Pennate's page

I've been wondering if it would possible to build a character that forms a self-contained coven independent of other PCs and NPCs. From what I can tell, the most effective way to achieve this goal would be to pick up multiple companions and give each the Coven-Touched feat, then take the form a changeling coven. However, the only way to give a companion a racial feat that I could find would be to build a Half-Orc Unchained Summoner with an Ancestor Eidolon; while the Ancestor subtype prohibits the eidolon from taking feats from its Summoner's race, the eidolon would also share the Orc Blood racial trait, which should technically allow it and the Summoner to take Racial Heritage (Changeling) and access Coven-Touched. I would prefer a solution that doesn't require borderline-abusive rules interpretations, though, and this still leaves the coven short one member. Is there any better, more widely applicable way to put a PC race's feats on a companion?

I haven't kept up with Starfinder since before it launched, but I was wondering if the physical details of some of the core races were ever definitively explained. To me, the art direction for these races seemed contradictory and confusing, as significant aspects of their descriptions were rendered inconsistently in promotional pieces.

-Ysoki: Ysoki were frequently depicted in the fashion of the traditional D&D / Pathfinder ratfolk, but they also appeared as humanoids with the body proportions of halflings and the oversized heads and tails of cartoonish mice. I believe both versions were shown at an approximately equal rate. Do we have any in-universe explanation for these physical differences? If not, which is the ysokis' canonical appearance?

-Vesk: Most pre-release art showed this race as a fairly standard lizardfolk-style creature. However, I distinctly remember one piece of art in a blog post featuring a bust of a male vesk that looked like a muscular human with pastel green skin and a darker, scaled, reptilian head. Has this drastic change in appearance appeared in any Starfinder releases since then, or was it just the work of a misguided artist?

-Shirren: As I recall, shirren displayed some sort of sexual trimorphism, yet all shirren in the pre-release art looked almost identical. Have we seen all three sexes together? Are they physically distinct, or did Paizo invoke the Sci-if trope of "humans being unable to distinguish between alien sexes?"

At 10th level, the Chameleon Adept archetype's Improved Shifting Companion ability grants the hunter's animal companion the ability to "use wild shape as a druid of half the hunter's level." Would this ability allow the hunter's companion to use feats, magic items, traits, or other such options that modify the wild shape ability or list said ability as a prerequisite, such as Aspect of the Beast, Druid's Vestment, or Beast of the Society; or would the fact that the the companion's wild shape comes from one of the hunter's abilities pose a problem?

You have the ability to perfectly emulate a human.

Prerequisite(s): Change shape ability, shapechanger subtype, must be able to change shape into a human or must have a true form that appears human.

Benefit(s): You count as both human and your race for the purpose of taking character options, such as archetypes, feats, spells, traits, and prestige classes. In addition, you count as human for all other effects whenever you would otherwise appear human. For instance, a +1 human bane arrow would deal additional damage to a kitsune with this feat while she was in her human form (as per change shape), but not in her true form. Likewise, such an arrow would deal additional damage to a skinwalker with this feat while she was in her true form, but would not in her bestial form (as per change shape).

Does the bold passage in the Human Guise feat refer only to transformation via the ability by the name of "Change Shape," or can a creature with the Change Shape SQ and the Shapechanger subtype meet the prerequisites for Human Guise using any Polymorph effect capable of transforming the user into a human, such as Alter Self, the Oni Sorcerer Bloodline's Altered Form ability, or the Metamorph Alchemist's Shapechanger ability?

I was theorycrafting a build for an upcoming game when I stumbled upon the Tatterdemalion archetype. The flavor fits the character concept remarkably well, but I have a question regarding the Dancing Strings ability:

A tatterdemalion adds animate rope to her class spell list and spells her familiar knows. She can control her clothing and cloth, rope, or woven fabric she wears in a manner otherwise identical to the prehensile hairUM hex.

This alters spells and replaces the hex gained at 1st level.

I notice that no duration is mentioned for the bolded portion. Should I assume that the Tatterdemalion is subject to the same time limits as the Prehensile Hair hex, or can the Witch use the ability at will? If the latter is true, this could be a tremendously good dip for natural attack builds, but I would lean towards the first interpretation. What are your thoughts?