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Will there be an option again this year to pick up our subscription and all of the contents of our sidecart that is related to Pathfinder 2.0 at Gen Con?

If so, when do you think that option will appear?

Thank you!

Please add more sessions of Passing the Torch Part 1 and Part 2 for Gen Con 2019...

I got tickets for Part 2 but not for Part 1 and they sold out in minutes if not seconds. Obviously it is popular so if the powers that be read this, please consider adding some more sessions of these scenarios.

Thanks!

The rules for the incorporeal subtype say that the creature receives the incorporeal special quality. Under that special quality it says the following:

"It is immune to all nonmagical attack forms. Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, it takes only half damage from a corporeal source (except for channel energy)."

I understand that if I hit it with a longsword, it takes no damage. If I hit it with a +1 longsword, it takes half damage. If I hit it with a Fireball, it takes half damage. If it is an undead as well and I hit it with channel positive energy, then it takes full damage, hence the exception in parenthesis above.

What about positive energy from a Cure Light Wounds?

For some reason I thought it took full damage. However, as I read it, it will only take half damage as that is a spell and no exception has been given for it.

Am I missing an FAQ somewhere or is my understanding correct?

Thanks!

I am sure this has been discussed before, but I cannot find any FAQ, official response, or even a consensus on this issue.

My question is does a character with sneak attack apply that damage if they use a touch spell or ranged touch spell that does damage?

In particular my incident was a rogue fighting an incorporeal undead without a magic weapon so he used a wand of Cure Light Wounds via Use Magic Device to make a touch attack while flanking the incorporeal undead. Is his damage just 1d8+1 or does he apply sneak attack damage as well?

Thank you!

The investigator extract Defensive Grace says “each round you can roll an inspiration die without expending a use of inspiration and gain the result as a dodge bonus to AC for that round.“ This is a personal extract, however, with infusion the investigator can give it to others who do not have inspiration. Can they gain the benefits of this extract?

If so, do they gain the use of the inspiration die from the investigator who gave them the infusion?

Thanks!

I know this is not a new debate, but in reviewing several threads regarding this subject, I could not find anything that resolved the issues with Lay on Hands and Touch of Corruption.

My issue is that Lay on Hands never says that it is a positive energy effect. It may be inferred from the ability, but it is not actually listed as a positive energy effect.

Lay on Hands says "a paladin can heal wounds (her own or those of others) by touch" so that means that a dhampir or an undead race paladin (that is not evil) can heal themselves with Lay on Hands. Lay on Hands also says "a paladin can use this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures" so that means that they could not deal damage to a dhampir as they are not undead, they just have negative energy affinity and Lay on Hands is not described in the rules as being a positive energy effect.

Conversely, Touch of Corruption for an antipaladin never calls it a negative energy effect. So a dhampir antipaladin cannot use it to heal itself as Touch of Corruption says "an antipaladin surrounds his hand with a fiendish flame, causing terrible wounds to open on those he touches" and "an antipaladin can use this power to heal undead creatures." As pointed out earlier, a dhampir is not an undead creature and Touch of Corruption is not listed as a negative energy effect. An undead race antipaladin could use Touch of Corruption on itself as a standard action and "heal" from that ability.

Now when a paladin or antipaladin are high enough level to channel positive energy or channel negative energy, respectively, then they could use that ability as a positive or negative energy ability, just not the Lay on Hands or Touch of Corruption.

I know I might be parsing words here, but it is obvious that neither of the abilities, Lay on Hands or Touch of Corruption, say that they are positive or negative energy effects and there has been almost a decade in which they could have received an FAQ so I am assuming the developers want to keep it that way even though it has odd circumstances resulting from those omissions.

Am I too far off here or right on base? I also realize it could be a RAW versus RAI issue, but then that leads to other questions like could a dhampir antipaladin use Touch of Corruption as a swift action to heal itself, etc.

Thanks!

Last year I pre-ordered my Starfinder like a loyal Paizoite, only to find that pre-orders would not be available at Gen Con, just the subscriptions. So I had to go through the process of cancelling my pre-order and adding my subscription.

Will pre-orders be available to be able to pick up at Gen Con this year?

If not, is there a subscription method that would make them available?

I was so happy last year to be able to walk in to the Paizo booth at my leisure and get my Starfinder core rulebook and gear and not have to worry about it flying off the shelf.

Please say there is a way that Paizo will reward faithful subscribers and Gen Con goers at the same time!

Thank you!

I was just reading reading another thread and it caused me to look up the rules on soft cover.

"Soft Cover: Creatures, even your enemies, can provide you with cover against ranged attacks, giving you a +4 bonus to AC. However, such soft cover provides no bonus on Reflex saves, nor does soft cover allow you to make a Stealth check."

So it directly says that soft cover applies to ranged attacks. It does not mention reach attacks.

I might be missing a section where this is covered, but I could not find it.

There is no mention of soft cover under reach weapons in the equipment section.

However, there is this line at the top of the section on cover.

"To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target's square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC).

When making a melee attack against an adjacent target, your target has cover if any line from any corner of your square to the target's square goes through a wall (including a low wall). When making a melee attack against a target that isn't adjacent to you (such as with a reach weapon), use the rules for determining cover from ranged attacks." (Bold add for emphasis by me)

Does that last clause mean that ALL ranged rules regarding cover apply to reach attacks, including soft cover, or is it just directed at how you determine normal cover, such as corners, walls, etc.?

That is my question, does soft cover apply to reach attacks?

I want to see if there is any official rulings or forum consensus (what is that?) on some of these duplications of bonuses.

Situation #1:

If a Fighter 3 (Trench Fighter)/Gunslinger 5 has a Dexterity of 20, what is the bonus to damage from Trench Warfare and Gun Training?

Is it +5 as even though they are different sources, they both apply Dexterity so it is only applied once?

Is it +10 as they are from different sources so they are applied separately?

Situation #2:

If a Paladin 2/Swashbuckler 2 has a Charisma of 20 and activates Charmed Life, what is the bonus to saving throws from Divine Grace and Charmed Life?

Is it +5 as even though they are from different sources, they both apply Charisma so it is only applied once?

Is it +10 as they are from different sources so they are applied separately?

Thoughts:

We know that a Gunslinger (Mysterious Stranger)/Swashbuckler with a Charisma of 20 has a Grit/Panache Pool of 10 as it says that the classes pool and the abilities stack when contributing to the pool.

Those are different sources that are specifically called out to stack even if generated from the same ability score.

My initial thoughts on situation #1 and #2 would be that they do not stack.

I was wondering if there was any FAQ or other developer insight to this or just messageboard feedback.

Thanks!

I have been playing Pathfinder since the beginning, but only participating in PFS for the last two years or so. I know how to apply the PFS scenario chronicle sheets to my characters whether I actually played mine or played a pregen character. However, I am not too clear on the rules for applying adventure path credit.

We have run several sanctioned adventure paths with our home game which is private and here are my questions.

1. I know we should report them on the Paizo site as soon as possible, but is there a deadline or limitation on time allowed between playing and reporting?

2. Each book on an adventure path is worth 3XP and 4 Prestige and can be applied to any of our PFS characters, but what about the credit for the last couple of books? Those will usually be between levels 11 and 17, so when can we apply them to PFS characters? Can I apply that XP, Prestige, and gold to a 7th level PFS character?

3. If I run an Adventure Path, I can apply for credit for both GM stars and to apply to a character, correct?

Thanks in advance!

I think this should be in rules rather than advice, because I am looking to see if the math on this is correct.

If I have two pistols and I am using alchemical cartridges along with the below set of feats, is my math below correct on the number of shots?

Feats: Rapid Reload (Pistol), Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Quick Draw, Weapon Focus (Pistol), Dazzling Display (Pistol), and Gun Twirling

Assuming 16th Level Gunslinger (BAB +16)

Round 1:

Begin with Pistol in Primary Hand or use Quick Draw to draw the Pistol into Primary Hand
Primary Shot #1
Free Action Reload
Primary Shot #2
Free Action Reload
Primary Shot #3
Free Action Reload
Primary Shot #4
Free Action Reload
Primary Shot #5
Free Action to Holster Primary Pistol (Gun Twirling with Quick Draw)
Free Action to Draw Secondary Pistol (Quick Draw)
Secondary Shot #1
Free Action Reload
Secondary Shot #2
Free Action Reload
Secondary Shot #3
Free Action Reload

Round 2

Repeat

Does that look correct?

So with Haste I could get a 6th Primary Shot.

I realize that it does not matter which pistol is primary and which is secondary and they could change every round, but I see being able to get 9 shots a round this way at 16th level.

With the change in Weapon Cord rules this is the only way I see to get to this set of actions. Are there others?

I realize a revolver could make it so that you do not need so many feats, but at some point in rounds two and three you will need to stop and load the revolver. Hence I see Gun Twirling with Quick Draw as essential (even though you have to pay the feat tax of Dazzling Display).

Thoughts?

Please double check my math.

Heavy Steel Shield - 20gp - Hardness 10, Hit Points 20
Large Size - 20gp (Double Base) - Double Base Hit Points to 40
Adamantine - 3,000gp (Masterwork Included) - Increase Hardness to 20
+1 Enhancement to Defense (Armor) - 1,000gp - Increase Hardness +2 and Hit Points +10
+1 Enhancement to Offense (Weapon) - 2,000gp - Increase Hardness +2 and Hit Points +10
Impervious - 3,000gp - Double Weapon Hardness to +4 and Hit Points to +20

Cost 9,040gp
Hardness 26
Hit Points 70

I wanted to be sure that Hardness and Hit Points are affected by both the enhancement to the armor side as well as the weapon side.

I do not want to start another discussion about whether or not it should be treated as a weapon for Adamantine cost purposes. That is how I see it and how my current DM sees it, so we are good there.

I also wanted to see if that is how Impervious would work. It is a weapon enhancement so I see it only increasing the weapon side of the enhancements per the chart under Additional Rules: Breaking and Entering in the CRB.

So please let me know if that looks like it is done correctly per the rules.

I saw this mentioned in a thread and thought that it was a stretch.

Shield Master:

"Add your shield's enhancement bonus to attacks and damage rolls made with the shield as if it was a weapon enhancement bonus."

Defiant:

"Against the designated foe, the item's enhancement bonus to AC is +2 better than its actual bonus"

The premise was that since Defiant applied a +2 enhancement bonus to defense that this +2 could also be applied to offense against the designated type of foe.

Any thoughts on if this should really work?

It appears that it will and that it is an easy way to get a lesser Bane effect for cheap that can be applied to both defense and attack. Of course you do not get the extra damage dice, but it may be worth it in a game with a specific creature type, ie giants in Giantslayer, or undead in Carrion Crown, etc.

Question #1

Brawlers get Close Weapon Mastery which says:

"At 5th level, a brawler's damage with close weapons increases. When wielding a close weapon, she uses the unarmed strike damage of a brawler 4 levels lower instead of the base damage for that weapon (for example, a 5th-level Medium brawler wielding a punching dagger deals 1d6 points of damage instead of the weapon's normal 1d4). If the weapon normally deals more damage than this amount, its damage is unchanged. This ability does not affect any other aspect of the weapon. The brawler can decide to use the weapon's base damage instead of her adjusted unarmed strike damage—this decision must be declared before the attack roll is made."

So a medium Shield Champion wielding a medium sized heavy steel shield would do the following damage:

5th - 7th = 1d6
8th - 11th = 1d8

However, under the Returning Shield ability that takes the place of Brawler's Strike it says:

"At 12th level, a shield champion can use her unarmed strike damage when dealing damage with a shield (whether in melee or as a thrown weapon) or the shield's damage, whichever is greater."

To me that means that at 12th level the damage for the same Brawler shown above goes to 2d6, because that is the unarmed damage of a 12th level medium sized brawler, correct?

It seems like that is what it is saying, but I was confused at how a shield would ever do "greater" damage than that.

Question #2

This is really more of a clarification or support for what I think is the case in this situation.

With the FAQ on March 27th, 2015 for the CRB regarding size increases and damage increases it says that effective size increases to damage of a similar kind do not stack. So, I could have one increase in size category damage if I physically became larger (ie Enlarge Person, Righteous Might) and I can have another increase(s) that is a damage dice step increase (ie Bashing, Impact, Lead Blades).

I want to be sure that what that is saying is that Impact on the offensive enchantment side of a shield and Bashing on the defensive enchantment side of a shield will NOT stack, correct?

So, I could get larger via a spell or effect and then have Bashing on my shield to increase the damage dice but Impact would be wasted to add to the shield as well is the way I read it.

Thanks for the time and input!

I know I could post this under the Skull & Shackles forum but I figured it would have more eyes upon it here.

Are there any published rules for what it takes to pay for general upkeep of a ship and crew by the week/month, etc?

Along those lines, what about for a building and staff? For example I have some arcane types that want to band together and form their own Hogwarts type of wizardry school. Should I just hand wave it and say that tuition counts for upkeep and there is no profit or loses to the PC's provided they spend a certain amount of time staffing and running it themselves?

I have looked through the vehicle sections of Ultimate Combat and did not really find anything there. I do not have full access to the Skull and Shackles adventures as I am a player in it, but what I have searched, I have not found anything that addresses this.

We have gone with the give the crew one point of plunder every time we gain and cash them out at port method. We pay for upgrades and such to the ship out of a fund for such things. I was just looking some guidelines as to what it takes to feed the crew and keep the ship afloat under general conditions.

Under the grapple rules for Tie Up it says:

"If you have your target pinned, otherwise restrained, or unconscious, you can use rope to tie him up. This works like a pin effect, but the DC to escape the bonds is equal to 20 + your Combat Maneuver Bonus (instead of your CMD)."

and

"If the DC to escape from these bindings is higher than 20 + the target's CMB, the target cannot escape from the bonds, even with a natural 20 on the check."

However, the creature that is "tied up" could still try and burst the bonds correct?

"Rope, Hemp: This rope has 2 hit points and can be burst with a DC 23 Strength check."

"Rope, Silk: This rope has 4 hit points and can be burst with a DC 24 Strength check."

"Chain: Chain has hardness 10 and 5 hit points. It can be burst with a DC 26 Strength check."

It makes sense that they could burst the bonds but the troubling line in Tie Up was the "If the DC to escape from these bindings is higher than 20 + the target's CMB, the target cannot escape from the bonds, even with a natural 20 on the check" line.

Also, I may have missed it but I assume it would be a standard action to burst the bonds.

I seem to recall a 3rd edition version of the Prison of Zagig from the AD&D module The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and Unearthed Arcana. Maybe the name was altered like Heward's Handy Haversack and Tasha's Hideous Laughter to remove the proper names. I cannot for the life of me find it to adapt it into Pathfinder.

If there is no such item in a published account, any ideas on how powerful of an object it should be in Pathfinder. I am thinking it is at least a minor artifact. Perhaps spells line Binding can point me in the right direction, the Minimus Containment effect specifially.

Any thoughts, help, or directions?

I have searched the messageboards and not found anything that covers my exact rule question here. If it has please direct me there.

This is a little graphic and I apologize but the situation has come up in a game and I know it will come up again as a tactic by the party.

When a caster puts a foe to sleep, such as via Sleep or Deep Slumber, can that caster, or anyone, then choke the sleeping foe? If so what is the result?

Sleep, et al., says that the target is rendered "helpless."

Under the Suffocation rules it states what happens when someone has no air to breathe:

"A character who has no air to breathe can hold her breath for 2 rounds per point of Constitution. If a character takes a standard or full-round action, the remaining duration that the character can hold her breath is reduced by 1 round. After this period of time, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution check in order to continue holding her breath. The check must be repeated each round, with the DC increasing by +1 for each previous success.

When the character fails one of these Constitution checks, she begins to suffocate. In the first round, she falls unconscious (0 hit points). In the following round, she drops to –1 hit points and is dying. In the third round, she suffocates."

Under the Drowning rules it says, "Unconscious characters must begin making Constitution checks immediately upon being submerged (or upon becoming unconscious if the character was conscious when submerged). Once she fails one of these checks, she immediately drops to –1 (or loses 1 additional hit point, if her total is below –1). On the following round, she drowns."

The idea that is being asked of me, and that I in turn am asking the community for direction, is that the caster can cast the Sleep spell and then the following round begin to choke one of the victims. My thought was that would cause the victim to wake up, but I was countered with the idea that they were unconscious so the drowning rules ought to apply and that victim would begin to make the Constitution checks right away and if they failed would be at -1 Hit Points. The following round the caster could continue to choke the victim and they would be dead.

The thought is that a caster may not be able to even Coup de Grace a sleeping foe with enough damage to kill them or make them fail the saving throw so this is the alternative to try and get the foe to fail a Constitution check. With a spell and then a few rounds of work, the caster could at least insure that the sleeping foes are at -1 Hit Points, fully unconscious, and dying which is better than full Hit Points and just sleeping with the ability to be awakened.

My issue with the whole thing, besides being a little nasty, is that they are not actually "unconscious" just "helpless" per the spell description of Sleep. That may be splitting hairs a bit, but I thought I would throw it out there for discussion. I do think that this action should draw attacks of opportunity and, if the foe were revived or made their first Constitution check, then they would be in the middle of a grapple with the caster at the grappler but that would probably not last long depending on the foe.

I know it seems easier just to Coup de Grace the foe but with higher level spells like Deep Slumber that becomes dicey for the caster to be able to put a foe down with a Coup de Grace. My thought was to just let of the beefy fighters do the dirty work for you. This is, however, a pirate campaign so I can see how it would be nice for the caster to seem ruthless and cutthroat and take out his own victims, etc.

Thoughts?

I am not sure if this belongs under rules or advice, but that is my question. Can a Kitsune Sorcerer ever get Paragon Surge?

I have looked for some rule, maybe regarding their shapechanging subtype, that would allow them to take on the Half-Elf subtype to qualify for it. With the polymorph rules not allowing the actual type to change, I have not been able to find a way.

Any help?

If a firearm with the scatter weapon quality has an ability like Flaming on it, does it do the additional 1d6 of fire damage to everyone within the area of effect that it hits?

I am assuming the answer is yes, but as firearms are a little different and I finally opened Pandora's Box by allowing them, I wanted to know what the official ruling is on this.

A situation came up where there were three blinded and stunned bugbears (due to a well placed Color Spray) blocking an entrance to a room. Stunned says that they drop the items in their hands so their morningstars and shields were on the ground at their feet. They did not threaten any squares around them due to no weapons and being stunned.

Can the characters move through them normally or do they still have to make an Acrobatic attempt to tumble through the bugbear's squares (CMD was still 16 so the check would be a 21) or can they just move through their squares.

The RAW seem to point that an Acrobatic check is still required:

"You can't move through a square occupied by an opponent unless the opponent is helpless."

Blinded, stunned, and weaponless is not "helpless."

I also referenced the entry under Acrobatics but it is less helpful in this situation as it speaks mostly to the drawing of Attacks of Opportunity which obviously would not occur with the blinded, stunned, weaponless bugbears.

"You can move through a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity from an enemy by using Acrobatics."

I just figured for the sake of expediency and a good game that they could move through it but not stop in the square. This seemed like total DM fiat to me. Any thoughts? Anything I missed that makes what I allowed the actual rules rather than just a quick DM determination to keep the game moving?

If I cast Color Spray (Illusion: Pattern/Mind-Affecting) inside a sphere of Darkness and the foe does not have Darkvision or any way to see in the darkness, does it affect them?

Initially, I thought that it was an illusion so that you would need to be able to see the visual pattern.Then I read under Pattern where it says "Like a figment, a pattern spell creates an image that others can see, but a pattern also affects the minds of those who see it or are caught in it. All patterns are mind-affecting spells." So I thought maybe since it affects the mind they do not need to be able to see it to suffer the effects.

I have Darkvision and can see but my foe is in complete darkness.

Any thoughts? Is there a larger reference to this in the FAQ or messageboards somewhere?

I have an idea that is based off some old AD&D adventures where the party who will be around 8th to 10th level at the time and will be in a state where they do not have any of their gear, including magic items and weapons or armor. They will get all or most of their gear back at the end of the adventure.

The encounters will be set at CR's that are much lower than the party until they can get new equipment and or gear. Normally I would not have so much heartburn over this and I have done it before with a different group in a previous system, but some of the characters in this party are troubling me.

One character is a Witch going with the Bonded Witch archetype. So, she will be without her bonded item but will be able to get a new one rather quickly. The problem is that she will need a week and 1600gp to 2000gp to bond to it. There is also a party wizard who will be effectively out of action until he can get a new spellbook. Again, I will seed wands and scrolls so he should not be totally useless and there should be some spell component pouches early on in the adventure as well.

I have liked this situation and it has worked in previous systems, like AD&D, but I wonder how well it will fly with Pathfinder and the new generation of players who seem really focused on gear and items over skills and abilities. The idea is not to totally hose the characters but to make them stretch and see what they are capable in such a situation. In fact by the end they should have two sets of gear and can sell the items they do not need or maybe begin to store some items in the event something like this happens again.

Any thoughts? Maybe some ideas as what to look out for in Pathfinder versus when I have tried this in AD&D with a different set of rules and players. I am an experienced Pathfinder DM and I think the players are mature enough to handle it (after a lot of grumbling I am sure), but I thought I would throw it out to the forum for their reaction.

So under the Magic section under Arcane Spells: Preparing Wizard Spells it says:

"Death and Prepared Spell Retention: If a spellcaster dies, all prepared spells stored in his mind are wiped away. Potent magic (such as raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection) can recover the lost energy when it recovers the character."

What about Breath of Life? Since it was added later, I would tend to say yes. Thoughts?

Edit: As I look at the listed spells I see that each has a clause about spells but Breath of Life does not. Now I will waffle and say, it looks like you would loose your prepared spells. Now this clause is under Wizard Spells but it says spellcasters so it seems that it should apply in a more general sense.

I know that with Heighten Spell this can be done and the DC of the spell will increase to align with the new spell level. I am not looking for any increase in DC or any advantage like that. I am just wanting to know if, for example, I am out of 3rd level slots but I have 4th level slots remaining, can I use a 4th level slot to cast a 3rd level spell?