Martijn Van Alphen's page

So the consensus seems to be that Quote 1 is incorrect. You CAN use feats with the Social Trait while in your vigilante personality, but they simply risk you getting exposed?

Quote 1 from the Vigilante Dedication Feat: "You can use social feats only while in your social identity."

Quote 2 from the Vigilante Dedication Feat: "If your identity is exposed to the public, you lose the benefits of Vigilante Dedication to disguising yourself, but you can otherwise use both social and vigilante abilities in either identity unless they rely on your identity being a secret."

Quote from the Social Purview Feat: "Using these feats in your social identity doesn't risk exposing your vigilante identity, but using them in your vigilante identity could put you at risk for exposure."

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Quote 1 states clearly that feats with the Social Trait cannot be used while in your vigilante identity.

Quote 2 seems to provide a situation where you CAN use feats with the Social Trait while in your vigilante identity.

Quote 3 seems to state that the feats chosen under the Social Purview Feat CAN be used in your vigilante identity, despite them having the Social Trait; you merely risk exposure.

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Is there any clarity or precedent as to how this interaction should be interpreted?

Intended - none of the full casters get a class feat at first level. They still have first level feats for the purpose of other rules that require such a thing, such as the Human feat Natural Ambition.

Alright, thanks for the clarification (Btw, the Wizard does get a level 1 class feat)

If I read the rules correctly, a sorcerer does not get a Class Feat at first level, despite having a list of first level class feats. Anyone know if this is an error or intended?

Though I think this is just one more instance of the playtest rules not having the most intuitive formatting.

Correct, despite the entry for Innate Spells, it would have been a lot more intuitive to simply include that information with those feats as well.

You are completely correct.

The trigger is taking damage from a physical attack. If you block an attack with a shield after getting hit in the face it is simply too late...

You have to announce blocking before damage is rolled.

That is certainly a viable interpretation. On the other hand, it is also viable to say that you are not yet receiving damage until damage is actually being applied. I think the wording is simply too ambiguous (I know it would definitely lead to a lengthy discussion at my table).

Martijn, You can also make a Sneak:Hide action if you have cover, making you only Sensed (setting you up for another sneak attack.) see p. 314 and p. 158.

As far as I can tell, this is equivalent to the previous rules. Is there any other Sneak Attack situation that the old rules allowed that doesn’t apply in the new? 9
(Did I miss something here?)

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Hastur!, Yes, the rules are in different sections of the book. But it’s always been that way. Let me suggest that you were so familiar with the old rules that you ceased to notice this about the old Core Rulebook. (Example: what page in the Core Rulebook had the rules for invisibility?)

The Hide action does not allow for movement (or indeed any action besides going from the Seen status to the Sensed status). In P1 rules, if you are in hiding, you can make a Stealth check to remain unseen as you charge at an enemy. This allows for the first attack to be a Sneak Attack. In P2 this is not possible. Btw, the way Sneak is written, it suggests that if you are Unseen or Sensed, your target loses Flat-Footed if you take any action besides Sneaking/Hiding (with a few mentioned exceptions).

Page 309 states:

SHIELD BLOCK
Trigger While you have your shield raised, you take damage from
a physical attack.
You snap your shield into place to deflect a blow. Your shield
prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to its Hardness—
the shield takes this damage instead, possibly becoming dented or
broken. See page 175 for rules on dented and broken items.

Can this decision be made before or after the amount of damage is known? This condition seems to have been omitted.

Page 194 states:

Non-Spellcasters with Powers
If you get powers from a class that doesn’t usually grant the ability to cast spells (for example, if you’re a monk with the Ki Strike feat), the highest level of power you can cast is half your level, rounded up, and your powers are automatically heightened to this level. The ability that gives you your powers will also tell you the proficiency rank for your spell rolls and spell DCs, as well as the tradition of your powers (arcane, divine, occult, or primal). Though the ability to cast powers does not mean you become a spellcaster, you gain the ability to use the Cast a Spell activity as well as use any spellcasting actions necessary to cast your powers (see page 195), but only when casting those powers.

However, the feats Otherworldly Magic and Firstworld Magic omit both the level of training and the attribute used for calculating the check/DC of the Cantrip. Training could be assumed to be untrained (which would make these feats a bit of a trap), but the attribute is simply guesswork.

Sensed Condition = Enemies are flat-footed
Unseen Condition = Enemies are flat-footed
Sneak Attack = Extra damage vs flat-footed enemies

BUT, specifically the Sneak action for the Stealth skill (this is not mentioned anywhere else) states:

You can attempt to move to another place while becoming or staying unseen. Stride up to half your Speed. (You can use Sneak while Burrowing, Climbing, Flying, or Swimming instead of Striding if you have the corresponding movement type.)

The GM rolls your Stealth check in secret and compares the result to the Perception DCs of creatures that you were sensed or unseen by at the start of your movement. You automatically become seen if you don’t have cover or aren’t concealed from them at any time during your movement,
or as soon as you do anything other than Hide or Sneak. The GM might allow you to perform a particularly unobtrusive action, activity, free action, or reaction without being noticed, possibly requiring another Stealth check. If you speak or make a deliberate loud noise, you become sensed. If you do anything else, you become seen just before you act. For instance, if you attack a creature you’re unseen by, that creature is not flat-footed against that attack.

If you’re unseen by a creature and it’s impossible for that creature to see you (such as when you’re invisible, the observer is blinded, or you’re in darkness and the creature can’t see in darkness), you automatically treat the result of your d20 roll as a 20 against that creature on your checks to Sneak. You also continue to be unseen if you lose cover against or are no longer concealed from such a creature. Acting to do something other than Hide or Sneak makes you sensed instead of seen. If a creature senses you via Seek, you must Sneak to become unseen by it again.

Success: You become unseen by the creature (or remain so) during your movement and remain unseen by the creature at the end of it.
Failure: You’re seen by the creature throughout your movement and remain so. If you’re invisible and were sensed by the creature, you’re still sensed throughout your movement and remain sensed, but you aren’t seen.

This is incredibly confusing:
1. You need to read entries in the Rogue chapter, skills chapter, playing the game (senses) chapter, AND conditions chapter to figure out how Sneak Attack should function.

2. Flat-footed yields a -2 AC, but as soon as you attack someone, they lose Flat-Footed.

3. The way I interpret this (but as I said, it is confusing) you need Invisibility, a Darkness effect, or something similar to be able to make a SNeak Attack from Stealth (none of which the Rogue gets).

Am I interpreting this correctly? Is this by design? If so, you get 1 Sneak Attack at the start of a fight. After that you MUST Flank to apply Sneak Attack damage on a Strike. This goes against the description stating that Rogues are intended for striking at targets at the back, at high value targets; you better stick with the Fighter if you want those Flanking situations, and the encounter better not start before you are in position, because your ambush cannot wait until round 2.

I am not saying this is wrong or unbalanced, but some clarifications and better wording is definitely warranted.