cappadocius's page

Hello all! It's been years since I've posted on these forums, but this has always been one of the more reasonable D&D communities, and I'm stuck on a question.

That question is: Can you use Minor Illusion to fill in the Verbal component of another spell. It was asked to Wizards of the Coast's "Sage Advice" Twitter account back in 2017, and the entire answer was "You can't cast two spells at once. #wotc". I haven't found an official answer to this question since.

The problem with this answer is twofold. First, it ignores that Minor Illusion has a duration of 1 minute, but a casting time of 1 action, which leaves the player with 9 more rounds where Minor Illusion is active but not being cast; *and* ignores that the PHB itself says that if on a turn where you cast a spell with a casting time of "Bonus Action" you can only cast a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action - or to rephrase it in a very important way, on a turn where you cast a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action, you can cast a spell with a casting time of "Bonus Action". Minor Illusion is a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action!

Obviously, the key to all of this is whether or not an illusion can be used to fulfill a spell component. The Seeming spell specifically says you can't use it to create material components, but there's no such wording in Minor Illusion nor am I aware of a general ruling on auditory illusions.

So, is anyone here aware of any official rulings on this other than 2017's useless answer?

Hmmm... I have the Midgard Bestiary from when it was still called Open Design. I guess they added the Blemmyes in in an updated version.

I'm sorry! The Blemmyes is in the SOUTHLANDS Bestiary, for the Midgard setting.

Thinking about dinosaurs, because of the Triceratops skeleton they dug up this week just down the road.

Pathfinder is well set with Cretaceous era dinos - 18 entries, and all of 'em pretty famous. A good spread, can't complain (well, I like my Therizinosaurus fluffy, but I know I differ from a lot of folks in that).

The Jurassic has half of that, 9 entries, but that's okay, because with the exception of Stegosaurus and the Sauropods, most Jurassic dinosaurs look a lot like Cretaceous dinosaurs.

But the Triassic - the great efflorescence of life following the massive Permian extinction - doesn't have anything. ZERO Triassic dinosaur entries. Now, really, you only need a Coelophysis to really cover any DINOSAUR bases for the Triassic, but we're including pterosaurs and marine reptiles under the dinosaur banner, so there are some GREAT critters that I'd love to see in the next Bestiary:

Tanystropheus, the coastal reptile that was 20 feet long - 10 of that neck. Shringasaurus,the real-life Slurpasaurus (check out TV Tropes). The Familiar-sized running crocdile Terrestrisuchis or the 9-foot long bipedal crocodile Carnufex. And definitely the weird little marine reptile Atopodentatus.

I mean, if we're wishing. :)

Blemmyes

The Blemmyes were those whose origins began as a tribe inhabiting the lower parts of Nubia, but later became fictionalized as a race of creatures believed to be acephalous (headless) monsters who had eyes and mouths on their chest.

If you don't want to use the Kabandha, the Midgard Bestiary from Kobold Press has Blemmyes.

Or is there? I can't find one. I suck at game crafting or I'd create one myself. I'm working on ideas for my next campaign and the background story involves a former pit fighter who rose to become a god with the domains of War and (I had hoped) Freedom. But I can't find the latter!

The Liberation Domain has a Freedom Subdomain, which can be found in the Advanced Player's Guide.

Gorbacz wrote:

Also, skum ain't no 0-hd race.

I would be using the Locathah with some of the alternate racial traits (Deep Dweller and Strong Legs) provided in Blood of the sea.....it more or less creates a 0 HD Skum....

My current plan is that he is a hired contractor of the crew of the ship, rather than one of those chosen specifically to colonize the Island.

Just out of curiosity, why does it need to be a Skum instead of a Locathah?

Sooo...

** spoiler omitted **

Why isn't any D&D setting a magitech utopia?

Titanoboa is such a bad example of a colossal monster, considering a Giant Anaconda is 60ft. long and gargantuan and Elasmosaurus is 45ft. long and huge.

Just like I was told waaaaaaaaay back in the day when I complained about Gorillas being Large, "It's a pulp setting. Things are bigger and meaner!"

LittleMissNaga wrote:

My players have been pretty vocal about wanting some gaps filled for animal shaman druids who want to use the higher level parts of their wild shape. Huge (not magical beast) wolf is the most in-demand, but any of the single-animal druids with gaps in the upper (and lower) size categories would be happy.

The trouble with that is that most (but not all) animal-types in the game are based on real-world creatures, and variations of a lot of animals in upper and lower size categories simply don't exist.

It's (in this one case!) a real shame the classes make that clean distinction between Animals and Magical Beasts, because you'd think a magical setting would evolve animals that take advantage of all that magic, without them necessarily being considered unnatural.

Dragon78 wrote:

Not B6 style please.

After five low-CR bestiaries, I think it's about time for the pendulum to swing the other way.

I don't really have much use at all for Epic-Level stat blocks, but we certainly could use just a tad more variety in the CR 14-20 range.

A druid archetype that ditches shapeshifting?

Thank you, not everyone has every single book.

Fill out the ranks of the Demons? About the only thing keeping us from having TWO completely distinct CR1-20 hierarchies for Demons is a lack of more than one CR1 and CR 20 demons!

But woo for more Sahkil and Asuras!

I'm jumping in late, and freely admit I haven't read all 850+ posts, but I wonder if there will finally be a druid archetype that ditches shapeshifting altogether, or an arcane archetype that can be as nature-focused as the Druid.

Closed Content - Where is there a Pathfinder Original or 3rd party equivalent to the Mind Flayer (I really want to know this, not being sarcastic).

Mr. Jacobs has said that the Intellect Devourers fill the same "ecological niche" as the Mind Flayers in Pathfinder.

So, on the biological hand, anything over Tiny size is megafauna. Obviously, we can't turn to the real world for help.

On the gaming side, many (but not all!) of the Dire Animals are explicitly called out as specific Cenozoic animals that would 100% be classified as Megafauna in the Pathfinder sense had that classification existed in B1.

I think the most likely solution will be taking the Dire Animals that would be B2 or later Megafauna, and giving them animal companion stats in a hypothetical Realm of the Mammoth Lords Pathfinder Campaign Setting book

I'm pretty much in total agreement to allow the obvious B1 candidates to count as megafauna for these classes. But I don't run PFS or prioritize RAW over RAI.

Outsiders: Oitos Kyton, New Rakshasa, new Asuras, new Manasaputra, the last six Oni to finish out the roster from CR 2-20, Xiuh Couatl, other couatls.

Folklore: Isiququmadevu, Kamakiri (maybe as an Advanced Familiar option?), Bakunawa (it swallows the moon! How's that for high level!?), Huayramama,
The Children of Ana: Poreskoro, Minceskro, Lolmischo, Bitoso, Schilayli, Tçaridyi, Tçulo, Lilyi, and Melalo

Fearsome Critters: Terrashots, Slide-Rock Bolters, Squonks, Whirling Whimpuses, Agropelters

Literature: Uliri (the Martians from War of the Worlds), Aihai/Yorhi (Clark Ashton Smith's Martians), Sorats and Calots (ERB's Martian cats and dogs)

Yes, I do want all the martians I can get. Akiton is just WAITING for a module or AP. I'd be asking for Malacandrans if they were public domain.

Dragons: We haven't had a paired set of dragons since original D&D gave us Metallic vs Chromatic. I know we're only ever gonna get 5 True Dragons at a time, but it'd be nice if B7's set could be paired against the Primal, Outer, Esoteric, or Planar Dragons.

Lastly, I think the last of the closed content D&D Classics without Pathfinder Original or OGL substitutes are the Beholders - I'd love to see that last perceived gap plugged.

Did they push back the release date at the last minute?

I could've sworn it was meant to release tonight.

It's been April 26th for at least the past three weeks.

Eric Hinkle wrote:

Also, may we please get some information on these new Qlippoth previously listed?

I'll see what I can do. ^_^

Eric Hinkle wrote:

Qlippoth, Gongorinan

Qlippoth, Hydraggon

I didn't work on these two at all, but as Corvus noted, the gongorinian is a reprint from Shattered Star. I think the hydraggon is new, although it was mentioned in BotD2.

If the Hydraggon is a limbless dragon-y thing with a tongue with four grasping tendrils at the tip, that's from Mr. Jacobs' old 3rd Edition Armies of the Abyss book!

nighttree wrote:

So here is a question....what distinguishes the Rougarou (fluff wise) from any shifter ???

I mean are they tied to lycanthropic heritage as well ? or it something completely different ?

How many times does the "stop using the word 'fluff', it's derogatory" post needs to be repeated?

Possibly until it starts being derogatory, then once more?

Unfortunately, with his tapir nose and bright yellow coloring he kind of looks like a Smurfs villain or the anteater from the old Pink Panther cartoons. Not very mythos'y, not very scary or weird looking, very disappointed in that.

That's, um, what Yaddithians look like, though.

doc the grey wrote:

J-Spee Lovecraft wrote:

Does the titanoboa get anything to make it different from all the other big snakes? And are the megafauna more than just more rhinos and elephants?

Nahh, just a really big constrictor. It has swallow whole if the giant anaconda doesn't get that and the thing is colossal.

They really made it colossal?

Seems like any creature that's even remotely big is considered colossal, these days.

Pathfinder gorillas are 8 feet tall. The largest individual of the largest species of extant gorilla was 6'6". The Adventure Fantasy business demands you scale everything up a bit.

Does the Quetzalcoatlus actually have hair? I would think feathers would be more likely.

Pterosaurs did not have feathers, they had pycnofibers, which are something a little bit like hair, and a little bit like feather, but are neither.

I kind of hope that some psychopomps made it in...

I am really hoping we get a few more Sahkil.

A spoilery question:

** spoiler omitted **

*A* possibility, but not the only one if you have players for whom that would be problematic.

Adam Daigle wrote:

Wendy and Abigail wrote:

So on Page 27 I think (reading pdf), for room C4 with the bird haunt, the treasure seems.... out of place to put it mildly since it mentions cultists and their gear. I imagine that this is an error and that this will be updated?

I don't understand your question. The gear that you find is on the bodies that are in the room.

Is the Taxidermic Wings acting on initiative zero a typo or intentional? Haunts usually act on initiative 10.

The Haunt has the weakness 'Slow', which would imply the Initiative 0 is intentional.

Didn't there use to be a rule that you could cast a spell directly from a spellbook but it erased the page like casting it from a scroll? Or was that just a houserule my group used back in AD&D?

No, that's an old AD&D thing, definitely not a house rule.

So there's no rule saying I *can't* cast directly from the spellbook.

There is no rule saying you can use a spell you have not prepared crom your spell book. Your book is not a magic item that enables casting.

So, by reading it silently for an hour, I can cast a spell 18 hours later.

By reading that same book aloud, I can't cast the spell right now?

Am I crazy, or are there no rules for a wizard casting a spell directly from his or her spellbook?

It seems to me like one of the most iconic images of the wizard, spellbook in one hand, wand or staff in the other, thunderously intoning the words therein. Which makes it seem strange to me that I can't seem to find any rules on the matter, anywhere.

Can someone direct me to rules for this, or at the very least an explicit ruling that they can't (for whatever reason)?

** spoiler omitted **

I don't even know what those are. They're not in the PRD?

Given his desire to help his master the King in Yellow, I assume he won't just seek out and fight the PCs outright but will look for the Briarstone Witch, or at least other followers of his lord in the areas? Or will he go back and try to fight them knowing they know his weakness?

Your usual Mythos horror is, like a cat, very unwilling to move from their home turf. What the Tatterman is likely to do, if he wasn't destroyed, is hang around the Asylum, and prey on anyone foolish enough to go back to the island. If someone rebuilds the place, he could be there for CENTURIES waiting for another casting of the ritual, getting his jollies on any inmates with sleep disorders.

kadance wrote:

Strip em. Why would (REDACTED) have left them fully armed and armored?

Actually, according to the adventure, the players are all stripped of their gear. The gear is lying outside their cells.

Logically, their gear should be in area C16.

Still no suggestions for the Schrodinger's guard then?

22 survivors. 12 named. You've got ten generic NPCs that can be whatever and whomever you want.

I gotta be honest, a BBEG witch isn't exactly what I want out of a lovecraftian AP

You mean a witch like Keziah Mason? or Lavinia Whateley?

Aliens mentioned in Distant Worlds:

Sharpwings - Aballon
Diggers - Aballon
Sky-Fishers - Castrovel
Hoarbats - Verces
Bloodbrothers - Verces
Abaki - Verces
Sarcesian - Diaspora
Ellicoth - Eox
Dashilen - Triaxus
Urog - Bretheda
Orbigati-dahu - Bretheda
Kalo - Bretheda
Ilee - Apostae

Even if it's just a quick "palette swap this existing creature" appendix for most of these!

The Maelephant as a 'Gajasura' Asura.

More abyssal wildlife:

Chatterer Swarm
Varrangoin (I think the 3.0 Fiend Folio is open content? Maybe I'm wrong)

The Oitos Kyton, finally, please?

Why on Earth would anyone be wielding two lances?

William Hope Hodgson

No matter how much Lovecraft praises it, I've still never been able to get more than about halfway through The Night Land.

EDITED TO FIX TAGS

99% agree. That remaining 1% is Nyarlathotep, who does actually seem to have some perverse interest in seeding discord amongst the ants/mortals. Perhaps he's a psychopath even by Outer God standards....perhaps he's just a bratty kid Outer God who likes to burn us with the magnifying glass, or perhaps he has some more sinister agenda...

At any rate his disturbing lack of indifference is what makes him the Mythos' most dangerous entity.

Nyarlathotep is *our* Outer God. The rest are aliens and post-singularity nightmares and pulsating nuclear chaos, but *we* made Nyarlathotep. It's why he's so sweet on us.

So what you're saying is that we should swarm our military against them to win? (Joking.)

Doesn't work.

The Great Old Ones do not want your worship. They do not need your patronage. They will only grant you power if it advances their cause. For in the end, all they wish is for you to die.

The Great Old Ones do not want our worship, correct. They do not need our patronage, correct.

However, the Great Old Ones do not grant power. The Great Old Ones shed power, and some have figured out how to harness this excreta. An ant may feel that man has dropped a sweet to feed her colony, but man has only "given" this boon accidentally, and the ant only keeps its gift because man does not care that he lost something of his. We are but ants to the Great Old Ones.

The Great Old Ones do not wish us to die. The Great Old Ones do not even think about us, save when we directly bring ourselves to their attention. Man does not think of the life and death drama of an ant colony in his back yard; the millions of births and deaths and the wars between colonies do not even register on his radar, except as, perhaps, a few minutes amused observation as he goes about his day. Should the ants invade his pantry, should they be somewhere inconvenient for him, man will kill the ants, but only the pettiest man wishes for their death, rather than simply causing it as quickly as possible before returning to his business. We are but ants to the Great Old Ones.

In the first sentence of the second paragraph under the subheading Balor Lords, when viewed in Firefox 17.0.1, the CR values are not displaying correctly, creating a first sentence that reads:

A balor lord is typically a to monster (a range shared with the various unique nascent demon lords, with the range of and above being the domain of demon lords themselves), and as such CR 21 CR25 CR 26 serves quite well as the final villain in a long-running campaign

When that section of text is copied and pasted elsewhere, such as here, it displays correctly.

It looks like it might be an issue with the span tags?

The unfortunate thing is that, as appropriate as the Grappler is for black tentacles, it takes 64 of them to cover the area of the spell! That gets a little pricy!

BOOO! If you remove Sean K. Reynolds' post, you might as well remove the whole thread! Our responses make no sense without his! Shame on whomever removed Sean's post. SHAME!

The albino chipmunk severs ties with the Warsaw Pact.

A picture is worth a thousand words

I like to believe that the gods don't grant spells; divine magic is sympathetic magic. A cleric's (or other divine caster) abilities come from emulating a deity's behavior, from attuning themselves to their god's desires and character, until the cosmos "sees" the priest as a tiny version of the god and consequently gives the priest a tiny version of the god's powers. Do something that is unlike the god, fail to act in accordance with the "right" way of doing something, and that sympathetic link is broken, and the cleric loses their powers.

Rovagug's inquisitors seek and destroy those who would usurp the Rough Beast's prerogative (killing the gods, destroying the world), those misguided monsters who would create and preserve, and may the gods help anyone who associates with worshipers of Sarenrae.

Does the barren frozen wasteland area around the tip top of the world connect to earth at some points or is it all over water?

Remember, unlike Terra, the northern pole of Golarion is NOT icepack floating on ocean. The Crown of the World is a continental plate, like Antarctica on Terra. It's ground under that glacier - you've even got a big-ass mountain range right next to the pole!

It's fairly clear that Valeros has a thing going with both Seoni and Merisiel.

Whaaaaaaaaaaat?! HARSK/VALEROS OTP.