Wizard of Ahhhs's page

I was looking at the nymph sorcerer bloodline with an eye towards water based spells when it occurred to me how cool it would be to create something a bit more twisted in the vein of Dagon without actually rolling a cleric of Dagon and getting banned from my gaming group :P

It seems like all of the elements are already there but they exist in disparate places and they don’t work easily together. There is the Aberrant bloodline but it doesn’t really have anything to do with the sea/storms. There is also the Song of the Deep background. An enigma muse bard with a conch could maybe fill the bill if I squint really hard. Finally there is the Tempest Oracle which in some ways seems like the most thematically appropriate choice but… well… hopefully oracles will be better in the remaster.

In terms of ancestry, a pitborn Tiefling seems like a natural way to create a mutated spawn of the deep. Undine could grant trident proficiency which would be a nice addition. Would be nice if there were a way to combine a spear with some of the effects of a staff.

What Cthulhu-esque character would you create if you could?

...and replace it with a gate attenuator analog for casters.

I understand this spell has its fans, but I think this is the number one reason why we don't have any item bonuses for spell attacks. And I get that I should be using my save spells to target monsters weak saves but then if spell attacks aren't suppossed to be viable then they really shouldn't exist at all.

Here is why I think True Strike is not a fun spell. I just don't think it makes sense why I should have to spam this one spell to make all these other spells viable. If I'm an evoker, I shouldn't have to carry a Staff of Divination just so that my disintigrate lands at least 50% of the time. Also, it precludes the use of any meta-magic with spell attack spells.

Now, I know this disregards the utility of True Strike for martials who might have a caster archetype. I admit that is kind of a bummer but martials have plenty of other ways to get bonuses to hit so I don't see this as being really all that much of a game changer for martials at the end of the day.

I previously read this thread but I'm still confused about this.

If I'm playing a Rogue and I take a Sorcerer Dedication at level 2 and then Basic Sorcerer Spellcasting at level 4 does this mean that at character level 4 my cantrips are scalled to level 2 (my character level / 2) or are my cantrips still at level 1 (my highest level spell slot)?

Reading through Treasure Vault, I noticed that the Rope Dart doesn't have the Monk trait.

I'm surprised because the weapon features somewhat prominently in Wushu, so it seems like it would be a natural fit for a Monk, at least thematically speaking.

I thought it might be a typo but then I noticed a similar weapon, the Meteor Hammer, also doesn't have the Monk trait so I'm guessing it's intentional. Curious if anyone can shed light on why?

After reading Mark of the Mantis I’m feeling inspired to make a homebrew campaign with PCs taking the role of Red Mantis assassins and trying to think of what a “station” (to borrow modern day espionage terminology) would be like since I assume there would be some of organizational presence in most countries along with something serving as a base of operations.

I was thinking that given the religious nature of the Red Mantis that perhaps a temple dedicated to Achaekek would be the most likely venue. In an evil kingdom such as Cheliax, perhaps the temple would be in the open in the same way an embassy might be. Or would they prefer total secrecy? What about in a good aligned kingdom? Would the PCs even know of its whereabouts or would their only contact with the larger organization be through a handler of some sort?

What might such a place be called? “Temple” sounds a bit too much like someplace where the unwashed masses would be welcome. I think it should convey more a sense of exclusivity - open to only a select few initiates. “Chantry” and “Lodge” come to mind.

Curious if anyone has thoughts/ideas?

It’s been a week since I emailed them about my issue
(got the regular edition Impossible Lands book but I am a special edition subscriber). I got the autogenerated response email with my service ticket number but since then nothing. Should I email them again? Just anxious the ticket might’ve been overlooked.

If a Universalist Wizard uses their Hand of the Apprentice focus spell to attack a foe with Magic Immunity (for example, a Will O' Wisp), and if the attack hits (and assuming the wizard beats the flat check to target a hidden/concealed enemy) would the attack do damage as per a normal melee attack or would the enemy take no damage due to magic immunity?

Just curious if there’s been any updates regarding if we might see them as a playable ancestry any time soon and also express my desire to purchase any future sourcebook that could have it.

I’m currently rp’ing my cavern elf as a Drow and my GM kind of, sort of plays along but it would be awesome to have a legit ancestry/heritage with its own unique ancestry feats. Would also be awesome to have an archetype or two focusing on Drow magic. From what I understand, there has already been a Drow themed archetype focusing on hand crossbows, so maybe there is cause for hope.

The success outcome for the Trick Magic Item action says "For the rest of the current turn, you can spend actions to activate the item as if you could normally use it."

I take that to mean that this action is not compatible with the 3 action versions of heal and magic missile but could still be used to cast the 1 or 2 action versions of those spells (for a wand of heal for example). Is that correct?

Like many others, I looking forward to the Secrets of Magic book later this year and very happy about the new classes coming out - especially the Magus.

There are a lot more options beginning to open up for gish-like characters and this is definitely something to be happy about.

One option that I would like to see is a way to imbue (perhaps via crafting) some of the properties of a magical staff into another weapon. As the CRB points out, staves are indispensable for an elite spellcaster but sometimes it would be nice to replace a staff in favor of something more exotic.

There appear to be precedents in the game lore too that I believe support this request. For example, the hellknight signifiers of the order of the nail carry halberds - that would preclude them from simultaneously wielding a staff. Also, the mighty Sorshen of New Thassilon carries a double-bladed glaive in lieu of a staff. I don't think she would carry a glaive unless gave her an equivalent or superior benefit to a staff. (On a side note, I'm surprised she didn't make it into LO: Legends!)

To be fair, I will say that its really nice that you can cast spells from a staff using only one hand so that makes it possible to wield a one-handed weapon in the other hand (like Gandalf in the Hobbit movies for example). But it would still be nice to have some of the advantages of a staff while wielding a two handed weapon or simply a one-handed weapon by iteself!

One of my favorite things about Paizo products in general and Pathfinder, in particular, is all of the wonderful art decorating the pages of these products. I am very happy that Paizo hires highly talented artists who consistently produce such memorable work!

Some artists like Wayne Reynolds are very well known and their art is instantly recognizable based on the particulars of their style, which evoke a certain feel to Pathfinder that is unique to the game.

But oftentimes I find myself drawn to a particular piece and wanting to know which artist made it so I can learn more about their work and (to the extent I'm able) emulate their style in my own hobby artwork, but then there's no signature or initials visible that indicate who might have created it.

One of my favorite interior art pieces is the changeling hellknight on page 131 of the Lost Omens Character Guide. But there's no signature or initials so I have no idea who might have created it.

So... I guess this is my very roundabout way of asking if there's an index somewhere that would tell who created what pieces of art? If that's not available I would still love to know who created the changeling hellknight piece!!

In the 2e core rulebook, there is an elf heritage called "cavern elf" that gives you darkvision.

It's my understanding that cavern elves aren't the same thing as drow but given that elves are said to adapt physical characteristics relating to their environment I would expect they look distinct from other elves.

I have searched the web and the various 2e core and lost omens books and I haven't seen a description or image of what a cavern elf might look like but I might've missed something. Can anyone point me to a reference?

(Side note, slightly irrelevant but my pandemic hobby has been taking up drawing so I would like to *attempt* to actually draw such an elf :D)

Do the sorcerer's blood magic effects for granted spells apply to the heightened version of those spells?

For example, if an elemental bloodline sorcerer (who has a 3rd level granted spell, fireball) casts the heightened 4th level version of fireball (whether it was signature or added as a 4th level repertoire spell) does that 4th level fireball get the blood magic effect of +1 damage per spell level for +4 points of damage?

Thank you in advance for any answers!

This question has been asked in one form or another a couple of different times before in this forum (for example, here and here) but I didn't get the feeling that the community really had a clear (majority) position on this.

To restate, if a character takes the sorcerer multiclass dedication and then later picks up the Basic Blood Potency feat and chooses Dangerous Sorcery as their sorcerer feat, does this feat only affect the spell slots granted by the sorcerer dedication or does it also affect any spell slots granted by the character's (base) class. For example, could a Wizard pick this up to get a damage bonus to spells from their wizard spell slots?

Would the answer to the above question apply more generally? For example, could a Sorcerer gain the benefits of Spell Penetration for their sorcerer spell slots by taking a Wizard dedication and Advanced Arcana?

I looked up all the ACs from the monsters under “A” and “B” in Bestiary 1 and cross referenced those with Table 2-5 in the Gamemastery Guide and tallied the ACs into bins according to whether they were greater than High, High, Moderate, and less than Moderate and observed the following totals:

> High: 17
High: 21
Moderate: 12
< Moderate: 3

I stopped after "B" so I can't say with certainty if this trend holds but it sure looks like they skew high to me.

I heard that Jason Buhlman said somewhere that the design goal was to keep the success rate at about 55% on average which makes sense to me. But with this distribution, even a fully kitted out fighter on a good day is going to have a hard time keeping up, especially against bosses. And yes, I understand this is what flanking, demoralize, trip, inspire courage, etc. are for but even so, this makes it really hard to ever feel like anything more than marginally competent as a martial. (Oh and good luck to the casters trying to land an Acid Arrow without True Strike.)

Moreover, in a group with 6 players, having to wait all that time to finally get your turn only to wiff is super disappointing. Like, if I use all 3 of my actions to strike then at least one of those attacks should land at least 70-80% of the time otherwise it starts to get really frustrating. And this happens a lot when fighting bosses.

Say I have a rogue with the following feats: Nimble Dodge and Nimble Roll.

Suppose they are adjacent to an enemy which is using a strike action to attack them which then misses and I use my rogue’s Nimble Dodge + Nimble Roll to stride 10 feet away.

As I understand it, this stride will trigger the enemy’s Attack of Opportunity.

However, now suppose that my rogue also has the Mobility feat in addition to Nimble Dodge and Nimble Roll and their speed is 25.

The Mobility feat on page 184 of the CRB says:

When you take a Stride action to move half your Speed or less, that movement does not trigger reactions.

The Nimble Roll feat on page 187 says:

When you use Nimble Dodge and the triggering attack fails or critically fails, or when you succeed or critically succeed at the saving throw, you can also Stride up to 10 feet as part of the reaction. If you do, the reaction gains the move trait.

If I’m reading this correctly, the 10 ft movement provided by Nimble Roll is a stride action that results in a move less than half my rogue’s speed. Therefore shouldn't it benefit from the Mobility feat and not trigger the enemy’s Attack of Opportunity?

On page 463 of the CRB it says:

When you fall more than 5 feet, you take bludgeoning damage equal to half the distance you fell when you land. Treat falls longer than 1,500 feet as though they were 1,500 feet (750 damage). If you take any damage from a fall, you land prone. You fall about 500 feet in the first round of falling and about 1,500 feet each round thereafter.

Also, on page 259 the Cat Fall acrobatics feat says:

Your catlike aerial acrobatics allow you to cushion your falls. Treat falls as 10 feet shorter. If you’re an expert in Acrobatics, treat falls as 25 feet shorter. If you’re a master in Acrobatics, treat them as 50 feet shorter. If you’re legendary in Acrobatics, you always land on your feet and don’t take damage, regardless of the distance of the fall.

Suppose my character is trained in Acrobatics and has the Cat Fall skill feat. And suppose they are standing next to a 15' deep pit when an evil member of the party pushes them over the edge. How much damage would my character take in this instance?

For the purposes of determining which spells can receive the benefits of the Sorcerer's Dangerous Sorcery feat, as well as blood magic effects, do the innate spells granted from things like the Runescarred dedication or the Dhampir 17th level ancestry feat (from APG preview) count as "spell slots"?

They aren't explicitly called out as such, but mechanically they behave (i.e. only cast once per day) like spell slots. So it seems to me that not counting them as such is a bit of nerf for something like the Runescarred dedication.

The consensus in my gaming group seems to be that they aren't, but I wouldn't mind a second opinion (or a third, or a fourth, hehehe).