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Universal Monster Rules entry for the Grab (Ex) ability states "The creature has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use the part of its body it used in the grab to hold the opponent. If it chooses to do the latter, it takes a –20 penalty on its CMB check to make and maintain the grapple, but does not gain the grappled condition itself. A successful hold does not deal any extra damage unless the creature also has the constrict special attack. If the creature does not constrict, each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals the damage indicated for the attack that established the hold."

We typically steer away from creatures with grab, since it can quickly become.... inconvenient... but I had a question regarding this ability. Is the latter part of this quote referencing "a successful hold" regarding when the creature takes a -20 on the check and succeeds in grappling the foe with *only* that body part, or does it mean in either way the creature chose to make the grapple check and succeeds? If it's just with the one body part, then I assume the next sentence means that that one body part does automatic damage, and every other action the creature has plays out normally.

If it's referring to either way, how do you interpret the next sentence regarding automatic damage? Does that mean that the creature controlling the grapple can only do damage, and not choose to move or pin, or does it mean that the damage is automatic after the check, and then the grappling creature can then choose between damage/move/pin?

I think those extra sentences refer to *only* taking the -20 check and succeeding on grappling with only that body part, and that the phrase "if it chooses to do the latter" continues through the rest of the entry, but I may be wrong. Just looking for clarification before some grabby creatures come into play.

The Warden Ranger Archetype does not ever replace or otherwise alter the Ranger Favored Terrain ability, but at level 1 gains the ability "Master of Terrain" which grants him his first favored terrain at 1 and a second at level 3. Does that stack with the Favored Terrain ability that he also get as a ranger at level 3? So does this mean that at level 3 this class is meant to have 3 favored terrains already, meaning more than likely a +6 in one of those terrains and +2 in the others?

This seems... Strong. Especially once I grab boots of friendly terrain and start running Horizon Walker at level 7...

If I'm playing a Tengu that opted claws instead of swordtrained, giving me a bite and 2 claw nat attacks, do I maintain those when I change to the "resembling a raven" form from the Raven Form feat, since that form would still allow me claw and bite attacks? Do I only maintain the bite attack? If I maintain the bite attack do I just make the necessary size increase to damage dice of my current bite attack, or do I use the base damage for a bite attack on a large creature from the natural attack template?

Does a dancing weapon do the damage that the creature who loosed it would do with it, or does it only do damage without any modifiers?

For instance, to keep it simple, let’s say I have a rapier and fencing grace with 18 dex. With a +1 dancing rapier, I do 1d8+1enhancement+4Dex+Xfromabunchofotherstuf

When I loose the weapon, does it only do 1d8+1enhancement, or does it do the same damage I would do if I were wielding it?

If it only does base damage that seems pretty Underwhelming for a +4 enhancement

When you use Disarming Strike do you get to add any modifiers you have to the disarm combat maneuver for the purpose of just the disarm, or do you simply use the result of the confirmation roll without any disarm-related modifiers?

If a swashbuckler with a level in Swordlord (allowing a dueling sword to benefit from Swashbuckler abilities via Dueling Mastery) uses his dueling sword in two hands, even though it's a one-handed weapon does it stop counting as a one-handed weapon for the purpose of Swashbuckler's precise strike and regaining panache points on crits/kills?

For the Horizon Walker’s terrain dominance ability, he gains favored enemy vs creatures native to his dominated terrain. Is there any sort of comprehensive list of what is considered an Urban terrain? Obviously a large city is, but is a small settlement of 500 people? What about a fort in the wilderness? What about a campsite? What about a witch’s cabin in the woods?

Is there any official word on what is considered an Urban environment for the purpose of favored terrain/terrain dominance favored enemy?

Just wanting to verify whether you can or cannot use Stunning Fist during an AoO

So per the Stealth entry, the action for stealth is "Usually none. Normally, you make a Stealth check as part of movement, so it doesn’t take a separate action. However, using Stealth immediately after a ranged attack (see Sniping, above) is a move action."

Could a halfling with Human Shadow (ability to use creature's larger than himself to stealth without penalty), attack an enemy and immediately use stealth again against *other* enemies, if he can use the enemy he hit to break line of sight/use as concealment per the Human Shadow alternate trait. When he does this, is it no action/free action, or do I need to reserve a move action to try and end my turn by stealthing?

Part of Human Shadow Trait: "These halflings can use Stealth to hide behind creatures at least one size category larger than themselves, without any other source of concealment or cover."

So I know that as long as you are a 5th level monk or have weapon training (monk) class feature, that at least the original Ascetic Style style feat works with the Shuriken (meaning you can use it with stunning fist, perfect strike, and if you can use multiple style feats at once, with those styles that have Imp Unarmed Strike as a prereq). My questions is if Shuriken also work with Ascetic form and Ascetic strike, which do *not* have IUS as a prerequisite and also does not have the line from Ascetic Style stating the "as long as you are a 5th level monk or character with the weapon training (monk) class feature you can use Ascetic style with any monk weapon..."

So do Ascetic Form and Ascetic Strike get grandfathered into the phrase from Ascetic Style, or is there no point in continuing down the Ascetic Style chain after getting the first one?

To clarify: the reason shuriken is unique compared to other monk weapons is that the feats specify a MELEE weapon in the initial wording, but if you are monk 5 or weapon training (monk), you can use any monk weapon for the initial Ascetic Style feat

When I make a full attack (not flurry of blows) with unarmed strikes, can I also make claw attacks, assuming I did not use my fists/hands to deliver my unarmed strikes?

For example, let's say I'm a 6th level Tengu fighter and I have bite, 2 claws.

Could I make a TWF full attack with unarmed strikes (Kicks, headbuts, elbows, knees, booty bumps, etc etc...) 4+STR/4+STR/STR-1 and also my natural attacks at 1+STR/1+STR/1+STR?

Also in this regard, since I know I could bite regardless, do your natural attacks take any penalty from TWF? TWF penalty states that "your regular attack or attacks with your primary hand and... the attack with your off hand."

I'm just making sure there's no other official word/FAQ that states that *any* additional attacks you make on your turn take the -2 penalty.

Pretty straightforward, since a double-crossbow shoots 2 bolts as an attack, when I use Vital Strike to attack with it, does the weapon double the damage of *both* bolts, or only one? Vital strike is not precision damage, so I'm not seeing anything within Double-Crossbow entry or Vital Strike entry that would prohibit this, just wondering if there is something else out there?

Double Crossbow: "Due to its size and weight, you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll if you’re proficient with it, or –8 if you’re not. If the attack hits, the target takes damage from both bolts. Critical hits, sneak attack damage, and other precision-based damage apply to only the first bolt.

Reloading one bolt is a standard action; the Rapid Reload feat reduces this to a move action. Crossbow Mastery allows you to reload both bolts as a move action.

A double crossbow fires crossbow bolts."

Vital Strike: "When you use the attack action, you can make one attack at your highest base attack bonus that deals additional damage. Roll the weapon’s damage dice for the attack twice and add the results together before adding bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), precision-based damage, and other damage bonuses. These extra weapon damage dice are not multiplied on a critical hit, but are added to the total."

Is there any official word on if Boots of Friendly Terrain work for a horizon walker without levels of ranger?

Like the title says, how do multiple instances of damage while a caster is trying to cast effect his concentration check dc(s)?

For instance, if two players readied an action to attack him if he started casting, they both hit, they both did 10 damage. Is the dc of the concentration check at 30 + spell level, or does the caster make 2 separate checks at 20 + spell level (Is the damage from all sources added, or is one concentration check per instance of damage?)?

Looking for RAW hopefully on this.

The combat feat Overwatch Vortex states: "as a full-round action you can ready up to four ranged attacks, each with its own triggering event. You take a –2 penalty on attack rolls made with these readied actions."

I just wanted to double check that all of these attacks are made at Full BAB?

I assume it is since readied actions don't grant iterative attacks and most bonus attacks you can get are typically taken at full BAB (outside of outliers such as fortuitous weapon enchantment).

Just wanting to make sure I'm not missing anything on this.

D20pfsrd entry shows it as rounds/level duration... It seems like that’s a pretty ridiculously strong spell if it’s for rounds/level. Do affected enemies get new saves every round? Or is it essentially just game over if they fail once? Maybe it just got copied wrong and isn’t supposed to be rounds/level?

The Swashbuckler Charmed Life Ability states:

"... Three times per day as an immediate action before attempting a saving throw, she can add her Charisma modifier to the result of the save. She must choose to do this before the roll is made..."

Does the Swashbuckler have to be aware of the source of the saving throw to use this? IE, walking into an area with an aura that requires a save vs watching a dragon about to use its breath attack. Obviously one of those is easier to tell is about to happen, but can a Swashbuckler *always* use this ability as long as he has hit swift/immediate action available still, or is there any other restriction on this?

I was hoping to get some insight on how people have handled leadership roles in their campaigns... Obviously it's still a party-related thing, but have most groups allowed the ruler to have actual, absolute decision making on all regards (like an actual leader of a kingdom would), or have you done more delegation? It makes sense to me to have it be that each leadership position *should* have exclusive control of how they handle their role, and the ruler handles any unfilled roles (by ordering NPC decisions) and obviously his own ruler decisions, as well as veto any *really* extreme measures taken by other leadership roles.

However, our group started out kind of humoring the ruler to do whatever, just because it was good fun... But it has more turned into a railroading of whatever his decision is goes, and disagreeing with him means he'll just fire you and have someone else fill the role (which is how it would go IRL, but obviously isn't fun for any person disagreeing with the ruler). He also exclusively decides what to do with the money, since an NPC is the treasurer. He's stepped into *every* sentencing/punishment scenario (since obviously only the high-profile cases are ever going to be RP'd), but this essentially makes the royal enforcer, marshall, or warden a non-role outside of the numbers it adds. We haven't gone to war yet, but he and the general have disagreed in every other council vote we've had, so I'm sure there will be overruling on army/war decisions. We've had a character who's made a couple bad rolls on things get removed from his role twice and put into a new role. And because the ruler has a different outlook and alignment than the other characters, there is always at least some disagreement on how to handle scenarios, but obviously he's overruled any decision that isn't his own. We also allow him to keep all the good items, because the ruler *should* be getting the most expensive items (although obviously he should be being gracious in the gifting of items to subordinates)... But so far he has maintained the 4? maybe 5 most expensive magic items received so far outside of a spellbook he couldn't use, and we've gone along with it because I mean, yeah, we need to keep him alive as our #1 priority and these will all help... There hasn't been any outward contention to this point yet, because he really isn't doing it maliciously, we're all just still on board with the humoring him aspect of it, but it is starting to get a little old now that we're getting later in the campaign and leadership roles and decisions are actually starting to have some impact...

Again, i'm just trying to get an idea of how you guys have handled leadership roles, and if anyone has been able to turn around the railroad-y aspect of any ruler characters if it's gotten that far, whether that player was tyrannical or whether it was more accidental.

Thank you!

EDIT: And yes, he and I are the two who disagree the most, simply because we're quite different people and both hold to our opinions pretty unwaveringly. But in a group function we've often found compromises or taken turns backing off and letting the other do their thing. However, now that we've established the kingdom and he's the "ruler," it's essentially impossible to disagree with him or even compromise on disagreements.

The Haft Bash weapon trick from the Polearm Tricks section of the feat Weapon Tricks specifies that:

"Any qualities such as trip) or special abilities such as keen) of the weapon that a club could not have, and any feats or abilities you can’t apply to a club, don’t apply to attacks with the weapon during this time."

Does this mean any feats that *I* personally can't apply to a club, or any feats that *cannot* be applied to a club universally? For instance, does weapon focus/weapon specialization for my polearm still apply to attacks made this way even though I don't personally have "weapon focus: club"?