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The current rules for calculating effective encounter difficulty is as follows:

If the PCs have more than one starship, use the highest-tier ship’s tier as a base and add 1 to this value for each additional starship within at least 2 tiers of that starship. If none are within 2 tiers, add up the tiers of all the additional starships and add 1 to the base value if the total is equals or exceeds the base starship’s tier. Use this modified value when determining the encounter’s difficulty.

However, the way this is worded, as long as there are at least one ship within two tiers of the highest tier ship, then you are free to add as many ships that are more than two tiers lowers than the highest ship as possible without changing the encounter difficulty.

For example, you could have two tier 4 ships and 174 tier 1 ships and the official way to calculate the appropriate challenge level would be to add one to the highest tier ship for the one other ship within two tiers for a total of tier 5. Obviously this is ludicrous and any GM worth their salt would never let the players get away with it, but I think it would make sense to clarify this section. Here is my proposal.

If the PCs have more than one starship, use the highest-tier ship’s tier as a base and add 1 to this value for each additional starship within at least 2 tiers of that starship. If there are starships not within 2 tiers, add up the tiers of all the additional starships and add 1 to the base value for each multiple of the highest starship's tier (rounded down). Use this modified value when determining the encounter’s difficulty.

Example:

Two tier 5 ships and six tier 2 ships.

- Highest tier starship is (5)
- There is one starship within two tiers of the for a (+1)
- The sum of the additional starships not within 2 tiers is 12, which is two multiples (rounded down) for a (+2)

This would give an effective Starship level of (8)

If you age to venerable, get the appropriate bonuses, and Soul Transfer into a younger body, would you then get the bonuses to mental scores from aging again?

How is added spell damage calculated when added to magic missile, such as through Elemental Spell + Black Powder? Does it add to each missile or to only one?

Please source all rulings related to your answer.

Is it possible to start play with a character that is somehow disabled with a distinct mechanical effect?

For example, I'd like to start play with a one-armed character. Page 23 of the guide says:

All conditions gained during an adventure, except for permanent negative levels, ability drain that does not reduce an ability score to 0, and conditions that provide no mechanical effect, must be resolved before the end of the session; if these are not resolved the character should be reported as ‘dead.’

Emphasis mine. Since the condition would not have been gained during the adventure, there is no need to retire. If character creation doesn't support creating disabled characters, then you can simply gain the disability during downtime. You're still not gaining it "during the adventure", so perhaps there is some leeway in the rules.

I am a Brawler 2/Magus 2 with both the Brawler's Flurry, Spell Combat, and Spellstrike. Am I able to combine Spell Combat, Spellstrike, and Brawler's Flurry in a single full-round action.

Spell Combat (Ex): At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty). If he casts this spell defensively, he can decide to take an additional penalty on his attack rolls, up to his Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on his concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but if he has more than one attack, he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks.

Spellstrike (Su): At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If the magus makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks. This attack uses the weapon's critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.

Brawler’s Flurry (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a brawler can make a brawler’s flurry as a full-attack action. When doing so, a brawler has the Two-Weapon Fighting feat when attacking with any combination of unarmed strikes, weapons from the close fighter weapon group, or weapons with the “monk” special feature. She does not need to use two different weapons to use this ability.

A brawler applies her full Strength modifier to her damage rolls for all attacks made with brawler’s flurry, whether the attacks are made with an off-hand weapon or a weapon wielded in both hands. A brawler can substitute disarm, sunder, and trip combat maneuvers for unarmed attacks as part of brawler’s f lurry. A brawler with natural weapons can’t use such weapons as part of brawler’s flurry, nor can she make natural weapon attacks in addition to her brawler’s flurry attacks.

My initial reflex is to say no, because Spellstrike and Full-attacks are two distinct full-attack actions, but I believe you can combine them based on this FAQ:

Magus, Spell Combat: If I use spell combat, how many weapon attacks can I make?

You can make as many weapon attacks as you would normally be able to make if you were making a full attack with that weapon. For example, if you are an 8th-level magus (BAB +6/+1), you could make two weapon attacks when using spell combat.

Edit 9/9/13: This is a revised ruling about how haste interacts with effects that are essentially a full attack, even though the creature isn't specifically using the full attack action (as required by haste). The earlier ruling implied that spell combat did not allow the extra attack from haste (because spell combat was not using the full attack action).

So, what do you believe is correct? Can I combine all 3 to make a total of 3 attacks per round at -4?

I have a question about the spell Retrieve Item.

http://www.archivesofnethys.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Retrieve%20Item

In the description, it says to summon the item that it was cast on, the spellcaster must say a word and snap his fingers. I assume this is a free action. I have a GM that argues that it is a Standard Action because it is similar to a Command Word. As far as I know, a Command Word is a very specific mechanic that is related to activating magic items that is considered a Standard Action. If there any official resource that clarifies what kind of action this is?

Somewhat similar to this discussion, is there any way I can cast Retrieve Item on a regular basis as an Investigator? Retrieve Item has a duration of permanent, but it does not persist between scenarios like Continual Flame. For this reason I need to be able to cast it without spending money or materials to keep it up on a number of items between scenarios.

Very quick question here: when you make a grapple check to tie a creature up, is there anything preventing you from tying up a large or larger creature on a successful check?

If possible, please cite a source. It's my VL that just ruled I cannot tie up a huge creature while I was enlarged.

If I am wielding a two-handed monk weapon and using the Brawler's Flurry ability, do I get to make two attacks as if I am able to use two-weapon fighting?

Brawler’s Flurry (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a brawler can

make a brawler’s flurry as a full-attack action. When doing so,
a brawler has the Two-Weapon Fighting feat when attacking
with any combination of unarmed strikes, weapons from
the close fighter weapon group, or weapons with the “monk”
special feature. She does not need to use two different weapons
to use this ability.
A brawler applies her full Strength modifier to her damage
rolls for all attacks made with brawler’s flurry, whether the
attacks are made with an off-hand weapon or a weapon wielded
in both hands. A brawler can substitute disarm, sunder, and
trip combat maneuvers for unarmed attacks as part of brawler’s
flurry. A brawler with natural weapons can’t use such weapons
as part of brawler’s flurry, nor can she make natural weapon
attacks in addition to her brawler’s flurry attacks.
At 8th level, the brawler gains use of the Improved Two-
Weapon Fighting feat when using brawler’s flurry. At 15th
level, she gains use of the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
feat when using brawler’s flurry.

The bolded text above would indicate to me that you are. Could someone clarify?

I have a question about the ruling that you add your non-monk BAB to Flurry of Blows attacks. Does that same ruling apply to the Maneuver Master archetype's Flurry of Maneuvers ability that also substitutes your monk level for BAB? I have a GM that believes you use your monk level as your total BAB for the combat maneuver check in flurry of maneuvers, and that you don't add your other sources of BAB at all. For example, a Maneuver Master 1/Fighter 19 would have an effective BAB of +1 for flurry of maneuvers.

I believe it should work similarly to Flurry of Blows, where a Maneuver Master 1/Fighter 19 would have an effective BAB of +20 for flurry of maneuvers. What do you think and why? If you agree with me, how should I convince my GM? His objection is based on the fact that the ruling came out before the Maneuver Master was published in Ultimate Combat and therefore does not apply.

Relevant Links:

http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9naz

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk#TOC-Flurry-of-Blows-Ex-

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk/archetypes/paizo---monk-a rchetypes/maneuver-master