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TL;DR: Do warpriest levels count as fighter levels and replace BAB for NON-bonus feats? (See "Warpriest's Bonus Feats" below.)

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It is clearly stated for both swashbucklers and brawlers that class levels count as fighter levels for the purpose of combat feat prerequisites.

This is NOT the case for warpriests. While class levels count as fighter levels and BAB for "these [bonus] feats," it is not clear whether this applies outside of these bonus feats. (See below--emphasis totally mine)

The more I read it, the more this seems to be the case. Does this mean that a warpriest cannot take both Improved Critical and Critical Focus at L9 using his/her bonus feat and character feat?

When dealing bleed damage (e.g. with the Bleeding Critical feat or the Bleeding Attack rogue talent), does the bleed damage get applied on the initiating attack? If so, does the target then take bleed damage again on its turn that round, as per the bleed rules?

It doesn't say whether or not to apply the bleed damage to the attack as well. The campaign I'm in has been applying it both to the initiating hit as well as to the target's turn. In one case, this meant that a ninja's bleeding sneak attack came close to but did not KO a target, who then acted next in the initiative and immediately bled unconscious. Is this double-counting the bleed damage, though?

I'm just wondering if there's a definitive answer anywhere about whether arcanists are spontaneous casters, prepared casters, neither, or both. In particular, I'm worried about two things:

1) Can an arcanist use a Runestone of Power, which is for spontaneous casters? There has been some discussion about using Runestones of Power but not for Consume Spells, and Jason Buhlman agreed, but there is no mention of the arcanist being a spontaneous caster, other than when it comes to metamagic, so my GM at home has ruled against this. However, since the item was re-released in the Advanced Class Guide, I have feel like the Runestone of Power is supposed to work with the arcanist. Does anyone have any text that suggests yes or no?

2) Does an arcanist suffer an increased casting time when using a metamagic rod? Prepared casters don't suffer from this increased casting time, while spontaneous casters do. The arcanist spell casting text states that an arcanist can spontaneously add metamagic feats to their spells with an increased casting time like a sorcerer, but can also prepare spells with metamagic beforehand and cast them at no penalty like a wizard. I couldn't find much text about it--again, does anyone have any text that suggests either argument?

Thanks!

The Counter Drain greater exploit allows you to regain arcane reservoir points equal to the countered spell's spell level / 3.

The Counterspell exploit allows you to counter spells as an immediate action at the cost of 1 arcane reservoir point and a higher level spell slot. However, the text also says, "Counterspelling in this way does not trigger any feats or other abilities that normally occur when a spellcaster successfully counters a spell."

Given that the Counter Drain greater exploit is a class ability, does that mean that you cannot gain arcane reservoir points from Counter Drain after successfully using the Counterspell exploit?

This seems to be the Rules As Written (unless I'm missing something?), but I'm also wondering if this is the Rules As Intended. Any thoughts?

The Boots of Friendly Terrain item gives you a favored terrain bonus, but text is extremely specific in referring to rangers and favored terrain class ability specifically. However, the Lay of the Land feat gives you the favored terrain class ability, as long as you have the animal focus and wild empathy class abilities (so, pretty much hunters).

RAW, it seems like the item is specifically for rangers only, but do you think that RAI it could apply to hunters too? I think that the boots are pretty inexpensive, which is one of the reasons it might apply to rangers only.

Anyway, I was just looking for some thoughts! Has anyone else run into this sort of issue, where older items/rules restrict newer class abilities? One of our party members was recently a shaman, and all of the hex abilities almost always specifically refer to witches specifically.

I'm thinking about playing an archer with a dash of hunter levels. I'd like to try to take the Weapon of the Chosen feat, but I don't know whether I qualify for the prerequisite that requires that I "must worship and receive spells from a deity."

At first, I thought this meant any divine caster who worshiped a deity, but on talking with my GM, I think he's right in saying that it only applies to casters for whom the deity component is mentioned directly in the text.

This would means that the divine casters would be split into two groups:
DO QUALIFY: clerics, paladins, inquisitors, warpriests
DO NOT QUALIFY: druids, rangers, oracles, hunters, shamans

Does this sound correct, or do all divine casters with a chosen deity qualify?

Two quick questions:

1) Swordmaster's Flair:

2) Buckler:

Thanks!

Hey, everyone! I ran into a strange situation in my first PFS scenario in which I used the Blue Scarf Swordmaster's Flair on a Halfling Swashbuckler.

During the scenario, I was unwillingly made Tiny via Reduce Person, which means that I had 0 ft reach and had to be in the same square as an enemy to attack it, based on both Reduce Person and typical size templates. However, the Blue Scarf Swordmaster's Flair allows someone to "increase her melee reach with light or one-handed piercing weapons by 5 feet for 1 minute." Does that mean that I could then use a light or one-handed piercing weapon with 5 ft reach to attack an adjacent my square despite being Tiny?

Doing so seems to be a bit cheesy, but it seems to be allowable using the rules as written. If so, it seems like a Wand of Reduce Person might be something worth buying, especially since being Tiny makes the Risky Striker Halfling racial feat apply to damage when fighting Medium sized creatures (who are now two sizes larger).

Also a shoutout to ZanThrax who is trying to sort out the details of Risky Striker here.

Thanks!

If I'm not mistaken, there seem to be two conflicting views on how natural attack damage dice progress by size.

The Improved Natural Attack feat follows the progression for manufactured weapons on the weapons page:
A) 1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d6, 3d6, 4d6, 6d6, 8d6, 12d6, etc.
and
B) 1d10, 2d8, 3d8, 4d8, 6d8, 8d8, 12d8, etc.

However, the Strong Jaw spell follows the progression for natural attacks in the Universal Monster Rules:
A) 1, 1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d6, 2d8, 4d6, 4d8, 6d6, 6d8, etc.

Which of these is correct, and how do they interact? Am I going crazy, or is there a rule out there that I'm not aware about?

1) When making a reroll, do you use all the bonuses and modifiers from the parent roll (the first roll)? For example, if I use the Adaptive Luck Halfling race trait to add +2 to a save, fail the save, and then choose to reroll the save using the Lessons of Chaldira religion trait, does the +2 from Adaptive Luck still apply to the reroll? (I have played that this is in fact the case, and that one would not need to expend another use of Adaptive Luck to boost the reroll again.)

2) When making a critical hit confirmation roll, do you use all the bonuses and modifiers from the original attack roll? The rules as written (taken from the Critical Hits section of the Gamemastering rules) could be theoretically taken either way:

To find out if it's a critical hit, you immediately make an attempt to "confirm" the critical hit—another attack roll with all the same modifiers as the attack roll you just made.

On one hand, it says "[make] another attack roll," so I assume that bonuses like Adaptive Luck above would not apply to the confirmation roll. On the other hand, it also says, "with all the same modifiers as the attack roll you just made," so perhaps such bonuses would still apply. However, I hesitate to assume that such bonuses persist, since crit confirmation rolls can benefit from things like the Critical Focus feat and the Low Blow Halfling race trait, which do NOT apply to the original attack roll. Any thoughts? (I have played with the bonuses for the two rolls being separate, since the crit confirmation roll is "another [separate] attack roll.")

Thank you in advance for any input!

I'm hoping for an answer to whether or not crit-activated abilities can be triggered via weapon combat maneuvers (i.e. disarm/sunder/trip) (WCMs) or Aid Another (AA). I think the question is best boiled down to: "Are crit threats possible with WCMs and AA?" (Also in this category are opposed attack rolls that don't do damage, such as the Swashbuckler's Parry or the Duelist's Parry--see below.)

The main argument FOR:
1) WCMs and AA involve attack rolls and use your weapon's bonuses.

The main arguments AGAINST:
1) Some argue that crits are not allowed on attack rolls that don't do HP/ability damage.
2) Crit threats might be limited to the "attack" action.
3) Crit threats might only be activated when attacking AC (but Aid Another does attack AC 10).

For more arguments for and against, as well as references for each point, you can go to this post here.

Examples of abilities that would benefit from this:
1) Halfling Swashbuckler with the Helpful trait using the Bodyguard feat to regain a panache point with a critical Aid Another (credit: HSalgo)
2) Swashbuckler using the Parry Deed (which does no damage) to a regain panache point with a critical parry (credit: HSalgo)
3) Half-orc/Orc barbarian using the Gore Fiend feat to use a trip+reach weapon (e.g. the guisarme) to regain a round of rage when critically tripping opponents who move through the threatened area (credit: HSalgo)
4) Aldori Swordlord Fighter archetype whose disarms do damage via Disarming Strike (damage that could feasibly be doubled on a crit) (credit: Flynn Walker, here)
5) Tripper using the Greater Trip and Butterfly's Sting feats to grant a critical hit to an ally taking an Attack of Opportunity against a critically tripped target (credit: kinevon, here)

Any input would be appreciated. Someone previously flagged the question for the FAQ; if you guys think that it's worth it, please do so.

(Accidentally posted this question in the General Discussion forum, so I'm moving the question here. Some previous answers can be found here.)

Certain abilities activate upon confirming a critical hit, such as regaining rage from the Gore Fiend feat, regaining grit points for Gunslingers, and regaining panache points for Swashbucklers. (I'm sure there are also other abilities that I can't think up right now.)

I wonder whether one could confirm critical hits with combat maneuvers that involve a weapon (i.e. disarm, sunder, and trip (according to Weapon Finesse FAQ) or the Aid Another action. There are various reasons for and against allowing crits with combat maneuvers and/or Aid Another:

FOR:
1) Both combat maneuvers and Aid Another involve making attack rolls against CMD and AC 10 respectively (see quote below). If crits can occur on any attack roll, then they should be permissible here.

Determine Success

If your attack roll equals or exceeds the CMD of the target, your maneuver is a success and has the listed effect.

2) Both combat maneuvers and Aid Another use bonuses from your weapons. As such, they should have the option of critting with the weapon's crit range.

AGAINST:
1) One could argue that if an attack roll doesn't do damage, it shouldn't be able to crit.
2) Crits might be limited ONLY to the "attack action," as interpreted from the quote:

Automatic Misses and Hits

A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on an attack roll is always a miss. A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a hit. A natural 20 is also a threat—a possible critical hit (see the attack action).

3) Crit THREATS might only be allowed when attacking AC, as interpreted from the quote:

Critical Hits

When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 shows 20), you hit regardless of your target's Armor Class, and you have scored a "threat," meaning the hit might be a critical hit (or "crit").

4) There is already a clarification about 20's being automatic successes and 1's being automatic failures for combat maneuvers in particular (see quote below). This might imply that critical threats might not be a thing for combat maneuvers.

Determining Success

Rolling a natural 20 while attempting a combat maneuver is always a success (except when attempting to escape from bonds), while rolling a natural 1 is always a failure.

5) Aid Another critical hits seem far too easy to confirm (given that the target is AC 10). As such, it might be unfair to allow crits using Aid Another to activate crit abilities.

Any thoughts or opinions would be welcome.

Can you confirm a critical hit with combat maneuvers that use a weapon (e.g. disarm, sunder, trip) or confirm a critical hit with aid another? Both combat maneuvers and aid another use "attack rolls" (against CMD and AC 10 respectively) and use your weapon bonuses (e.g. enhancement bonuses), so I assume that you can do so, using your weapon's crit range.

However, a confirmed critical hit would NOT have any effect on the combat maneuver result or on the aid another bonus, as neither do damage.

My main concern is whether one can use these confirmed crits to restore grit points (Gunslingers) or panache points (Swashbucklers), or to use any other special abilities such as feats or traits that activate on critical hits that I may not know about.

Thank you!

I'm playing a druid with the Elf Treesinger archetype. As such, I have a treant sapling plant companion that has two primary natural attacks (slams). At level 9, companions gain the Multiattack ability listed on the Animal Companions page.

This ability states, "An animal companion gains Multiattack as a bonus feat if it has three or more natural attacks and does not already have that feat. If it does not have the requisite three or more natural attacks, the animal companion instead gains a second attack with its primary natural weapon, albeit at a –5 penalty."

The use of the singular "primary natural weapon" led me to believe that a companion only ever gains one iterative, but I'm not sure if this is the case.

Does the treant sapling
1) gain ONE additional iterative slam attack for ONE of its primary weapons at -5 (thus +6/+6/+1 at Level 9), or
2) gain TWO additional iterative slam attacks, one for EACH of its primary weapons, each at -5 (thus +6/+6/+1/+1 at Level 9)?

Thanks in advance!

Hey, everyone. I've got a quick question. I have a character wearing masterwork Agile Breastplate and carrying a medium load. What is the armor check penalty (ACP) for his Jump & Climb checks?

Normally, masterwork Agile Breastplate has an ACP of -3 to all skills except Jump & Climb, whose ACP is 0. However, medium loads also cause an ACP of -3, and the Carrying Capacity entry says that you should take the worse penalty between load and armor in each category (ACP, Max Dex, etc.). Does this mean that the medium load overwrites the benefits of the Agile Breastplate (and thus Jump & Climb have an ACP of -3) or does the Agile Breastplate entry still stand (and thus Jump & Climb have an ACP of 0)?

This question should apply to Agile Half-Plate and heavy loads too, but I couldn't find an answer to that question online either.

The GM I've been playing with tells me not to worry about it, and that we only need to worry about this kind of stuff when the load exceeds the armor (e.g. heavy load & medium armor), but http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2p0q2?Encumberance-from-Medium-Load-and-Medium- Armor suggests that you're technically supposed to consider both simultaneously. (Could I get this verified?)

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers. I'm a rather new Pathfinder player, so any help is appreciated.