My 1st. level oracle would like to select his mystery's first bonus spell (1st. level spell granted at 2nd. oracle level) as a spell known. Is that within the rules?
I believe that it works this way:
If a mystery or archetype grants a bonus spell that is not normally on the oracle list, it becomes part of that character's spell list. It can therefore be selected as a spell known at 1st. level. At 2nd. level, the character would gain the same spell known again and be unable to replace the first instance. He would have the spell known twice. At 4th. level, he could learn a different spell in place of the non-bonus version per the normal rules.
The trade-off is that the character gains a particular spell early but has one fewer 1st. level spell known at 2nd. and 3rd. oracle level.
When the Advanced Race Guide was errata'd last year, some of the favored class options changed. Treat as +1/2 level higher for an oracle revelation or bardic performance options were changed to +1/6 level.
There are still characters in my area using the old options (which were integral to some builds). Are they grandfathered? If not, what are the guidelines for updating the characters? I couldn't find anything in the rules changes thread that covers favored class options.
Thanks in advance for your help. I'd like to be well informed before delivering bad news...
According to the PFS FAQ (http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/faq#v5748eaic9p51):
Can my animal companion or familiar wear or use magic items?
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Additionally, animal companions have access to magical item slots, in addition to barding and neck, as listed on the inside front cover of the Animal Archive so long as they select the Extra Item Slot feat. The Animal Magic Item Slots table found in Animal Archive is not a legal except under the following conditions. First, an animal companion, familiar, or bonded mount, may choose one slot listed under its body type when taking the Extra Item Slot feat (this feat may be taken multiple times, each time selecting a different available magic item slot based on the creature’s anatomy). Second, access to specific magic item slots may be granted at a later date by another legal source. If you do not own a copy of the Animal Archive, your animal companion may only use barding and neck-slot items.
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The brownie, faerie dragon, imp, lyrakien azata, mephit, quasit, sprite familiars, granted by the Improved Familiar feat, use the Biped (hands) section of the chart. The carbuncle and voidworm protean, familiars granted by the Improved Familiar feat, uses the Serpentine section of the chart. If you do not own a copy of the Animal Archive, your animal companion may only use barding and neck-slot items.
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The Extra Item Slot feat lists "non-humanoid body shape" as a prerequisite. Does this mean that a Sprite familiar must wait for updated wording to legally wear a ring in PFS?
Per RAW:
The Sun is a colossal object (+8 perception to see it)
-1 perception for every 10 feet away it is (-49 billion perception to see it)
"Circumstance bonus" is used in printed adventures, but there is no actual rule for it in the Core Rulebook
Constructive point: The rules aren't perfect, and that's okay.
Pathfinder is a game. The objective of the game is to have fun. The rules exist to create better communication and common expectations. The rules attempt to create balance so everyone has a fair chance to shine.
Like most of you, I have a very high I.Q. I have learned, however, that fixating on rules that I don't agree with (I'm looking at you, adamantine shuriken!) makes the game less fun, not more.
The next time someone asks me how fast a scorching ray is, my answer will be "whatever speed makes a more interesting and enjoyable story." Maybe it will be super fast like a laser beam. Maybe everything will seem to slow down in a dramatic moment that may mean the death of a beloved NPC. Time will tell (smirk).
In another thread there seemed to be a lot of confusion and disagreement about immediate actions. Adjudicating immediate actions can get tricky, so let's try to come up with some user-friendly guidelines.
* Proposal #1: Let's accept that we probably cannot have a hard and fast rule that will cover all situations.
* Proposal #2: Just as with free actions, the GM should determine what immediate actions he or she feels are reasonable.
* Proposal #3: GMs should do their best to decide what to allow based on existing precedent.
On the other thread there was a lot of disagreement about whether or not an immediate action could be used as a spell is resolving. I think people are disagreeing because they see specific examples and want the answer to be either yes or no. Whether or not someone can respond to a spell during resolution should actually depend on the spell being cast.
Example A: Larry the Lich starts casting enervation. Walter the wizard identifies it using spellcraft. As the spell resolves, the Lich points at Walter and "a black ray of negative energy" streaks toward him. Walter casts emergency force sphere to block the ray. The ray shield combat feat could save a PC from enervation, so I believe Walter should get a chance to cast EFS.
Example B: Larry the Lich starts casting greater dispel magic. Walter the wizard identifies it using spellcraft. Walter waits to find out who Larry is going to target. Greater dispel magic resolves, and Walter gets his 3 highest level buffs dispelled. Walter doesn't find out that he's the target till it's too late, so I believe he should not get a chance to cast EFS.
What guidelines would you like to see for immediate actions?
"A player who uses a pregenerated character must apply the Chronicle sheet to a 1st-level character or hold the Chronicle sheet until his character reaches the level of the pregenerated character. (Guide to Organized Play, 31)
"If the GM with a low-level character runs any higher tier scenarios that don’t include a subtier for her 1st-level rogue, she takes the lowest subtier Chronicle sheet from that scenario and holds it for her PC. Then, once her PC achieves the appropriate level for that Chronicle sheet, it is immediately applied." (Guide to Organized Play, 39)
"You may also opt instead to apply the Chronicle sheets earned with a non-1st-level pregenerated character to a 1st-level character with the amount of gp gained reduced, and any character specific boons earned must wait to be utilized until the character is of the same level as the subtier on the Chronicle sheet unless otherwise noted." (Guide to Organized Play, 21)
Can a PC make changes on the chronicle that caused her to gain a level before the held chronicle is applied?
Example: Emerald Spire 15: Order and Chaos...
Spoiler:
has a boon called "runes of change" that permanently changes the PC's race. The PC retains his previous race-specific feats, etc. but does not qualify to acquire new ones.
Bob the Aasimar gets a chronicle that gives him enough XP to gain 10th. level. Then he retrains a feat to "angel wings," which requires him to be at least 10th. level. Then the "runes of change" boon applies. He is now a Dwarf with angel wings.
It seems like this should work with a held chronicle as long as the retraining is noted and paid for on the previous chronicle. It is not really different from retraining before playing Order and Chaos. The case of the "runes of change" boon on a chronicle applied to a 1st. level character seems much more murky. Thoughts?
I recently played a scenario which granted a permanent negative boon for failing a saving throw. My eidolon failed. The GM asked me to post here to find out if the negative boon actually stays with the eidolon.
I believe that an eidolon shouldn't be able to receive a negative boon because an eidolon shouldn't be able to receive a positive boon. There is too much room for abuse by effectively doubling some of the best boons. That is just my opinion, of course.
Please point me to any official rulings that you know of.
Displacement states "The subject of this spell appears to be about 2 feet away from its true location. The creature benefits from a 50% miss chance as if it had total concealment. Unlike actual total concealment, displacement does not prevent enemies from targeting the creature normally."
Blind Fight states "In melee, every time you miss because of concealment (see Combat), you can reroll your miss chance percentile roll one time to see if you actually hit."
If a character with Blind Fight misses due to displacement (which technically doesn't grant concealment), does Blind Fight allow a reroll of the miss chance?
According to the Core Rulebook FAQ, spell-like abilities satisfy prerequisites for item crafting feats, item creation and prestige class requirements. An SLA does not, however, count as having the spell on a class list for the purpose of activating spell completion and spell trigger items.
Example: A 6th. level Aasimar fighter, named Bob, has a Daylight 1/day SLA. Bob could have taken craft arms and armor at 5th. level. Bob can use his SLA to craft Radiant armor. Bob can qualify for Eldritch Knight because he is "able to cast 3rd.-level arcane spells." Bob cannot, however, activate a wand of Daylight (without use magic device).
I believe that Bob counts as "a creature that can cast arcane spells" and would receive a -4 penalty to his Will save vs. feeblemind. Is that correct?
"If the player is playing a non-1st-level pregenerated character, he
may choose instead to apply this Chronicle sheet to a 1st. level
character by reducing this value to 500 gp (or 250 gp for
the slow advancement track)." If I didn't miss anything, the Guide says nothing else about it.
Typically, GM's also cross off all items and boons from the chronicle. Is that correct even if the Guide doesn't say so?
It appears that GM's do not have the option to apply a chronicle to a 1st. level character. Is that correct?
It appears that there is no option to apply a 3xp/4pp chronicle from a module to a 1st. level character. Is that correct?
If I'm running a table and discover that one of the players has an illegal character...
Is there an official rules source or set of guidelines to refer to?
If there are multiple ways to correct the problem, should I let the player choose? Example: A character has weapon focus: scimitar, weapon finesse and dervish dance (no ranks in perform: dance). Two skill ranks could be shifted to perform: dance, or dervish dance could be replaced with slashing grace.
How would you handle a more complex problem such as wizard 5 / dragon disciple 5?
1.) Increase the activation time from 1 standard action to 1 minute.
2.) Add Bardic Knowledge as a prerequisite (previous characters can be grandfathered in).
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Another thread brought to light that many GM's have serious problems with Pageant of the Peacock. Yes, it is overpowered. Rather than debate whether or not it should be banned, let's fix it.
A lore oracle using Focused Trance can meditate for 1d6 rounds to gain a +20 circumstance bonus to any intelligence-based skill check. This can be used to auto-succeed at all beginning of scenario lore checks. It is not, however, useful in combat because of the required time to activate. It is also important to note that it does not allow untrained knowledge checks.
Fix #1 should therefore be to increase the time required to activate PotP. Increasing to 1 minute makes the ability useless in combat. It is still good thematically; compare the longer activation to using the disguise skill.
The next offense is allowing a bard to sacrifice Bardic Knowledge for an archetype then gain a superior version at a low cost.
Fix #2 should therefore be adding Bardic Knowledge as a prerequisite (allowing existing characters to be grandfathered in).
The next powerful aspect to PotP is the duration of 10 minutes per round of bardic performance. Changing this, however, would ruin the original intent of using it at a social gathering.
From a game design standpoint, please remember the importance of simplicity. There are probably better fixes, but adding too much complexity to the errata can create more problems than it solves. Applying these two fixes will still leave PotP superior to Focused Trance, but characters devoted to monster lore will no longer be overshadowed.
What are your thoughts?
How do we bring this to the attention of the powers that be?
The unbreakable fighter states: "At 5th level, an unbreakable gains the Heroic Recovery feat as a bonus feat, if he does not have it already. If he already has this feat, the unbreakable can choose any combat feat instead."
As stated, an unbreakable who already has heroic recovery can choose ANY combat feat at 5th. level. It does not state that he must meet the prerequisites, only that it must be a combat feat. The official errata for Ultimate Combat makes no comment. Does anyone know of any official commentary?
Until there is official errata, would it be legal (though admittedly cheesy) to pick something like greater vital strike as the replacement feat? What about in PFS?
