aaronak's page

Not fixed yet for me.

I can't wait for this book to come out, I have to know about all of the new dragons!!

Cold Iron Blanch requires one hand to use and two actions to apply.

Silversheen requires two hands to use and one action to apply.

Is this intentional? Does the Silversheen just... come out of the bottle faster than the Cold Iron Blanch? Is the cap on the Cold Iron Blanch easier to open with one hand?

This is a really nitpicky question, but here goes.

Tthe Manifestation of Dahak has "Draconic Momentum: As young red dragon." A young red dragon's Draconic Momentum recharges its Wreath Weapon whenever it scores a critical hit with a Strike. Naturally, it also has an ability called "Breath Weapon".

But the Manifestation doesn't have an ability exactly called "Breath Weapon". It has "Dragonstorm Breath", which has a 1d4 round recharge time (and is almost completely nullified if the PCs do well on the modified Anima Invocation), and "Focused Breath Weapon", which has a 2 round recharge time. Which one of them does the Manifestation's Draconic Momentum affect? Or does it affect both?

I'm looking specifically at the Acidic Needle Launcher from here. Although, I see what you're saying about other hazards specifically calling out that they don't suffer from MAP, or that they have the agile trait. So I guess this one probably does have the full -5/-10.

If a complex hazard's routine gives it 3 actions per turn, and each action is to make a ranged attack at a certain bonus, does it make 3 attacks at that bonus or does it suffer a multiple attack penalty on the second 2 attacks?

Generally speaking you haven't encountered a complex hazard unless it's reaction has triggered, as that is how how they are designed - you approach their area, they activate, you interact.

Without giving away spoilers for Age of Ashes, I've found it has some complex hazards where it's implausible to say combat doesn't start before the hazard activates.

I don't understand how complex hazards roll initiative when triggered while already in encounter mode.

Suppose the players have already rolled initiative. We're on initiative count 15 and half the PCs have already taken their turn. Then the complex hazard's reaction is triggered. It takes its reaction, then rolls initiative.

Does it really go on the initiative it rolls? This leads to some bizarre outcomes.

For example, the hazard would rather get a 14 than a 16. On a 14, the hazard gets to do its routine almost immediately, basically as soon as the current player finishes their turn. On a 16, the hazard goes only after all PCs have had a chance to take their turns.

Is the initiative rolling only for when the hazard is triggered from exploration mode? Or is the hazard really in this strange position where lower initiative might be better?

I do not understand how the Wellspring Gnome feat works with First World Magic.

Choose arcane, divine, or occult. [...] Whenever you gain a primal innate spell from a gnome ancestry feat, change its tradition from primal to your chosen tradition.

Choose one cantrip from the primal spell list. You can cast this spell as a primal innate spell at will.

Supposing you choose "arcane", do you choose a cantrip from the primal list and cast it as arcane? Or do you choose a cantrip from the arcane spell list?

And does this cantrip serve as a prerequisite for First World Adept (which requires "at least one primal innate spell"?

They aren't explicit about it in the current post. The list is a list of unlockable item slots, it says. It doesn't actually explicitly say that we can use that list to decide which creatures don't have neck slots. I would think, if they're trying to clarify things, they'd make that, well, clear.

Do snakes get armor and neck slots, or not?

Thanks for running the table Nathan!

Is there also a side publication Leggy Takes Hell?

That's the shorter version for kids.

Also, Genta omits the epilogue (which you missed, Nathan) - the gnomes take over the Academae with a plan to run it much as it once was, except with one new rule: All wizards must wear full plate at all times.

Fun facts from Anonycon:

• Renyrd leveled up to 4. He can go back to being a fox, at least part-time. Also, his python harmless water snake Ajagar has now grown to its full Large size.
  
• Jackanapes is level 5 and has improved his helmet so that his headbutt attacks now do magic damage! Glory to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, Great Sage, Equal of Heaven! *hic*
  
• Venture Captain Genta has published a stunning two-part exposé about the Acadamae in Korvosa, with the titles Reaping Week and The Professor from the Black Lagoon.
  

Sorry about being absent for so long. I lost track of things after getting injured a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't really been able to catch up.

I can do any day next week as long as it isn't Sunday or Tuesday. Also, if it's Monday, I won't be on until roughly 8:30.

I was thinking of a villain from my home game, Surzul.

My top three are the Avalanche, the Chronicler, and the Storm.

I can't help but read that as "GM Derp"

I have this exact same question. Any insight?

Forgive the complicated post. I'll try to post again tomorrow but I can't guarantee I'll be able to.

I will be traveling Friday through Monday, so posting from me will be extremely limited during that time.

Not a problem, Nathan. Remind me tomorrow.

"Is no one else interested in whether the magic jar jar has been used recently?"

No, Magic Jar Jar, none of us are interested in yousa casting a bombad fireball.

Also, I just noticed that both picture of Max are pictures of Cayden Cailean.

I imagine it's kind of like when someone on earth "looks like Jesus".

Also, these samsarans are immune to slumber and ice tomb, which is refreshing.

I've worked out how to set up RSS feeds so you get an email on thread update. You can use https://blogtrottr.com. For the URL of the feed you wish to subscribe to, put http://paizo.com/campaigns/SiegeOfSerpents/gameplay&xml=atom for updates to the Gameplay thread, or http://paizo.com/campaigns/SiegeOfSerpents/discussion&xml=atom for updates to the Discussion thread. (I did it twice, once for each thread.) You will have to confirm your subscription by email, but that's all there is to it.

Be advised that when you first sign up, you'll get something like 20-30 emails from each thread, because the system doesn't know what's "new" yet. But otherwise it seems pretty good.

Comic: Renyrd tries the investigation challenge - the Case of the Halfling's Cookies

To edit your character image:

• Go to https://secure.paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/myAccount
  
• Click "Edit" next to the character you want to add a picture for. Do not click on the character name itself.
  
• Under "Character Image", click "Change".
  

Should be pretty straightforward from there on out.

Response to indicate interest

I'm sure your GM really appreciates that *cough* I just happened to see an answer I was pretty sure was wrong, so I had to look it up, and by then I'd done all that work so, may as well post it here.

It's the other way around.

A sleep spell causes a magical slumber to come upon 4 HD of creatures. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Among creatures with equal HD, those who are closest to the spell's point of origin are affected first. HD that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted.

I'd use this rule for banishment. The two succubi are affected, the kalavakus is unaffected.

I'm not really interested in changing the game mechanics, I'm just trying to tell whether a new item should be made more expensive, really.

The cracked dusty rose prism ioun stone from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Seekers of Secrets (2009) costs 500 gp, and grants a +1 competence bonus to initiative. It really gets on my nerve that this item, from a PFS-centric book in 2009 in a larger section on ioun stones, is now a virtually standard buy for adventurers. I can understand items like the ring of protection, cloak of resistance, and so forth being commonplace, but does every adventurer really walk around with a cracked ioun stone?

As an alternative for my homebrew campaign, I'm thinking of making a slotted item that provides the same thing, a competence bonus to initiative checks. If a slotless +1 bonus is 500 gp, I figure a version that takes up a slot should be 250 gp for a +1 bonus, 1000 gp for a +2 bonus, and generally 250x^2 gp for a +x competence bonus to initiative.

Does this sound reasonable? Furthermore, what slot should it be? I'm thinking shoulders slot, or maybe neck slot. Definitely should be one of the good ones.

It's a spell. I edited my post to quote the whole thing.

This spell is from the Advanced Class Guide, pp. 181-182:

School necromancy [emotion, fear, mind-affecting]; level bard 4, shaman 5, sorcerer/wizard 5, witch 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V,S
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets one or more living creatures (see text)
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Fortitude negates; spell Resistance yes

Each round, you can target a single living creature of up to 9 HD and strike it with terrifying waves of power. If the target fails its saving throw, it becomes panicked for 1d4 rounds, and you gain 5 temporary hit points (which disappear after 1 hour). After the panic ends, the creature remains shaken for 10 minutes per caster level, and it automatically becomes panicked again if it comes within sight of you during that time.
These temporary hit points stack if they are from different creatures.

Question: What kind of action is it to target a new creature? Is it a swift action like eyebite, a free action like analyze dweomer, or a standard action to concentrate like implosion?

EDIT: Quoted the entire spell entry.

It doesn't even come from the polymorph spell, which does not say anything about the spell granting attacks. Rather, it comes from the general polymorph rules:

In addition to these benefits, you gain any of the natural attacks of the base creature, including proficiency in those attacks. These attacks are based on your base attack bonus, modified by your Strength or Dexterity as appropriate, and use your Strength modifier for determining damage bonuses.

The question is whether the acid damage counts as part of the natural attack, since normally bites do not do acid damage.

One of my players asked me this question, and I'm kind of interested in finding an answer. Suppose someone uses a polymorph effect, such as wild shape, to turn into a creature whose melee attack line includes elemental damage. The example is a Viper Vine - its melee attack line says

Melee bite +23 (2d6+8/19–20 plus 3d6 acid), 4 tentacles +21 (1d6+4 plus grab)

This acid damage is never explained, not under "Special Attacks" nor anywhere else in the stat block. So, suppose I used plant shape III to turn into a Viper Vine - am I granted a bite attack that does acid damage, or not?

Enera's elven ears do not miss Stanley's words from a neighboring table. She also sits alone, with three containers in front of her. There's a mug of the bartender's finest, but also a mismatched pair of beakers containing a runny red substance. She idly pours the alchemical formula from one beaker to the other and back again.

The elven lady gives Stanley a curious look. "Ants and wasps fight often, you know," she says, in a tone of detached, academic interest. "I've read studies. In Barrowood, the bugs often compete over the same food sources. The ants fight by swarming, of course, and some varieties can spray a mild acid.

"Do you know what the wasps do to the ants?" Enera puts the beakers down. "The wasp picks up the ant, flies it half a mile away, and lets it fall, never to be seen by its fellow ants again."

Never one to speak up too loudly, she lowers her voice even more. "Sound familiar? You might not talk about it, but chances are you know people who've gone missing. Just disappeared, as though they'd never existed. Gone... like ants." She nods, knowingly. "We've all had our troubles with the political climate around here. But there's more than just dottari and hellknights to be afraid of. I think we should acknowledge it."

Enera turns to look around at the assembled dissidents, and idly starts mixing her alchemical solution again. Accidentally, she pours some of the runny red into her ale. A big puff of black smoke erupts from the mug. "Oops!" she coughs, trying to clear the air above her table.

Shhh! We're plotting to overthrow a government here... or at least parts of it.

For the record, we are rehearsing a play. We are loyal citizens of Cheliax. Hail Asmodeus and long live House Thrune, am I right? (Never know if there are Hellknights listening...)

Well, there are already 15 applications by my count...

For your consideration. Let me know if there's anything in the stats I need to change.

I haven't done PBP in a long while, but I've been looking for a chance to get into it. I have a character in mind - I'll get back to you tomorrow with a character sheet/application.

Can a sylph ninja with the Cloud Gazer feat from Advanced Race Guide see through her own smoke bomb? Smoke is not precisely fog, mist, or cloud; but Smoke Bomb creates an non-magical effect like a smokestick, and a smokestick works like fog cloud.

Relevant rules:

Benefit: You can see through fog, mist, and clouds, without penalty, ignoring any cover or concealment bonuses from such effects. If the effect is created by magic, this feat instead triples the distance you can see without penalty.

Smoke Bomb (Ex): This ability allows a ninja to throw a smoke bomb that creates a cloud of smoke with a 15-foot radius. This acts like the smoke from a smokestick. The ninja can center this smoke on herself, or throw the bomb as a ranged touch attack with a range of 20 feet. Using this ability is a standard action. Each use of this ability uses up 1 ki point.

This alchemically treated wooden stick instantly creates thick, opaque smoke when burned. The smoke fills a 10-foot cube (treat the effect as a fog cloud spell, except that a moderate or stronger wind dissipates the smoke in 1 round). The stick is consumed after 1 round, and the smoke dissipates naturally after 1 minute.

I have a Greater Feint/Two-Weapon Feinting character, so it would be really good to know the answer to this.

I'd say just to one end. It happens to bring the other end with it.

This special ability can be placed only on melee weapons.

The magic weapon serves as a channel for the wielder's ki, allowing her to use her special ki attacks through the weapon as if they were unarmed attacks. These attacks include the monk's ki strike, quivering palm, and the Stunning Fist feat (including any condition that the monk can apply using this feat).

I've seen other threads agonizing over the fact that "special ki attacks" is vague as could be, but I haven't seen a specific response to my question. And that is this: While the Stunning Fist feat is called out specifically by this description, does it still count as a "special ki attack" if it's being used by someone who's not a monk and has no ki pool? Would, say, a fighter with the Stunning Fist feat be able to pick up a ki focus greatsword and Stunning Fist through it?

Curiously, I think the RAW is that the PC remains at the top of the pit. Consider:

You can't end your movement in the same square as another creature unless it is helpless.

Sometimes a character ends its movement while moving through a space where it's not allowed to stop. When that happens, put your miniature in the last legal position you occupied, or the closest legal position, if there's a legal position that's closer.

The closest legal position, unless the PC has a burrow, climb, or fly speed, is on the ground next to the pit. Therefore, RAW, they fall into the pit, bounce on the zombie, and are suddenly next to the pit.

Now, if I were the GM, I would simply apply the penalties for squeezing to both the zombie and the PC until the zombie is destroyed or the PC becomes helpless. They could then attack each other normally. But I think this does technically contravene RAW, as

A creature can squeeze past a creature while moving but it can’t end its movement in an occupied square.

As for your question number 1), I would use the falling object rules.

You are correct. The other GM may not like it, but what's his rationale, rules-wise?

An incorporeal creature’s attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it.

As you pointed out, the bracers of armor create a force effect. So what is the problem?

No, the ring of force shield does not have any of the abilities of the wall of force spell. All it gives you is the +2 shield bonus.

What type of problem, exactly? It's hard to think of something else quite like this.

I agree with Aelrynth. In addition to those reasons, I would add that not only does the text for the fog aspect of guards and wards mention nothing about being dispersed by wind but the stinking cloud aspect of guards and wards specifically does. It doesn't even say the fog is "like fog cloud" or something like that. This shows that if the fog effect were supposed to be so easily dispersed, it would have said so.