awp832's page

sorry, i've not done pbp on this site before. it should all be better now.

I'd do it anyway, if there is space.

I'd play out of subtier as well. Sounds like you have a lot of interest.

1. Isidian Caissa Human (Taldor) Cavalier-1/Bard-1. Status of minor taldan nobility but of a bankrupt house. Seeks personal wealth to restore his family's name and to attain honor and notoriety. Isidian is a talented swordsman and upcoming knight. He is playing with standard rules.

2. I was at Nerosyan when the demons attacked. What they came for I do not know, perhaps they sought to aquire the information the Society had attained on a new Sky-Citadel for themselves, perhaps they were after our leadership, with so many of us gathered in one place. Perhaps they simply were drawn to an opportunity to cause mayhem, as demons often are.

None of us were prepared, there was utter chaos. We were cut off from our leaders and had to organize into smaller cells. None of us knew where the demons came from or what districts to defend, but they soon all came under heavy attack. I joined a small cadre of heros and tried to lead them into the fray, though all our courage was faltering. Uncertain where to strike a blow strategically, we tried to eliminate as many of the creatures as we could in our area. I saw many good men and women die that day, I should want to say they fought bravely but they had little choice; fight or be cut down, for no demon recognizes surrender. I very nearly fell myself, to this day I do not know how I summoned up the reserves to press on during the final attack.

Though the leadership may claim Nerosyan as a victory in that we held the city, the battle was nothing short of a disaster. I shall not soon forget the sight of the living siege towers they sent against us, belching forth their insectoid clouds of death. At Nerosyan I learned the burdens of those who would be leaders, and that no camp, however seemingly secure, however strong the walls, can ever be truly safe.

Could a Paladin simply get a friendly cleric of their deity to place a voluntary Geas/Quest spell on them with the instructions to "follow the paladins code"? For 1 day/level, which you should easily be able to refresh baring exceptional conditions, you mechanically are unable to fall. With all the Paladin falling threads that constantly pop up here... I would have thought more people would do this. Is there something I'm missing?

This would work for any class with a code of course, not just paladins.

Is it not considered to be walking the righteous path if you are compelled to do it? /interesting moral question.

run around the enemy and draw AoOs away from characters who are actually contributing to the fight. Also, hope they don't have Combat Reflexes. You may laugh but this has actually proved to be very valuable on occasion. Usually only do this vs foes with reach. Taking the Total Defense standard action before you do this is usually a smart plan.

Stand in the way. Sometimes blocking a door to stop an enemy from escaping is what needs to be done, or stand in the doorway to secure your own escape route against enemies who might be trying to cut you off. Positioning yourself between the enemy and somebody squishier than you might prevent them from charging an important ally.

Change the terrain, if you can. Knocking over tables to provide cover might work. Break a window to provide another entrance to the room if the only current one is being blocked by an enemy. Dump that cauldron of who-knows-what out on their heads. Maybe you need to secure a grappling hook and a rope to get across the chasm to where the archers are shooting you.

1. You'd pick between which Bite attack you were using, Hive Totem or Serpents Fang. They're not blended into the same attack, just because you are using the same part of your body.

2. No, because of 1.

3. Yes it does.

Any class could do well. People's definitions of pleasure can vary widely. Your character could also be a masochist, pack a vicious weapon, and bring on the pain. This concept is about how you roleplay it, not what your stats are.

yeah, the best way is certainly not to fight at all. Use political ties to just have the PCs arrested. If they don't comply they will likely have to kill a few town guards and will then be wanted enemies of the state.

have many escape ways ready, Teleportation spells are your best bet, but a Vampire's gaseous form will do just fine in a pinch. This should pretty much shut down the PCs until they start using Dimensional Anchor, and you should at least get a single escape in before they wise up.

Beyond that, having minions and bodyguards around to help keep the heat off for a while is always a good idea.

Listen, I'm not saying your build isn't a good one, but your character stats are just so crazy I find it hard to be compelled. Try this with 20 point buy and see if it still works well. At level 5 four out of your six stats are 18+: that is nuts. You would be hard pressed to build a weak character with those stats, no matter what you did.

Try with a standard race too.

Generally my advice is: DON'T scale the DCs of skill checks as players level up. This can be excruciatingly hard to do as a GM, but I still think it's the best option.

For example, the DC of the diplomacy check to make the King/Queen accept your proposal should be based on the strength of your proposal, not how high level you are. Say it's a pretty good plan, you might set the DC at 15 because the King/Queen have learned to be cautious of the advice of strangers. That's the DC. That's the DC whether they're level 2 or level 20.

You want to bluff the level 1 bar bouncer into letting you in. He's big and tough but not too bright, he's got a rank in Sense-motive though (he wont let just ANYONE in) and probably found a way to make it a class skill, maybe he's a rogue. So his opposed sense motive might be somewhere in the area of +3 if he has a negative WIS mod. Again, his opposed check should be about +3 whether the party is level 2 or level 20.

Now if there is a good reason that said NPC might have better stats than by all means, if instead of the bouncer at "The Lucky Dumpling" the NPC is the King's personal bodyguard, they might have a significantly higher WIS score and be higher level.

Try to set the DCs based on the situation and the NPCs involved (if any) and not at how good the PCs are at overcoming such challenges. Otherwise you only make their skill ranks meaningless as the DCs get harder as they level up. You also will run into another problem: At high level the party bard will still be able to talk his way past anything, but your party Barbarian won't even have the slightest chance, even if their proposal/cover story is a very good one.

I think you do not need a heal check to have someone count as "being attended". At the point you are at, the cleric is not in danger of immediate death by bleeding out or the like. Now if you actually want to help him, a heal check, sure. But all you seem to want to do is to make sure he stays alive while he recovers on his own.

You're doing excessively simple things, like making sure he doesn't choke to death on his own vomit, trying to pour water down his throat every now and then, making sure he doesn't freeze to death at night, not letting him get eaten by wolves, that sort of thing. So you don't have to make a check at all, the fact that you are there and trying to not let him die is enough.

maybe so, but such a druid might say that it is the role of enlightened beings to rise above the natural state of violence and be guardians of life.

Consider Vash the Stampede from Trigun if you have seen it. Vash is aware of the brutality of nature, and yet still seeks to protect all life, in a memorable scene he tries to save a butterfly caught in a spider's web, delicately trying to remove the caught creature. His brother Knives walks up and kills the spider, informing Vash that he has accomplished Vash's goal of saving the butterfly, and after Vash objects, reminds him that saving the Spider's prey from its clutches is equivalent to killing the spider as the spider must eat to survive.

Maybe Vash's stance is paradoxical, but his desire to save everyone -even the wicked- is what makes him an interesting and ultimately likable character.

I've seen this asked before, I believe it is the case that the damage from Vicious is untyped damage (I'm even a little wary of calling it untyped energy damage) and therefore it is not subject to any sort of DR whatsoever.

The scenario is either in error (it does occasionally happen) or the author wished for that particular enemy to be a specific exception to the rules for one reason or another.

I for one, am with you. I've often thought about House-ruling haste to be 5th level. I agree with about everything you said. Blessing of Fervor is also powerful but it is 5th level, so appropriate.

direct me to where it says reach weapons follow the rules for ranged attacks? one of my players asked this very question.

the mistake here is in thinking that this was not something you could already do. Slotless magic items have been in Pathfinder since the beginning, they were in D&D 3.0 when I started playing, and I imagine they were around well before that.

Suppose you wanted to wear a Belt of Giant Strength and also a Belt of Mighty Constitution at the same time. Well, there is functionally no difference between having a "Tattoo of Mighty Constitution" and having an Iounstone that gives an enhancement bonus to Constitution.

It was, and is, something that people can already do. The only difference is now there is a feat for it that you technically don't need to take, as I already went over -you can do everything a Tattoo will do with Craft Wonderous Item-.

it depends on the type of creature. A creature that gets turned into a zombie loses all of its HD from class levels, so if you turn a Level-20 human Fighter into a zombie, he is not a 20 hd zombie, he is a 1 hd zombie.

You can make more powerful zombies by using a corpse of something that is more powerful. A basic Dragon, for example, does not have class HD, so it keeps its racial HD when you calculate its abilities as it turns into a zombie.

Check the Animate Dead spell and the rules for "Creating a zombie" in the bestiary. They are pretty well spelled out.

yeah, seriously. They are all up and arms because a daughter worked at a whorehouse so they murdered the owner and then... they want to run their own whorehouse? Seems like a huge disconnect.

Beyond that I am pretty sure that "I killed the last guy" does not make you the legal owner of the place. Just because they found the deed does not mean they are the owners.

lol, this build actually looks like a lot of fun.

IMO, why not go firearms? Muskets do d12s of damage. EWP-Musket, Rapid Reload and Paper Catridges and you can reload as a move action, at a cost of only 2 feats. Alternatively, 3 level dip into Musket Master and never have reload problems, naturally picking up Deeds and Prof in musket along the way. Tempting as that is, I'd suggest the first option as you will be able to maintain sneak attack progression.

Vital Striking you're looking at multiple d12s+sneak attack, and assuming you're in 30 ft and Vanishing, you're targeting their touch AC, flat-footed. So basically anything-but-a-1 is going to hit forever. That means you don't need weapon focus, for sure. Amateur Gunslinger would be good to pick up. Most likely you can hold out on both Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot if you're feat starved, you're going to be hitting a lot anyway.

At higher levels add Devestating strike, naturally. Enlarge person won't do a thing for you because as soon as any projectile (does not matter bow or gun) leaves its device, it shrinks and becomes a standard size projectile. True story.

Sniper Goggles will be a must, of course.

OR you could be a zen archer monk. 7 con doesnt hurt nearly as bad if you engage everything form 100+ feet away.

the characters who are considered to be flanking get the bonus.

A.M.G
...X...

Where "A" is an Ally, "M" has a Menacing Weapon, "G" has gang-up, and "X" is the monster, "G" (and only "G") would get the menacing bonus.

When using handle animal, how often do I need to issue a command? For example, my animal knows the "Attack" Trick. Must I command the animal to attack each round, or will it continue to attack the same creature once the command is given. On one hand, the Handle Animal text says simply that the Animal will preform the indicated command on it's next action, however the text of the "Down" Trick in particular indicates that the animal continues to attack on its own.

If I am a Treesinger druid archetype, does the DC of all of my handle animal checks go up by +5 because I am using the HA skill on a "low intelligence non-animal"? Seems like yes but... ouch.

What happens if I use the ability score increase as my Animal Companion advances in levels to increase its INT score above 2? Anything special? I ask because it is suggested that if it has INT of above 2, it can not be an animal. OtoH, the Animal Companion skill implies animals can have an INT above 2, as it says that animals with a INT of 3+ can select any feat they can use.

For the "Come" trick, in what situations would this apply? EG: When would an animal 'normally not come' as I call it?

What is the "default" behavior for a companion in combat? That is, what happens if the command I issue fails? The animal does nothing? If my animal knows the "defend" trick and I fail to issue a command, does its behavior revert to "Defend"?

What does "defend" really mean anyway? Will my animal move to attack creatures attacking me? Will it make AoOs against creatures that come towards me?

Not really a rules question but, advice for feats to give my Companion? The list was relatively unimpressive.

Basically what I want to know is this:

Is using your off-hand to help wield a 2handed weapon considered "using that hand to wield a weapon" thereby making you lose the buckler's AC bonus for a round?

Can I attack with a greatsword and still get the AC bonus?
Can I attack with a bow and still get the AC bonus?

I saw Battlefield Surgeon, but this does not seem to be enough. Anything that would make Treat Deadly Wounds or Long Term Care better, more effective, or faster?

Hi everyone. I'm looking for advice on playing a very thematic elven treesinger. The stats were built with a unique stat generation method and they are a bit high as I rolled very well. I'm not really looking to destroy everything in combat, what I'm more interested in is a large array of plant-themed abilities and honestly I'm sort of at a loss. The best I was able to come up with was to go archery while my plant companion grapples and constricts things.

One additional thing, we were all awarded an additional bonus feat at level 1.

the working character sheet is below the fold.

Because WoF is a swift action, you can activate it during combat without losing a significant part of your turn. ODW is a standard action, so you would have to activate it pre-combat if you wanted to take a standard action on your 1st initiative, not that this is usually an issue.

ODW is a 15th level ability, which means you can only grab it with Greater Eldrich Heritage. Wings of Fire is more similar to Wings of Heaven, a 9th level ability.... which means you need only Improved Eldrich Heritage to get it.

Usually a player has no right to call metagaming on the GM. You are assuming a lot about your foes. Maybe your enemy is under the employ of a BBEG whos spies have informed him about your abilities and he has warned his minions. Maybe the caster simply has fought somebody with Step-Up before and decided to invest in appropriate countermeasures. Step-up may or may not be a bit unusual, bur reach weapons certainly are not, and the good old acrobatics trick would foil a reach weapon user just as easily.

A caster could get a good acrobatics if they want one, between dex and traits to add Acrobatics as a class skill or multiclassing. Nevertheless, they are investing part of their character in this defense, as opposed to just out and out killing you, so you should be happy.

Honestly it would be easier for a caster to simply pick up Combat Casting, or Mirror Image, or Greater Invisibility, or Displacement, or Fly, or any of the other plentiful options at his disposal for foiling a pure melee character. Your GM is throwing you a bone by having them *not* do that. I recommend you not spit it back in his face.

thats true. Bow+Rage= all good. Arcane Archer+ Rage might give you a bit of an issue, particularly the spellcasting bits.

you absolutely can. It's just there's less direct benefit to ranged-rage than there is to melee-rage, so it's not as common.

it's not the first feat that does absolutely nothing. Ferocious summons or no, your summoned creatures return to their home plane at 0 hp.

It depends. Most mosters are disabled at 0 hp and die at -CON score. There are a few exceptions.

*Undead are destroyed at 0 hp.
*Constructs are destroyed at 0 hp.
*Summon creatures are effectively "unsummoned" at 0 hp.

However, things that are alive and not summoned pretty much always are disabled at 0 hp, unconscious and dying at -1 or less hp, and dead at -CON score hp.

1. Well even in a sandbox, you still have goals and quests am i right? Once they complete something you as a GM feel was an important goal, then level them up.

2. No, I meant adventures. Call it "sessions" if you like. You could convert to hours if you want. PFS assumes 4-5 hour adventures. So after you play for 20-ish hours of game time level up.

I sort of rarely give out XP anyway... there are a few ways you can do it.

1. Level your characters on completion of a part of the story. This puts emphasis on game objectives rather thank killing monsters. IE: Once you've fought your way through the city, the castle, saved the princess, and got her to safety; go up a level.

2. PFS levels the characters after every 3 adventures. Personally I think every 4 is more to my taste. Easy, simple, regular progression.

3. track xp.

yeah, ray of frost should work.

eeeeeee...... now I'm waffling. I was referring specifically to this FAQ: Rays and this one Rays Again. Upon reading Acid Splash however, Acid Splash is not technically a ray. It is an effect of one missile of acid. How that is different, I don't know, but apparently there is some distinction.

I would certainly allow it, I'd say most GMs would, but technically...... technically... acid splash isn't a ray, the FAQ wouldn't apply.

Upon reading the FAQ, I'm inclined to say, yes you can.

i'd agree, no, that's not something childscent could do.

It's not, however, totally out of the realm of possibility of something a creepy old wizard/witch could do. There's a 3p spell Detect Pregnancy that is perfect for this.

OP: I think you have somehow missed the reason why splitting the party is generally considered a big error. It's not because it's less fun for people who aren't involved (though that may be the case).

It's because in every horror movie, etc, whenever anybody splits up, the person by themselves dies a grisly horrible death. Not "gets thrown in jail and is rescued later or something", no, grisly... horrible... death. It's sort of a trope.

You need to instill the fear of gods into your players. Your PCs should never know when they have to fight. Fights should not be limited to "okay, I guess we've buffed up for the day and are all together now, so lets wander around in a dungeon and kill things." Even in town, there are plenty of threats. It could simply come from an NPC who is legitimately stronger than them. It could be something more sinister, a Vampire hiding out and preying on the weak, a serial killer, a doppleganger, a cleric/wizard who needs someone to sacrifice (hold person/ tie up/ KO/ move to fun location/ coup de grace).

Make a plot point out of it. Also, kill the hell out of that guy.

really good article, but as someone who uses CMs a lot myself, I have to quibble with one point.

Suggesting that a CM-PC can get a full attacks worth of CMs against a flatfooted opponent after beating them at initiative is being way over-generous. Most likely your PC will have to move and be restricted to one combat maneuver. And that is if they win initiative in the first place, many monsters have very high init scores, thanks to a lot of monsters having Improved Initiative.

he just knows dcs off hand? That's actually kind of impressive. I mean, I could tell it was a mind flayer by what you're describing but I wouldn't know it's save DCs...

Regardless, assuming he isn't blatantly cheating by looking up the monster's stats in the beastiary at the table (in which case you have a different problem) just take him aside, and explain that unless his character has Knowledge [insert appropriate skill here] then he doesn't know jack about the monster, and should keep such comments to himself. If he does have the appropriate knowledge roll and succeeds, then you tell him what he knows, and anything beyond what you tell him, he should assume he doesn't know.

You said you'd talked to him about the issue before. Don't let up. Bring it up every time he does something.

player: "Oh, it's breath weapon is like 9d6"
Gm: "you have no knowledge of that information, please keep it to yourself."

Say it every time, he'll get it eventually. In the mean time, I suggest tricking him. Deliberately create a monster and mess with its stats so that it is something besides the vanilla monster in the bestiary. If you're fighting a Medusa, make it an advanced Medusa so it's stats change a bit. Make a description of a creature that turns out to be another creature of a similar appearance. A skeleton and a Mohrg look awfully similar. Describe things in a way so that he guesses wrong.

battle herald looks great, thanks for brining it up!

I want to play a Cavalier in an upcoming PFS event, he will likely be my PFS character for a long time. Issue is, I know I often get bored of just meleeing constantly. So I want to be able to do something else. I noticed the Tactician ability, which is cool, but I'm not sure what feat to take with it. Shield Wall is pretty good but it requires another player to use a shield. Precise Striking requires me to have DEX-13 which I'm not sure I want to have, but I might.

Mainly though, I'm looking for an option that isn't just doing damage. Cross classing is not out of the question, feats/abilities are a good route to go too. If possible I'd like to push the "leader" aspect of the cavalier, buff allies, etc.

Any ideas? (I don't need this to be optimized)

Not really. There is only one environmental penalty to magic that I know of, and that is attempting to cast a fire spell underwater.

ice in the desert, fire in the tundra... that all works fine.

i want to read the rules in a way corrosponds to the book. If you can provide any support for "the spell grapples, not you" I'd love to hear it.

So far all I hear is "it works this way because that makes sense to me" which is not compelling.

yes, I think so. As I've been saying, it's a normal grapple.

It could have it's applications though, for example, you instantly pull an enemy from all the way across the map to be right next to your fighter buddy, who full attacks and creams him.

ravingdork: yes, the caster would also gain the grappled condition. The caster would be able to maintain the grapple by using the grapple action again on telekinesis.

Resolve these attempts as normal, except that they don't provoke attacks of opportunity, you use your caster level in place of your Combat Maneuver Bonus, and you add your Intelligence modifier (if a wizard) or Charisma modifier (if a sorcerer) in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier.

I don't buy "wizard isn't grappling, the spell is" It seems like the wizard is the one referenced as doing the grappling to me... " Resolve these attempts as normal" seems like a pretty odd thing to say if you were supposed to be breaking basic rules of grappling.

Well that is what I had originally thought, but there is absolutely nothing in the rules to support that viewpoint as far as I can tell. In fact the opposite is true. I was wondering if there was a FAQ or something that indicated otherwise.

If you successfully grapple a creature that is not adjacent to you, move that creature to an adjacent open space (if no space is available, your grapple fails).

bump?

I'm confused on how the Telekinesis spell works when used to make the Grapple combat maneuver.

I understand how to make the check and such, what I'm having trouble grasping is what happens if the caster succeeds.

The way I read it, the target will instantly be moved to an adjacent space with the caster. Telekinesis has a 400ft+40ft/caster level range. So, a 9th level wizard can move somebody 960 ft with a successful grapple check. At that point, it is a normal grapple, the target can attack the caster with a one handed or natural attack.

am I correct?

You gain a vitality network with 10 HP and can transfer up to 10 HP
Increase your max network by 10 HP at 10th, 15th, and 20th levels
Increase the amount you can transfer by 5 at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th levels

So at 5th level you have a max network of 10 HP and can transfer up to 15 HP at once? Am I missing a way to raise your network max?

GMC p.262, Magic Scroll item table in the physical and pdf copies has a Frequency entry of "once per day, plus overcharge;" which I assume is a copy/paste leftover from the Magic Wands table, since scrolls are one-use consumables and did not appear in a table like this in the legacy Core Rulebook. This error is not duplicated in the magic scrolls entry on AoN but I could not find it corrected in the errata

I was going over Inventor Dedication and noticed it lacks language common to every other MC Dedication that grants a skill (aside from Animist, whose "granted" skills are gained from which spirit they're bonded to each day - they don't gain a permanently trained skill like other MC Dedications which grant skills)

"You become trained in [x skill(s)]; if you were already trained in [x skill(s)], you become trained in a skill(or skills) of your choice."

Instead Inventor simply states, "You become trained in Crafting and inventor class DC." and then continues on to the Inventor skill feat and the rest of the Dedication's features. The legacy printing had this same omission and I don't recall it getting errata'd, so perhaps it IS intended or maybe simply overlooked this entire time

Due to the precedent of literally all the other MCDs with granted skills giving "a skill of your choice" I plan to run it the same as them, but thought I'd report this here in case it has gone unnoticed by the editors. If this has already been noted please forgive me for repeating it, but I did not find a thread about this topic with a search for "inventor dedication crafting"

PC2 p.138 Nudge the Scales par.2, "In addition, you can mediate during your daily preparations to place yourself on one side of the scales."

The word isn't misspelled per se, so I suspect it wouldn't trip most spellchecking software, but from the context I would expect that word to be "meditate", not "mediate"

tsia, but for those who haven't seen yet...

Oracles used to have a curse, as they still do now, and a benefit, which made it worth enduring the curse

What were the benefits?
-----
Ancestors mystery benefit: The whispers of your ancestors have bestowed additional knowledge upon you. You gain an additional ancestry feat at 1st level and another additional ancestry feat at 11th level. These feats can't be ones that grant physiological effects, such as additional senses or unarmed attacks.

Battle mystery benefit (I'm especially salty about this one): You are no stranger to the trappings of warfare. You are trained in medium and heavy armor. At 13th level, if you gain the light armor expertise class feature, you also gain expert proficiency in these armors. (you know, because it's the BATTLE MYSTERY)

Choose one weapon group that embodies your mystery. You are trained in all martial weapons of that group. At 11th level, if you gain the weapon expertise class feature, you also gain expert proficiency for martial weapons in your chosen group, and you become trained in advanced weapons in that group.

(now we have to waste 1 action on a focus spell AND AN ACTION TO SUSTAIN IT IF WE MISS OUR STRIKES to have proficiency in martial weapons, or, you know, just take a martial archetype instead of use this useless revelation spell)

Bones mystery benefit (this entire benefit is now a part of the mystery's feat, Nudge the Scales, so it's obvious that benefits weren't just accidentally left out. I guess we know which mysteries were the author's favorite): You can cleverly leverage the subtleties of life and death to your benefit. Each day during your preparations, you can choose to align yourself in the confluence of positive and negative energy so as to gain negative healing, which means you are harmed by positive damage and healed by negative effects as if you were undead. If you already have negative healing, instead the DC of your recovery checks is equal to 9 + your current dying value.

Cosmos mystery benefit: Your body is as much an astronomical one as it is physical. You gain resistance equal to 2 + half your level against all physical damage.

Flames mystery benefit: Like fire itself, you flicker and dance, avoiding effects that would quench your vitality. You have expert proficiency in Reflex saves. At 13th level, if you gain the lightning reflexes class feature, your proficiency rank for Reflex saves increases to master, and when you roll a success on a Reflex save, you get a critical success instead.

Life mystery benefit: Your body is a deep reservoir of life energy. At each level, you gain Hit Points equal to 10 + your Constitution modifier from the oracle class, instead of 8 + your Constitution modifier.

(which supported casting the initial revelation spell, life link)

Lore mystery benefit: You hold more mystical knowledge within you than most. You have one additional spell in your repertoire of each level you can cast.

Tempest mystery benefit: You can see perfectly through wind and water, and you send electric charges through both air and water. You never take penalties to Perception from wind, rain, fog, or other precipitation, or from looking through water or being underwater, and such conditions don't cause anything to be concealed from you.
-----
I've left out the mysteries that weren't reprinted, which were Ash and Time. Do they retain their old benefits and curses? Or do they only suffer the curse without the benefit, since the new "chassis" doesn't include a benefit?

Some of the curses have been reworked or reduced (mostly in complexity), but some have not, at all. I see no reason to play a remastered oracle now. Why submit to the curse when there is no compelling benefit? They're just reject sorcerers

tl;dr version: skip the cover page if you print double-sided or print it out separately before beginning your bulk print

I might be disproportionately angry about this, but I want to make it clear that despite the civil tone I'm attempting to write with, that I am very, very angry. Am I angry at myself? At Paizo in general? At the intern who does page-layout of the PDFs? Who knows. But I am Little Critter levels of so mad just FYI

I just printed the playtest, and discovered only AFTER wasting all 133 pages of paper and 266 pages of color laser printer ink (the real loss tbh) that Paizo did not include a page 0 after the cover "page", so since I print double-sided-flip-on-long-edge the entire book was printed as if its binding is on the right side of the book. I attempted to live with that, but after a chapter I realized I just can't and am now printing the whole book again

Having read through the playtest document, here are my notes

p.5, Vessel Spells

It costs 1 Focus Point to cast a focus spell, and you start with a focus pool of 2 Focus Point.

+s to the end to make it "2 Focus Points."

p.7, Advanced Interlocution
Is there any reason why this isn't represented on the chart on p.6 showing the spells per day? Is it future-proofing in case a type of Animist doesn't gain that class feature? ~thanks Squiggit

p.10, Grudge Strike

You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to this attack and deal an additional 2d6 void damage to the target;

If you don't say "attack roll", someone will argue the +2 is to the damage as well

p.13, Imposter in Hidden Places

discomforting whispers

next column, the spell is named "Discomfiting Whispers"

Aside: Why are there two Apparitions which give Herbalism Lore, and also two that give Mountain Lore? What happens if you pick two that give the same lore, just too bad, you miss out on a lore that day?

related to p.13, Darkened Forest Form
does the remastered Pest Form allow Strikes, or is the bonus to attack just for the benefit of the heightened versions which give access to Animal Form, etc? If Pest Form still has no attacks, maybe move the bonus to attack bit to the Heightened (2nd) entry? Otherwise someone will argue, "if I can't attack with Pest Form, then what's the point of giving me a bonus TO attack?"

p.15, Veil of Privacy

Veil of privacy attempts to counteract all detection, revelation, and scrying effects used against the target or the target's gear throughout the duration, counting cantrips as 1st-rank spells for this purpose.

Is this to be the rule (or is it already and I've just missed it?) for cantrips or is this only for this spell? I don't like going back to the old, bad days of referring to cantrips as "zero level spells", as if the bread and butter magicks learned by all spellcasters are in some way inferior to "real" spells just because they're learned first. I thought 2e was moving away from that philosophy by auto-heightening them, and appreciated that. But that's just my opinion, man

p.17, Exemplar Defenses
light armor being the max armor for a front-liner means forcing a split of ability boosts for any player who picks Str as their key ability, unless they don't care about their AC. Personally, I consider that unwise but perhaps some players will make it work through luck. I suspect most other players will either pick Dex as their key ability or take Str and supplement their armor deficiency with archetypes that grant medium and/or heavy armor proficiency. Personally, I dislike when a class forces me to shop elsewhere to "fix" its shortcomings

p.17, Exemplar Class DC
the exemplar's class DC progression sucks, and there are quite a few powers which call for saves against it

p.18, Domain Spells
further forcing splitting boosts into Chr for domain spells? I guess it's not unprecedented to do so, but meh

Aside: Why are there two Root Epithets that give Diplomacy? There are a few abilities and feats that allow an Intimidation check. Why not have one root give Intimidation instead?

related to p.20, Restless as the Tide
I hope "splash damage" is clearly defined in the remaster, and we aren't forced to extrapolate what it is from bombs

p.21, Peerless under Heaven: Transcend--Reap the Field
feelsbadman to succeed at one attack, whiff the second, and lose it all. I would not risk a double or nothing like this, but that might just be me

p.21, Whose Cry is Thunder

Make a ranged Strike with your ikon against a creature within your weapon's first range increment, or 30 feet, whichever is further.

Is this usable with melee ikons? If so, does the ikon gain the thrown trait when used in this way or are some GMs going to argue that it's an improvised weapon?

p.23, Skin Hard as Horn

You gain resistance to bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage equal to half your level.

minimum 1, or out of luck until level 2?

p.23, Barrow's Edge
traits: healing, vitality
is this usable by undead PCs?

p.23, Fated Shot: Transcend--Rain of Seven Lights

If your weapon ikon has the deadly or fatal trait, when a creature critically fails their save against this effect, roll the spirit damage they take using the adjusted Strike damage those traits would normally apply to your weapon.

maybe add, "on a critical success with a Strike." so nobody will argue that those traits don't "normally" apply to your weapon

p.23, Gleaming Blade: Transcend--Mirrored Spirit Strike

If both attacks hit, you combine their damage, which is all dealt as spirit damage.

All? What if the weapons deal different types of damage, like Fire Poi, or any weapon with an energy rune?

Aside: it is my opinion that Noble Branch is the clear winner for Transcend action

p.24, Thousand-League Sandals

Your sandals ease your travels on the path ahead, granting you and all allies within 15 feet a +10 status bonus to your Speed.

What happens if an ally leaves your aura during their movement? When do they lose the bonus? Because someone will argue they'll lose it immediately upon leaving the aura and be limited to their normal speed. Others will argue they keep it their entire turn and can benefit from it for multiple Strides. I recommend, "granting you and allies who begin their turn within 15 feet," or, "granting you and allies who begin their move action within 15 feet," or some other variation that makes your intention clear

Your anklets carry you where you need to be. You Stride, and each ally within your aura at the start of your movement can Stride as a reaction.

Do you and/or your allies benefit from the Immanence effect for this action? Also, anklets now?

p.25, Vow of Mortal Defiance

You cannot use Vow of Mortal Defiance again until your or the target is defeated

-r in your

p.26, Only the Worthy

While motionless, the ikon can be moved only if 8,000 poinds of pressure are applied to it or if a creature uses Athletics to Force Open the ikon with a DC equal to your class DC

eight THOUSAND pounds of pressure... or an absolute max DC at level 20 with max key ability boosts of... 42

p.26, Through the Needle's Eye

or until they use an Interact action to clear the blood from their vision.

Does the target need to have blood for this to work? Because someone will argue they do and that it is ineffective against skeletons and other creatures who lack it

p.26, Fish from the Falls' Edge
maybe reduce Wounded condition as well, to prevent instant death if the recipient is immediately attacked again?

p.27, Compliant Gold

save against your class DC

LOL

p.27, Warped by Rage
Unless it's been fundamentally changed in the remaster, why Moon Frenzy? Are any exemplars going to be using the unarmed attacks, which I consider to be the main benefit of Moon Frenzy, over their weapon ikon? If not, we get 10 temp HPs and +10' status bonus to speed... at the cost of weakness 10 to silver and no concentrate actions? No thank you

p.28, Infinite Blades Celestial Arrow

You fire an arrow that multiplies into a dense cloud of weapons.

A cloud of weapons? Do you mean "arrows" or "projectiles" or are we supposed to picture a cloud of weapons of all types of our choice?

p.28, Strike Rivers, Seize Winds

use the higher of your class DC or spell DC

k.

I posted this question about Devil at the Crossroads in its product thread, but I guess that's not the best place to ask after all >_<

I just went over a few of the encounters in the adventure with a friend to help them prepare to run it. I discovered what can only be either an error in one of them, or an oversight in the PF2 Silence spell as written. I'm looking for some guidance running this adventure in PFS. If we were just playing this in a home game I'd just advise my friend to alter the problem spell to fit the encounter description

Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place. I spend all my time on the Rules Discussion board so this board is new and scary lol. I tried searching but the most recent discussion I found on this weapon is pre-PF2

I'm creating a monk character for PFS and I've always liked the look and style of the kusarigama in games and movies. I see on AoN that it exists in PF2, but was printed in an adventure instead of any of the rule or world books. I frequently see notes on AoN in weapon entries indicating that if a character's home region (or world traveler boon) is suchandsuch, the weapon is common and for the kusarigama it's "If the player character come from a region in Tian Xia, this weapon is common." But it doesn't include the "for PFS purposes" part I usually see. How would I gain access to this weapon for my character in PFS play? Is just having that home region enough with no ownership or play? If not, would owning the adventure suffice or do I need to play it with a character? If I GM the adventure, would that count?

the setup, minus text not relevant to the question, bolded text central to the question:

Singular Expertise
Guns & Gears pg. 106
You have particular expertise with guns and crossbows that grants you greater proficiency with them and the ability to deal more damage. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to damage rolls with firearms and crossbows.

Kickback
Guns & Gears pg. 234
A kickback weapon is extra powerful and difficult to use due to its high recoil. A kickback weapon deals 1 additional damage with all attacks.

Large Bore Modifications
Guns & Gears pg. 183

When you attach large bore modifications to a kickback weapon, the circumstance bonus to damage granted by the kickback trait increases from 1 to 2 additional damage

the question:
Where is the error? Is the damage bonus from kickback and large bore modifications untyped or circumstance? If circumstance, what is the point?

Is there a good reason elixirs aren't mentioned in the Seasoned feat, or is this a case of the author forgetting there are two types of imbibed liquid consumables?

It's not out of character for my halfling to take Seasoned in addition to Specialty Crafting: Alchemy but it is frustrating to need what is essentially a redundant feat. I know Specialty Crafting: Alchemy covers more than just elixirs, but he's not in it so much for the bombs, poisons, and etc.

Sorry if this is already answered. I tried searching and got 25 results, most of which were stubbornly for the word "season" no matter how I tried to filter it >_<