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Considering playing an Astrazoan for an upcoming AP but having some trouble figuring out whether I'll be able to use their racial abilities Change Shape and Compression.

https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2v2hj?True-seeing-vs-astrazoan-change-form#3
In this thread ^, the designer of the Astrazoan explains that it is a non-magical Extraordinary ability, so Armor and clothes I wear will not change to fit my new form. I assume then that this goes for the compression racial ability too, I would have to take off my armor and clothes and equipment, compress through somewhere, and then be just a nude astrazoan with no gear on the other end.

Is there an armor upgrade or a magical item that allows my equipment to change with me when I use their change shape ability? Or will I have to;

1) Take my armor and clothes off,

2) Change Shape

3) Ask the party engineer to sit down and resize my armor (does this take as long as crafting armor? i.e. four hours?) and all of my equipment.

4) Put all my newly changed gear back on.

5) Repeat when changing again.

The feat dispelling strike: http://www.aonsrd.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Dispelling%20Strike

Allows you to cast dispel magic on an adjacent target, does this mean that it's impossible to use on enemies since casting a spell provokes, and can only be used on allies?

They've burnt through their Pharasma's blessings to protect them from death, the steward has already turned up (twice) to save them from death that I'm running out of ideas and continuing to save their bacon is becoming cheap.

The AP works on the basis that the party has survived long enough to have given themselves divine gifts, have been told of visions of themselves in the future etc. So how many times have you had to deus ex machina to intervene and keep them alive? And how have your players reacted to it?

My party is currently in such an absolutely awful situation thanks to banging their heads against the wall that is Xanderghul multiple times. We've already had to do one planar rescue mission because of his prismatic sprays and now that they've fought him a second time we've ended up with:

One a statue and 3 on different planes with no means to return themselves, one of which will die in like 8 rounds (positive energy plane). How can I fix this without it being incredibly unsatisfying? I don't even know if the Steward can turn up this time as her Discern Location spell takes 10 minutes to cast..

For reference:

https://www.aonsrd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Baleful%20Polymorph&F amily=Baleful%20Polymorph

&

https://www.aonsrd.com/UniversalMonsterRules.aspx?ItemName=Construct%20Immu nities

Baleful Polymorph really seems like something that shouldn't work on robots. Constructs are immune to anything requiring a fortitude save, but this transmutation spell requires a will save instead. It's also not mind-affecting... so I can turn a robot into a dog?

Hi all, starting an Adventure Path next week and one player has Blindsight (Electricity) from their race (Dirindi). Looking for a little help on exactly how to run this.

Some examples of different levels of 'electricity', all of which are in complete darkness;

A) A space-dog wandering around that's wearing an electric collar: Does the player see an ambient ring of electricity hovering 1ft off the ground with no other context?

B) A straight-up naked human: Technically, the elements in our body have a specific electrical charge and most of our cells use these elements to generate electricity. Does the player see in absolute atomic clarity every facet of the naked human?

C) A Vlaka rubbing a balloon against its fur: Does the player see pulsing static electricity outlining a certain part of said dog-person?

The only races I could find with blindsight are quite limited;

Khizars can only see living or moving things within 30ft and are blind aside from that.

Kalo get sound, which wont work in vacuums and I'm not sure how much exact detail of a creature you get with that.

Selamid's get vibration but they don't appear to have actual eyes.

Vlaka that are blind get scent & hearing (not sure how that differs from a kalo's "sound") but are also otherwise blind.

Near Space added some lovely new info on the Ghoran Race and their homeworld, one such addition was the alternate racial option for 'Willower' Ghorans.

Normally Ghoran's have -2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma and either +2 Dex or +2 Con depending on whether they're a 'Sapling' or 'Oakling'. The new option though for 'Willowers' says that they "have an ability score adjustment of +2 Intelligence."

What does that mean? What, if anything is being replaced? Do Willower Ghorans;

A) Only have a +2 to intelligence and no other ability modifiers?

B) Have a +2 Int, -2 Int, +2 Cha & either +2 Dex or Con?

C) Have a +2 Int, +2 Cha & either +2 Dex or Con?

D) Have a +2 Int & either +2 Dex or Con?

E) Have a -2 Int, +2 Cha, +2 Int?

F) Have a +2 Int and +2 Cha?

To me it reads that there are now 3 options; Sapling, Oakling or Willower. So it's either +2 Dex, +2 con or +2 Int. However that means you've got -2 Int, +2 Cha and +2 Int.

Please help.

Spoliers for the harrowing module below!

So a player just died in the Harrowing and as I understand it, their souls are trapped in this dimension and unable to pass on to be judged. Instead they get stuck in the Demon's Fen.

The real problem here is, they have no means of resurrection in the party.

Anyone got any ideas on how to get the player back for the rest of the module? What happens if they go to the Demon's Fen and fish out his soul and just.. push it into his body?

The Yasakaja from AA3 is a large creature, but it also states that it's space is 5ft in the statblock.

Which is true?

Wanting to start this up soon and I'm loathe to introduce a GMPC (particularly because the role they don't have is a face so I don't want to a lot of 'me convincing myself of things' with diplomacy).

Anyone who hass ran this or played this got any thoughts on how a 3 player group would handle this AP? Party makeup so far is melee one Mechanic with shooty drone, one melee Vanguard with a melee creature companion and possibly an operative.

As title, is there anything in the AP that will make this an invalid option?

Our group is finally finishing up the adventure path we've been playing since Starfinder initially launched (took a lot of breaks).

Since then, a ton of new items have arrived with all the new books so my party really hated the fact that you couldn't actually go shopping in that adventure path after like level 4. Credits kept dropping as loot for some reason but there was no opportunity to buy all the new stuff like shields or solarian crystals etc.

So my question is, before I get too deep in preparing Dawn of Flame, does this AP have a similar issue?

So the Runewarded Gauntlets are CL20 and the party get them incredibly early.

One of my players is going for the Shikigami Style feats and will get the Shikigami Manipulation feat at level 5 and I know for a fact that he'll want to use these gloves to slap people. A player having a +5 weapon seems a little crazy at level 5.

If I make Baraket active instead of dormant, thus meaning the gauntlets will be needed to be used, then someone else will have a +5, Spell Storing, Speed weapon.

If I throw something else at them like some other sentient, cursed weapon, then that feels like it would cheapen Baraket and the point of the Gauntlets.

Anyone got any ideas for balancing? This shikigami brawler already almost one-shot KO's every enemy when he hits, now he'll practically never miss and be able to tackle things waay above his CR from level 5 all the way up to 20. (Or whatever point the gauntlets actually become useful)

The Hangman Vigilante archetype allows me to use a noose as a whip, as a net and to grapple.

So if I grapple someone with a whip from 15ft away, do I gain the grappled condition? Meaning neither the target nor I can move?

As per grapple, the target should be moved to a square adjacent to me of my choice. Can I then grapple a target 15ft away, pull them beside me, then free-action release the grapple?

For mundane crafting, when it says "Make an appropriate Craft check representing one week’s worth of work", does that mean the week happens, then you roll the craft check at the end? Similarly, for Unchained crafting, do I spend the whole day, regardless of how long it takes me to make the item? Because I can throw together 5 Shuriken in about half an hour. Math below for anyone interested, but above is the question I need the answer to.

An example of crafting 5 Shuriken with mundane crafting: (original craft rules, not unchained).

DC18 for an exotic melee weapon, have 11 in Craft (weapons) at level 5, roll a 10 for a total of 21. Check was successful so now multiply the result by the DC, so 21 x 18 = 378. I needed to get 10 (5 shuriken are one gold, so 10 silver pieces).

Not only did I double the needed '10', nor did I merely triple it, I got 37 times 10. In a week there are 168 hours, so dividing that by 37 we get 4.5. So it took me four and a half hours to make 5 shuriken.

But I am in fact a Forgemaster Cleric, so I use half the value to determine progress, as well as being able to craft metal items in half the time. So I beat the 5 silver progress by 75x, meaning it takes me just over an hour to craft 5 shuriken. With Signature Skill in Craft, I make them in half an hour.

With unchained rules it works out to be almost exactly the same. DC20 for the item, 4g of progress per day with the successful craft check of 21 and being able to craft metal items twice as fast from Forgemaster and Signature Skill means 5 shuriken every half an hour. Only difference being that with unchained rules you only pay 1/4 of the item's price, whereas with original crafting rules you pay 1/3rd of the item's price.

Hi all, making a Hangman Vigilante and I'm a little confused by a few interactions.

Firstly, I get the benefits of improved grapple when using a noose from the Hangman's Noose class feature at 2nd level. Does this mean that if I have the Improved Grapple feat, then I can now apply those benefits to the noose? Or does it mean I don't need to take the feat? I probably will be taking it anyway at some point, but would like to know if the bonuses apply when you don't have the feat.

Secondly, I use a noose to grapple, some of the feats for grappling are pretty cool (looking at Savage Slam, Explosive Escape, Piercing Grapple and a few others) but they all require improved unarmed strike.. Does the Hangman Archetype bypass this in anyway, because I don't use my hands to grapple, why would they need Improved Unarmed Strike to do stuff with the noose?

If the grappling feats are off the table because of needing improved unarmed strike, combat expertise and possible overlap with their 2nd level class feature, then I don't really know what feats to take. The Whip Mastery chain of feats seems pretty stupid because you can just buy a scorpion whip to deal lethal damage against armored opponents and even the improved and greater whip mastery feats kind of just give what Hangman's Noose already gives. Any ideas for what feats to take then?

At 11th level I can deal Increased Hidden Strike damage to an opponent I'm grappling with the noose. Do I just.. do that? Or do I still need to meet the parameters of Hidden Strike (they must be flanked or denied their dex etc.) Because I don't think I threaten with a noose at 15ft, so I don't think I ever count as flanking therefore I don't understand any circumstance in which I would ever be able to deal hidden strike damage to my grappled opponent, nevermind increased hidden strike damage.

Since the events of Rise of The Runelords and Shattered Star have pretty significant effects on the region, what is now known by common peoples about Thassilon?

I'm about to start running Return and am wondering what to keep mysterious and what people would widely know. Are the names of the 7 runelords common knowledge? Do people know that there were 7 of them? What about Xin? Do they know which regions of modern day Varisia were once Xin-Shalast and Xin-Bakrakhan? Do they know that the Irespan was a bridge that connected the two?

I had previously ran Rise with some of these players and one of them was an Oratory Bard that did his best to spread the tales of what the Sihedron Heroes did.

If these things are not common knowledge by everyday folk, What kind of knowledge history DC's should I be looking for for such things?
Would any run-of-the-mill scholar know about all of that? I'm aware that the Sihedron Council's scholars certainly know this stuff, is it reasonable that they have books available on it and that a 1st level character could have read them? Is the Thassilonian language more readily available to learn since the beginning of Rise?

Apologies that there are a lot of little questions, any advice would be great!

Question about Shadow Conjuration, specifically these two parts:

"Shadow objects or substances have normal effects except against those who disbelieve them"

And

"Objects automatically succeed on their Will saves against this spell."

So if I use it to cast something like Mount I can ride it if I choose to 'believe' by failing my save. But I can't lash it to a cart for it to pull because the rope will fall right through it?

Does this mean creatures summoned using shadow conjuration are effectively incorporeal? I'm looking to use Possession on shadow conjured creatures through things like Draconic Ally but I have no idea if I can even grab a door handle to open it, or if it means I can walk right through doors...

When Starfinder first came out I made a Nuar mechanic that rides around on his drone and melees with his racial natural attacks. We took a break for about 6 months and I'm now coming back to this character, we're currently level 7.

When playing back then, I was worried that Starfinder didn't yet have an equivalent of Pathfinder's Amulet of Mighty Fists, which allows your natural attacks and unarmed strikes to be considered magic for the purposes of overcoming DR.

Now though, a bunch of books have come out since we last played and I'm hoping that someone might know if there is any way to make my natural attacks count as magic now! Or if there are any items that allow me to implement fusions into my attacks or... really anything that makes them not so bland.

I do have the Ring of Fangs, which at this level makes my damage pretty hefty, I'm just concerned that when we do start fighting things with DR (or worse, incorporeals!) that I will be completely useless.

I was reading through the operative and I can't figure out if Debilitating Strike works even if your Trick Attack skill check fails?

Example 1:
You declare a trick attack, roll skill check and fail. The target is not flatfooted for your attack, roll to attack and hit. As it is still hit by a declared Trick attack, Debilitating Strike goes into effect and the target is now Flatfooted.

Example 2:
You declare a trick attack, roll skill check and fail. The target is not flatfooted for your attack, roll to attack and hit. The target has been hit but not by a trick attack so Debilitating Strike does not come into effect.

Thoughts?

For throwing grenades at a target intersection you must hit an AC of 5. If your total attack roll is less than 5, then you miss and roll a 1d8 to determine the direction and then a 1d4 to determine how many squares away it lands.

Now if your total attack roll is -13 (throwing at maximum range increment, non-proficiency, negative strength, 0 BAB and a natural 1 roll) is the outcome exactly the same? Is there some part I'm missing that if you don't get a certain amount you don't even throw it past the first range increment?

With most grenades having a radius of 15ft, it seems the only way to actually miss with a grenade is by not only missing the attack roll but also rolling a 4 on the d4. With this in mind, what is the point in rolling for an attack with a grenade? You can just say you want it to go 100ft over there to hit a guy and it does. What is the point in grenade proficiency?

So after around 3 years my group finally finished Rise of the Runelords, hurrah! Forewarning, there will be some RoA and RotRL spoilers.

Only a month or so has passed and I'm already itching to climb back into the GM chair so I started briefly leafing through the adventure paths and Ruins of Azlant has caught my eye as the top contender!

One main issue I have is that from quickly reading the introduction, it seems to be the same story as RotRL: Some being from an ancient civilization was placed in stasis 10,000 years ago and has been awakened, the civilization it once knew is gone so now it's got it's own plans!

It seems that a lot of the first two chapters hinges on the players exploring the mystery of what happened and when it is revealed, I'm incredibly worried my players will think the same thing. "Wait, another thing that was in stasis 10,000 years ago woke up? But we wanted to do something different.."

Granted, I haven't yet read the entire thing because I want to be certain I'll run it before I do so, in case I decide not to and could one day be a player in the campaign. Am I aligning the storylines too much? Does the 'dude from 10,000 years ago' thing go away after the 2nd chapter and does the story progress into something else?

I got two questions for you all, the first is looking for clarification on what appears to be a misprint and the second is.. kind've ridiculous.

Firstly, Aether Kineticists gain Basic Telekinesis which functions as Mage Hand but can also scoop up liquid and move magical objects, cool.

The wild talent Telekinetic Haul allows you to lift 100lbs / level or if you accept one point of burn you can lift 1000lbs per level. Pretty epic, right? But then it says it also increases the duration to 1 minute per level.. Duration you ask? Mage hand has no duration, it's concentration and Basic Telekinesis doesn't mention duration anywhere either.

Does anyone know what thats about?

Secondly, what exactly counts as an unattended object? If there is a small beetle on a small rock, can a wizard cast Mage Hand on that rock or is the item considered 'attended'? The beetle isn't wearing or weilding the rock...

Normally no one would care about if there happens to be a fly sitting ontop of the book you want to lift up with mage hand, but what happens when its the party sitting on a rock? Can I lift the rock with my telekinetic powers?

So I'm playing a kineticist that's just reached 3rd level. I know the day where I pass out is coming and as I'm the only healer in the party I'm wondering what happens when I do get knocked out.

So, lets say I have 30hp total, I've taken 15 nonlethal damage from burn throughout the day and I get hit for 16 damage by a stinky troll. I'm unconscious with 14 hp remaining. Nonlethal damage from burn doesn't heal unless I get 8 hours sleep. So either I;

Try a constitution check in an hour to try and wake up.

or..?

I'm playing the Kinetic Knight archetype that grants me the Samurai Resolve ability, which allows to do this:

"Unstoppable: When the samurai is reduced to fewer than 0 hit points but not slain, he can spend one use of his resolve as an immediate action to instantly stabilize and remain conscious. He is staggered, but he does not fall unconscious and begin dying if he takes a standard action. He does fall unconscious if he takes additional damage from any source."

But I don't know if I can use that if I've merely passed out because I haven't been reduced to fewer than 0hp? Which unfortunately makes it a little less useful than it already is, since I can't gain more points of resolve without the Samurai's challenge ability.

I've looked at Smelling Salts, but they only seem to work on creatures that have been rendered unconscious by spells or that are 'dying'.

The other players in the party have no way of healing and even if they could, I don't know if healing would wake me up?

So, Kineticists, what do you do when you pass out?

Hi all, so I'm playing a Kinetic Knight Kineticist with the aether element. I've just reached level 3 where I get the Blade Rush infusion.

Blade Rush costs 2 burn, but kineticists can only accept 1 burn per round until they are level 6. Is there supposed to be an exception for Kinetic Knights as their Kinetic Blade costs 0, should I reduce the cost of infusions with the Kinetic Blade prerequisite by 1?

Or is it intended for us to use a move action to gather power, provoke attacks of opportunity for activating bladed rush and accept 1 point of burn so we can move and attack instead of just moving and attacking?