Sulaco's page

I'm looking for advice on how my fellow GMs handle PCs with animal companions.

I find it's a tricky row to hoe in enforcing/interpreting the RAW on how animal companions function vs. a player's assumptions. More often than not animal companions are treated as extensions of the controlling PC, acting with pinpoint precision and always following orders perfectly despite having minimal intelligence and being distinct beings. Rather than being a companion they become effectively a second PC under the player's complete control.

I'm disallowing stuff like the ordering the PC moving into position, readying and action, ordering the companion to flank, and then both of them attacking with because that sort of complex maneuvering is clearly outside the parameters of the RAW, but where does the line get drawn?

An example that came up in my last session. The PCs were faced with an otyugh. It was in a small room connected to a larger one by a narrow corridor in which there were two PCs and no room to pass by them. The PC with a animal companion ordered it to attack the otyugh. In order to do so it would need to go down the corridor, risk taking an AoA, and then have to make and acrobatics check to move through the otyugh to get to the other side of it. I ruled it was too difficult for the animal companion to do, the player argued it's the only way for the companion to fulfill the order to attack and so should do so.

I don't want to completely gut the efficacy of the animal companion but at the same time I don't want to simply hand wave it away and effectively give the player two PCs. This situation will be exacerbated when the PC is allowed to increase the companion's INT to 3, at which point it can understand language and spoken commands.

All advice is welcome.

I am currently playing a haunted-cursed Oracle with the Dark Tapestry mystery in a "Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition" home game. One possible future plot thread could lead to the possibility of removing the haunted curse, but I'm not sure I like the idea of simply removing the curse without there being some sort of detriment or loss associated with it. So I'm curious as to what ideas you folks might have as to an appropriate negative repercussion associated with removing the curse.

Is it assumed the Oracle has full access to the Cleric spells in ACG or are they indeed Cleric-only? The absence of a combined Cleric/Oracle header, but the inclusion of the otherwise similar combined Wizard/Sorcerer header, gives me pause.

Interesting rules question came up last night in our game.

My Oracle used Telekinesis to grapple a flying creature, but none of us could really suss out exactly how that should play out. Does it stop dead in mid air or does it plummet to the ground? What about on the subsequent pin?

We played it as the former, that it was held in place by the power of spell, and then was effectively pinned to the sky, but I'm curious if anyone has better insight on how this is supposed to play out by RAW.

Also, while I'm at it, what is the effective CMD of a telekinetic grapple for the grappled enemy to try to break? The spell only lists the CMB. We ruled it as the spell's CMB+10.

Resurrecting this thread from last year.

Once again I'm starting to have a visceral physical reaction to the phrase "appears to be".

Any other repetitious or meaningless phrases getting on your nerves?

Is it "skeer", as in "scheme" and "schism, or is it "sheer" as in "schadenfreude" and "schilling"?

I assume the answer to this is "no", and I've asked others who agree with that assumption, but I thought I might give it a shot asking the community at large.

Is it possible in PFS to "sell" or otherwise remove and item enhancement?

I recently played through the "Quest for Perfection" trilogy. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but was somewhat disheartened to learn that, being my PC is a wizard rather than of the tiny handful of classes who have a bonded mount or animal companion, the otherwise very cool boon essentially amounted to a pat on the back and "thanks for coming out, better luck next time".

Is there any way to transfer this boon to a future PC for whom it may be of use? I suspect the answer is "no" but I do not assume an encyclopaedic knowledge of the minutiae of PFS rules and so I thought I might as well ask.

Thanks.

The "this item is favoured by" chestnut has been brought up many times, but I'm starting to wince and grit my teeth every time I see "this item appears to be".

Any other repetitious or meaningless phrases getting on your nerves?

So Dragon #352 was apparently shipped to me on January 3, but I still have not received it. Will it be arriving soon (or ever)? How long after it has been shipped but not received before it is officially considered lost? What recourse do I have in regards to getting the issue?