Stéphane Le Roux's page

So, detect magic isn't a "personal" spell, but an area spell. And in the area of a Detect magic spell, for sure there is an active Detect magic spell.

So, I cast the spell, and during the first round I get the information "there is at least one active magical effect in the area of your active magical effect". Thank you, captain obvious.

And how does the spell interact with the spell Magic aura ? Is the aura of Magic aura detected ? I mean, Magic aura can hide the aura of an object, but doesn't hide its own aura. "Hum, this sword isn't magical at all; there is only a faint illusion effect on it".

How does the spell interact with any illusion spell ? What good are illusions if they are automatically detected as such by any spellcaster ever ?

Legend lore

Let's make it simple: let's say I know a rumour about the fountain of youth, like "there's a pirate named Jack Sparrow who've seen the fountain of youth"; I can take 2d6 week to cast Legend Lore, and learn something like "if you want more information about the fountain of youth, you should talk to the pirate named Jack Sparrow". Or I can spend 2d6 weeks to not cast any spell and learn other rumours, or even find the pirate.

Let's say I'm in a library with many information about about the fountain of youth.
Anybody in the party: "well, let's read those books and learn all about the fountain of youth. I guess it will take 1d10 days."
Wizard: "Wait! I have a better idea: I will cast a spell that will give us informations about the fountain. It will take 1d10 days, and cost 250 gp."

I don't understand; what is the spell supposed to do? Why is it magical, when obviously the effect is totally mundane, like "using the rumours you know to get a better source of informations" or "using the detailed source of informations"?

The spell threefold aspect from the APG has a duration of 24h, and can grant a +4 bonus to Intelligence. With extend spell, the duration is 48h.

According to the glossary in the CRB, "ability bonuses with a duration greater than 1 day actually increase the relevant ability score after 24 hours. Modify all skills and statistics related to that ability. This might cause you to gain skill points, hit points, and other bonuses. These bonuses should be noted separately in case they are removed."

So, does an extended threefold aspect grants me additional skill points and spell slots? Does it allow me to change my skills every two days?

Case in point: the rogue's talents powerful sneak and deadly sneak from the APG:

Powerful Sneak** (Ex): Whenever a rogue with this talent takes a full attack action, she can elect to take a –2 penalty on all attack rolls until the start of her next turn. If an attack during this time is a sneak attack, she treats all 1s on the sneak attack damage dice as 2s.

Deadly Sneak** (Ex): Whenever a rogue with this talent uses the powerful sneak rogue talent, she treats all 1s and 2s on the sneak attack damage dice as 3s. A rogue must have the powerful sneak rogue talent before choosing this talent.

A very simple calculation shows that Powerful sneak automatically reduce the DPR, except corner case (the rogue only hit on a 20 or only miss on a 1); Deadly sneak automatically reduce the DPR if the non-sneak damage of the rogue are at least one seventh his sneak damage, which means that if the non-sneak damages are at least 1d6+2, it can't increase the DPR (but it can increase the DPR of a 19-th level rogue using a silver non-magical dagger and who hit on 4 or more).

I already know why those talents are for: it's for roleplay reason, I guess. (Or at least, I guess that if I ask, SKR will answer that it's for roleplay).

Therefore my question is: what does those powers add to the roleplay of a character? How is the character with powerful sneak more roleplay than the one without?

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Annexe: details of the calculus.

Let's note P the probability of landing a blow, D_0 the damages without sneak attack, and S_0 the sneak damage without special talent. The DPR (without powerful/deadly sneak) is:
DPR(no talent) = P(D_0+S_0)

Let's note S_1 the sneak damage with Powerful sneak, and S_2 the sneak damage with deadly sneak, and N the number of sneak dice. We have:
S_0 = 1/6*(1+2+3+4+5+6)*N = 7/2*N
S_1 = 1/6*(2+2+3+4+5+6)*N = 11/3*N = 22/21*S_0
S_2 = 1/6*(3+3+3+4+5+6)*N = 4*N = 8/7*S_0

Therefore, if we assume no corner-case:
DPR(powerful sneak) = (P-0.1)*(D_0+22/21*S_0)
DPR(deadly sneak) = (P-0.1)*(D_0+8/7*S_0)

DPR(powerful sneak) > DPR(no talent) is equivalent to:
(P-0.1)*(D_0+22/21*S_0) > P(D_0+S_0)
P(D_0+S_0) + P*1/21*S_0 -0.1*(D_0+22/21*S_0) > P(D_0+S_0)
P*1/21*S_0 > 0.1*(D_0+22/21*S_0)
P > 2.1*D_0/S_0 + 2.2

But 2.1*D_0/S_0 + 2.2 > 2.2 and P can't be greater than 1, therefore, there is no solution: the DPR with powerful sneak can't be superior than the DPR without talent, except corner case.

For deadly sneak: DPR(deadly sneak) > DPR(no talent) is equivalent to:
(P-0.1)*(D_0+8/7*S_0) > P(D_0+S_0)
P(D_0+S_0) + P*1/7*S_0 -0.1*(D_0+8/7*S_0) > P(D_0+S_0)
P*1/7*S_0 > 0.1*(D_0+8/7*S_0)
P > 0.7*D_0/S_0 + 0.8

If 0.7*D_0/S_0 >= 0.1, then we need P to be greater than 0.95: we are in a corner-case, which is false by hypothesis. For the inequation to have solution, we need D_0 < 1/7*S_0 (and P>0.8: it doesn't have solution if the rogue doesn't hit on a 4).

Let's take a level 2 magus with Arcane mark, Str 18, a longsword, and named Zorro.

He uses Spell combat to cast Arcane mark; since Arcane mark is a touch spell, he use Spellstrike to deliver it. Assuming he success the Concentration check, does his attack sequence becomes: +3 (1d8+4)/+3 (1d8+4) ? Effectively copying two-weapon fighting and double slice ?

Magus 15
Spell perfection: teleportation
Quicken spell
Other magus' stuff

The magus is at home, drinking tea with his friends. Suddenly, he wants to kill someone.
[some random buffs like haste and greater invisibility]
Full-round action : Spell combat; teleportation at 1 500 miles, full attack.
Swift action: teleportation, quicken thanks to spell perfection. He's back at home before the end of the round.

6-second 1 500 miles-round trip, full attack included: spring attack, you should be ashamed.

Now I just need some way to get infinite teleportation (or at least, many of them). Echoing the first TP is a good start, but the quicken TP can't be echoed.

A very popular opinion is that Bluff can improve NPC's attitude and make them do what the PC wants.
eg : a character want to enter in the throne room:
Guard: nobody can enter!
Character: I'm the king's brother!
Guard: I totally believe you. You may enter.

For me, it's logically inconsistent: only Diplomacy and Intimidate can improve attitude, not Bluff. If you allow Bluff to do the same, you end with absurd situations like this:
A character, who happens to be the hidden brother of the king, want to enter the throne room:
Guard: nobody can enter!
Character: I'm the king's broth...
Other PCs: STOP! You suck at Diplomacy.
Character: You're right. I'm here to kill the King.
Guard: I totally believe you. You may enter.

It seems inconsistent, but it seems also to be the way the majority of the players handle Bluff; therefore, I ask for a clarification...