The Reading Dead's page

The website is suddenly showing up as a thin strip in the left side of my screen rather than full-screen as usual.

I'm using an iPhone with the iOS 17.4.1.

There's a post in the Organized Play General Discussion forum that is doxxing someone (name, address, and pictures) apparently for the purpose of instigating real world harassment.

I flagged it, of course, but given the potential consequences, I thought I'd post here where I hope a mod will see it before next Monday.

Since the update yesterday, I haven't been able to use Archives of Nethys with Safari on my iPhone because the menu button doesn't do anything. (It is working in Chrome although each page loads very slowly.)

Is anyone else having this menu issue?

I've put together a list of spells organized by trait for people who want to make personal staves.

• Personal Staff Spell Traits

I thought it would be fun for people to post their designs for personal staves so that others can use them as models. I'll start with one of my own designs.

As many of you know, I enjoy making lists and charts to help me plan out builds. Enough of them have proven useful to others that I decided to create a single thread to post them all. Currently they are all Google Docs.

I've made a page for quick reference. I'll expand it as I add more items.

• Gisher's Goodies

Enjoy!

I've added the Magus and Summoner to my Proficiency Tables.

• Guide to Proficiency Bonuses (web version)

• Guide to Proficiency Bonuses (Google Drive version)

Background

Investigators have the Skillful Lessons feature.

At 3rd level and every odd-numbered level thereafter, you gain a skill feat. This feat must be for an Intelligence-, Wisdom-, or Charisma-based skill, or for the skill you gained from your methodology.

The CRB and APG both have tables showing the skill feats that use each skill so it's easy to figure out which ones you can take with Skillful Lessons.

But...

Archetypes can have feats that are selected in place of skill feats rather than in place of class feats.

Occasionally, an archetype feat works like a skill feat instead of a class feat. These archetype feats have the skill trait, and you select them in place of a skill feat, otherwise following the same rules above.

There is no chart listing which skill is associated with each of these feats.

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Question

I'm wondering whether Skillful Lessons can be used to select archetype feats with the Skill Trait, and I can see three possibilities.

1.) Skillful Lessons works with ALL of these feats.
The archetype "skill feats" aren't really skill feats and aren't associated with any particular skills. So the usual restrictions on Skillful Lessons don't apply, and you can use those skill feat slots to select any of the archetype "skill feats."

2.) Skillful Lessons works with NONE of these feats.
The archetype "skill feats" aren't really skill feats and aren't associated with any particular skills. So the requirements of Skillful Lessons can't be satisfied, and you can't use those skill feat slots to select any of the archetype "skill feats."

3.) Skillful Lessons works with SOME of these feats.
The archetype "skill feats" act just like all other skill feats, and you can only select the ones that meet the requirements from Skillful Lessons.

That last one could be difficult to implement without clarification. Sometimes the archetype feats give you a clue as to what the associated skill might be. For example, the Steel Skin feat from the Sentinel Archetype has "trained in Survival" as a prerequisite. While not definitive, that suggests that this is a Wis-based "skill feat." But the same archetype also has the Armor Specialist feat which doesn't mention any skills at all.

I'm hoping that I've missed a rule somewhere, but it's possible that this interaction never occurred to the developers. Any clarifications or analysis from the community would be appreciated.

Is it ALL, NONE, or SOME?

I'm wondering whether your Familiar counts as your Bonded Item for the purpose of Call Bonded Item if you have the Improved Familiar Attunement Thesis.

Improved Familiar Attunement

...
Your connection with your familiar alters your arcane bond class feature so that you store your magical energy in your familiar, rather than an item you own; you also gain the Drain Familiar free action instead of Drain Bonded Item. Drain Familiar can be used any time an ability would allow you to use Drain Bonded Item and functions identically, except that you draw magic from your familiar instead of an item.

The prerequisite for Call Bonded Item is Arcane Bond. Does this altered version still qualify? It would be neat if you could call your Familiar to you anytime you want with a single action.

A while back I put together a few charts to help me visualize the optimal progression for Alchemist Multiclass Archetype. The tables assume that you take the main feats at the earliest possible levels. I've updated them with the new items from the APG. Thought I'd post them in case anyone else could use them.

The APG mentions Homunculus Familiars in two places.

From the Familiar Master archetype:

From the wise owl perched on the wizard’s shoulder to the crafty gremlin that serves the witch for their own reasons, the ghastly homunculus in the alchemist’s lab to the clever monkey that picks the lock of the thief’s cell, familiars have always served.

From the Familiars section:

Poison Reservoir

Your homunculus familiar has a reservoir for poison, allowing it to apply an injury poison to an adjacent ally’s exposed weapon with a single Interact action. You must supply the poison and instill it into this 6 reservoir using two consecutive Interact actions. You must have a homunculus familiar to select this ability.

But as far as I can tell, neither the APG nor the Bestiary give any rules for making a homunculus into a familiar. Have I missed something from another source or does the APG give us a Familiar Ability that can't currently be used?

Suddenly clicking on most product threads takes me to the Paizo Golem with this message.

You’ve reached this page due to an error on paizo.com. The web team has been notified and are working to fix the issue.

I'm on an iPhone 11 and using Safari. It doesn't seem to be a problem in the other forums.

I was having trouble visualizing the weapon proficiency progressions for the various classes, so I made up some tables. I thought I'd share them in case they can help others.

I made sure to include special cases like the Fighter's Chosen Weapon Group and the Deity's Favored Weapon options for clerics. I based the Unarmed Strike rules on the statements developers have made regarding the upcoming errata. There is some guessing involved so those might need some changes in the future.

Please let me know if you notice any errors or omissions. Enjoy!

I've been playing around with using Wizard Dedication to make 'Eldritch Knight' builds and 'Arcane Trickster' builds, and I just noticed this fact about Magical Staves.

Staves are also staff weapons (page 280), included in their Price. They can be etched with runes as normal for a staff. This doesn’t alter any of their spellcasting abilities.

This got me thinking about the Shifting Rune which would let the Staff become any other one-handed melee weapon.

The weapon takes the shape of another melee weapon that requires the same number of hands to wield. The weapon’s runes and any precious material it’s made of apply to the weapon’s new shape. Any property runes that can’t apply to the new form are suppressed until the item takes a shape to which they can apply.

I can think of a lot of cool options for this. For example, a thief-based 'Arcane Trickster' might have a Staff of Abjuration and shift it into a rapier. That gives them a weapon that can take advantage of their Dexterity-based offensive abilities while also providing a range of defensive options like shield, feather fall, and resist energy. They could also turn the Staff into a dagger for easy storage or concealment.

Does anyone knows of any rule that would prevent the Staff's spellcasting powers from functioning while it is in an alternate form?

Despite new posts, this thread isn't showing up in the Rules Forum as a newly updated thread.

For the last two days I haven't been able to load paizo.com through my iPhone, iPad, or Mac. I've just discovered that it loads if I turn wifi off and use LTE on my iPhone. I'm not having any difficulties with any other websites. Does anyone know of a potential fix for this?

I’m working on a list of the different types of spellcasters available from Paizo. I’d appreciate it if anyone can help corrrect any errors or omissions. The list uses the following format:

Class: Magic Type (Casting Stat) - Prepared/Spontaneous (Max Spell Level)

If a class has options, like archetypes, which alter these elements, they are listed below the basic class information.

Link to updated Google Docs version.

------------------------------

Edited to add Google Docs version.

I'm experiencing an odd little glitch. If I'm reading a thread (say on page 1) and select the link to a later page (say page 5), the link acts like the 'next' link and moves me forward one page (page 2 in this case) rather than taking me to the page that I selected. I'm having the issue on all the threads that I've tried so far.

Question

Does Arcane Strike add its damage to Rays which cause damage?

Overview

This has been discussed many times in these threads before without definitive resolution. But I believe that the Warlock's Mystic Bolt ability clarifies that Arcane Strike will work with Rays that cause damage.

Relevant Rules

Arcane Strike (Combat)

You draw upon your arcane power to enhance your weapons with magical energy.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast arcane spells.
Benefit: As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

Ray: Do rays count as weapons for the purpose of spells and effects that affect weapons?

Yes. (See also this FAQ item or a similar question about rays and weapon feats.)
For example, a bard's inspire courage says it affects "weapon damage rolls," which is worded that way so don't try to add the bonus to a spell like fireball. However, rays are treated as weapons, whether they're from spells, a monster ability, a class ability, or some other source, so the inspire courage bonus applies to ray attack rolls and ray damage rolls.
The same rule applies to weapon-like spells such as flame blade, mage's sword, and spiritual weapon--effects that affect weapons work on these spells.

Weapon Specialization: Can you take Weapon Specialization (ray) or Improved Critical (ray) as feats? How about Weapon Specialization (bomb) or Improved Critical (bomb)?

All four of those are valid choices.
Note that Weapon Specialization (ray) only adds to hit point damage caused by a ray attack that would normally deal hit point damage; it doesn't increase ability score damage or drain (such as the Dexterity drain from polar ray), penalties to ability scores (such as from ray of enfeeblement) or drain, negative levels (such as from enervation), or other damage or penalties from rays.

Thread History

This question has been discussed many times before. Here is a sample of threads, going back as far as 2011, in which the topic has come up.

Weapon Focus & Arcane Strike
Does Arcane Strike work with Ray spells?
Arcane Strike and Ray Spells
Arcane Strike to Rays?
Scorching Ray and Arcane Strike / Weapon Spec.
Can I use arcane strike with acid splash?
Mythic Arcane Strike + Bane + Ray of Frost
Can Wind Wall deflects Rays?
Are rays weapons? and what about other "weapon" feats for them. halp

Arguments

I've seen two different arguments against Arcane Strike working with Rays. The first states that Arcane Strike only applies to weapons and Rays aren't weapons. But the FAQs clearly contradict this. I can't see any justification for this position.

The second argument is more significant. Arcane Strike states that "[a]s a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power." For many people this means that the only weapons that are "charged up" are those in your possession when you perform the swift action. Rays are instantaneous, and so can't persist long enough to perform a swift action. Since Rays can't even exist while you activate Arcane Strike, this argument leads to the conclusion that, in practice, there is no way to apply Arcane Strike to a Ray even though they are treated as weapons. Inspire Courage works with Rays because the ability operates while the Ray is in existence, but Arcane Strike is over before you can make any Rays.

The counterargument is generally based on a different interpretation of the Arcane Strike description. In this view, the swift action isn't the only time window for "charging your weapons." Instead the sentence "[a]s a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power" is interpreted to mean that it takes a swift action to grant yourself the ability to "charge up" your weapons. Under this interpretation, the next line "[f]or 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction" clarifies that any weapons you use that round, even if they weren't in your possession during the swift action, will gain those benefits. Under this model, Rays would get the increased damage so long as they are used during that round.

If you read through the threads listed above, you will see both of these positions asserted over and over again. There weren't any other rules that enable us to determine which is the correct model for understanding the way Arcane Strike works, so there was no way to resolve the issue. But now that Ultimate Intrigue has introduced the Warlock's Mystic Bolts ability, I believe the deadlock has been resolved.

Mystic Bolts

...
Creating a mystic bolt requires the hand to be free, but the bolt appears only briefly, so a warlock using mystic bolts has a free hand any time she isn’t attacking with a mystic bolt. The warlock threatens with a mystic bolt, but only if she has a hand free. Because mystic bolts are impermanent, a spell that targets a single weapon (like magic weapon) can’t affect it, nor can a mystic bolt be made with magic weapon special abilities. Abilities that affect all weapon attacks the warlock makes, such as the arcane striker warlock talent, function with mystic bolts.
...

So if you use Arcane Striker (which is just the Arcane Strike feat until 12th level), and then create a Mystic Bolt, the Bolt is affected by Arcane Strike even though it didn't exist during the swift action. The description makes it clear that Arcane Striker doesn't work with Mystic Bolts because of some special dispensation, but rather because it, like Arcane Strike itself, is one of those abilities that affects all weapon attacks. If Arcane Strike really only affects weapons that exist during the swift action, then it shouldn't work on Mystic Bolts. But it does work on Mystic Bolts, so it should also work on Rays.

Discuss or FAQ as you wish. :)

The FAQ request button at the top of posts seems to have vanished. Posts that were FAQ'd previously still show the number of FAQ requests.

After a few days of heavy traffic, I'm able to get back on the messageboards using my computer. But my iPhone still just shows the "Heavy Traffic" message with nothing listed below. I can access my account and view my old posts, and if I click on one of them I am able to view that particular thread.

Possibly Relevant Stuff: iPhone 5, Safari, iOS 9.2.1, AT&T

I really enjoy being able to add enhancements to weapons using Spells, Magic Items, and Class Abilities. I've been keeping a list of methods for doing so, and I thought I would share it. This is my first attempt to publish a document using Google Docs, so please let me know if you experience and technical issues.

Temporary Enhancements to Manufactured Weapons