GhostwheelX's page

Greetings all,

Both as a DM and as a player, I've seen characters encounter sticky situations in Pathfinder Society in which they had no deal with the problem at hand. In order to combat that in my own games, I usually set aside around 10% of the gold my characters earn in order to buy (fairly cheap) solutions to deal with most situations that might come up, and to ensure that I'm not left feeling helpless and useless.

Today I share that list with you. Hopefully it serves you as well as it has me. If you have any other situations that come up fairly often in Pathfinder Society and cannot simply be fixed with "hit it with that sword a lot", or additional cheap counters to any of the situations in the list, please comment on the document or on here and I'll try to add them to the list post-haste!

And now, on with the list!

Hi Mark, got another question if you'd be so kind; if a character with the Versatile Channeler feat later takes a level of Life Oracle and took the Channel ability, would they also be able to channel negative energy with their oracle channel?

Hi Mark, quick question for you, and thank you in advance!

If a character with the Animal Ally feat later took a level in druid and chose an animal not on the Animal Ally list as their animal companion, would that animal companion have its effective level be equal to the Druid level, or the Druid level and the Animal Ally effective level combined?

Hi Mark, thanks for the answer to my last question, and here's another question for you, if you'd be so kind.

Does the Inspired Rage feature of the skald count as rage for the purpose of effects such as the Amplified Rage feat?

For example, if a half-orc skald and a half-orc barbarian both took Amplified Rage, and the half-orc skald using Inspired Rage while the half-orc barbarian was not raging, and they were adjacent to each other, would both gain the benefit of Amplified Rage?

EDIT: I just realized that this also decides whether a half-orc skald could even take the Amplified Rage feat without taking levels in barbarian or the like. Is this the case? Or can they not even take the feat?

Thanks in advance!

GhostwheelX wrote:

The Improved Spell Sharing feat requires an animal companion, eidolon, familiar, or special mount. However, the Spiritualist does not gain any of the above, instead gaining a phantom.

Does the phantom count as the above for the purpose of the feat?

Even if it did it doesn't work as the companion cannot qualify to take it. You need a way to give your companion your teamwork feats such as hunter or inquisitor abilities.

And if you multiclass into inquisitor (or some other class that allows you to grant teamwork feats to allies)? In that case would they be viable for the Improved Spell Sharing feat?

The Improved Spell Sharing feat requires an animal companion, eidolon, familiar, or special mount. However, the Spiritualist does not gain any of the above, instead gaining a phantom.

Does the phantom count as the above for the purpose of the feat?

Hey James, bit of a discussion that I'm hoping you can help us settle.

If a character takes the Animal Ally feat, and later takes a level of druid, does the Animal Companion gained from the feat stack with the class even if the chosen animal for the druid doesn't appear on the Animal Ally list?

I've asked around, and on one hand, people cite the FAQ, saying that because they're not compatible, they don't stack and you end up with two animal companions, one of your character level -2 (Animal Ally), and one of your druid level (1 in this case). However, others (including a Venture Captain I posed this question to) said that because the feat specified that the two stack, and since specific trumps general rulings in Pathfinder, they stack without a problem.

I'm hoping you can settle the debate and give us a final answer on the matter.

Thanks!

Hey Mark, another question for when you get back, if you'd be so kind.

I took an "uncommon" trick for handle animal that is not on the list. Namely, it is to have my animal move in response to a common event, in this case my character making a melee attack. I have Speak With Animals and my animal companion has an Intelligence score of 3, so my rationale was that I use SWA, explain to my animal companion what I'd like it to do, and during the downtime train it to execute that maneuver (ready to flee in response to my finishing to attack).

This is a Pathfinder Society game, and my GM has stated that this was not allowed, as custom items are not allowed, and ergo custom animal tricks are not allowed. Could you please confirm or deny what he said? Heck, would this even require a trick, or could I "communicate" that intent by guiding with my knees?

tl;dr: In Pathfinder Society, are you allowed to train an animal to do tricks not on the handle animal trick list?

EDIT: Would giving it a point in Linguistics to have it understand Common make any difference?

GhostwheelX wrote:

Hey Mark,

An inquisitor's Bane ability says that it can only be used as follows:

"At 5th level, an inquisitor can imbue one of her weapons with the bane weapon special ability as a swift action... This ability only functions while the inquisitor wields the weapon."

Would an inquisitor with Improved Unarmed Strike be able to apply this ability to their unarmed strike?

Thanks!

Why wouldn't they?

My DM said that because it only functions while the inquisitor wields the weapon, it doesn't use with unarmed strikes, so I wanted to get clarification.

Hey Mark,

An inquisitor's Bane ability says that it can only be used as follows:

"At 5th level, an inquisitor can imbue one of her weapons with the bane weapon special ability as a swift action... This ability only functions while the inquisitor wields the weapon."

Would an inquisitor with Improved Unarmed Strike be able to apply this ability to their unarmed strike?

Thanks!

Greetings once more :-)

Quick question--if you have the Versatile Channeler feat, and gain Channel Energy from a different class, would you be able to apply the effects of Versatile Channeler to the second class?

I ask because it doesn't specify that it affects only the chosen class, implying that it affects your use of Channel Energy regardless of its source. Thoughts on the matter?

Mark, on the topic of Variant Channeling, can you only take them if the variant is in your deity's domain/portfolio? Or if you could conceivably explain how it would tie into your deity?

(For example, Calistria is all about lust, and alcohol is often a component in seduction and the like, so could a cleric of Calistria take the Ale/Wine variant?)

EDIT: What if you have the Separatist archetype?

On the other hand, could a cleric who follows instead a philosophy choose any that are in accordance with their philosophy?

EDIT 2: How about someone like an Oracle of Life with Channel?

Thanks!

Bloodrealm wrote:

Ooooh, I didn't notice that wording (or lack thereof) in the last sentence of Bonus Feat. Yeah, that needs an errata stating that ignoring the prerequisites is only for the bonus feats (which is what I had previously assumed).

Actually, I wasn't thinking of that (I like cheese, but that's a bit too cheesy even for me), so much as even used as intended it's absurd. It's possible to have two style chain end feats at level 3. Those don't typically come into play until the teens.

It wouldn't be so bad if it at least required you take the entire feat chain and only let you ignore the other prerequisites - at least then, a 1-2 level dip would be good, but not amazing. But being able to selectively dip the two levels to get two end of chain feats is what makes it broken.

Sohei has the same problem, letting you take Mounted Skirmisher at level 1.

When casting [Wish/Miracle], you may choose one spell you know and impart knowledge of that spell to any creature that can cast spells, and adding that spell to their list of spells known on top of their usual number of spells known. The creature to whom you have imparted that knowledge must share the type of magic you can cast (arcane for Wish, divine for Miracle), but does not necessarily have to have that spell on their spell list. The spell does not count towards their limit of spells known, but they can only gain a number of spells this way up to a maximum of their key casting ability modifier.

When casting [Wish/Miracle] and choosing this effect, the spell has no expensive material component. Instead, you suffer ability damage to your key casting ability score equal to the level of the spell. This ability damage can only be healed by natural means, and is unaffected by magic. If both you and the subject are willing, you can split this ability damage equally between you. You cannot use this version of [Wish/Miracle] while suffering ability damage to your key casting ability score.

What do you guys think?

As an alternative to TPK or failing the entire adventure, I prefer this.

Is it possible to take both of the above archetypes? The main point of conflict appears to be the familiar.

The Ice Witch is limited to a smaller pool of familiars to choose from, while the Scarred Witch Doctor replaces your familiar entirely. I think if you could take them together the latter would supersede the former, replacing the familiar, but would it be kosher to do so?

So title aside, I hate prepared spellcasting. HATE it. So. Freaking much. It's why I refuse to play wizards and witches, and have a ton of trouble playing a magus. In order to combat that, I came up with this variant, and hopefully will get some critique on it, as well as how it changes the game, for better or for worse, and how to make it better.

Note that this variant puts the majority of casters all on the same schedule of receiving spells, except for specialist wizards and clerics, though they can only cast a single spell of higher level per day (which shouldn't be too bad as long as you're not playing at one encounter per day... and at that point, I feel like something might already be wrong).

Prepared Spontaneous Casting

I don't know about you, but I've always hated prepared casting. The choosing, the inability to cast spells at one's whim, and so on. The downside, however, is that sometimes for whatever reason you want to play a spellcaster with the prepared chassis--just without the actual way they prepare spells. To fix that, the following variant was created.

How it Works

Prepared casters gain a "spells known" list equal to one less than the number of spells they can prepare per day from class levels (not including spells granted by high ability scores, with a minimum one first-level spell at first level), which can be changed per day when they would normally prepare spells (and follow the normal limits of spellcasting, such as wizards being only able to prepare spells listed in their spellbook). Casters then may freely cast spells that they have prepared, these prepared spells effectively becoming their "spells known" for the day. Their number of spells per day is the number they would normally be able to prepare for that level.

In order to cast a metamagic version of a spell, they must prepare (and thus add to their known list for the day) the metamagic version of the spell beforehand at its metamagic-affected level using metamagic feats rather than being able to apply it spontaneously.

Clerics and specialist wizards are a bit of an exception to the rule as they can prepare an additional spell from one of their domains or specialty school per day. They would get this normally but would only be able to cast it once per day (just like a normal cleric or specialist wizard), even if they were able to cast more spells for that day.

For example a level 5 specialist (Evocation) wizard with 20 Intelligence would be able to prepare and cast the following:

• Level 0: Four spells known, four cast throughout the day.
  
• Level 1: Three spells known, five cast throughout the day.
  
• Level 2: Two spell known, three cast throughout the day.
  
• Level 3: One spell known, two cast throughout the day.

This could be an example of their spell list:

• Level 0: Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Read Magic, Light (Once per day)
  
• Level 1: Disguise Self, Enlarge Person, Magic Missile (One per day)
  
• Level 2: Extended Mage Armor, Scorching Ray (Once per day)
  
• Level 3: Fireball (Once per day)

If the above character were not a specialist, they would have one less spell per level, and would be unable to cast any 3rd level spells.