Illeist's page

The ghost's Malevolent Possession ability reads:
"The ghost attempts to possess an adjacent corporeal creature. This has the same effect as the possession spell, except since the ghost doesn't have a physical body, it is unaffected by that restriction of the spell."

Which restriction of possession is it that ghosts are unaffected by? And, specifically, if it's the restriction that they're unconscious during the spell's duration, then how does that alter the spell? If a creature critically fails against a ghost's Malevolent Possession, is the ghost able to continue taking actions, potentially also possessing other characters? That seems against the flavor of the ability, but I'm not sure how else it would work.

As a standard action, a rhu-chalik can harness the fears of any creature on which it has successfully used detect thoughts within the last minute. This effect creates terrible, nightmarish visions in the target’s mind; the target must succeed at a DC 16 Will save or be frightened and take 1d4 points of Wisdom damage. The save DC is Charisma-based.

How long does the Frightened condition granted by a Rhu-Chalik's Project Terror last? Is it permanent?

As written, the Interfering Shot Operative exploit does nothing. It prevents the target from taking reactions, but Operatives can already use Debilitating Injury to apply flat-footed, which has the same effect.

What should this talent do instead?

Benefit: When you have this boon slotted and you attempt a Day Job check at the end of a session, multiply your total

earnings by your Acquisitives Reputation Tier. For example, if you are Tier 3 in the Acquisitives, you multiply the result of your Day Job check by 3.

You gain a number of credits equal to twice your Profession skill check result, as per the “Earn a Living” entry in the Profession skill.

How many times do you multiply the result of a downtime check for a PC with Known Quality? The text of the boon doesn't mention dropping the standard multiplier, but the example does. And, if you keep the multiplier, does the stacking multiplier rule apply? I can't even find that rule reprinted in the Core book. How does this boon work?

The Life Science fields of study in which scholars can specialize are... strange. The choices are bioengineering, biology, botany, ecology, genetics, xenobiology, or zoology. Problem is, botany, zoology, and presumably xenobiology are all subcategories of biology. Also, the boundary between bioengineering and genetics seems pretty blurry. Only ecology seems to have a clearly defined niche. Since there's no bonus for picking a more narrow focus, is there any reason to ever pick a sub-field of biology?

When you purchase this boon, select a weapon fusion (Starfinder Core Rulebook 192) with an item level equal to 2 × your Exo-Guardians Reputation Tier. This boon costs a number of Fame equal to half the item level of the weapon fusion, rounding up. While this boon is slotted, you gain a fusion seal for that specific weapon fusion for the duration of the scenario. You do not keep the fusion seal, but you can gain it again in any adventure in which you slot this boon.

Fusion Guild Contract lets you pick from weapon fusions that are less than 2 x your Reputation Tier. But what item level is the fusion seal that it gives you? Or is it just assumed that it's high enough level to fit onto any weapon you carry?

AD4 hype!

Kineticists have surprisingly few choices for their first and second level infusions. The worst off are Aether specialists, who, assuming they aren't using melee attacks, have exactly three choices for their first three infusions (there's no such thing as a creature with the [aether] subtype, so Draining Infusion does nothing). This is especially damning, since kineticists only have first and second level infusions for their first eight levels, only gaining access to third level infusions at ninth level. This means that, for eight levels, every aether specialist who doesn't focus on melee attacks will have exactly the same infusions as any other aether specialist. Most other elements are only marginally better, with 4 or 5 non-melee infusions.

I suppose this takes the form of a request for Paizo developers: as you write additional kineticist infusions, please focus on first and second level ones. The most frequently played levels in Pathfinder deserve meaningful choices, and kineticists need them more than most.

The Investigator's "Rogue Talent" Investigator Talent grants them the option of picking up, among many other options, an ability called "Wall Scrambler," which is listed as coming from Ultimate Combat. Unfortunately, neither Ultimate Combat nor any other Paizo source I'm aware of contains any such talent. Ultimate Combat contains a ninja trick called "Wall Climber," though.

So do we interpret Wall Scrambler as Wall Climber, or is there some unreleased rogue talent out there?

EDIT: Aaaaand google algorithms trump find in page yet again. Just a single letter typo in the investigator. Nothing to see here.

In a sanctioned module, what happens if the PCs fail to recover some of the treasure? In a season 0-4 scenario, you tally up the gold recovered, as noted at the encounters' ends, and that becomes the gold the PCs receive. In a season 5 scenario, you subtract the gold the PCs fail to recover from the total. But what about modules? Do you tally up the gold the party receives and divide by the number of players? What about custom items with no listed cost?

Thornkeep: Enigma Vaults Spoilers

Swarms possess the distraction universal monster rule. Spellcasting or concentrating on spells within the area of a swarm requires a caster level check (DC 20 + spell level).

Is this an error? Or does being in a swarm really require you to make a caster level check, rather than a concentration check?

At what point in the day do magic items with a set number of uses per day recover their uses? Is it at midnight, in the evening, or in the morning? Is the time determined when the item is created, or does its user determine it?

I recently had a PFS DM rule that another player's Boots of Haste were still partially expended from a fight the previous night, and I was unable to find any ruling on the matter.

For every 10 points of Fame, a character

gains a cumulative +1 bonus on Diplomacy checks made
against members of her faction.

For Shadow Lodge PCs, does this bonus apply against the

After a recent discussion about whether spells with a range of personal can be made into potions (they can't), it occurred to me that, unlike PCs, NPCs are both empowered and bound by the rules contained within the Magic Item Creation section of the CRB (pages 547-553). If they were not, then PFS Golarion would be filled with items created only by direct divine intervention. This is supported by the fact that a substantial number of NPCs (particularly Wizards) have crafting feats.

I raise this point to lend credence to the following extrapolation: if NPCs are not forbidden to access to the crafting rules, then, by the extant rules, it is possible for PCs to commission both magic items with multiple enchantments and custom staves.

One might raise the objection that PCs aren't allowed to commission magical items, only to buy the items that one finds specifically listed in player legal resources. If that's the case, then I'd recommend pouring out your potions, burning your scrolls, and using your wands as fire wood, as they exist in the legal resources only as crafting guidelines. And, from a slightly more simulationist perspective, Golarion does not support the idea that one can walk into the local Exotic Two-Handed Weapons Inc., pick a +1 Flaming Spell Storing kyoketsu shoge off the shelf, and check it out at the register. Rather, that poor, misguided Monk would have to make a request of a local artisan and pick up the item upon its completion.

An allying weapon allows the wielder to transfer some or all of the weapon’s enhancement bonus to one weapon being used by an ally of the wielder. The wielder must have line of sight to the intended ally. As a free action, at the start of her turn before using her weapon, the wielder chooses how to allocate her weapon’s enhancement bonus. The bonus to the ally’s weapon lasts until the allying weapon’s wielder’s next turn. The enhancement bonus from the allying weapon does not stack with the enhancement bonus on the ally’s weapon (if any).

Do you count as your own ally?

You count as your own ally unless otherwise stated or if doing so would make no sense or be impossible. Thus, "your allies" almost always means the same as "you and your allies."

—Sean K Reynolds, 10/12/10

An unarmed strike is always considered a light weapon.

So how do these things interact? It's actually very simple. First, buy a +1 Allying Something (preferably something one-handed or, better yet, that occupies no hands). When you find yourself in combat, take a free action at the start of each of your turns to send the enhancement bonus of the Allying Weapon to your unarmed strike. Thus, for the cost of a +1 enhancement, you've solved a small portions of your Monkish woes, and everyone is happy again. Let's go get waffles.

It's worth noting, however, that after using this strategy, it will be difficult to convince your GM that you can flurry with just your unarmed strike, since you've just shown very clearly that it counts as a single weapon.

I'm currently playing a NG Oracle of Life in a Kingmaker campaign who's Eldritch Heritage'd herself a Hawk familiar named Afonya. Over the course of several weeks, Afonya (despite being unable to talk) has developed quite a personality and has become a valuable asset to the party. Unfortunately, due to our party makeup, I'm devoting entirely too much of my resources towards party healing. The easiest solution that I'm aware of would be to pick up Improved Familiar and grab a Silvanshee Agathion. They're excellent creatures to have around, mesh well with my character in a roleplaying sense, and laying on hands as a Paladin of their hit dice is gravy.

But dismissing a familiar is heavy stuff. According to this FAQ post, dismissing a familiar removes all of its familiar abilities and makes it another mundane creature of its type. That means removing all of its sentience, sapience, personality... Essentially, you are lobotomizing a dear friend because you want to hang out with a new friend now. How on earth can any good character justify that decision?

Ferocious Summons, from the ARG, is a half-orc feat that requires Augment Summoning and gives your summons ferocity, meaning that they can remain conscious through their negative hit points. This effectively gives everything you summon at least 14 more hit points.

Unfortunately, the rules say otherwise. According to the summoning subschool text, "A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower[.]" So, by RAW, Ferocious Summons does absolutely nothing. Any chance we can get some errata on that one?

This topic has been broached in several other threads, but we've yet to receive any official campaign ruling, so perhaps it deserves a thread of its own.

Both Blood of Angels and Blood of Fiends contain sidebars discussing hybrids whose non-outsider side isn't human. In both cases, the answer is that, from a flavor perspective, Tieflings and Aasimars can be born of any humanoid race and a fiend or a celestial. Mechanically, however, the only impact is that the resulting PC shares the size of their Prime Material parent.

So here's the question: what, if any, of this is legal for PFS? Neither sidebar appears in the additional resources, but that's no surprise, as that page is "a specific list of Paizo Publishing products and the equipment, traits, deities, spells, feats, and classes contained within that are legal for play[...]", and these sidebars contain none of those listed game elements. This rule has been expanded unofficially, though, with the addition of more familiars, summons, etc, so it's entirely possible that the sidebars are intentionally not legal for PFS. If that is the case, are players allowed to create Tieflings of a non-human heritage, even without a mechanical impact? If so, one could presumably only pick a parent from the PFS-legal races, but, once more, we have no campaign ruling.

Martial Versatility (Combat)
Prerequisites: Fighter level 4th, human.
Benefit: Choose one combat feat you know that applies to a specific weapon (e.g., Weapon Focus). You can use that feat with any weapon within the same weapon group.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time it applies to a different feat.

Dervish Dance (Combat)
Prerequisites: Dexterity 13, Weapon Finesse, Perform (dance) 2 ranks, proficient with scimitar.
Benefit: When wielding a scimitar with one hand, you can use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on melee attack and damage rolls. You treat the scimitar as a one-handed piercing weapon for all feats and class abilities that require such a weapon (such as a duelist’s precise strike ability). The scimitar must be for a creature of your size. You cannot use this feat if you are carrying a weapon or shield in your off hand.

So, with these two feats, fighters can use Dex for hit and damage on any one-handed heavy blade (most notably, bastard swords [with proficiency], katanas, and temple swords). Additionally, you can use any heavy blade to deal piercing damage, making duelists happy. And once you hit level 16, feel free to pick up Martial Mastery so you can use your Dex on any one-handed weapon.

The Minotaur Double Crossbow (from Classic Monsters Revisited) is a curious weapon. It's an exotic 1d8 ranged weapon with a -8 non-proficiency penalty and a flat -2 on all attack rolls through it. But most importantly, "if the attack is successful, the target takes the listed damage twice, although critical hits and precision damage only apply to one off the bolts. Reloading a double crossbow takes 2 standard actions (one for each bolt), although the Rapid Reload feat reduces this to 2 move actions."

Now, combine this with Crossbow Mastery, and suddenly, in 5 feats, you can, for many intents and purposes, fire 4 bolts every round. This doesn't break the game, but it does make crossbows a truly viable alternative to bows for dedicated archers. Bow-wielders will always be more accurate, will crit harder, and require fewer feats, but a Minotaur Double Crossbow wielder will have a definite damage-dealing edge in a mid-level game.

And, just for added lulz, if one were to further combine this with a Sohei... It baffles the mind.

The feat "Minotaur's Charge" from Classic Monsters Revisited is included in the additional resources, but has the monster ability "powerful charge" as a prerequisite. Is this prerequisite waived for PFS PCs?