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While doing some after action strategizing after a fight with a Clay Golem I was wondering if our Wizard could have dealt with the Golems Quicken (divine, transmutation) ability using Dispel Magic. And this is where I got myself somewhat confused as the spell is not doing a good job in describing what it can actually do.

Targets 1 spell effect or unattended magic item

No mention of (magical) effects other than spell effects. So far so good.

You unravel the magic behind a spell or effect...

Aha! The "descriptive text" tells us that dealing with both spells and (magical) effects still seems possible.

...Attempt a counteract check against the target (page 458). If you succeed against a spell effect, you counteract it. If you succeed against a magic item, the item becomes a mundane item of its type for 10 minutes...

Again and as per the target entry the "rules crunch" only mentions spell effects and items and does not provide a direct statement for magical effects (the page reference is pointing to the Counteracting general rules which indeed do mention "...or other effects." but in a very general way of describing what Counteracting is good for).

So what is the concensus here? Can Dispel Magic still deal with magical non-spell effects or not?

P.S.: My money is on yes, but I also want to hear your opinions, because I got really perplexed when I just read the target entry.

A couple of questions for weirdly unrelated topics.

1) Do Holy Prayer Beads double up as a holy symbol, especially for spellcasting purposes?

2) When exactly do you have to announce your target when using Battle Cry? After set-up and before any Initiative is rolled/disclosed?

Simple question: How does "Salve of Antiparalysis" work? I am confused if counteract checks are involved, and if they are, how...

Having just hit 5th level with my warpriest of Sarenrae I have to chose if I want to pick up the Clever Improviser ancestry feat (and probably also Incredible Improvisation later) or to sink my ancestry feat into something more tangible like Adapted Cantrip (Electric Arc) or General Training (Fleet).

On paper this acestry feat sounds really nice, but when looking at standard DC's accross all levels starting at 7, i.e. when this feat takes full effect, to level 20 it looks like the feat matters less and less, especially considering a bad attribute score (10 or less).

Level 7 / DC 23 / Roll of 16+ needed to pass a level appropriate check
Level 20 / DC 40 / Roll of 20 needed to pass a level appropriate check

I know that the feat will allow you to do checks like you were trained as an additional benefit, however I would like to have your input on the mathematics behind the feat as well as any ingame experience.

What can I expect as a benefit when I take this feat? Ability to pass easy checks and how often do those come by (my current experience about skill check DC's is more like ~50% chance to succeed even when trained and using a good ability score)? Ability to pass normal checks with a good roll? Ability to not critically fail as many checks in comparison to being totally untrained?

Also which do you consider the best applicable skills for this feat as I probably need to take into account my current skill selection too, i.e. if the majority of you recommends Athletics but I am already trained or better in Athletics?

Thanks!

Hitting 5th level in our AP I seek advice from high level clerics about the topic of counteracting conditions in combat. During the old times curing conditions with a couple of emergency low level spells was mostly a non-issue, but I am under the impression that things became more complicated in PF2. And by more complicated I do not mean how counterspelling works but that in order to counterspell most successfully (aka not waste the spell) you probably want your condition clearers memorized as high as possible while simultaneously having a reduced number of slots, which makes spell selection quite crowded in the top spell levels (among buffs, debuffs, utility and damage).

Which at least for me makes counterspelling in combat quite questionable, especially if you do not know what you are up against. My base assumption is highest spell level if you know what you are up against and spell level-1 if you at least want to have a chance to counter a nasty condition imposed by a random enemy.

So the question being: Is counterspelling conditions in combat still a thing and if yes at which spell level?

Probably needs to go:

Remove Paralysis - Removes paralyzed condition. Paralyzed kills.
Neutralize Poison - Removes poisons, which deal HP damage plus other effects.

Might be worth removing:

Remove Fear - Removes frightened and fleeing conditions. While fleeing can be extreme, frightened goes away over time (but can also be severe due to AC reduction).
Restore Senses - Removes blinded and deafened conditions. While blinded is quite severe to most characters, deafened seems largely ignorable, even for spellcasters.

Can't be done in combat anyway:

Restoration (1min) - Lessen Toxin / reduce condition (clumsy, enfeebled, stupefied) - No in combat use due to casting time.
Remove Disease (10min) - Diseases - No in combat use due to casting time.
Remove Curse (10min) - Curses - No in combat use due to casting time.

Quick n00b questions because I have successfully managed to confuse myself while pondering about weapon selection: The uncommon simple and martial (and advanced) weapons are limited by rarity only, not by proficiency, is that right? So if my fighter who is trained in martial weapons finds a katana during his adventures he can easily use it? Feats like Unconventional Weaponry provide both the skill to use said katana for classes that do not have martial proficiency and access to the weapon at level 1 already? Sounds good? Please let me know.

To be honest I am currently a little lost on how a low level party is supposed to find magic items, respectively about the search routine using both Detect Magic and Read Aura.

Detec Magic seems to provide a binary feedback (no magic present or magic present) and Read Aura already needs a target in order to work. So how do you actually find magic items or effects apart from conducting a meticulous search aka turning every stone?

Example:

A party of adventureres stumble into a storeroom. Among the hundreds of mundane items the storeroom contains:

a) a couple of weapon stands with dozens of melee weapons on display, one of which is a magic sword
b) a couple of pre-packed backpacks on a shelf, one of which contains two potions of lesser heal
c) some sturdy wooden chests containing various items, one of which however contains a small bag with a magic ring
d) a secret compartment hidden behind an 1" stone wall and containing a magic wand
e) the only other exit to the room is secured by a "lock" spell

So apart from the fact that Detect Magic in PF2 seems not overly clear on how it works regarding line of effect ( also see here), when somebody triggers Detect Magic in this room at least the sword and the enchanted lock (both of which are within line of sight and line of effect) should register and the spell will tell you: Yes, there is magic in this room.

But how do you go from here without any clue what item(s) it could be? Use Read Magic for hours, checking every single object?

Trianglulation is out of question because DM does not provide directions, so the only option would be starting to use DM even outside the room, inching forward step by step (and if possible coming from two or more separate directions) while constantly using DM pulses to get at least an idea where the magic might be coming from. However even the later approach looks very time consuming and complicated.

Did I miss something?

Hi guys!

Our group ran into a movement related issue yesterday and I was not able to find the respective ruling in the CRB. Would be really nice if someone could provide some pointers.

Situation one (W = Wall)

W 1
2 W

Obviously if there are two continuous walls (e.g. a corner) you can't pass from hex 1 to hex 2 and vice versa.

Situation two (W = Wall, C = enemy figure)

W 1
2 C

Can you pass from hex 1 to hex 2 or vice versa? The most common situation will be if you or an enemy figure is blocking a door / doorway. Can you leave or enter the other side of the door /doorway, passing the enemy diagonally?

Situation three (C = enemy figure)

C 1
2 C

Can you pass from hex 1 to hex 2 or vice versa?

I have listed situations one and three more or less for reference only because I think they are quite clear. However situation two aka "cutting corners" caused some debate in my group because in contrast to former rulesets a governing rule seems absent in the CRB (which usually means that you can so).

Thanks!

Is there any reason for all crafts to work of intelligence apart from simplification? Because obviously all human wizards are not only better scribes but also better blacksmiths than dwarven fighters...

It is only a minor issue, however I was a little surprised that they kept this in from PF1 so I just wanted to ask if anybody else finds it a little strange.

Hi guys (and gals),

we have currently started our first adventure and immediately encountered the question on how scent is handled, especially in exploration mode as our Ranger chose a dog for his animal compenion.

And while we are fairly sure how things are handled in encounter mode using stealth (observed, hidden, undetected vs perception / seek) it all seems to come down on how to achieve and lose condition "unnoticed", respectively about senses.

After a lot of discussion and reading the respective rules section up and down it almost looks like that considering rules as written using dogs / guard dogs in Golarion is pretty much useless.

So if somebody could enlighten me about how an impresice sense like scent is used versus a concealed foe in encounter and exploration mode respectively the advantage of having such a sense while no other precise sense is impaired?

How to become "unnoticed"? How to detect/counter condition "unnoticed"?