Mark Seifter Super Fan's page

Please share the stories of your favorite pre-Remaster characters and then explain why you believe you can't recapture the magic with a remastered version of the character.

For me it was my studious and steadfast cavern elf draconic sorcerer, Riva Sarjenka. She traveled across the Mwangi Expanse, saved a metropolis from an infestation of oozes, freed slaves, started a kingdom and trade empire, and adopted a kobold orphan to fill the void left by her biological daughter's death.

Formerly of black dragon descent, none of the current dragons aestheticly or magically match what she had or could do. Also, she was a multiclassed wizard, with tons of utility spells in her spellbook. But with all the changes to the wizard class and with the new sorcerer feats being too good to not take, I have difficulty justifying a similar path for her today. It just doesn't feel the same when I try to rebuild her.

If I am playing a Large character, such as an awakened animal, and have 10 Strength, how many of me fellow PCs can I carry?

I've been looking into Bulk limitations and conversions. It looks like my character can carry 10 bulk without penalty (5 base + 0 strength, x2 for being large). However, she also treats 1 bulk as light, and light bulk as negligible. If there is one other Medium PC and two Small PCs in the party, then that's 6 + 3 + 3 = 12 bulk, which is then converted to 12 L. I can therefore carry all three without any encumbrance penalties save for the extra action costs of PCs riding PCs?

Aside from ignoring their potential gear, is that the correct way of calculating it out?

Or is it that they are they treated as 12 actual bulk, since all of them are individually more than 1 bulk? In that case, I could still carry them, but would be encumbered, or could drag them instead.

I'm looking for Pathfinder's most horrifying spells and rituals. Specifically, the kind only a depraved individual would use against their most hated enemies, either to prolong their targets' suffering, or to end it brutally.

Bonus points if your suggestion includes elements of body horror!

I'll start with a few that have crossed my radar recently.

There don't appear to be rules for replacing one. What does one do when forced to abandon it; what options are available for replacing it? Or are you just forever out your class ability until you can recover your staff?

[Staff Nexus]

For those of you with actual play experience using Quiet Allies, how much do you feel it impacted your games, or the fictional narrative thereof?

I'm familiar with the feat's underlying math and how its benefits are not immediately apparent at first glance.

What I'm looking for is anecdotal evidence of its efficacy. Was it fun? Impactful? Seemingly useless? Did it require GM or player buy in to work as you desired?

I have had situations where one player would ruin it for everyone because they couldn't wrap their head around the odds of success well enough to prevent them from Sneaking on their own.

Please share your experiences.

Cross posting from another thread where it was off-topic.

- Avoid Notice (Player Core) old but gold: wouldn't this make more sense to have the Secret trait?

Thank goodness it doesn't. Would make it hella difficult to use, what with rolling Initiative and all.

The Stealth check for Initiative is separate from the Stealth check for sneaking around during Exploration.

What's the point of rolling the first time to Sneak around if you're just going to have to roll a second time against being spotted anyways?

Please cite your source. I was unable to find it in the remaster and was beginning to think it may have been removed.

Insofar as I can tell, you roll Stealth only when there's a chance someone might spot you. There's no point in rolling Stealth to Avoid Notice if the encounter is three rooms away.

I suppose you could roll it in advance, then use that value when you encounter something, but that gets tricky as circumstances, such as cover, might well have changed.

Avoid Notice comes in two different behaviors, Exploration and Encounter

First Roll is equivalent to Sneak, To see wether or not you can move past undetected in Exploration mode without needing to enter Encounter mode.
Second roll only happens when you enter Encounter Mode both to determine your initiative and to what degree you are detected upon your presence being revealed upon launching an ambush.

It is written into the Action itself and yes..The first roll should be secret and regardless of the presence of creatures. Three Reasons;
Players shouldn't know the existance of creatures.
Players shouldn't know the non-existance of creatures.
Players shouldn't know the result of their stealth check before attempting to 'sneak'.

Likewise, The second roll probably shouldnt be secret as it is initiative. But it determines the success of your ambush.

First roll; Sneak Roll
Second Roll; Ambush Roll

Sneak roll succeeds but Ambush Roll doesnt;
You can sneak up as close as you can but become detected before you move.

Sneak Roll fails but Ambush Succeeds;
They become aware of you the moment you enter detection range, but remain undetected(Not unnoticed) provided you have cover/Concealment.

Further discussion or answers are likely to be found in another thread.

I'm still waiting for a citation, as I can't find anywhere in the remaster where it is explicitly stated a player has two opportunities to fail Avoid Notice.

The main body text says it returns to you "after a successful throw" whereas the Recovery trait says it returns to you after an unsuccessful Strike.

Is a "a successful throw" referencing or otherwise include a Strike?

Is it even possible to not have it return (short of being intercepted by an enemy)?

I know I hit the DC 15, but the GM took one look at the monster and said "Nope--you failed to Aid."

This has happened again and again, to the point that I'm considering abandoning Aid as a viable 3rd action at this particular table.

I know GMs can adjust the DC for specific circumstances, but to my knowledge, that's not what's happening here. There are no unusual circumstances! Rather, I believe the GM is simply thinking "it's a tough monster" and so raises the DC to be more appropriate to the creature's level.

If he declared it as a house rule, I might be able to swallow that bitter pill, but he hasn't. It's just "no, you failed" over and over again.

It feels bad in a "the GM is fudging rolls against you" kind of way.

How might I convince him to change his ways?

If my goblin exemplar has the Burn It! feat and is using a Mortal Harvest ikon along with the Energized Spark feat to turn all of his persistent spirit damage into persistent fire damage, does Burn It! increase the persistent fire damage by 1? After all, it doesn't say "You also gain a +1 status bonus to any persistent fire damage you deal [with your fire-based spells and alchemical items]." It seems to be a much more permissive and standalone thought with no ties to the second sentence of the feat's text.

If my exemplar Strikes a skeleton with a slashing weapon, and substitutes bludgeoning damage for his Spirit damage with Energized Spark, what happens when resistances and weaknesses are applied?

Let's say, for example that it is a "brittle" skeleton with Weakness 5 to bludgeoning damage and Resistance 5 to slashing damage and my base damage rolls are 13 slashing and 2 bludgeoning.

What are some cool combos utilizing the Exemplar class? (NOT the broken multiclass dedication.)

What are some interesting ideas you've had for the class?

Are there any class guides for it yet? All my searches keep coming up with the Exemplar playtest.

Can you pick up and carry multiple allies with the Bear Allies' Burdens activity of the Skybearer's Belt ikon from the Exemplar class?

It says "At any point you are adjacent to a willing ally during the Stride, you can..." so any time that Condition is met, the effect of "pick that ally up, and you can deposit them into a space adjacent to you at any other point during your movement" is permitted, correct?

When selecting ikons, is it possible to have more than one of the same kind?

For example, could I wield two Barrow's Edge ikons so that I could Drink of My Foes every round?

Immediately after you Spark Transcendence, your divine spark is forcefully ejected from that ikon, coming to rest in another ikon of your choice.

When exactly is "immediately after you Spark Transcendence?"

For example,if I make a Flowing Spirit Strike with my Gleaming Blade ikon, do I get the 2 additional spirit damage per weapon damage die on the two strikes? Or does the ikon lose its immenance power and move to another ikon after I declare my Transcendence, but before the next Strike actions?

If I use the Clear the Way feat and successfully Shove 5 people, can I Stride the same distance and direction after each success, then after all 5 successes (having moved quite the distance if things fell into place perfectly), I can then Stride up to half my speed again per the Clear the Way feat.

Is that correct; is that how it works?

Every scenario I've played to date has granted at least 4, but looking at this one I can only find mention of 2 for the Primary objective. The secondary objective doesn't appear to grant any additional reputaiton.

Is there a general rule somewhere that indicates that the secondary objective should also grant reputation for a faction?

If I have the acid and flaming runes on my fist (due to handwraps of mighty fists or some other effect), are my fist attacks still considered nonlethal?

It seems odd to me to be nonlethally burning and melting a victim's flesh.

What do you believe to be the safest or most promising place on (or in) Golarion? Pretend for a moment that you are a citizen of that world, have the unique opportunity to go anywhere, and the means to begin preparing a new home for the future of your (current or someday) family. Where would you go and why?

There are a half dozen deities in Pathfinder that have favored weapon "fist." Of those, two offer alternative options.

Since many of the abilities that reference a deity's favored weapon make the assumption that they are, in fact weapons, this creates a problematic disconnect since fists are NOT weapons at all.

What can be done to emeliorate this problem, so that abilities like an Avenger's Zealous Inevitably or anything using the term "wielding" function as intended?

Shouldn't all such deities be errata to provide alternative weapon options? As written faithful of "the way of the fist" are decidedly weaker than their weapon wielding kin which makes playing what would otherwise have been a cool concept feel really bad.

My character has deity's favored weapon (fist). Can doubling rings apply the bonuses from my primary weapon to my offhand fist?

If not, is there anything in the game that might allow for that?

We all know that unarmed attacks are not weapons, and that abilities that reference weapons therefore do not generally apply to unarmed attacks.

But what about abilities like the Avenger class archetype's Zealous Inevitability feat? It requires that you use your deity's favored weapon, but what if said "weapon" is "fist?"

Can you not use the feat in that case? Or can you?

Rival Academies gives us the chrysopoetic curse spell, which creates instantaneous gold from nothing.

What is stopping a sin mage (who would have access) from getting a wand of this, then casting it on their pet goose every day until they can afford a second wand, then rinse and repeat until they are generating enough wealth to satisfy their greed?

It seems NPC Core has changed how Troops work. Seems like it covers more grey areas, which is good, but will be trickier to run, which is bad.

Overall, it seems more complicated to me.

What do you think?

I know that much of the Inner Sea generally has Taldane as its common tongue, and the Mwangi Expanse has Mwangi as its common tongue, and Tian Xia has Tien as its common tongue. I also recently discovered that Osiriani is the common tongue of Geb, per the Blood Lords Player's Guide.

What other languages are known to replace Common, and in what regions?

What are your favorite archetypes in vanilla Pathfinder*, and why?

I'm trying to figure out my next character, and all I know so far is that I want to lean heavily into an archetype. So I'm looking for ideas. What are the most interesting? Which are the most beloved? Which are the most powerful? Which are the most fun?

The Conceal an Object use of the Stealth skill (Player Core 244) says:
You hide a small object on your person (such as a weapon of light Bulk).

Hidden Pocket Outfit (Rival Academies 56) says:
When wearing this outfit, you automatically succeed on all relevant checks to Conceal an Object on your person as long as the object is of light or negligible Bulk.

Bulk Conversions for Different Sizes (Player Core 270) says:
Large creatures treat 1 Bulk as Light Bulk.

Does this mean that a large PC, such as a minotaur, could conceal items that are 1 Bulk, and would auto-succeed the Stealth checks to do so whilst wearing a Hidden Pocket Outfit?

I've just finished making my first tanuki character. So much fun!

It'd absolutely incredible how much fun that can be had with this ancestry and its many unique abilities! I've yet to see another ancestry whose abilities can interface with the narrative in so many fun and interesting ways! A big "thank you" to the author(s) of the Lost Omens: Tian Xia Character Guide for writing it! I sincerely hope we continue to get more ancestries with this level of creativity.

Has anyone else had opportunity to play the tanuki ancestry as one of these adorable fuzzballs? What did you love about them? If you haven't been fortunate enough to play one yet, what do you hope to do with them some day at your table.

Let the love for tanushi grow!

*Pulls a levar, releasing a flood of tanuki plushies and candy hearts.*

Is my skin made of horn, or of iron? What is this ikon supposed to be called?

My book says Skin Hard as Horn (p.46), but the Archives of Nethys calls it Skin Hard as Iron.

Am I reading Red-Gold Mortality correctly?

Once it blocks or diminishes a single instance of healing, it simply stops working.

For example if an enemy cleric healed a wounded ally, and saw it blocked by obvious magic, then clearly saw said magic go away, all they'd have to do is try again? If it were me, I'd start using a 1-action loww-level heal to remove the effect followed by a 2-action high level heal to get the target to full health.

Or a troll may not gain Hit Points from regeneration in one round, but still would in the next round? (It also only blocks healing, this feat doesn't actually seem like it would allow you to kill the troll.)

Seems kinda weak and circumstantial. Do we really need additional restrictions and limitations over the 1 minute duration?

Hurrah!

Thank you SO much for your hard work, Alex, Andreas, Devin, Federico, Jonny, Kao, Mark, Milan, and others!

Hurrah!

Thank you SO much for your hard work, Alex, Andreas, Devin, Federico, Jonny, Kao, Mark, Milan, and others!

If I imbue my weapon ikon (a greatsword say) with Hurl at the Horizon, can I the have the returning rune etched onto it?

Why or why not? Please explain your answer.

Do immanence effects of the Exemplar class linger when you Spark Transcendence to a different ikon?

Take the Red-Gold Mortality feat, for example. If I Strike with my weapon Ikon, then ST to a different ikon, can the targets wounds be healed because I am no longer on my weapon ikon, and so don't benefit from its imminence effects?

Or does it only need to be active at the time of the initiating strike?

My aerokineticist activates the Pacifying Infusion ability of the Safe Elements feat for 1 action, then follows up with Aerial Boomerang for 2 actions. However, the positioning is not ideal, so my kineticist Strides to a better position using their air impulse junction (which allows them to move half their Speed before or after a 2-action impulse).

Does my kineticist's movement disqualify the character from the benefits of Pacifying Infusion since they used an action before the impulse to move; or does it not, since there can be no movement without FIRST activating the impulse?

Do the contents of extradimensional containers, like the retrieval belt, apply toward your bulk encumbrance limit if the container’s description does not explicitly state that the bulk of its contents is ignored (as the spacious pouch does)?

I'm looking for options (preferably gear) that will allow me to draw items as a free action.

What's out there besides retrieval belts and retrieval prisms?

What are some good ways to utilize the Juggler feat and/or archetype into character builds?

What kind of character would it especially stand out on (in an optimal way)?

You need to have a hand free in order to use an impulse.

That's clear.

What's less clear is whether you need your hand free to activate the impulse, at which point it doesn't matter, or if you need to keep a hand free for the entire duration of the impulse.

Could I activate an effect, then fill my hands while maintaining the effect?

How easy is it to climb/crawl along ceilings if you have a climb speed? Does it require any checks or other mechanics? Can it even be done? How should it be handled, RAW?

(Does it make any difference if your character is a giant awakened spider?)

Would it be terribly broken to have a high-level general feat that allowed a character to Ready a two-action activity instead of a single action?

If not, what level should it be? 10? 16?

What are some potential unforseen complications that could arise from introducing such a feat?

What makes innate spells better than traditional spells? What makes them worse? How do they differ from traditional spells?

Aside from the "Innate" designation, I'm not seeing any practical difference and so am beginning to wonder why the distinction exists at all.

Do they not provoke reactions? Do they have the concentrate and manipulate traits? Does the mere act of casting them generate observable effects?

Sadly, upon arriving to the game shop yesterday I discovered that the scenario being run was one that I had already played. What's more, the only legal character I had for the level range was the one that had already played in it.

As it was a repeatable, they allowed me to sit in anyways with an iconic pregen.

Now I'm at a loss as to what to do with the Chronicle Sheet or who to apply the credit to. It was for a 3-6 level game, and the iconic I played was 5th. I'd like to apply it to my -2007 character, but they only have 8 XP from GM games (I've yet to actually play -2007). None of my other characters fall into the 3-6 range either. Is this going to be a problem? I'm not sure what to do with the credit or what the established rules/guidelines might be for this kind of situation.

What alchemical items does your alchemist typically create on an average day? Which items do they reserve for Quick Alchemy? Why?

I am considering playing my first alchemist soon and I'm trying to develop a better understanding of all the cool options out there.

Insofar as I can tell, Prescient Consumable does not lift the restrictions against alchemical and magical adventuring gear.

After filtering out all the alchemical and magical consumables on Archives of Nethys, I was left with the following common items:

- Sack of Rotten Fruit
- Magnetic Suit

What exactly is the point of this feat?

What are some great items/methods for increasing the amount of bulk a character can carry?

Sadly, when I search AoN for "bulk" it quite nearly returns everything. XD

I can't seem to find any mention of an alchemist starting play with an alchemist's toolkit for free.

Do I really have to spend a 5th of my limited starting funds on something so intrinsically necessary for my class' function?

Wizards get spellbooks, witch's familiars, martials their fist and teeth. Why do alchemist's need to spend that gold to FUNCTION AT ALL?

Would you allow the following?

An alchemist player took Armor Proficiency at level 3, Prescient Planner at 7, and Prescient Consumable at 11. They're now level 19, and their armor proficiency has increased to Master, making their 3rd-level armor proficiency feat (and heavy armors in general) obsolete.

The player asks to retrain his 3rd-level feat for a higher-level 11th-level feat. Normally, this is not permitted. However, the player argues that Prescient Planner and Prescient Consumable could have been taken at 3rd and 5th-level, respectively, so that everything remains build legal. In effect they want to retrain one feat while shifting two others in the time it would normally take to retrain 1 feat.

Would you...
A) Allow it as described?
B) Allow it with a little extra time to account for the sliding feats?
C) Disallow it without first spending the retraining costs for three feats?
D) Take some other course of action. Please explain.

How would you go about capturing the spirit of Boxxo, the adventuring vending machine, from the popular anime, Reborn As a Vending Machine I Now Wander the Dungeon?

I'm thinking automaton alchemist archetyped into wandering chef, but wanted to hear some ideas from others before I put anything to paper.