The GunSinger's page

We haven't had the multiclass archetypes document updated since September. As of the 1.6 update in November, the updated classes have made lots of the document non-functional. Paladin dedication doesn't match the new alignments, and alchemist dedication simply doesn't function at all. Paladin is easy enough to fake by adjusting verbage about Paladin's Reaction, but with the alchemist overhaul, we need clarification on how it works as a dedication feat. At the very least, we need to know:

I might be blind or bad at Google-fu, but is there a new version of the alchemist dedication feat to go with the new version of the class? The old version from the multiclass update still uses resonance points. How do we handle a character multiclassing into alchemist?

I have mixed feelings about the paladin (or whatever it winds up being) and the changes brought by 1.6. I love the idea of more alignments. It's what I've been hoping for since the playtest began and they mentioned that it might expand beyond lawful good. Personally I was hoping the end product would incorporate all alignments, maybe forcing you to exactly match your deity's alignment. Either that or the four corner alignments to be the pinnacle of ideals, though that would still leave true neutral deities paladin-less.

Regardless, more alignments are open. Coupled with an eventual name change, the class we know as paladin has huge potential for change and growth. Which lead me to an idea late last night I figured I would throw on the forums:

What if 2e's "Paladin" merged with and became an updated Inquisitor?

Both have the divine warrior aesthetic to them. Both judge the masses and enact their deity's will. Both augment their weapons, detect alignment, and get to do things that normal mortals can't because of their faith.

Mixing paladin and Inquisitor together would really flush out what non-lawful-good paladins can do. I'm not suggesting replacing paladin with Inquisitor so much as reinforcing the class with themes and powers from the other. This way we could have a chaotic neutral worshipper of gorum that leads the charge into battle smiting all that oppose them, or a lawful evil priest of asmodeus that judges the meek and delivers their master's decrees. Even if the class is still limited on alignments in the end, there's a lot of cool, fun, flavorful stuff Inquisitor did that would fit well into the new, broader paladin. Or whatever the class gets called.

While I like how sorcerers share spell-lists with different spellcasters depending on their bloodline, it's hard to see them as powerful or unique compared to the other spellcasters when they have fewer class feats than the rest as well as non-existent proficiencies. In the society playtest, my angelic sorcerer's spontaneous versatility meant almost nothing compared to the cleric's armor, weapons, channeling, and selective energy.

So here's my idea: sorcerer - the class that empowers you with magic based on your blood and ancestry - should let you select class feats using their ancestry feats - those things you get that strengthen your ties to your ancestry. We have both a class and a type of feat that revolve around your lineage; why not directly link them?

Thematically, doing so could be embracing your magical bloodline instead of your direct parentage, like a human draconic sorcerer inheriting the ability to cast extra cantrips that their dragon forebearer used. Or maybe it's your bloodline overpowering your normal racial traits, like a demonic gnome's ancestor enhancing their spells to cause even more damage every time they concentrate on them.

Mechanically, the feat could be limited to half-level like the advanced multiclass feats. Maybe some sorcerer feats could have a trait like "bloodline" that this option is restricted to. Whatever the case, this would be a flavorful way to strengthen the class's options and versatility.

"You can prepare one additional cantrip. You must be able to prepare cantrips to select this master ability."

"You can prepare one additional spell at least 3 levels lower than your highest-level spell; you must be able to prepare level 4 spells to select this master ability."

Emphasis mine.

Why prepared only? I kind of get that adding cantrips to your repertoire could be weird, but if Sorcerers have a class feat to gain a familiar and another to upgrade it, why are two of the three master abilities worthless for them? Let them cast an extra spell off their repertoire, or do something like the bard's eclectic spell feat. Something to make the familiar a bit better for a class that gets it as a feat.

The four magical knowledges should match their spellcasting abilities. One of the uses of each skill is to learn spells of the corresponding type, and yet Occultism doesn't seem to follow suit.

• Arcana is INT based and focuses on alchemy and arcane practices. Wizards use Arcane magic (and Alchemists use Alchemy). They're INT based.

• Religion is WIS based and focuses on "deities, dogma, faith, and the realms of divine creatures." Clerics are the primary dogmatic, faith-based, Divine caster. They're WIS based.

• Nature is WIS based and focuses on "animals and magical beasts" and "flora, fauna, geography, weather, the environment, or creatures of natural significance". Druids are the Primal casters with all sorts of animal-, plant-, and nature-based powers. They're WIS based.

• Occultism is INT based and focuses on "ancient mysteries, obscure philosophy, or creatures of occult significance" as well as "complex metaphysical systems, syncretic principles, and incoherent ramblings." Bards are the Occult casters that revolve around mysteries, philosophy, and rambling in their magics. They're CHA based.
  

Bard has a class feat that magically unlocks memories to permit Recall Knowledge checks that improves with Occultism. They have another class feat that lets them act as if they're trained in every skill that improves with Occultism. It seems wrong to have such a core skill not match their key ability score.

Super serious conversation time.

A common term I've heard for years in Pathfinder - be it in Society play referring to agents, or simply the playstyle of a lot of people - is "murder-hobo." I'm sure most people have heard this before or at least understand why we'd be called such. But soon, we'll be in space, travelling on starships, going onto spacestations... The "hobo" part might not hold up anymore.

I personally propose we use the term "Murdernauts" in the future for any Starfinder shenanigans.

What other colloquialisms from Pathfinder do you think need sci-fi-ing for Starfinder? Things like "lawful stupid" could stay probably, but I'm sure lots of things we say frequently could use a space-y version for fluff and fun.

Simple question: does the bardic ability Lore Master allow a bard to take 10 on a research check?

Attempting a Research check requires an uninterrupted 8-hour period of research, and a character cannot take 10 or 20 on a Research check.

However, a bard's Lore Master ability allows it to take 10 on knowledge checks even in situations they normally can't, like being distracted or being in battle. Furthermore, they can take 20 a certain number of times a day as a standard action.

My take on it is that 20 wouldn't work, seeing as the research roll represents 8 hours of studying / reading / whatever compared to a single standard action. However, taking 10 doesn't actually take an action different to a normal roll. It doesn't matter the time it takes, just a normal roll. It also makes sense, given that the ability is literally mastering lore. On the other hand, I can see the argument that researching for hours on end isn't a basic knowledge check and wouldn't qualify.

So does Lore Master allow a bard doing a research check to 1. take 20 on the check as a standard action, 2. take 10 on the check with the 'always can' option, or 3. do nothing special with the ability.

Am I missing something? When does the protection from energy part refill?

Energy Resistance (Ex): The barbarian gains resistance to one energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) equal to 1/2 her barbarian level (minimum 1). At 8th level, she gains limited immunity to the same type of energy, as protection from energy. She can absorb 2 points of damage per level, and she applies her energy resistance first. The energy type is chosen when this rage power is selected, and it can't be changed. This rage power can be selected more than once; each time, it applies to a different energy type.

It doesn't say per day or per rage or anything. Is this really meant to be a one time protection? That doesn't sound right, but I can't seem to find a clear answer to when it does refresh.

Reading through some traps I'm going to employ in an upcoming game, I've become doubtful on my knowledge of traps and when/how they go off. I'm curious at what point a trap is just un-Disable-able. Trip wires and pressure plates and such are easy enough to understand. I'm talking more about magic traps that go off sight or proximity.

A lot of traps seem to use the Alarm spell. The trap section reads:

Unlike when the spell is cast, an alarm spell used as a trigger can have an area that's no larger than the area the trap is meant to protect.

Under most circumstances, wouldn't a character have to go through that area in order to disable the trap? If the source of the trap is within the area it's meant to protect, it would trigger before anyone gets close enough to roll a skill check.

Or if a trap has Sight (True Seeing), can a character even get close enough to try to disable it?

Sight range and the Perception bonus conferred on the trap depend on the spell chosen, as shown.

True Seeing - Line of sight (up to 120 ft.) - Perception Bonus: +30

Barring unusual circumstances - like a character with +50 Stealth or having access to disable it from behind a wall / beneath the floor / whatever would block line of sight yet allow a Disable Device check - a trap with True Seeing is going to have sight on you before you get next to it.

Maybe it's because I don't use magic traps as much in home games, but I feel like I've overlooked this whole section of tools to use and have subpar understanding of them. Are these basically ways of making traps guaranteed to get set off? Or am I missing and misunderstanding something?

After quite a delay, my group finished Dragon's Demand all the way through (finally!) in campaign mode. Everyone is applying all of their sheets to the same characters, so we're all getting the bonus chronicle sheet.

When I go to report, under the "choose a scenario" thing, only parts 1-3 show (the sanctioned parts). Is there something extra I have to do for the bonus sheet? Do I even have to show it? I ask because as is, characters don't appear to have as much xp or fame as they are supposed to on their online sessions. Am I missing something? Or is it just not representative on the reporting page?

Say I have a mount with the Combat Patrol feat tree. I use a lance and/or Lunge to hit anything that looks at me in a particularly funny way, meaning neither of us moves. My mount sets up a combat patrol as a full-round action.

Is my mount then able to run around its patrol area making AoO's with me on its back? Or would I need to be the one with Combat Patrol to do this? How would my mount get to use / not use its turn in that scenario?

I'm curious how a certain combination of bomb discoveries. Complex Bomb allows a Sabotuer to use discoveries that change bomb damage (asterisk discoveries) in the same bomb by using two daily uses of bombs and splitting the damage (i.e. 2d6 acid 2d4 sonic instead of 4d6).

My question is how this combines with Immolation Bomb. An Immolation Bomb normally deals 1d6+Int damage to the direct hit and splash accordingly each round for a number of rounds equal to the normal number of dice the bomb would deal.

However, Complex Bomb combines two types of bombs and halves their damage, which complicates things.

Say my level 7 Saboteur throws a Complex Bomb using Frost Bomb and Immolation Bomb. It could be any two with bonus effects, but Frost is fairly simple. How do the two combine?

Normally, a level 7 alchemist's bomb deals 4d6 damage, so 2d6 goes to discovery 1 (Frost Bomb) and 2d6 goes to discovery 2 (Immolation Bomb). Since the bomb itself is still dealing 4d6 damage, is Immolation's duration 4 rounds? Or does it get halved since the Immolation half of the Complex Bomb is only 2d6? Furthermore, does the Frost Bomb effect go off too? Immolation Bomb says it "repeats" each round and uses direct hit rules (d6+Int with no save), so mechanically this reflects a direct hit. Do additional damage or on-hit effects (Frost Bomb's cold damage and Fort-or-staggered, respectively) of the other half repeat as well?

The Restless Hunger trait from GoG reads:

Restless Hunger (Venkelvore): If you have a piece of food (or something a goblin might consider food), you can quickly eat it as part of a charge attack once per day. Doing so increases your speed by 10 feet for 1 round.

I'm curious what the extent of this is. I'd assume potions would not count as food in this situation since the rules tend to single out potions in draw/use situations (e.g. Quick Draw), but what about alcohol? Would this trait allow me to drink while charging to fuel drunk-powers like Boasting Taunt or Drunken ki? Lord knows goblins like their drinks.

Due to some combat maneuver shenanigans I pulled last night with my bard, I'm inspired to make a maneuver based character. I toyed with a few ideas, but I come back to a couple options. I'm interested in what people have done with maneuver-based-combat in PFS before and what they might recommend, as well as what they think of the following ideas.

First, a Halfling Underfoot Adept Maneuver Master. Normally halfling's -2 str and small size hurts, but Agile Maneuvers and Underfoot Trip make up for that. MM's ability to ignore prerequisites is huge, and UA makes for easy placement and tripping. I'd likely focus on Trip (into Ki Throw) and Dirty Trick, tripping on my regular attack and using FoM to blind / entangle / shaken / sicken them.

Second, Human Lore Warden. Full BAB, Maneuver Mastery, and Bred for War would be really nice. The bonus feats would open up a lot of options, but they don't ignore prerequisites which hurts a little. There's also no way to use standard maneuvers as attacks like MM does, which hurts a lot.

There's also a Half-Orc Breaker Barbarian with Gatecrasher that takes the Sunder line with Smash, Spell-Sunder, and Strength Surge, but it doesn't have the appeal of the other two as much. The idea of smashing a spell so hard it stops working is cool, but I'm not sure how effective it is in PFS.

First, some background:
I have a level 2 bard about to be level 3. He's focused on buffing through song, debuffing through spells / trip attempts, and being a party knowledge/diplo-monkey.

He has Lingering Performance as his 1st level feat. Eventually he'll take a few masterpieces to expand his options, but that's not for a few levels. He has Grease, Comprehend Languages, and Silent Image so far, and at 3rd he'll probably take Hideous Laughter. Combat usually consists of Inspire Courage first round, Grease second, and either tripping with a whip or using a cure-stick if necessary.

Now, given that info, I'm curious what his 3rd level feat should be. I have

• Skill Focus (Knowledge [something]) -> Eldritch Heritage (Arcane): Something I would love to do with this character is have a familiar. I love familiar shenanigans (aid another, double skill checks, alertness, delivering touch spells, etc.) and it would also open up for Improved Familiar at 7 for a wand-helper like a faerie dragon.

• Weapon Finesse: I have 10 Str and 14 Dex, I use a whip 90% of the time I'm in 'melee' and a rapier the other 10%. It would be +2 to my attacks and, more important, my trip / disarm attempts. Furthermore, it's a very immediate effect.

• Spell Song & Harmonic Spell: Another long-term outlook, these two feats would help my action economy a lot. They do have synergy (saving performance rounds by casting spells, using them to concentrate), but they don't do much right now. I have one concentration spell (Silent Image) and not enough spells per day to make the free rounds worth it.

If there's another feat above and beyond the above options, I'd love to hear them and why they're good. I'd also take advice on anything else bard-wise.

I have a question for which I can't seem to find a solid, clear answer:

Is someone proficient with shields but not martial weaponry (i.e. bard, cleric, druid) able to make a shield bash attack without a -4 penalty?

There's lots of arguments for both sides from what I can find. Some say proficiency is the whole item, so wielding a shield defensively and making a shield bash are both covered. Proficiency is proficiency. This makes sense; if you're able to understand wielding a shield properly, it's not a big leap to bashing something over the head with it. If it was separate, Improved Shield Bash would have 'Shield Proficiency and Martial Weapon Proficiency (Shield)' as prerequisites instead of just 'Shield Proficiency.'

Others say, since it's listed in the martial weaponry list, only those with martial weapon proficiency are able to make shield bashes. This too makes sense, since it is listed as such. They work as defense first, offense second. Two uses equals two types of proficiencies.

I even thought to look through the NPC Codex through all the relevant entries, but none of them use shield bash (even one cleric that has Improved Shield Bash as a feat doesn't use it!).

So I'm wondering if my Google-Fu has failed me, if someone knows of an official answer, or if somehow there's a way to get an official ruling.