Solace of Thorns's page

As a standard action, you can make a charge without the normal penalty to attack rolls when attacking on a charge, provided that you use an operative melee weapon to make the attack at the end of the charge. If the attack hits, you can substitute a debilitating trick effect for the damage the attack would deal.

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but the phrase 'debilitating trick effect' is an interesting one, and I can think of a half dozen ways to interpret it - some much more legalistic than others. What is a debilitating trick effect and how does it interact with rules around the usual debilitating trick? I only ask because the notion of 'close distance and make a debilitating trick instead of dealing damage' seems awfully underwhelming, which makes me wonder if that interpretation is correct.

1) Imposing flat-footed or off-target is simple, but what about Debilitating Tricks that allow a save? An operative with the Stunning Shot exploit charges an enemy, hits, and opts to substitute a debilitating trick effect for the damage the attack would deal. He wants to stun the target. Is the 'effect' of a Stunning Shot 'forcing an enemy to make a Fortitude save or be stunned'? Or is the stun itself considered to be the 'effect' of that debilitating trick - thus bypassing the save and stunning without a save if the operative hits and substitutes damage?

2) Does Operative's Pounce count as a debilitating trick, or does it simply borrow elements from it? "Once you’ve used this ability to try to
stun a creature, it’s immune to your stunning shot for 24 hours." By using Operative's Pounce to stun, or to attempt a stun - have I used the Stunning Shot ability, thus rendering that enemy immune to Stunning Shot? This feels like a very legalistic question, but conversely the Debilitating Sniper exploit uses the phrase "you can use debilitating tricks" versus Pounce's "you can substitute a debilitating trick effect" which sets something of a precedent, which makes me uncertain.

"You gain the Weapon Specialization feat as a bonus feat for each weapon type with which this class grants you proficiency. You also gain a special form of weapon specialization for your entropic strike, allowing you add a bonus to your damage equal to your vanguard class level plus half of any other class levels you have."

Maybe this is just me having difficulty parsing the rules here, but is this 'bonus to your damage' intended to apply in addition to normal specialization damage, or in place of it? How does the damage progress for a class which dips into vanguard with Versatile Specialization?

1) A level 4 Vanguard lands a non-critical hit with Entropic Strike. Do they deal:
a) 1d4 + CON + 2 + 4 (Dice + CON + Operative weapon Specialization + Vanguard specialization)
b) 1d4 + CON + 4 (Dice + CON + Vanguard specialization)

2) A level 4 operative / level 1 vanguard with Versatile Specialization lands a non-critical hit with Entropic Strike. Do they deal:
a) 1d3 + CON + 2 (Dice + CON + Operative weapon Specialization)
b) 1d3 + CON (Dice + CON, Advanced Melee specialization does not grant any specialization with Entropic Strike)

The Nanite Thrower from Armory has the 'Deconstruct' property. The Deconstruct property begins with:

The target of a weapon with the deconstruct special property takes the listed amount of acid damage every round until ...

Unlike most properties, the Deconstruct property doesn't state that the effect triggers 'when you strike' or 'when you hit', meaning your attack roll is largely irrelevant. The weapon could be fired at targets within 10 range increments without worry since you don't need to actually hit with the Nanite Thrower to deal damage.

Am I misreading/mis-logic-ing, or is this in need of errata? An auto-hitting weapon with 600/800 effective range seems like it's unintended.

So, a drone can only take a single move or standard action in combat.

But can a drone 'mount' a PC and ride around on them? Say, could my hover / stealth drone hitch a ride on my Medium-sized Mechanic's shoulder / back so that it moves with him, using its action to attack from shoulder-top each turn?

I'm explicitly NOT referring to drone meld, nor am I trying to give a drone's abilities to a PC - I simply want to know if my drone can physically hold on to my PC and move with them.

A null-space chamber is a circular device often designed to be strapped to an arm or backpack. When you press a button on the

side, the device creates a circular extradimensional rift to a pocket space, the size of which is determined by the null-space chamber’s
model. You can close it by pressing the button again, causing the
entrance to the space to disappear. Anything stored within the
space remains, however, traveling with the item. The null-space
chamber can be opened and closed only from the outside.
The only air within the pocket space is that which enters
when you open the entrance. The device does not accumulate
bulk even as its pocket space is filled. Each null-space chamber
is associated with its own particular extradimensional space.
Each null-space chamber can carry a set amount of bulk,
after which it can no longer be closed (even if it has room
left for more material). Spells and items that contain or create
extradimensional spaces, such as other null-space chambers, do
not function within a null-space chamber’s pocket dimension.
A readout on a null-space chamber automatically catalogs all
items within it, and if the chamber is open, you can call up any
such item and have it placed in your hand as a full action.

I have questions that don't have explicit RAW answers. I'm assuming that the Null-Space Chamber (NSC) is a kind of 'bag of holding' of the future, but I'm not familiar enough with BOH rules to answer these.

1: The 'rift' created by the NSC. Is this rift's location relative to the device? Does it follow it? Given the rift is explicitly circular, and so is the device, it seems like the rift may be generated directly on the circular face of the item - though this is not explicitly stated.

2: "Each null-space chamber can carry a set amount of bulk, after which it can no longer be closed (even if it has room left for more material)." Does this mean I can keep storing items in the NSC past its bulk limit (but within the 3x3 ft spatial limit) as long as I keep the rift open?

3: Hypothetically, a PC (Bob) is wielding an active NSC. The NSC is active and laying flat so that the rift is facing upward. Another PC (Annah) stands inside the NSC, so that half their body is inside the NSC and the other half of their body is protruding into the physical plane, above their ally. Does the weight of Annah (inside the NSC) weight down on Bob? Or is Annah effectively weightless? As a more practical application - can my Dragonkin wear an active NSC on his backpack with an ally halfway inside to function as a weight-bearing 'saddle'? Would the ally's weight is act inside the pocket dimension and not on my character?

4: What kind of action is opening/closing a NSC?

5: What happens if a NSC is subjected to an anti-magic field (or dispel effect) of some kind? Does it just close? What if the NSC is over-capacity at that exact moment? Do all objects get spat out? What if a single object is halfway in the rift at that moment? Does it get sliced in half? Spat out?

6: What prevents me from keeping an ally inside a NSC and opening it to let them make attacks from inside?

Can a Solarian Weapon Crystal be constructed from Adamantine or Cold Iron to gain the associated benefits? Can they be Silvered?

A big point of contention, I'd think, is that Adamantine, Cold Iron and Silver all seem to share the clause of "weapons and ammunition without metal parts can’t be made from adamantine alloy". But I've heard arguments that a crystal could be considered "metal", and my chemistry knowledge isn't enough for me to personally agree or disagree.

Thoughts?