The answer to Divine Guidance doesn't have to be a poem, though, so it doesn't really "force" your GM to write a poem.
Being that this thread is intended for humor (see OP), this minor point you bring forward is completely non-sensical, and here is why:
If I survive to 15th level, and train my Religion skill to Legendary, then pick up this Legendary feat, my GM would be remiss not to write poems when my character, with reasonable frequency, consults their lexicon of religious parables.
How could you not agree!?
Because that gets old fast. Also, it doesn't suit all deities.
Asmodeus doesn't write poems, he writes legislation.
Cayden may have a bawdy limerick here or there, but he "is not known to have taken the time to write a book or manual describing his divine teachings", so I assume whatever passes for his holy texts are drunken notes written on napkins.
Nethys? Scholarly textbooks.
Shelyn would probably use poems, though.
Also, because for most people, being forced to write poems on the spot is a chore, chores aren't fun, so if you demand your hints come in the form of poems, you're probably reducing the amount of fun at the table.
The answer to Divine Guidance doesn't have to be a poem, though, so it doesn't really "force" your GM to write a poem.
"We have found the mystic well, but what are we actually supposed to do with it now?"
"As the scripture of Cayden Cailean says: Chug, chug, chug, chug!"
Confess is language-dependent, so you can't ask a question in Druidic and have it work unless the target speaks Druidic.
If you somehow manage to cast the spell as an arcane spell (it's not on any arcane lists), and are able to speak draconic with the Ancient Draconic feat, then you could in fact demand answers in draconic even if the target doesn't speak draconic.
Of course, it's probably easier to just use it on a target that can understand you but can't talk, like a druid in Wild Shape, or someone who is paralysed.
There is a requirement of 'a piece of the creature whose form you plan to assume' for the material component.
Heh. I just imagined a wizard looking through the local market, buying up random parts from creatures they've never seen, just to see if they can transform into them.
As… everyone so far said,
Tenacious Spell only interacts with Dispelling and Dismissing, both of which are rule terms with explicit meanings, and Vanish/Invisibility ending on an attack is neither of those, therefore Tenacious Spell doesn't affect it.
The limits of what a deity can do are straight up GM fiat. There are no rules.
That being said, Planar Adventures gave most relevant deities a "Divine Gift" - a blessing that's supposed to be roughly equal to the spell Miracle, which is supposed to be the "standard issue"common least unusual blessing if you've gotten the deity's favour.
You can find the Divine Gifts on their respective deity's page.
That being said, the rules don't expect characters beyond level 20, so I'd rule that out, and time travel is a mess, so I wouldn't suggest that either. Otherwise, sure, if it fits the plot, why not?
A Headband gives you one "full skill" (that is, the maximum amount of ranks you can have in that skill, generally equal to your character level) per +2 Int bonus after having been worn for 24 hourd. Which skills these are are fixed for each headband.
If you increase in level, the granted ranks increase accordingly.
If a level 20 character wears such a headband for a day, they'll get 20 ranks in the skills that the headband grants (not stacking with existing skill points).
If they hand their headband over to their level 1 friend, said friend would only get 1 rank, in the same skills, and still not stacking with existing skill ranks.
A headband grants no other skill ranks, be it at level up or whatever, except those it grants as part of their "full skills".
First off, while there are few outsiders with non-standard alignments, they do in fact exist. One of the Planar books had a city in the maelstrom that was essentially populated with such outsiders - nongood angels, chaotic devils, anyone else.
That being said, the only times the process is described in detail would be Arueshalae from Wrath of the Righteous, but that one got kickstarted by divine interference.
Also, even minor devils are unaffected by age - that imp might be incredibly old, and redemption might take more than a human lifetime.
When it comes down to it - if it's just about turning the imp away from evil, then the most efficient way might be appeal to its lawfulness. Offer it a deal to keep it around, and then try to turn the "tempted to evil by a devil" story on its head.
Actually, even normal familiars are not of type animal.
They are Magical Beasts.
Many Pathfinder authors seem to have forgotten this, and there's plenty of examples of spells, feats, and and class features which don't technically work (or work well) because of this.
At least regarding spells, the second part of the Share Spells ability is the trick:
"Share Spells: The wizard may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch spell) instead of on himself. A wizard may cast spells on his familiar even if the spells do not normally affect creatures of the familiar's type (magical beast)."
As written, a familiar's master can essentially ignore all type restrictions when casting spells on their familiar.
Doesn't help with feats and class abilities, though.
Wuxia heroes will want a long talk with this person...
No, seriously, in wuxia stories, it's the warriors who have a way easier (and safer) path for ascending to a higher plane of existence, not the caster equivalents. Quite the striking opposite of European chivalric stories, really.
Also, European myths tend to portrait immortality as an impossible goal for the vain and foolish… when in wuxia stories, "eternal youth" sometimes seems like the minimum "you must be this tall to ride" test, and the Monkey King acquired immortality several times over before the main part of the journey to the west even really started.
I was kind of peeved that psychic surgery could only restore memories, not remove them. Amputations are surgeries, too!
Also, Damnation of Memory doesn't spare the targeted creature, which may leave it remembering its own life as a bystander, attributing all of its own actions to others. However, it doesn't actually make it forget anything that happened, just how it happened.
It's my understanding you can make Perception/Sense Motive checks to see if someone is possessed or mind controlled, […]
Yes and no. It is certainly possible (PF1: SG 25 for general Enchantment, SG 15 for Dominate), but generally not feasible in combat ("Trying to gain information with Sense Motive generally takes at least 1 minute, […]")
But yeah, a GM should give some hints if that's what they're going for. A GM who would throw out-of-context Dominated good guys at you is just as likely to have an evil spellcaster Veil prisoners or another group of heros as hobgoblins, drow, or whatever your group is otherwise fighting.
So, you either trust your GM to not throw morality questions at your characters out of context, or you look for another group.
Basically, imagine that the wizard's familiar had eaten the wizard's spellbook, but the wizard were somehow still able to add spells to and prepare spells from it.
There aren't really any special interactions between the "familiar" part and the "spellbook" part of the witch's familiar, and each separately works mostly like the wizard's.
Yeah, but if the master can't speak, that isn't helping much. Sure, there'd be Empathic Link for some basic communication, but proper foxshape-to-parrot communication would only come online at level 5 with Speak with Master.
As mentioned, only summoned outsiders can shrug off death, any outsider arriving by other means dies properly when killed.
(Demon Lords have a fallback in that the Abyss gives them a 1/year respawn, but that's not something any fiend gets.)
Which is why, yes, teleporting away is pretty common. Victory is short-lived, death is forever, and an immortal creature has so much more life to lose than a mortal.
That being said, there could be a lot of reasons for individual fiends to stay and fight to the death.
Mariliths are literally made out of pride - they might not be able to convince that someone might defeat them. A devil might be, as mentioned, under orders from above. (Or would that be "below?")
Or there may be magical bindings in place - either on the fiend, or on the battlefield.
If you really want to kill an outsider, you better bring Dimensional Anchor, Dimensional Lock, or similar spells with you. It also helps against teleportation-happy spellcasters, so it's a good trick anyway.
Off-topic note about Oni possession:
lemeres wrote:
Oni are spirits that possess humanoid bodies, so they can potentially come back to power fairly quickly.
"Success: The target is on the right path to the exit. If the target
was already on the right path, it escapes the maze and the
spell ends."
So a Success only gets you out of the maze if you have not strayed from the "right path" via a prior Critical Failure result. If you have an uncanceled Critical Failure result, all a Success does is cancel it.
Again, you just made those criteria up. The original criteria (singular) was:
"Basically, when it comes to "exceptional" redemption - demons, demon lords, ancient powerful wizards - it's only been "pretty ones" so far. "
Alderpash is an acient powerful wizard. Xanderghul certainly is as well, even moreso than Alderpash.
Hence, criteria met. Twice to three times with Sorshen, Arueshalae and Nocticula. The original argument was that only hot female evil gets redeemed. This has been conclusively proven wrong by now.
I will admit, though, that those three female redemptions are canon, while Alderpash and Xanderghul are optional. That could have been handled better, IMO.
All criteria are made up, the question is at what point they were made up.
My original "only pretty ones get redeemed" was exaggeration for dramatic effect, but I don't think anyone was surprised by that. However, since I'm both (occasionally) argumentative and (often) bad at actually arguing (while also still trying to fit jokes in), I didn't manage to get the actual problem phrased properly: That "pretty" redemption gets all the screen time.
Basically, when it comes to "exceptional" redemption - demons, demon lords, ancient powerful wizards - it's only been "pretty ones" so far.
Sure, you could redeem any low-level humanoid schmuck that passes you on the way, but that's because "humanoids can be redeemed" is the basic assumption. When it comes to "breaking the rules" and redeeming ancient evils, they've all been the lustful kind of evil so far.
Especially Alderpash, right?
- Not mythic of any kind,
- lost his Runelord title long ago, already had two successors,
- non-evil lich doesn't have the same impact as non-evil demon (or demon lord)
- is his redemption actually canon, or just optional? Sorshen's and Nocticula's redemptions aren't just official canon, they also have a huge impact on the world, one in the form of a new country, the other in the form of a new deity, placing both front and center.
Alderpash is an ancient evil who is not at all lustful. That was the criteria, not the ones you just made up.
Also: Xanderghul (who fits your criteria) and Belimarius, although the latter really doesn't redeem, as already pointed out a bit above in my post.
Okay, since "exceptional" redemption (and "powerful" wizard - Sorshen is wizard 20, mythic 10. Alderpash isn't even Wizard 20, lich or not. Xanderghul originally fitted, fair enough, though at his point of (possible) redemption he was weakened, and anyway, the Runelord of Pride, having created a cult to himself under the alias of "the Peacock Spirit", would probably be insulted if you didn't consider him "pretty".) is obviously to fuzzy, how about this fixed line:
Any canon redemption important enough to change the setting as a whole, affecting even those who haven't played the respective APs.
That excludes Arueshalae (outside of "Wait, demons can be redeemed?", but that was a deus ex machina with Desna giving her a starting push, and when gods get involved, anything is possible - and anyway, it is dwarved by Nocticula's redemption), but Sorshen changes the map and a good part of the setting, and Nocticula changes the world as a whole.
Basically, clerics have shifted from "open to essentially anyone not outright opposed to the god" to "actual exemplars of their faith".
The gods can (Probably? No rules for it yet, but the edition is new.) still hand out some blessings and help to anyone who seems cool in their eyes, but separating "the god thinks some stuff you do is kinda nice, have a gold star" from "you are a leader of the god's faith" is something I rather like about the new edition.
Do you have 3,500 gold to spare?
The Ring of Eloquence not only teaches you four languages, but the wearer also "retains the ability to speak in these languages even if she assumes a form normally unable to do so (such as a druid wild shaped into a wolf)."
Might still be a bit out of reach at level 2, but seems like a good idea in the long run.
- lost his Runelord title long ago, already had two successors,
- non-evil lich doesn't have the same impact as non-evil demon (or demon lord)
- is his redemption actually canon, or just optional? Sorshen's and Nocticula's redemptions aren't just official canon, they also have a huge impact on the world, one in the form of a new country, the other in the form of a new deity, placing both front and center.
Basically, when it comes to "exceptional" redemption - demons, demon lords, ancient powerful wizards - it's only been "pretty ones" so far.
Sure, you could redeem any low-level humanoid schmuck that passes you on the way, but that's because "humanoids can be redeemed" is the basic assumption. When it comes to "breaking the rules" and redeeming ancient evils, they've all been the lustful kind of evil so far.
On the other hand, with some luck, we might get to redeem a gold dragon soon, so there's that?
They call themselves Frostburn Goblins (under the assumption that "Frostburn" means "burning up the frost"), and their motto is "Elves can't freeze you if you're on fire!"
Since none of them were frozen by an elf so far, and the elves are clearly distressed by the sight of burning goblins, instantly start trying to put them out, and are generally wary the moment the goblins start playing with fire, the goblins must be doing something right!
This is tricky. On one hand, wysps are explicitly mentioned in the Greater Elemental Whispers talent, and it states "If your improved familiar dies, you can still contact its voice in your mind and gain the Alertness feat, but you can’t cause it to manifest. If you pay the usual costs for replacing a familiar, you manifest a new form for your elemental friend."
On the other hand, the Living Battery ability isn't exactly a standard death, and explicitly rules out resurrection.
Specific may trump general, but it's not clear which is which here.
I'd allow it to be restored as usual. It's not like there's a mechanical difference between giving the old one a new body or getting a completely new one.
A Cloaker can be worn as a cloak that... eats you?
Although, now I'm thinking that taxidermied cloaker is a fashion statement.
They're intelligent, non-evil, (not immune to mind-affecting,) and their description states that "stories linger of cloakers that ally with other creatures, hitching a ride on their backs and aiding in their ally’s protection for their own inscrutable reasons."
They can use their Moan ability to help their "wearer", they just have to use their Moan abilities outside of fights until the wearer succeeds at the saving throw and becomes immune for 24 hours.
Yeah, a lot of the stuff hasn't been updated in years.
I'm kind of hoping that now, with no new updates, there could be a resurgence on guides on the "complete" system, but I'm not expecting it, since now there's also PF2 to write guides for, dividing the attention.
Snowcaster elves apparently enjoy a reputation as "nomadic demon-worshipping cannibals who can freeze a man's blood with a glance".
And by "enjoy", I mean "as long as it keeps annoying visitors away, sure, let's keep that story around." - they're actually predominantly Chaotic Good.
Seems like prime "goblins heard stories, thought it sounded awesome, now the snowcasters can't get rid of them" material.
The descriptive section of Charm on the spell list specifies that it only works on humanoids. The playtest version had a heighten option at 4th to affect any creature. I suspect this may require a clarification given the contradictory information.
Ah, that was why I was originally looking for a "Charm Monster" spell/upgrade.
Anyway, actual writeup trumps table summary, so until specified otherwise, Charm charms anything.
I'm… slightly annoyed that it's always the pretty ones that get redeemed.
Arueshalae, Nocticula, and now Sorshen all have that in common. A succubus, the succubus queen, and the runelord of lust.
It's time that Zon-Kuthon gets turned back into Dou-Bral. Preferably while keeping his scars.
I think Zon-Kuthon and Dou-Bral should become separated beings; Dou-Bral should seek redemption...with some scars. I want Thron back too.
Continued Zon-Kuthon discussion:
I could see whatever originally corrupted him staying around and choosing a new scion (in fact, that's pretty much what I'd expect), which, I guess, would be kind of similar - but the "Redeemer Queen" (née Succubus Queen) didn't get split either, so apparently that's not standard.
Apart from "The outside influence that caused Zon-Kuthon to exist still exists, so there will be a new Zon-Kuthon" (which wouldn't really be a split, more like an inheritor), I don't see a reason for a "split".
Not if they choose them as signature spells. Those can be heightened (or lowered down to their minimum level, if they were learned as a higher level spell) at will, and sorcerers get one signature spell per spell level they can cast, so it's not that much opportunity cost.
So, a sorcerer specialising in them gets tons of options.
Type Goblin Shortstack into the internet with the safe search off.
I've played Corruption of Champions, so "sexy goblin" isn't really strange to me. It just doesn't mesh all that well with Paizo's depiction of goblins. "[…] they often bear scars, boils, and rashes. […] Their jagged teeth fall out and regrow constantly, […]. Mutations are also more common among goblins than other peoples, […]"
(…but really, the minute looking that up was already to much effort for a cheap "Goblins are ugly and Calistrians are seductive" joke.
Goblins can easily worship her for general hedonism and revenge.)
If you look in the spells chapter of Inner Sea Gods you'll find a goblin priestess of Calistria.
…I'm not sure if they're a priest or -ess (or just a witch/summoner following Calistria), but they're indeed shown using a spell primarily associated with Calistria, and I assume the artists/editors would priorize the "spells as used by members of the faith" over the "but other people can use them, too" part.
So yeah, prepare for seductively winking goblins.
And regarding not being a kitsune…:
Definitely NOT a certain Kobold wrote:
>.>.... are you sure you'r not a kitsune?
I was originally planned to have Human Guise to prove it, but my build plan changed, and now I will have to rely on Fool Magic, which is not as throughout or as "automatic", but in turn allows me to be all kinds of creatures that definitely aren't kitsune.
People speaking the names of the spells is for reader's convenience, to make it clear to the reader what spell is being cast. The actual verbal components of spells aren't described anywhere.
Order of the Stick is funny, but in no way relevant to the rules, so unless you have a lenient GM that decides to throw spell identification out, no.
Taking an actual look at the actual writeup of the ring, the story is even shorter:
The ring heals 1 point of damage per round, makes you immune to bleed damage, and restores body parts as the "Regenerate" spell.
That's all it says, so that's all it does.
The Pearly White Spindle Ioun Stone, meanwhile, does say that you "regenerate" health, but still does not say that you get the full Regeneration monster ability - only that you regain health.
Personally, I'd still go with sorcerer because they can pull "scary or poisonous gas" off with spells with less investment while being better at it.
That being said… Alchemists have some neat toys:
Aromatic Extract (Heroes of the High Court pg. 10): The alchemist creates an inhaled version of an extract that is shared among multiple creatures. He must decide that an extract is an aromatic extract when he makes it. When used, the extract grants its benefit to all creatures within a 10-foot spread of the extract. The aromatic extract is treated as having the minimum caster level required for the original extract. An aromatic extract expends one of the alchemist’s daily extracts as if it were an extract 2 levels higher. This discovery can be applied only to extracts with a range of touch. An alchemist must be at least 10th level and must have the infusion discovery before selecting this discovery.
Poison Conversion (Ultimate Combat pg. 24): By spending 1 minute, the alchemist can convert 1 dose of poison from its current type (contact, ingested, inhaled, or injury) to another type. For example, the alchemist can convert a dose of Small centipede poison (an injury poison) to an inhaled poison. This process requires an alchemy lab. An alchemist must be at least 6th level before selecting this discovery.
That last one is relevant because of some special rules for inhaled poisons: "Unlike other afflictions, multiple doses of the same poison stack. Poisons delivered by injury and contact cannot inflict more than one dose of poison at a time, but inhaled and ingested poisons can inflict multiple doses at once. Each additional dose extends the total duration of the poison (as noted under frequency) by half its total duration. In addition, each dose of poison increases the DC to resist the poison by +2. This increase is cumulative."
…which is one of the few ways to keep poison DCs relevant.
Also, attaching a spell only works "If you have the spell rune domain power," which you'd need to get from the Rune domain.
So, either you need two domains (Law (Legislation) and Rune) to pull it off, or you need to take Rune (Legislation) instead of Law (Legislation).
But as usual, the mundane options are severely restricted, which is why I'd definitely go Caster. Poisons aren't useful, and drug rules are a dangerous mess.
As an aside, this alchemist archetype is probably… mostly useless, but might still be thematically appropriate?
Just my thoughts - Rather than dip, maybe talk to your GM about getting a magic item that duplicates the spell, like a mask or a set of beard ornaments, or something.
Little wires hung over the ears, from which the fakemagic beard hangs while the item is active.
Aasimars and Tieflings in the Bestiary only have the humanoid trait so it wouldn't have been an issue anyway.
Fair enough, hadn't noticed that. It's still nice that now you're only limited by level difference and immunities, not by creature type.
And while I'm at it, to add to the Illusory Disguise thing
Previous post on Illusory Disguise:
Porridge wrote:
Illusory Disguise: The first level version of this spell is pretty much like Disguise Self (albeit with a fixed 1 hour duration instead of a 10 min/level duration). But the second level version allows you to disguise your voice and scent as well, and the third level version also allows you to disguise yourself as specific individuals!
PF1 worked really hard to make it really difficult to disguise yourself as a specific individual, because (I think) they worried about the narrative power this might give the players. I'm really glad they changed their mind about this in PF2. Allowing players to disguise themselves as specific individuals enables another great world-building narrative device, that of the magical imposter taking the place as someone else. And it allows the players to get up to the kinds of crazy hijinks that a lot of players really enjoy. Similar remarks apply to:
Veil: The base version of this spell is now only 4th level (instead of 6th), and disguises up to 10 creatures for an hour. But the fifth level version allows you to disguise their voices and scents as well, and the seventh level version allows you to disguise them as specific individuals!
Now the entire party can disguise themselves as the duke, his wife, and their two most loyal servants in order to convince the mayor to stop the execution, or disguise themselves as the four high-ranking members of Norgorber's cult who they've tracked down, in order to...
It now (again? I think that was how 3.5 handled it) allows you to Disguise yourself as anything with the same "body shape" - not as PF1, "creature of the same Type, but possibly different Subtype".
On the upside, many undead are immediately within reach, as are various constructs, and pretty much anything else that has a mostly humanoid shape and roughly the same size.
It's more of a nerf for "exotic" bodyshapes, since now an aberration can't use Disguise Self to pretend to be any other kind of aberration.
Also, wings might be an issue - I'd be curious if you could make illusory wings (opening up a lot of disguises) or hide wings (allowing Strix to pretend to be another type of humanoid).
I do agree that our redeemed succubi (it's actually both Arueshalae and Nocticula) being dressed less provocatively has unfortunate implications that should be addressed.
Side Rant:
I'm… slightly annoyed that it's always the pretty ones that get redeemed.
Arueshalae, Nocticula, and now Sorshen all have that in common. A succubus, the succubus queen, and the runelord of lust.
It's time that Zon-Kuthon gets turned back into Dou-Bral. Preferably while keeping his scars.
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