom. Feel free to describe how you received your invitation and how you either came to Absalom or traveled to the Grand Lodge
This is a private thread with invitations sent out to players. Character Creation: 1) There are pre-gens available for you to use, but they are not required to play. 2) If you make your own character you begin at level 5, consult the Starting at a Higher Level table for gear. The adventure will finish at level 8. 3) The adventure starts in the city of Kibwe in the Mwangi expanse. 3A) The module prohibits the play of human characters, including partial humans. As the GM, I won't prevent you from playing a human, however, I can tell you that you may have a pretty rough time and there is definitely a reason why humans are prohibited. 3B) While some ancestries may be rather uncommon in this area, I'm open to pretty much any Paizo ancestry being involved as I like to let my players have a bit of freedom beyond what is typically allowed in Pathfinder Society. 4) I am allowing the Free Archetype rule. Essentially, you gain an extra class feat at every even level that can only be used for dedications or archetype feats. You are still restricted by the rules for Dedication in that you typically must take 2 archetype feats before taking a new dedication. 5) There is no official player guide for this module and while I would like players to play something they like or something fun to them, there is some information that can disrupt character builds. 5A) The beginning of the adventure has a ton of oozes. Oozes are mindless. After part 1 (out of 3), they drop off and the enemies become pretty standard.
This adventure begins with the heroes together in the Central Market around Adayenki Pavilion, at the heart of Kibwe. They have come to an open-air shop belonging to a seller of rare wood named Kendi Laughs-Long, who stocks some of the city’s most intricately carved darkwood. The heroes might be looking for weaponry or carvings made from the rare material
This is a closed recruitment thread for those in the PFS 1e PBP thread. Please fill out the following information. 1. Forum Name:
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This is a closed recruitment thread for those in the PFS 1e PBP thread. Please fill out the following information. 1. Forum Name:
Starting once we have six players. Player Name:
When you get a chance, please add your information to this slide. (Typical marching order, initiative, perception.)
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Remember that if you want to get to level 20, you need to play Race for the Runecarved Key at level 19.2 and other than Passing the Torch, everything at this level is worth 1&1/2xp or 3xp
Hey everyone, I just wrote my first 3pp! Its all about giving classes some more unarmed options, having style feats apply various effects to spellcasting, and a new prestige class called Eldritch Ascetic, which is like Eldritch Knight, but for a monk/spellcaster rather than a fighter-type/spellcaster. It contains 9 New Archetypes and Sorcerer Bloodlines, 1 New Prestige Class, 14 New Feats, 16 Spell Style Feats, and 3 Magic Items. You can download a preview on the store page as well if you like, but if you want some more information, I revealed some content on this reddit thread!
So, does this count as an "unarmed attack" to gain the benefits of weapon specialization or mystic strikes? I'm pretty sure it doesn't based on RAW, but I definitely think it's weird if you can't treat the damage as the various monk damage types or add the bonus damage from weapon specialization. I think it's already generally suboptimal compared to striking, so it could use the minor damage buff from these two things.
I believe the witch class has trap feats, which, by this I mean, they have options that might look appealing or neat, but are really, really bad to pick and overall make your character weaker, rather than stronger. I think 2e has done an amazing job so far avoiding trap options, so I really want to talk about the following two feats. Living Hair and Nails.
Lets start with the problems that apply to both of these options before focusing on each one separately. First, neither has the finesse trait, so you'll need strength to hit with your hair (muscle hair?) or your nails. The witch's primary stat is intelligence and they have very little in the way of armor training, even their unarmored only goes to expert, and only at level 13. If a witch wants to use either of these attacks they will need to put a lot of effort into keeping their strength up to hit with their trained/expert attacks and they will need almost maximum dexterity to actually stand on the front line even remotely safely with their trained/expert defense, not to mention they need intelligence to land their spells and hexes, and that is all ignoring constitution on a front line build, plus wisdom for saves and perception. Would making both of these attacks finesse solve the issue? Probably not as their training level is pretty low, but it would definitely help. I still don't know if I'd want to be in melee with the witches defensive stats. On to living hair. Is there much of a reason to select this feat instead of nails? Sure the hair has more traits, but disarm is bad, parry is ok but a shield would be better and guess what, hair doesn't take up any hands, so why would you need to parry instead of casting shield or raising a shield. The best option here is actually grapple, because unlike normal attack rolls, a witch can get to legendary with athletics to grapple, but again, I'm not sure if I would want my witch on the front line to grapple enemies instead of casting spells with their legendary spellcasting. Nails. Man, I love the nails feat. It has awesome flavor and a really cool "hexstrike" ability. The problem with nails is mostly the general problems; you need strength to hit, dexterity to survive, and intelligence to actually land your hexes, and that is totally ignoring constitution for a front-liner and wisdom for saves and perception. As for the "hexstrike", its really cool until you realize you spent a focus point to deliver a hex, missed because you're only trained/expert with a strength weapon, and then lost your focus point and two actions for absolutely no effect. This ability would work a lot better under a couple of different options.
As of right now, my best build idea to use either of these abilities is to make a witch with champion dedication to become trained in full-plate and carrying a shield. Should a witch using nails look like a heavily armored champion slashing at people with their nails or hair? I don't think so, but its probably their best option to use either feat.
I think it would be awesome for Gymnast Swashbuckler to be able to select some finisher feats that function off of a grapple. I'd compare them to things like the Monk's Whirling Throw or the Barbarian's thrash. They could be things like a Hurricana, a "rope/wall bounce", or something like savage slam from the Lifting Hand 1e monk.
My first comment is the spells per day, it seems really strange to me that Oracle has no option to get 4 spells per level per day as a spellcasting heavy class. I get divine sorcerer is there for that, but I definitely thought Oracle would still get that extra spell slot a day compared to cleric, especially when... It has no "divine font" option, even for Life Oracle. So the life oracle has the same number of spontaneous spells as the prepared cleric, except it doesn't get all those sweet bonus heal spells. I'm not sure if this is necessarily bad, but it definitely seems odd to me that a life oracle might be a worse healer than a charisma cleric. The whole focus point pool thing seems strange to me too. I'm totally on board for how their revelation stuff works for their own mechanics, but I think it heavily discourages multiclassing for any class that has cool focus powers. I don't think an oracle/monk picking up ki rush or ki strike should be fueling these powers off of their curse instead of focus points. Just let oracle's thing be independent and isolated, but any ability that would give you a focus pool does so and just doesn't interact with the oracle curse at all. Finally, if you just decide you don't really want to use revelation powers, you can have an oracle never experience any stage of their curse, which seems...strange. There should probably be at least a lesser minor curse effect that an oracle always has or their curse stages should be tied to casting any divine spells in general as well. I mean, their divine magic is what they get in exchange for a curse, being able to go from 1-20 spamming diving magic without ever experiencing their curse seems a little strange. Maybe they always start with minor curse and need to expend some of their magical build up, their curse can go down too? Or it can go the other way, whenever they exhaust all their spell slots of some scaling level, they push their curse stage up. Examples:
Or the opposite design direction
I was building an investigator to replace my dead character in Age of Ashes for book 3, but when I finished the build, I noticed something that I think is worth discussing; combat options. What I mean by this is, the investigator has some really cool class feats, but almost nothing interesting to do in combat. Their turn is going to almost always be some combination of striding, studying, and striking with nothing really interesting happening. Sure they get to Clue In as a reaction sometimes, but I think they need a little more spice to their combat options for a turn. Things I'm thinking of are something like the following: Sickening Offensive:
Success: On your next attack against the target this turn, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your attack roll and can choose to make the target sickened with a value equal to the number of die of Studied Strike you have. Unlike the normal sickened condition, the duration is only until the start of your next turn.
Unsettling Deduction:
You accurately predict and describe an opponents next action to them, unnerving them. You attempt to demoralize the target of your Study a Suspect, adding your circumstance bonus from Study a Suspect. As normal, this demoralize has the auditory trait and the target must be able to understand you even if you have abilities that say otherwise.
Studied Snag:
You refuse to let your suspect escape. You combine an attack with quick grappling moves to throw an enemy off balance as long as it stays in your reach. Make a Strike while keeping one hand free. If this Strike hits, the target is flat-footed until the start of your next turn or until it’s no longer within the reach of your hand, whichever comes first. Predictive Reversal:
You turn your foes’ flanking against them with a quick reverse. Make a melee Strike against one of the flanking enemies that meets the requirements and attempt a Shove. This Shove has the same multiple attack penalty of the initial attack and doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty. If you succeed at the Shove, instead of pushing the enemy back, you swap places with them. Confounding Avoidance:
You cleverly play your opponents positioning against them, attempt a reflex save against their attack roll. If you succeed, you avoid the attack and they compare their attack roll against the AC of the other creature flanking you, dealing damage as normal if they hit.
On a side note, I think the Ongoing Investigation feat should add the line to the effect of:
I've been working on a 1e pathfinder book, about the size of a player companion and it is nearing completion. However, I'm trying to add the OGL and I'm unsure of what exactly it needs to include. If I so much as mention a Paizo feat as a requirement for one of mine, do I need to add the source product to the OGL? For example, if I had a feat called pummeling master class that requires pummeling style, do I need to cite the book pummeling style is from in the OGL? Also, is there an easy way to add the OGL for any products your referencing? I saw there was a generator online, but it doesn't have all the books I might need depending on how the above statement works and it doesn't seem to work in general anymore.
So, I was looking over swarms and I don't see anything stopping you from grappling them, at least not mechanically. Swarm: "A swarm is a mass or cloud of creatures that functions as one monster. Its size entry gives the size of the entire mass, though for most swarms the individual creatures that make up that mass are Tiny. A swarm can occupy the same space as other creatures, and must do so in order to use its damaging action. A swarm typically has weakness to effects that deal damage over an area (like area spells and splash weapons)." I even checked some swarm creatures to see if they had common entries about it, but came up empty. Rat Swarm (276) has immunity to precision and swarm mind, but not grapple? If you look at Incorporeal, they have this line "An incorporeal creature can’t attempt Strength-based checks against physical creatures or objects—only against incorporeal ones—unless those objects have the ghost touch property rune. Likewise, a corporeal creature can’t attempt Strength-based checks against incorporeal creatures or objects." This is an oversight right? I'm not supposed to be able to roll around on a pile of spiders, keeping them in place or throw the entire swarm with whirling throw? Can we just add a similar line from incorporeal creatures to swarms so you can't grapple or trip them?
After a hurried summons to the Grand Lodge in Absalom, a quick conversation with Venture-Captain Alissa Moldreserva, and a wet, stormy trip across the Inner Sea to Andoran, the small, warm Pathfinder Lodge in Augustana is a welcome break from travel. “I can’t believe we are wasting our time on this matter,” says Caudron Wallace, the venture-captain of Augustana as he paces the main hall “Frankly, I want as little to do with it as possible, so I’m passing it on to you.” Wallace nods toward a door at the back of the room. “The vagrant through there was found collapsed on our front steps gripping a wayfinder of all things. We still don’t know who he is. Talk to him, for the tale he tells is amazing if true, and then come back here." When you enter the room at the back of the main hall, you find a small sitting room with six comfortable chairs and a few bookshelves filled with the latest Pathfinder Chronicles. An old, withered man sits in one of the chairs, half-dozing when you enter. His skin is shockingly pale and his features are sharp with high cheekbones and a jutting chin.
I'm trying to find an archetype or prestige class that is based around the PC drawing power from a specific enemy. Kind of like a demon hunter in warcraft lore uses their demon blood powers to hunt demons effectively. I've come across flesheater barbarian and sin eater inquisitor as being kind of close, but neither is what I'm looking for. I'm also hoping to find something that is a little better than a favored enemy type bonus of a flat +x to hit/damage as that's a little boring. Also hoping for something more martial than magical, but I imagine some sorcerer bloodlines would be semi-appropiate. Thanks to anyone that has some ideas!
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