Mer_'s page

By my reading, it seems to strongly imply that the writer assumed a teleport might break a grapple, but it doesn't outright say that this is the default behavior. Imposing a flat check on a teleport doesn't go as far as to say that this is to prevent the teleport from breaking the grapple, unless you link it up with the first sentence, which people often cite as "flavor text" for a lot of abilities, and then making a small leap that this must mean a teleport ends a grapple immediately.

Conversely, one might say that teleporting away from a grapple and remaining grappled until the end of the grappler's next turn is a way to "escape" the grapple (small "e"), as it's unlikely that they'll be able to sustain a grapple if you teleport away.

Appealing to first edition is bad form, but I'll still point at the tetori monk feature of the same name, where it duplicates dimensional anchor and the DnD wrestling talent of the same name where it explicitly says if successful the escape fails. From context and precedent we know that feature is trying to oppose supernatual escapes.

Concerning remaining grappled after a teleport effect, there's a question to be considered if you teleport to another place within the grappler's reach. Remaining grappled while out of reach is silly and should be understood as a bug in the rules, no matter how permissible you are.

(Unless, of course, the grapple action has indeterminate range as was pointed out earlier in this thread.)

the trip action also doesnt mention reach in the athletic action description however shove down works with an intended reach

Several Athletics actions have the attack trait, meaning that using them more than once in the same turn makes them less accurate. Since these actions use your free hand, you use the traits for your fist attack to determine the multiple attack penalty, so your fist's agile trait applies. Therefore, you take a –4 penalty if the action is your second attack of the turn, or a –8 if it's the third. Some weapon traits allow you to take these actions using a weapon, in which case the penalty might be –5 or –10 if the weapon doesn't have the agile trait. Some characters can get unarmed attacks without the agile trait as well. If it's unclear which penalty to use, the GM makes the call.

which clarifies that you are indeed using your free hand as opposed to just requiring it to take action

I think the intent seems to be that maneuvers such as grapples and trips use the actor's "default" or unarmed reach (when not done with a weapon trait), as well as moving away from a grappler's reach ending a grapple immediately, but the rules never explicitly say this as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, the best I can still see are some assumptions...

There's open wording because the athletic maneuvers are used by a lot of effects from spells or equipment. There are multiple examples with more precise wording where a degree of movement is allowed while grappling such as the net item and the binding coil talisman. One thing is clear: when using a free hand or a weapon/unarmed strike with the grapple trait you are subject to your reach (natural+enhanced by item or ability).

ps: habitual residents of this forum forgive me this going into detail about something easily dismissed but grapple mechanics are my special interest

Inescapable grasp describes that exact situation, implying that the normal interaction is for a teleport effect normally getting you out of a grapple.
You are still in a position to trigger an attack of opportunity and get disrupted from the kind of character that likes to grapple. Dimension door and most teleport spell/actions except flicker will provoke.
It's helpful for grapple effects that don't come from characters tho like black tentacles.

oh sorry, I rewrote part of this while proofreading myself and removed that I was considering this in the situation of a player character's permanent wraith minion created through a ritual.
player creates fresh wraith (minion) >> minion wraith kills victim >> what happens

So minions cannot control other creatures.
But the wording of the wraith and wight spawn ability (functionally the same ability) appears to still create spawns despite this limitation.

A living humanoid slain by a wraith’s spectral hand Strike rises as a wraith spawn after 1d4 rounds. This wraith spawn is under the command of the wraith that killed it. It doesn’t have drain life or wraith spawn and becomes clumsy 2 for as long as it is a wraith spawn. If the creator of the wraith spawn dies, the wraith spawn becomes a full-fledged, autonomous wraith; it regains its free will, gains Wraith Spawn, and is no longer clumsy.

I think RAW the victim rises and is permanently debuffed, is technically a minion of its sire but the sire cannot issue a command to it and then starts acting independantly after 1 minute of being "left unattended" as per the minion rules.

Not everything with the Attack trait is an attack.

Everything with the attack trait is an attack, but it may not be a strike.

A better thing to point out is that you do not need a weapon to make an attack (or a strike) since you have unarmed strikes and shield bash (technically not a weapon).

You can make a grapple four ways:
With a free hand, it is an attack and your hand is not a fist unarmed strike. If you have natural reach and hold the target so it couldn't attack you, it can attack your limb.
With a grapple weapon, gaining the traits of the weapon, including reach, this makes it a weapon attack.
With an unarmed strike with the grapple trait (ditto but like with a free hand the limb used can be attacked), this is an unarmed strike attack (but not a strike, "unarmed strike" is a keyword here).
With a tool, which includes both the net and a rope from the golden league xun rope mastery feat. This is different from grapple weapons because the tool cannot perform strike attacks (except if used as an improvised weapon) and is not made of special materials and thus is vulnerable to speding one action to cut it away for a quicker escape.

Whiling throw is pretty clear about how far you can throw.
Not so clear about where do you throw from.
This may sound like an edge case but the grapple focused clinging shadow stance gives you reach.
To be clear, I'm not talking about the cheesy vertical throw. I'm talking about what square do you count the distance from.
Do you:
Treat the throw as a long shove and move from the original position of the creature.
this is intuitively the safest reading but combined with reach, it ends up feeling more like a knockback than a "whirling" throw as throwing backwards eats up half your typical throw distance (15ft)
Treat the throw like a thrown object, and count from your space.
I tend to gravitate towards this reading as it lets you throw in 8 horizontal directions without difference which matches with the mental picture of a throw using centrifugal motions I have, it effectively reduces the maximal distance you throw away from yourself by 5ft
Same as second option but count from within your reach.
this is originally how it was played at my table until I took clinging shadows initiate and realized this gave me a lot more distance and flexibility to reposition thrown enemies.

As a clarification, I believe all three readings shouldnt affect the damage done, that's set in stone. My concern is mostly about how throwing backwards can make a difference of between 5 to 20ft depending on the method you use and whether or not you have reach.

Pronelocking isn't absolute until you invest a lot into it.
Even if an AOO puts you back down, you have now exhausted the reaction and can stand up without problem. Additional reactions are high level feats. Not to mention, AOO only have the option of disrupting/putting you down again on a crit.
A crit isn't unlikely on a fighter but it's also an expression of the class's features.
Are the shield shove reaction feats combined with a reach weapon too strong for the same reason?

Nearly everything that gives Stunned also has Incapacitation, while Slowed does not. It's supposed to be more debilitating.

Dazing blow stuns 1 on a success. Even with the incapacitation trait, this is big if you can cancel a turn with it.

Incorporeal creatures can touch, hold, and wield ghost touch weapons (unlike most physical objects).

even if there's an edge case not quite covered by the wording, the intent is clear that incorporeal creatures phase through matter that doesn't have ghost touch. That's what's reflected by the restriction on strength based checks. An incorporeal creature doesn't get to interact to open an unlocked door just because it doesn't require a strength check.

If you have the required STR to not get the check penalties, you reduce the speed penalty by 5.
If the 20ft speed means you're playing a dwarf, you also have a level 1 ancestry feat that lets you completely ignore armor speed penalty.

Readying for a strictly mechanical trigger with no in-world occurrence like "their turn begins" is as invalid as this "tactic".

but you could set a "takes any action" trigger which accomplishes the same thing unless they want to take their turn idling

Again I'm not for allowing it but

You can dodge somebody forever in just a 20x20 room.

(snip)
It shrinks all the problems of large, open spaces down to such a small size that they're unavoidable, while also removing tools to deal with them.

That only works if the enemy is alone, doesn't have reach, doesn't have a reaction feature and only has a melee attack.

it immediately turns the game from something fun into a ranged-only game of everybody shuffling around because against any basic melee character you would always be able to trade two or three of your actions for all three of theirs (they move towards you, waste their attack, and move to get back in range of somebody).

to be fair if it worked you could only pull it off once at the start of the encounter, you start your first turn away from the enemy and your second turn adjacent

There's 3 ways to look at it.
Your reaction happens before, after or at the same time as the trigger.
Some triggered actions like attack of opportunity let you disrupt the triggering action and they aren't worded differently than other triggered actions. That rules out the triggered action happening after the trigger.
Trigger rules say:

When its trigger is satisfied—and only when it is satisfied—you can use the reaction or free action.

That rules out Your reaction happening before the trigger.

Yeah I realize now that I boldly declared something that was part houserule, part 1st edition logic. Didn't quite realize it until the post was made.
Size categories no longer have set AC adjustments (just giving you clumsy1 if you grow any size) and distance is usually dealt with range increments. Both of these aren't satisfactory to represent how hard it is to hit a rope at a distance so the Gm adjusts between 5 and 10 as we've been doing.

Objects are also often immune to crits.

Object immunities notably lacks crit immunity.

base AC=10 minus 5 dex bonus (immobile= no dex).
Resilient sphere has an AC of 5 as an example, though wall of force has AC 10. It's still up to the GM I think but the practice at my table has been to start with 5 and adjust depending on how small the target it.

Bit of a side note but a loaded dueling pistol in your belt is a fantastic sunder tool.
With objects typically having 5 AC, most martials or any class that's got a few levels can reliably get 3d10 ranged damage, equivalent to a pick but without the crit spec (that you might not have if it's just a secondary tool).
That's enough to reliably break materials up to rope and with just a striking rune, also thin metal (like chains).
Good reason to have your casters carry a loaded jezail, so they can cast "chandelier falls down" without wasting a spell slot.

The debuff by itself is a bit light but since it's technically a grapple check, it procs crushing grab and brutal bully.
If you have both that's twice your str mod, plus maybe your weapon spec (debated topic).
IMO the wrestler gives you the choice to either release the grapple to deal damage or keep holding and debuff. The latter is worse from an optimized point of view but it's a class fantasy I like. I would recommend using dazing blow as well if it's your intention and maybe submission hold is better than spinebreaker if you're going to do two grapple actions per turn.

You can.
From the inventor's weapon innovations:

A modification might give your weapon the versatile trait with a damage type that the weapon could already deal, either from its base damage type or from an existing versatile trait. In that case, if you select that modification, you can instead choose to give the weapon the versatile trait for a different damage type: bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing.

Yes that works. You can reach that empty square by just jumping off the ledge, even if it's a bad idea. That line is there to prevent burrowing abductions or incorporeal shenanigans.
Standing near a cliff is dangerous and you should avoid it. The polearm crit spec doesn't get a save like a shove does but it's also on a crit, so going all in on shoves would have a better chance to push you probably.
Grab an edge is a reaction and you also have feather fall (and a rather cheap talisman that lets you get a one time feather fall).
Basically, know that cliffs are scary and if you must end your turn there, keep your reaction.

Final sacrifice is weird anyway.
Using it on a homonculus is an evil act but killing the homonculus you get from shadow spy isn't.

For clerics following their deity's edicts and anathema and paladins following their cause's code, there is no problem, play as it is written.
But while that's very close to the alignment system, it's distinct.
What rubs me the wrong way is the assumption that alignment should interface with your personality because it relies on deciding that some personality traits are aligned in a certain way and that's the first step to an unwanted philosophical debate.

Do you find it rude when a player uses a sword cane? Of course not because canes are often used as fashion statements.
In the same vein, a full featured magical wheelchair doesn't have the same implications as in real life. A powerful wizard getting a magic chair out of laziness is incredibly on brand.
The disrespectful aspect is better handled in universe rather than as a flat out ban.

The "issue" is people divorcing Alignment from their character's personality and just treating it like a letter on their character sheet with no bearing whatsoever on their character.

To be fair, while the rules do state that alignment is "a creature’s fundamental moral and ethical attitude", that's something I believe should completely be ignored.

An ally being able to stand you up is a very modest benefit. It's not exactly a 1:1 equivalent with not using a wheelchair but as long as wheelchairs don't have strong exploits there's no need to be scared of the slippery slope.
I'm sure the devs are keenly aware of how closely assistive items are being looked at.
Plus if it's that big a deal, there's no real reason you couldn't houserule that you can help up any prone ally. That would make perfect sense. At the end of the day it's still one action to stand up one person, just by another player.

Lax flanking rules allow shenanigans with whips (that you don't even need proficiency with to provide flanking), but it's fair to specifically allow it for someone who's using a reach option as their main weapon.
Something else to consider: size also screws up with the strict flanking rules sometimes.

You can't drag a creature at all in combat.

I feel like this exists mostly so peacock stance users have an option for fuse stance and while they're compatible, they don't really synergize.
As it stands, it's equivalent to reach for the first attack and you have to be dex based. You can pick up range increases from other classes but for level 14 that's weak.
There's also no follow up, which is a shame because you're including flying swords but not surfing on them.

A trident doesn't have tethered either but the melee TPT does so it's not the same as a regular trident.

You also get tethered as a bonus.
Which makes me think about how rare tethered is. If a combination trident can get it, there should be a weapon customization to add it to other thrown weapons in the spear group.

Oh yeah, there's a sentence break, I read that wrong.
The new target is only mentioned in a sentence that's about calculating the new range increment and cover and it only applies to the "even from a distance" part of the first sentence.

Once you've made a thrown Strike with such a weapon, you can use the precision of your throw to make additional strikes with it, even from a distance.

Start from the space of the previous Strike's target to determine the range increment and whether the new target has cover. At the end of your turn, the thrown weapon flies directly back to you in a straight line. If a solid barrier blocks its path, it falls to the ground after hitting the barrier.

To be fair that makes a lot more sense with how the flavor text describes it and how the trope usually works.

I think the question was "can you make multiple strikes against the same opponent". Of course you can do two if you do one against a second target in between but quid of doing it twice in a row to the same guy?
Rules seems pretty clear that the answer is no and that what you're doing is some sort of ricochet attack using precision.
It does feel weird because the "monk trope" I was getting from this feat was flying swords which is more of a magical sword telekinesis, but nothing in the text supports that interpretation.

I don't like it when the rules to support a playstyle basically rules it out. Maybe there should be a feat cost to allow this to work with less penalties.

How about the mount gets two actions but can only take move actions? Or two actions but cannot use their hands?

Some of the specific familiars don't need to eat/breathe/sleep like the aeon wyrd and the clockwork familiar.
It's also probably safe to give it the constructed immunities and mending from aeon wyrd, they're both magic stones thingys.

Right but what I'm saying is how would you use bomb specialization on a torch?

You don't, the torch is an improvised juggling club. With some extra fire damage mirroring the fire poi if your GM's generous.

That is a problem with the rarity system yes.
Uncommon weapons are hard to get access to when planning a character but once one instance of a weapon exists in your game and you have access to qualified smiths in a high magic setting, there's no reason you couldn't get one replicated and share with the group. There's no reason seeing one weapon doesn't grant you access to turn your weapon into it via a shifting rune.

In my opinion the rarity system should interface more with weapon categories and relax (not remove) access requirements. But I think there's PFS reasons why that is not the case.

Giant instinct barbarians specifically get access to a large weapon. Access is a rules thing here. You need it for an uncommon weapon unless you can specifically loot it and the easiest way to circumvent it is the unconventional weaponry ancestry feat.
It's not the most well handled part of the rules to be honest, but it's easy to work around at private tables.

I've played with GMs that did a flat roll for night time ambushes every night.
Even if comfort happens to not come up in some games, it's a pretty good trait when it does.
Greater ready armor still takes 3 actions and is a level 11 item. If you're sleeping that's at least 2.6 turns spent getting ready because you need to stand up and draw a weapon.
Armored rest is a level 10 archetype feat. Armor assist is also a thing even if it's a thing we like to ignore.
And since it's not removable you're also covered for bathhouse scenarios.

Ghost touch gauntlets is a nice solution, but I prefer to give the character an innate ability instead of having to rely on an specific item.

I re-read the dedication feat because of another thread about the archetype and I completely missed that you can spend 10m to give any unattended item ghost touch.

It does sound like the intended interaction since Ghostly grasp enables you to do it later.
I get that it opens the possibility of being stuck without options if you are completely stripped of equipment but there's plenty of options you have to get around it like transmuting a gauntlet.

Technically specking the Incorporeal trait stops you from making Strength-based checks. This includes swinging an axe. Most people see this as too bad to be true, and ignore it.

It's split between different cases but I believe everything is accounted for.

Items: You can transmute physical items to make them part of your incorporeal form. (snip)

Once you've incorporated the items, you and other incorporeal creatures can use them normally—you can Interact with them, Release them, and so on. Your incorporated weapons gain the benefits of the ghost touch property rune, allowing you to use them normally against both corporeal and incorporeal creatures. Incorporated items become corporeal again only if you transmute them back or are destroyed, in which case, they drop to the ground under you.

Strikes aren't skill checks (they're attack rolls) but consider the following:
If you're making unarmed strikes you're dealing negative damage so no problem with being incorporeal.
If you're making weapon strikes you have to be wielding that weapon to begin with so it probably has ghost touch and you're hitting with a corporeal object.
Any case, use your strikes normally.

To be fair, bashing charge hints that doors and thin walls are supposed to be fair game for destruction as early as level 2.
This also suggests using force open on walls is valid so there's your action to damage walls without strike (although strike probably fits better if you have a hammer or a pick).

Sometimes an item is even less sturdy than the Hardness and Hit Points provided for a thin object; for instance, a twig doesn’t take 9 damage to break, even though it’s made of thin wood. Similarly, a particularly sturdy item or structure might have even higher Hardness and Hit Points.

The sidebar on p515 of the CRB also says

Strong walls, such as well-maintained masonry or hewn stone, can’t be broken without dedicated work and proper tools. Getting through such walls requires downtime.

Looks like there's plenty of failsafes to keep the GM is in control, the material statistics are just a good resource to save the GM some headaches, not an important balance statistic.

You know what. Turns out I didn't actually understand forceful. I believed that "number of damage dice" was completely agnostic of how much dice you're actually rolling during the attack and it's just a measure of what rune you had.
I guess people add more bonus from power attack?
I'm probably not the one to ask about that one.

To answer the rules question: there is no way for players to do a group initiative roll like this either. Ambush rules are really very spotty. The surprise round as a rule is gone entirely. Probably, with the new action economy, surprise rounds are just too powerful.

Not as initiative, no. But the usual effect of a surprise round can be replicated in initiative.

Yes of course, I meant that for Inspire Courage only. That just because the trip damage is a roll, it's not a damage roll, but it's still melee damage. And potentially melee weapon damage, but I'm not sure of that one.

would the damage bonus from inspire courage apply to these non-Strike sources of damage?

Damage roll is a defined term based on a weapon's damage dice so trip and THTF is not eligible, sorry.

if there were any Forceful Trip weapons (but there are not), but not to Brutal Bully or Crushing Grab if there were any Forceful weapons with any of the maneuver traits (but there are not).

There's the new hooked rune granting trip, the inventor weapon innovations granting grapple, trip, shove or disarm, and technically mental forge from mindsmith if you used a shifting rune to alter the base stats of the weapon to a forceful weapon (this is technically legal but I'm not sure if it's intended).

(As a largely unrelated question: does a critical THTF trip deal THTF's effect in addition to or instead of the normal damage from a critical Trip? I.e. does it deal 1d6 + sneak attack, or 2d6 + sneak attack?

I thought otherwise until I just re read that but the feat effect dictates an effect added to trip and doesn't replace the normal effects (or it would need to remind you that the target becomes prone), so you've got a case for getting that extra d6.

Melee damage or even melee is not a defined rules concept. They are just natural language.

I may be extrapolating but my interpretation is that melee damage is damage applied through a weapon or unarmed attack that has a reach (including the "no reach" 5ft reach). Like you can point blank shot with a bow but that is still a range attack. On the other hand, melee is a category of weapons and unarmed attacks rather than a range.

If you have a weakness to something that doesn't normally deal damage, such as water, you take damage equal to the weakness value when touched or affected by it. If more than one weakness would apply to the same instance of damage, use only the highest applicable weakness value. This usually happens only when a monster is weak to both a type of physical damage and a given material.

NPCs delaying action is a powerful strategic move, I wouldn't never use it but it's part of the power budget of an encounter.
Fighting low level kobold viet congs that are played with the highest strategic acumen is a timeless classic.
You can also balance it by having NPCs only act this way because of a squad leader. That takes a good chunk of mental bandwidth for the GM tho.

There are nonmagical alternatives to runes.
The dwarf's battleforger feat and the weapon improviser archetype come to mind.

For game mechanics alone, this might make sense. But when we start talking about it in standard conversation English instead, then it stops making sense any more.

I get what you're saying but take another look at the OP. I was looking at interactions between feats and effects that have very specific wordings, that's a situation where being precise by the rules is a must.