Genesist's page

Is there any official call on whether Skinwalkers qualify for aspect of the beast?

I know they wouldn't be proficient with it, but could they wield either at all - and if they can would they be able to threaten the squares around them?

If an alchemist has a mutagen lasting longer than 1 hour can they:
-drink mutagen, let's say they apply the bonus to strength
-spend an hour making a new mutagen
-drink the second mutagen, and have a +4 to str, +4 to dex, -2 to int, -2 to wis, and +2 NA?

Yes, you can make another mutagen ready after drinking the first one.

But the key problem here is that you are dealing wth 10 minute slices up until level 14 (at which point, duration becomes a moot point completely; that is already 'all day' for most intents and purposes).

Basically- yes, you can do this, but you would get something very, very annoying for the benefits. At best, you are making your party march at half speed so you can spend time making your drinks. At worst, you are walking for 10 minutes before making everyone stop for an hour.

There is a reason why mad chemyst is one of the more viable prestige classes- it is mostly just an alchemist that focuses on getting some extra free charges of mutagen, along with other goodies.

I'm a beastmorph half-orc using the orc favored class bonus, so I have double mutagen duration. At level 6, I'd have 120 minutes of duration. We have a fighter than will have 2 lvl's of alchemist at that point. I was thinking that if we know we're approaching a boss, I can pop my mutagen, make a new one, and now the fighter has wings and some other goodies.

Anyone see an issue with this?

Also, thinking of putting spell sponge on an imp improved familiar. At level 7, the imp would get 280 minutes out of my mutagen.

I know that you cannot have more than 1 mutagen created at once (without infuse mutagen), but if you have a mutagen lasting longer than an hour can you:
-use your mutagen
-spend an hour to create a new mutagen
-then give that to your tumor familiar or another alchemist

This would cause you to have 2 mutagens active at once, but an no point would you have had 2 of mutagen the item.

I think it comes down to whether this quote from the alchemist class entry "if he brews a second dose, any existing mutagen becomes inert" refers to the mutagen dosage, or the mutagen effects.

Does a weapon made of alchemical silver or cold iron have to be masterwork?

I feel like I read that weapons made of special materials have to be masterwork, but cannot find the source. I know some materials require masterwork, ex: mithral or darkwood, but if it isn't explicitly called out in the entry, is it a requirement?

Is the natural armor bonus provided by either the scaled skin or armor of the pit racial trait considered a racial bonus, in which case it would stack with other base natural armor bonuses (such as from mutagen)?

I've yet to find a conclusive answer to this on the forums, only people rehashing the basic rules of enhancement and base NA stacking, etc.

Further, you can't even make an attack with the weapon and claws at the same time.

If you attack with a two handed weapon, you can make no claw attacks that round.

Quote:

Creatures with natural attacks and attacks made with weapons can use both as part of a full attack action (although often a creature must forgo one natural attack for each weapon clutched in that limb, be it a claw, tentacle, or slam). Such creatures attack with their weapons normally but treat all of their available natural attacks as secondary attacks during that attack, regardless of the attack's original type.

I never thought that you could attack with both during your turn.

The character is also not changing weapons, it is letting go of weapon, which is a free action.

I'm not at all sure that it is still possible, but I don't think the point has been addressed properly.

If you have a character with claws, that is holding a reach weapon, would they be able to let go of the reach weapon with 1 hand to deliver an AOO with a claw when an enemy moves from a spaced provoked by the reach weapon, to one provoked by the claw. I believe the same question can be put forward with a gauntlet.

My confusion lies in whether you can count as threatening properly with both weapons, when you must let go of the reach weapon with 1 hand during the process to deliver the potential AOO.

If a creature has multiple attacks, let's say 2 claws, and an AOMF with the cruel weapon enhancement, is the temp HP from killing an enemy granted by each natural attack, or capped? In this case, would you gain 5 temp HP per kill, or 10 temp HP?

I know there's the ruling on speed and AOMF, but it seems to be specific to that enchantment.

As written, it appears to me that the only archetype an improved familiar is capable of obtaining is sage.

This is due to the line in the improved familiar description: "improved familiars do not gain the ability to speak with other creatures of their kind (although many of them already have the ability to communicate)". With this ability already being given up, I don't think you can give it up yet again for an archetype.

Is this another case of paizo's lack of vigilance, like cavalier animal companion archetypes, or was it actually the intention that archetypes be functionally unavailable to improved familiars (if so, this seems rather strange).

Familiars are long overdue for an FAQ.

As untyped bonuses, can the "special bonuses" from familiars stack?

Ex: If I have a homunculist alchemist, that has the tumor familiar discovery, and I choose a compsognathus for both, would I get a +4, or +8 bonus to initiative.

Before someone says that this is moot as you can only have one familiar, I am of the opinion that, though similar, the homunculus familiar and tumor familiar are different abilities. As a result they do not count as stacking class levels towards one familiar (though I understand there are different opinions on this, and would be interested to hear what others have to say. I'm also very interested in how evolved/improved familiar interact with multiple familiars).

What with spring-loaded wrist sheathes, the holding a thrown weapon bit isn't very useful, but the shield could be.

Anyone know what is the best shield to work around an alchemist's lack of proficiency when an extra limb is open?

Already planning on using armor expert + mithral to wear a breastplate.

I'd agree that many weapons just don't make sense as far as 4-handed wielding, but I was imagining that spears, longspears, lances, etc. could likely still be held in a reasonable manner.

Edit: Swords with a custom-made long hilt might also not be unreasonable.

If an alchemist uses 4 arms to wield a 2-handed weapon, does it get 2 1/2 times its strength mod, or is it capped at 1 1/2?

Generally, if you have familiars from different sources, those sources stack for determining the total level your familiar can be (up to your character level), instead of each granting their own familiar.

For the record, with the familiar folio out, an enterprising Alchemist could get 4 (near full level) familiars quite easily. Tumor, arcane bloodline, homunculus archetype, familiar bond. It'd get quite ridiculous.

Where are you getting the sources stacking being limited by character level bit from? If they stack, but don't allow its' level to surpass my own then, there's no real point.

I haven't gotten a look at the folio yet. Looks like I'll be skipping homunculist in lieu of beastmorph though.

If you have a tumor familiar, then gain eldritch heritage arcane, is the result one familiar or two?

One interpretation I can see is a resulting familiar whose effective level is alch level + (character level -2), since classes that give a familiar stack.

Another is two separate familiars, since the abilities come from different sources.

If the answer is the second option, and I gain improved familiar, I assume it only effects 1 of the familiars?

I know that natural armor bonuses do not stack in normal circumstances, but have a question about a very specific circumstance involving familiars.

Let's say for the sake of example that I have an alchemist at level 7 with a compsognathus familiar. This familiar would normally have a natural armor bonus of 5 at this point. 1 from its base, 4 from 7th level familiar bonuses. This stacks due to this line: "Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is in addition to the familiar's existing natural armor bonus." from the familiar information tables.

My question involves the familiar ability NA being added to the existing natural armor bonus. Is this bonus added on top of the base NA before or after effects that change NA such as a mutagen or polymorph?

If I were to give the compsognathus my mutagen (2 NA) would its NA bonus remain 5 because it keeps the highest total bonus, or increase to 6 because that base NA increases from 1, to 2, before adding on the 4 for being a 7th level familiar?

This is just an example, I'm not planning on tanking with a compsognathus.

The Alchemist's tentacle discovery can be used to hold a shield right?

The alternate trait reads: "Many tieflings have tails, but some have long, flexible tails that can be used to carry items. While they cannot wield weapons with their tails, they can use them to retrieve small, stowed objects carried on their persons as a swift action."

My question is, does the fist sentence, specifically the "...can be used to carry items." portion, allow me to hold a shield in it? It is explicitly not allowed to use the tail for holding weapons (likely to discourage people thinking they can get iterative attacks out of it), but I've no plan to use the shield as any form of weapon. I'm guessing this comes down to the definition of item, which I believe Pathfinder has been less than consistent on. Thoughts?

In my case I'm using dragon style/ferocity through feral combat training. Being Tengu lets me have a bite and claw attacks even without the mutagen, so dragon style/ferocity will always apply. Still not entirely sure if always having the natural weapons is better than the extra feat I could get by going human.

No.

There are ways to get extra arms.

Wasn't there some ruling that though you could put an extra pair of claws on vestigal arms, you could not use both sets of claws at once?

Thanks for the clarification. Are there any reasonable ways to get talons?

Seeing as the character only has one head, the bite gained from the alchemist's feral mutagen would replace the Tengu's bite, giving a minor damage buff.

I'm less clear on what would happen with the claws though. The character has 4 potential limbs for claws. It has a set of 2 from the claw attack alternative racial trait. When it imbibes the mutagen, it gains 2 new claw attacks. My question is, that since their are four potential limbs, and natural weapons are limited by available body locations, could the character not manifest the second set of claws on its feet? Effectively giving it 4 claw attacks and an improved bite, instead of 2 improved claw attacks and an improved bite? If it did this would it be able to have a full attack routine that uses all 4 claws?

I can see arguments on both sides. On one side, there are many examples in the bestiary of quadrupeds with claws but only 2 claw attacks. On the other side, in the example builds given for eidolons some have attacks as part of their full attack routine that are placed on their legs, this is what initially made me think of this question (I realize that Eidolons may not exactly be a paragon of well-written and consistent rules). I also seem to recall some bit of text saying that natural weapon placement is restricted by available spots, but do not recall where this may have been printed.

Thoughts?

I'm making a build in which I am looking for a way to add negative energy damage to attacks on a consistent basis. This rules out adding it from a spell that lasts one attack, or through some manipulation of negative energy channel.

Is there any unique item, item quality, class feature, feat, etc. that would allow me to consistently add any amount of negative energy to my attacks?

Alternatively, other than Lesser and Greater spirit totem, are there any other methods to gain consistent negative energy damage without adding it to attacks. Bonus if it's AOE like Greater spirit totem.