With the current one of the classes being playtested having easy and early access to being (un)sanctified how should we treat those abilities when they don't interact with the current rules? Should we have them triggering good/evil weakness or do they do nothing until we are actually using the remastered rules? I'm leaning on the side of letting the abilities work as they are intended to eventually function for better playtest data, but I also see the argument of how this is doing too much interpretation of the rules for society play.
So if I had my familiar cast a spell using the Spellcasting familiar ability would it be able to sustain the spell with its own actions? If so then it seems that also giving it the Independent ability would let you sustain low level spells without spending your own actions. I'm not sure if this is too good as the spell has to be 5 levels below your highest but considering the feat to do this is normally level 16 and can stack with this tactic it seems very nice for what even a base familiar can do with its two abilities. The biggest use I can see for it is Hideous Laughter but Aqueous Orb, Bless, Enthrall, Mad Monkeys, and Shifting Sands are all low level spells that are still potentially useful at high levels. Other low level sustained spells are damage, incapacitation or summoning which are much less effective in lower level slots.
I think the writing on how the spell works needs a small revision. As written when you chose misfortune, the target doesn't save immediately but on their next appropriate roll rolls twice. After they roll twice then they make a will save, which on a failure must use the lower roll, but doesn't state which to use on a success. This means whoever is under the effect would have to state which of the dice is the "original" roll to be taken on a success. I think it would be a lot cleaner if when choosing misfortune the target saved immediately to negate the effect even if this would be a very minor functional change and perhaps take slightly more words.
I've got a couple questions from trying to make a ranger with an animal companion. First, specifically with the ranger, their animal companion also gains the benefits of their Hunter's Edge so if they had the Precision Edge (which does additional precision damage on the first attack you hit with in a round) can both the ranger and companion trigger it in the same round?
A second question, there seems to be an error with either heavy barding or the AC item bonus cap for companions. Under the rules for companions it states they can not get more than a +2 item bonus to AC, yet heavy barding gives a +3 bonus and the dex cap seems to be balanced around the whole bonus applying. Is there something I am missing here?
The event says this is a 7-11, but the scenario says 5-9. I assume the scenario's description is more accurate, but clarification and correction would be nice.
For those who actually enjoy planning out characters in a spreadsheet here is mine: link.
It is not original as it is based off a PF1 sheet I found a few years ago and have been using since. Unfortunately I could not find the original sheet again to give credit. If you want to plan out a build without needing a sheet for every level, I find this very useful to organize my decisions from level 1 to 20. If people have any requests, recommendations, or corrections, let me know and I will try to apply them.
Quick question, would the advocate boon from the season 8 sovereign court faction journal card reduce the cost of retraining? I have a character with the boon I want to swap around a couple levels on.
Advocate wrote:
When purchasing a spellcasting service, vanity, or other prestige award that costs 5 or more Prestige
Points, the power of your reputation reduces the final cost by 1. If you have completed seven or more goals, you instead reduce
the cost of awards that cost 4 or more Prestige Points by 1.
Can weapons or grenades with the explode property critically hit? At first I thought it would similar to pathfinder where attacks targeting a square would not deal extra damage on a critical but the Plasma Cannons are explode weapons with a critical effect. If it is not an error that they have a critical effect would they crit when the attack roll to hit the intersection is a natural 20 and would this do double damage in addition to the critical effect?
I've made a very simplistic ability score calculator for Starfinder which you can copy here. It includes the ability bonuses for all the core Starfinder and Pathfinder races. I am fairly new to making my own spreadsheets so if there are any tips on how to improve this or ideas to add to the tool let me know!
Does an animal companion need three intelligence before taking the Extra Item Slot feat for Animal Archive? It isn't on the Core Rulebook animal companion feats list but it is specifically designed for animals. Given how PFS tends to rule on specific lists not allowing deviation without an explicit exception I don't think it can take the feat but I want to check if I missed anything.
Reasons for the question:
I'm trying to get some grappling feats for my Constrictor Snake animal companion but those aren't on the animal companion feat list so I'm trying to raise its Int to 3 with magic items. It starts with only 1 Int and I'm not going human for the alternate racial that would add 2 to a companion's ability score. I want to get Extra Item Slot (Headband) (one of the few item slots serpentine creatures can get) to grab a headband of Int but I don't know if that requires 3 int to grab.
As someone who enjoys playing... inventive builds, I often run into situations where the rules are unclear and there is some table variation e.g. using intimidate to demoralize things that don't speak the same language, or the reach of my whip maneuver character while she is enlarged (shameless plug). Not all vague areas can or will be cleared up; I'm more looking for advice on how, as a player, I should best go about springing esoteric corner cases on unfortunate GMs. I will already have pages up with evidence like the rules for intimidate or James Jacob's post on whip's reach if I am planning on playing that character and I am usually prepared to play a different character when the GM doesn't want to give a ruling. Any advice on other ways to limit GM headaches?
What is the reach of a large character wielding a whip? There seem to have beenseveralpostsabout this topic. There is also a post on this topic where the FAQ was marked as not requiring a response despite no clarification on the issue elsewhere. The threads that did reach a conclusion agree that there is conflicting evidence and it comes down to table variation. There are two main pieces of evidence: the large balor uses a whip with a 20 foot reach and James Jacob says they should have 30 foot reach. I have a maneuver build in PFS that uses a whip as it can do almost every maneuver with some investment, and I often need to enlarge to even use maneuvers on some creatures. Unless this issue has been solved elsewhere and I am just missing something, could we get a clarification on how to calculate the reach of a whip?
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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
In the Kineticist's Wall Infusion it only defines the dimensions as either being up to 10 ft high and 120 ft long or up to 20 ft high and 60 ft long. It says nothing about having to be a flat plane or if it can be curved. So long as it stay within one of the two sizes could I curve the wall such as into a semi-circle, or have it snake in an "S" shape? All other wall spells like Wall of Stone, Wind Wall, and Wall of Ice all specify not just dimensions but also what shape(s) the wall can take. So is the Wall Infusion restricted to a flat vertical plane or can it be curved or tilted?
Also, does the entire wall have to be within 30 feet of the Kineticist? The infusion states that "The wall appears with 30 feet" but this would severely limit how big the wall could be if its not shapable. Even with the shortest maximum length you would have to drop the wall right on top of yourself for it to reach the full 60 feet.
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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
FAQ: How does Battlemind Link work? "If you both make melee/ranged attacks against the same creature, you both make attack rolls and both use the higher of the two dice for your attack rolls (plus bonuses)" is too vague as to how it functions in turn-based combat where the combatants might have a different number of attacks.
So a few years ago there was this thread asking how battlemind link works. The problem is it didn't work as written as the thread concluded. However it then got an updated in the errata. Unfortunately the update didn't fix the spell, it only corrected an editing error, changing "melee or ranged" to just "melee" in the first effect. The spell is still broken but the FAQ request was marked as "fixed in the FAQ". Other than adding in the spell components, which were left out in the original printing, there have been no other updates either in an FAQ or errata that I could find.
There have been other threads asking about this spell that did not get as big as the first thread: here, here, here, and here.
Hopefully this spell gets clearer wording as currently it does not work as written without GM intervention.
In the Kineticist's Wall Infusion it only defines the dimensions as either being up to 10 ft high and 120 ft long or up to 20 ft high and 60 ft long. It says nothing about having to be flat or if it can be curved. So long as it stay within one of the two sizes could I curve the wall such as into a semi-circle, or have it snake in an "S" shape? There is some clarification here about the wall, namely that it is placed on the edges of squares like other walls and its interaction when placed on top of larger creatures. Most other wall spells like Wall of Stone, Wind Wall, and Wall of Force all specify not just dimensions but also what shape(s) the wall can take. So is the Wall Infusion restricted to a flat vertical plane or can it be curved or tilted?
Edit: An additional question: does the entire wall have to be within 30 feet of the Kineticist? The infusion states that "The wall appears with 30 feet" but this would severely limit how big the wall could be if its not shapable. Even with the shortest maximum length you would have to drop the wall right on top of yourself for it to reach the full 60 feet.
So I was looking at the winter witch PrC from Paths of Prestige and I was wondering if learned new spells at each level. I understand most prestige classes don't give new spells to prepared casters but in the Winter Witch class it says
Winter Witchcraft wrote:
Levels of the winter witch prestige class stack with witch levels for determining when she learns new hexes, the effect of her hexes and other witch class abilities (including archetype abilities), the abilities of her witch’s familiar, and the level at which she can select major hexes or grand hexes.
and the witch is different from most classes where the witch itself doesn't learn new spells, her familiar does. For the witch class, learning new spells isn't even mentioned in the spell casting ability, it is part of the familiar ability and is detailed further in the witch's familiar text. My question would be is learning spells treated as an ability of the familiar or is it still the witch learning the spells?
For Reference:
Witch's Spells:
Spells wrote:
A witch casts arcane spells drawn from the witch spell list (see pages 70–71). A witch must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time.
To learn or cast a spell, a witch must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a witch’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the witch’s Intelligence modifier.
A witch can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table 2–10. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Intelligence score (see Table 1–3 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook).
A witch may know any number of spells. She must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour communing with her familiar. While communing, the witch decides which spells to prepare.
Witch's Familiar:
Quote:
At 1st level, a witch forms a close bond with a familiar, a creature that teaches her magic and helps to guide her along her path. Familiars also aid a witch by granting her skill bonuses, additional spells, and help with some types of magic. This functions like the wizard’s arcane bond class feature, except as noted in The Witch's Familiar section. A witch must commune with her familiar each day to prepare her spells. Familiars store all of the spells that a witch knows, and a witch cannot prepare a spell that is not stored by her familiar. A witch’s familiar begins play storing all of the 0-level witch spells plus three 1stlevel spells of the witch’s choice. The witch also selects a number of additional 1st-level spells equal to her Intelligence modifier to store in her familiar. At each new witch level, she adds two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new witch level) to her familiar. A witch can also add additional spells to her familiar through a special ritual (see sidebar).
Store Spells:
wrote:
Starting at 1st level, a witch’s familiar stores all of the spells that the witch knows. This does not allow the familiar to cast these spells or use spell-trigger or spell completion magic items. Starting at 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, a witch’s familiar adds new bonus spells to the witch’s spell list based on her patron. These spells are automatically stored by the familiar and can be prepared as normal once they are gained.
Winter Witch Spells per Day:
wrote:
At the indicated levels, a winter witch gains new spells per day and patron spells as if she had also gained a level in the witch class. She does not, however, gain other benefits a character of that class would have gained except for additional spells per day and an increased effective level of spellcasting.
Winter Witchcraft:
wrote:
Winter Witchcraft: Levels of the winter witch prestige class stack with witch levels for determining when she learns new hexes, the effect of her hexes and other witch class abilities (including archetype abilities), the abilities of her witch’s familiar, and the level at which she can select major hexes or grand hexes.
Adding Spells to a Witch's Familiar:
Spells Gained at a New Level wrote:
A witch’s familiar learns a certain amount of lore and magic as the witch adventures. Whenever a witch gains a level, she may add two spells from the witch spell list to her familiar. The two free spells must be of spell levels she can cast.
Does the spell tattoo created by the Tattoo Potion persist between scenarios? The guide states that:
PFS Guide wrote:
All spells and effects end at the end of a scenario with the following exceptions
and the spell does not fall under the stated exceptions. My question is does the created tattoo qualify as the effect, thus ending after each scenario. If so it seems rather useless for society play. As a follow up question if I get a (very expensive) wand or a scroll of Spell Tattoo and used that would it be permanent? It is really cheesy and requires a very literal reading of this FAQ but it is a magic item creating an additional item that would be permanent. It most definitely violates RaI if Tattoo Potion can't normally make a permanent item, but RaW it seems to work.
If you fail a concentration check while casting a spell with material components do you lose the material components? This won't matter much for negligible cost components but if you need to refresh your stoneskin mid combat and your spell is disrupted or countered did you lose the 250 gp materials? For reference the rules on concentration state:
Core Rulebook page 206 wrote:
If you fail the check, you lose the spell just as if you had cast it to no effect.
A few things are confusing me about the skill unlock abilities for intimidate. The unlocked skill adds an increased fear effect that last for some rounds then is shaken "thereafter." It is noted the total duration cannot exceed 1 round plus 1 round for every 5 the dc is exceeded, which is the normal duration of shaken on intimidate. This is confusing as the shaken effect from demoralize in the CRB stacks in duration with other fear effects. This wording seems to suggest that an unlocked demoralize attempt does not stack duration with other fear effects, making unlocked demoralize worse than regular demoralize, especially as the heightened fear effect can be saved against. Another problem is how it functions with effects that increase the duration of fear effects. I have a thug rogue with the memorable trait. This means on a successful demoralize the target is shaken for two additional rounds. With the unlocked wording I'm not sure these abilities will function anymore. This only gets more confusing with the second part of the thug's frightening ability that lets me cause frightened for 1 round instead of shaken, if the duration of shaken would be more than 4 rounds. I'm inclined to think this part just does not work with the unlocked intimidate.
Ultimately I have three questions: How does the unlocked intimidate demoralize stack with other fear effects if does stack at all; how do abilities that increase the duration of your fear effects work with unlocked intimidate; and how does the thug's frightening ability work with unlocked intimidate? I can quote the relevant rules text if needed.
