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So i'm having this issue running Fall of Plaguestone. We have 5 party members And i am very confused on how much XP to give from encounters.

I'm aware that this adventure is designed for 1st level players and that you should be approximately level 2 when you finish it. But adding up all the XP rewards listed in the adventure only gets you roughly 800 ish XP. So my first thought was that it didn't include encounter experience...

Soooo how much to combat encounters give? And when an Encounter is listed as "Severe 2" or "Moderate 3" what does that actually mean? i know in the Encounter building section, "Low, Moderate, Severe" basically determines the encounter budget when you build the encounter. And the "creature xp and role Table" seems to mimic the adversary table in the XP Rewards section. But i don't see how the number following it is involved. my guess is that it's in reference to the adversary level for that encounter?

EX: If an encounter is listed "Low 1", does that mean it's a Low threat level with an adversary level of 1? And if a group of five lvl 1 PCs defeat the encounter how much XP do they get?

A) do they get just the encounter budget, regardless of the party level? 60 xp for a "low" encoutner?, then what's the "1" supposed to represent?

B) Or do they get the total from each creature/hazard using the the Adversary Table listed in the EXP Rewards section? And if so why isn't that total listed in the encounter rewards? Most combat encounters in FoPS don't even have a rewards section unless there's treasure involved.

C) is it a combination of both? Is the Threat level the "base" EXP, then the number indicating the adversary level of the Encoutner? Meaning "Low 1" should indicate 100 EXP, 60 for a "Low" threat, then 40 for an adversary level of the same as the party level? (according to Adversary Level Table)

or in a different example (this happened in a session earlier today) a Severe 3 for a second lvl party would be 120(severe)+60(Partylvl+1), 180 exp? if this is correct my party might even end up lvl 3 by time the adventure is over x.x

D) Do I still split the XP 5 ways? Assuming a option C is correct then a Low 1 (100 xp) encounter nets the PC's only 20 XP? that seems really low.

TLDR; running Signal of Screams. I have a PC with a prodigy younger brother, they're both really good to each other, but they're in their cursed and the brother has since been separated from the party. The other players have all had their moments in the AP, "reuniting" with their close friends/family. But I need an interesting encounter to act as their "reunion". However it's the end of the AP and I'm drawing in blank

So set up for this question. I'm running a online game (roll20) of the Signal of Screams AP. It's taken us 8 months but we're finally in the home stretch of the AP and we're playing our FINAL SESSION tomorrow (thursday night). Without getting into spoilers, i decided to add a little personal flair for each of my PC's.

I should also mention that at the beginning of this AP the Character Operations Manual Playtest had just started, so i allowed my PC's to use the content from that playtest to add a few extra options in terms of character creation.

During the AP hook, where the party gets invited to new luxury resort in the beginning of the adventure, i told each of the player's that they could each invite a "plus 1" to extend their invitation to include a close friend or family member. This was a glorious idea as each of the PC's "plus 1's" became integral plot devices through out the AP. Among these Companions were a Yandere waifu Dragonkin, a techno-dropout Witchwarper, ysoki Biohacker, and a Nuar (minotaur) Gladiator (which later became that player's PC because his previous one died).

Now fast forward to today. Most of the party has been separated from their companions and in these last few sessions they've been "reunited" with many of their companions through various means. I wanted to each PC to have 1 encounter dedicated to this "reunion". Some of their companions here raised as undead and the PC had to put them down, other's were "corrupted" through Modify Memory and similar mechanics/plot. And in one case my Shirren Operative (whom had ties to the Corperation involved with the AP) discovered his dead female mate, used the last bit of her life essence to save their unborn larva while it was still in it's Host Container.

But here's my problem. I have one PC (ysoki Mechanic), who's companion is his younger brother (ysoki Biohacker). I haven't had the time/patience to build a 13th level sheet/statblock for his brother and i've got a real case of creative writer's block for his "reunion" encounter.

I've asked this player several times what kind of relationship these ysoki brothers have. Frankly he hasn't given me a lot to work with. His PC is a Mechanic named Carl, with a Drone previously named "Junior"(get it?). Later his drone was remaned to "Jack in the Box" after he had a bad drivethru experience. But aside from the fast food joke, Carl is pretty bog standard from what you'd expect of a ysoki, rummages through scrap, doesn't shy away from the dirty jobs (but is still reluctant), occasionally tries to cheat while gambling (and fails), tries to outdrink the vesk (and fails).Just a scrapper with a record of mild criminal activities (pickpocketing, tresspassing, trying to make out with a ghost (don't ask) etc.) Nothing spectacular. To be fair if he's enjoying playing that type of character then that's great for him!

Here's the curveball. His Brother, named "Charboiled" (idk why, i just ran with it), is like a model citizen and is quote "better than Carl at everything". It' my understanding that his intention is for the younger brother (Charbroiled) to be a "favored/prodigy" child while the older brother (Carl) became the rebel acting out against everything. However he's also mentioned that Carl and Charbroiled have a pretty solid relationship as brothers. So what i'm taking away from this is that Carl was likely one of the few people that DIDN'T treat him like a prodigy child, and more like a brother. So his younger brother idolizes him quite dearly. I'm given basically no other context for why this is and equally so i've been given a great deal of creative freedom.

Considering what i've done for my other players i really want this to be just as impact-full but i have a huge case of writer's block and can't think of anything. In addition to that, i've given all the other player's some kinda of boon or item of personal significance (Shirren found his lost unborn offspring in a Host Container, Vesk got a Partner-bonded Dragonkin Mystic, Nuar got the satisfaction of defeating her father in combat.. bear-handed...). the best i've got is that the younger brother finally turns into a a mirror image of Carl (since it seems like he's always wanted to BE like him) and fights along side the BBEG. But that would basically require me to clone the PC's character sheet and just add an unnecessary combat/NPC. And i'm hesitant to just slap that on to the last encounter cause it would feel really tacted on and i'm already adding a lot of extra (unrelated) details to that encounter.

So i need some other ideas for a "reunion" encounter. Ideally i don't want to do the same thing twice, and i don't want to have it written in a predetermined fashion that Charbroiled dies, or he gives some kind of boon is otherwise useless during the final moments of the campaign.

TLDR; Do Hof MB work with Animal Instinct Barbarian unarmed strikes, and if so what's the point of the Berserker's Cloak? I'm basically trying to find a way to apply Potency Runes (at the very least) and Property Runes (at Best) to my Bestial Rage Unarmed Strikes. Or am I overthinking this and should i just shut up and use the handwraps?

I first assumed they would work because all the animal instincts have the "Unarmed" Trait, and i don't really see a reason not to. I can tell the Handwraps were designed for Monks. But it doesn't say that it "doesn't" apply to other types of unarmed strikes. I guess they wanted it to be kinda broad to apply to all "fist, punch, kick" type unarmed attacks so it wasn't explicitly attached to the Monk. And there's also that last paragraph mentioning that certain property runes for certain types of weapons (such as slashing) need to be with a similar attack (claws in this case).

But then i found Berserker's Cloak on page 606. Which spells out exactly what i want to do with my Bestial Rage Unarmed Strikes. But it's 12th level item, and starts out with +2 Greater Striking. and the 19th lvl version being +3 Major Striking. I get that it's primary purpose is to give non Animal Instinct Barbarian characters access to similar attacks but 12th lvl seems awfully late to be getting an alternative weapon if u ever find yourself "unarmed". It just seems redundant if you have the Handwraps (assuming they work at all), and the Animal Instinct. It's almost like there needs to be a lvl 4 version that only works for A.I. Barbarians that gives them the +1 Striking. (even the crafting requirements need the crafter to be A.I. Barb)

If the Handwraps don't work with the Bestial Rage unarmed strikes, i'm ok with that with one caveat. If the A.I. Barb has to wait till 12th ish level to get the berserker's cloak, then how do they get the +1 Striking with Bestial Rage Unarmed Strikes?

And If the Handwraps DO work with the Bestial Rage Unarmed Strikes, then what's the point of the Berserker's Cloak? Especially considering you can't apply Property Runes to it, there's never a reason to get it.

So i kinda just wanted to post something to see if there was any interest in this sort of thing. I'm a huge fan of the Pathfinder Pawn Boxes, mostly because i can't afford a ton of minis. But a couple hundred cardboard cut-outs, i can handle! And they work great with pretty much any other fantasy setting TTRPG. especially when i happen to have an EXACT representation of what i'm running on a given night. i'm also all aboard the 2nd Edition hype train.

So i was wondering about how much overlap there will be on a per box basis. For those that don't know, most of the boxes come with the pawns for all the entries in the corresponding book. Bestiary 1, Bestiary 2, codex of villians etc.

But the pawn boxes available today aren't without their flaws. I've seen most feedback stating that a lot of the art seems too dark on the white background (which i can agree with), and storage issues (making it difficult to find specific pawn unless you go out of your way to sort them in some fashion). So there's room for improvement.

I can totally see a refresh of new Pawn Boxes to go along with the 2E bestiaries and such becoming an inevitability. But like i said before my income is fairly limited so if/when PF 2E comes out with new pawn boxes i'm not too excited about buying another box of cardboard pawns to get a bunch monsters and such i likely already have, just with some minor improvements.

While I doubt they'd be a straight 1 to 1 conversion of the first bestiary it'd at least wouldn't make me feel like my pawns are outdated. And the boxes i have already are pretty varied, so i likely won't be buying any 2nd edition pawn boxes unless i feel there's been some substantial improvements to the newer boxes. To be fair, this will also depend on the quality of the art and materials of the 2E pawn sets too.

So what are some other improvements that you guys would like to see to the inevitable 2E Pawn Boxes to make buying a new/replacement set more viable than the using your 1st edition boxes?

The storage issue is frankly my biggest concern, i started out rubber banding bundles of pawns together and while this saved a lot of space, it made pulling out specific pawns difficult. Then i tried plastic baggies for my NPC Codex, separated by class, which worked well but the bags themselves along with the chaotic mess inside the box itself is defeats the purpose of saving space. For now i've kept my newer boxes in their cardboard runners. Making finding monsters a LITTLE easier because they aren't nessacarily in order and a usually grouped by the size of the pawn. And the added weight of the cardboard really adds up after 20+ sheets, per box. I've heard of some people using tackle boxes, much like they use for miniatures are a viable option but haven't had a chance to try it out yet. The Pawn bases themselves have been all thrown in another plastic bag collectively because they don't need to be sorted, but it still feels really cheap to pull out a gallon ziploc every time i need a base.

The other option is to just use the PDF's and print them out, which i haven't tried yet but i also have a cheapo printer and ink can be just as expensive depending on how much color the art itself has. So that's out.

Lastly, i'd love to see a better option for online games. I'm currently running a Starfinder game on roll20, and while the Alien Archive is available, i'd like the option just to buy just the token-pack from them instead of dropping 40 bucks for a book/PDF i already own. I'm also looking into fantasy grounds so at least i could get a discount to purchase the paizo content there. However, that would also require convincing my players to switch VTTs. And while that debate has it's own Pro's and Cons, it seems unlikely because we've been using roll20 for several years now and it' just what my players are use to.

so my group is still pretty new to Starfinder. And after a little player/gm shifting, by default I've become the new GM.

However I've always had trouble in the past GMing when it comes to coming up with new content for the players (especially on a weekly schedule). So I've offered the players the option to shift our homebrew campaign into variant of Starfinder Society games. They wouldn't all be structured as official Society games but at the very least I would feel more comfortable running those types scenarios than having to make up something that makes barely any sense.

I've also mentioned running an adventure path but I'm not sure how those are structured. I'd really like to run Dead Suns with the group but they're almost level 5 which means we'd have to start off at the second book at the very least. Would it be worth running books one and two? or could i have them start in book three and give them a TLDR of what happens in the previous parts?

Back to Scenarios for a sec, I've played and GM'd my fair share of Pathfinder Society games but I've never played Starfinder Society. So if possible i'd like some recommendations before investing into random scenarios.

Our party is currently level 4 and will be level 5 once I finish up the current arc we're on. From what I've gathered from the party's interests, they want a 50/50 mix of starship combat and normal combat. As well as a 50/50 mix of both magical and technological game mechanics (or tech that's so advanced it seems like magic, and visa versa, i.e. hybrid)

Party make up is as follows:
Android Envoy
Ysoki mechanic
Lashunta Mystic
Vesk Soldier
Human Soldier and
Shirren Operative

Any recommendations for which Scenarios are fun/easy to run? Or should i just pick up an Adventure Path? if so which book should i start with considering the Party's current level?

So i have a very silly question that i'm sure is in the book, and probably somewhere obvious but i just can't seem to find it.

When do Weapons target EAC instead of KAC? I was under the impression that it depended on the damage type for the weapon, it if dealt Piercing Slashing or Bludgeoning, then it targeted KAC. Fire, Cold, Eletricity and Sonic Weapons however targeted EAC, but normally dealt slightly less damage.

I bring this up i have a Vesk Soldier (Blitz) in my game and he's using the Flame Doshko, and both he and i agree that it seems like he's hardly ever missing, which leads to him doing a SIGNIFICANT amount of damage more that everyone else.

His attack is only a +8 (+4 STR, +4 BAB cause they're lvl 4), and his damage is 1d8 + 9 (4 STR + 3 (Weapon spec.) + 2 (gear boost to add 1/2 his STR)). He takes a lot of Full Attacks too so he's often hitting twice for 2d8+18.

Does this seem right? or am I just not used to seeing so many flat dmg bonuses stack?

So the when I first saw the animal totem options and how they give you unarmed attacks that have similar damage die to other types weapons, I was genuinely excited to try it out. I'm not exactly an expert in barbarians, but I really like this concept of letting your animal instinct take over and gaining primal features that are as devastating as some of the other options. Problem is, the Animal Totem ISN'T devastating at all...

So here's some questions I have about the class features to see if there's anything I missed. So please correct me if I misread something. I'm also going to include a few options on how I'd fix them if I were a GMnig this. As well as talk about the Animal Totem's Class feats. I know you don't HAVE to pick them but I still wanted to address some issues I've noticed.

I know I might sound like I'm really ripping into this, but i genuinely excited to play this type of character. And I just feel strongly that the way Paizo has these features laid out isn't very functional and this is my feedback on the Playtest. So I apologize if it comes off as really angry dissatisfaction, cause that's not my intention with this post.

1) The animal Totem Damages Dice seem on par with other weapons, makes sense. But you can't upgrade or make them magical items like other weapons? Wouldn't that make them under powered at higher levels?

So while some of the animal options might seem interesting at first glance when you take a good look at it, there's very little variety. Most of the options give some kind of a bite attack, with 1d10 damage, this is comparable to many two-handed weapons on the weapons table. But you don't have any way to add damage at later levels, because the damage doesn't scale as your level or anything.

So when the party reaches level 6ish, the rest of the party will have enough gold to upgrade their gear and +1 weapons (unless they found something along the way during an adventure). But the Animal Totem Barbarian can't use weapons (it's their Anathema); meaning his damage will remain at 1d10 while most other classes might be doing 2d6, 2d8, or even up to 2d12 with +1 weapons. And that's not even accounting for magic properties! And the problems don't stop there! You only get the Totems Unarmed attacks when your raging, so if you're not raging you still can't use weapons! You have ZERO ranged attacks/options! And as someone that likes to make sure all my characters have some kind of ranged attack this is just infuriating...

My solution to this would be to make something kinda like a holy symbol. I would say you could use the Totem itself but then it would conflict with the other Non-Animal Totem barbarians. So Something like a Charm, and give it a similar silver price as a two-handed weapon. With the ability to upgrade it's quality and fit Potency and Property Runes like any other weapons. This whay when you Rage, your animal features manifest and gain the potency and properties you've inserted into your Charm. You could even have multiple Charms for multiple animals, giving you access to maybe certain abilities like Pounce, Bear Hug and such that the Animal Companions have.

By the way I know there's at least one other Post that points out that the Animal Companion's Abilities would make a great addition to the Animal Totems. so I'm not going into depth here.

2) Aside form Damage Dice and Damage Types, whats the major difference between choosing different animals as your Totem?

Frankly not a lot as far as I can tell... The Animal Totem Class Feats are clearly designed to be a "one-size-fits-all" formula. The Animal Skin Feat bolsters your AC and and Dex cap, but it's the same bonus regardless of your animal Totem. And you can't be wearing any armor (save for some select few magical items), which means you better have a high DEX, too bad all the animals available don't come with the Finesse property... not even the some that make sense like the Cat. EDIT: Apparently "Unarmed Strikes", come with the Finesse Property. not sure if that applys to the unarmed strikes from the Animal Totem.

Animal Rage seems like it could have it's uses, but remember it's when your RAGING. You're technically not intended to be used for the utility and movement outside of combat, although there's nothing stopping you from doing that...

And lastly the only other Animal Totem Specific Feat is Predators Pounce. Which, like Animal Skin, has the same affect regardless of your chosen Animal Totem. (more on that later)

3) Can you shift into different forms? like use Bear for combat but Frog if you're in a watery/swampy area?

The short answer is technically no. No idea why this cant be a thing. This turns the Barbarian into a raging Shifter or Hunter from PF First Edition, but to be fair isn't that the approach they're going for with this Totem? Technically there's nothing I could find that says you can't shift into different forms, which is could be really helpful with the 8th level Animal Rage feat.

But the way it's worded, it seems like you carry one Totem of a specific animal you are spiritually connected to. Going back to what I said about Charms, if you could treat them like rare magical items the barbarian has to collect. Maybe you start out with a Cat Totem Charm cause your clan lived in the Savannah. But when you get to the mountains you want something with a climb speed, go find a Tribe that worships Snakes, or Apes. (or maybe homerule a Ram?, why isn't a Ram a thing?) But there are so many other ways to accomplish the same thing it wouldn't be worth it.

Speaking of Animal Totem Feats, they are, shall we say, lack luster.

The fact that the Animal Skin feat means you can't wear armor is SUPPOSED to further emphasize CON and DEX in your character, but without any "Finesse" property Animal Totems, you either take a hit in damage to be half as durable as you were with armor, or you fight over the Bracers of Armor with your way squshier spell casters. a +1 Bonus AC and a DEX cap of +4 is literally WORSE than the LIGHTEST of armor you can get. Padded Armor give a +1 AC and a max Dex of +5. So even if you stack you Dex really high, you're better off wearing literal paper armor.

Why not just gain the hide/fur as a constant feature, giving similar stats to well, Hide Armor? And point out that you can rest in the armor with out any discomfort (because it's part of your body now). (oh and you definitely can't wear other type of armor to avoid stacking item bonus's to AC.) It be a really niche thing, but it'd further emphasize your animal totem by slowly altering you appearance to match your totem, that and you could rest "in your armor" so at least your prepared for night ambushes. I don't know how else to make this feat seem interesting with out making it "natural armor" which both Wizards of the Coast and Paizo seem to want to avoid stacking too many bonus's to AC.

Animal Rage, is the feat I have the least concerns about. Losing you armor Check Penalty, gaining low light vision (if u didn't have it already), are nice to have but not all really worth a feat if it's only when you're raging. Again it's assumed you're locked into you chosen animal totem but you can transform into specific animals of the same type. (Lion or Leopard for Cat Totem). OK, again, why not other Totems? I mean the only real difference in the type of Animal Totem's available is how they deal damage, their Movement speed and senses given with this specific feat. I know it's kinda niche, but having access to a climb or swim speed could add a lot of utility to this feat, even if you have to be raging to use it. Missed Opportunity.

Lastly, Predators Pounce as a 12th level feat? Are you kidding me? This should be an 8th level feat. Buff Animal Rage and make that the 12th level Feat. Or better yet this could be the feat that gives you access to those abilities the Animal Companions have (Bear Hug, etc. etc.). This feat does little more than give you the ability to charge with out being seen in the first round of combat. But if you're going to charge into the middle of a large group, then they'll still see you after you've made your attack. So a feat to get hit a flatfooted guy cause he didn't see you coming up anyway? this is just ridiculous.

So let's take a look at the other Totem Options, I'm not going to go into detail cause this post is already stupid long but just for comparisons sake here we go.

The Dragon Totem gives you access to elemental damage and resistances, a breath attack, wings, and the ability to turn into an actual dragon. Anathema: is to do what dragons say and not take insults towards yourself.

Meanwhile the Giant Totem gives you the ability to use over-sized weapons(at the cost of being sluggish 1), you become Large while Raging, and later on you become HUGE. Anethema: Failing to accept a personal Challenge of Strength.

Spirit Totem gives you access to Positive/Negative Damage, resistances against undead, a pretty crappy ward against ranged attacks, and a wisp friend that deals considerable damage (4d8 + your CON). Anathema: being a jerk to dead people

And lastly let's even not talk about the Superstition Totem cause it's Anathema is just garbage (in my opinion). Basically, you literally have to play as an anti-magic character in mostly high-magic setting... or be forced to leave the party if the cleric tries to save your life and heal you against your will.

Conclusion:

Basically, all the Animal Totems are the same and lack the functionality to make them interesting. I know they didn't want the animal totems to stand our in complexity over the other Totem options but unless there's a major rework of how the animal totems are different from each other and maybe add some damage scaling as you level (I still like the my idea for Charms as magic weapons), they just don't seem viable.

These other Totems (with the exception of Superstition) offer bonus's and extra actions in addition to the Barbarians other skills. And all of their Anathema's require some sort of behavior "tenat" they have to follow. While the Animal Totems behavior seems more like a flaw than a trade off.

Evening Gents and Ladies, again i want thank you all for helping me with some magus trouble i was having previously a few weeks ago. Since then i have learned a lot and want to go over my build to ask some general advice on how i should proceed. This is a Society Character so i can't make it too crazy with the supplement books. But i still have some note-worthy questions. Build details in spoiler:

Questions for you all!

1) My plan was to stack Fencing grace with the Swashbuckler's Precise Strike. But Because of the changes to Fencing Grace, it has come to my attention that i can't apply DEX damage to spellstrike or spell combat because it "Functions like two-weapon fighting" and my off hand is "otherwise occupied". So would it be worth it to retrain that Fencing Grace for something else when i lvl, and get an Agile Weapon? that way i can get my Dex dmg on my Spellstrike. i was going to take Quick Draw for Maximized Spellstrike from UC, but i wanted to make sure i had Intensified Metamagic for when i hit 6th lvl and beyond.

2) While i know i can't apply the Swashbuckler's Precise Strike to Spell Strike and Spell Combat i still plan to take it to supplement my damage when not casting. So my next question what should my next arcana be at 9th lvl? I hear a lot of good things about Close Range (the ability to use ranged touch spells as melee touch), but i don't see the benefits given scorching ray isn't that advantageous to me right now. or is there another spell i'm missing that's good for this?

3) If i cast vanish, then on my next turn cast Shocking Grasp but hold the charge instead of attacking with it does that break the Vanish? Or do i stay invisible until i deliver the spell? This hasn't come up yet in play but depending on the answer here that'll affect part of my next question.

4) Back to the Maximized Spellstrike (UC) for a sec, obviously i'd need Quick Draw feat for it. Which is helpful because i also have a handful of wands i use frequently. But getting my magus in a situation where the target is denied his DEX to AC might be tricky, especially since this a society character and can't always rely on my teammates to otherwise ensnare them. So this is a two parter. 4a) what are some tips and tricks to reliably deny the target's Dex to AC? As a Magus.... 4b) i think this is correct but the Maximized Spellstrike feat says "as if using the Maximize Spell metamagic feat" Soooo what if i crit with my rapier? then spend the 3 arcane points? CLd6 Maxed x2? meaning at this lvl that'd be 10d6 maxed, 60 damage on a crit, from the spell alone? And if i was a higher lvl with a Intensified Shocking Grasp, would the effects stack? I.E. at 7th lvl that'd be (on a crit) 7d6x2 maxed? 72 dmg?

5a) This is a dumb question but since i'm talking about metamagic feats i might as well ask. Magical Lineage for Shocking Grasp, treats CL adjustment for metamagic feats as 1 lower for that one spell. Intensified metamagic is a +1 CL. So could i technically prep Shocking Grasp as a 1st lvl spell still? or am I wrong because i thought i read somewhere that the minimum adjustment is +1. Meaning an intensified shocking grasp would still have to pe prepped as a 2nd lvl spell?

5b) While looking into the Spellstoring Magical Property (not the ring) i noticed it doesn't state if u can store a spell with a metamagic applied to it. While i wouldn't be able to use it with spellstrike (because it's the weapon casting the spell not me) could I still prep an Intensified Shocking Grasp in the weapon?

6) Last question, besides the Spellstoring magic weapon ability and ring, (because in both cases it's the item casting the spell, so no spell strike) is there a way to "store" more Intensified Shocking Grasps. I know that thanks to the Spell Recall ability the magus gets at lvl 4, i can get more shocking grasps. But despite how the ability doesn't specify it, i'm pretty sure i can't spend points to get more Intensified Shocking Grasps. I've heard a couple different tactics in my usual Society sessions, but i can't seem to figure it out on my own, because most of their Magus' were Staff Magus, or used some other loop hole i can't remember.

Hey Guys so this came up in a society game i played yesterday and there was some debate at the table about a feature i thought i understood but i could be wrong. the gist of it is Can my magus use Spell Combat with Spell-strike to effectively gain and "extra attack"?

Now i know this isn't the ideal place to discuss this but the idea is that with Spell Combat (Magus lvl 1 ability) i can attack with my weapon, and cast a spell with my off hand (assuming it's free). Both the weapon attacks and the spell are at -2 to hit. And Spell-strike (2nd lvl Magus ability )allows me to make a melee attack in place of a touch attack when i cast a spell with the range of "touch" and apply the damage from the weapon as well.

So what i tried to do was take Full-Round action to use Spell Combat, to make my attack, and cast Shocking Grasp with Spell-Strike (casting defensively and both attacks at a -2).

At my current level (3) that would me i make a single rapier attack dealing damage as normal, then make a second rapier attack and if the second one hit then the target would take damage from the rapier and shocking grasp (from spell-strike). effectively attacking twice with the rapier. which is where that "extra attack" comes in and someone at the table was skeptical if that's how it worked. the GM played it safe and asked me to look into it after the game. which seems fair.

because from my understanding of how Spell Combat works, i use my off hand to cast the spell and am at a -2 to all of my weapon attacks (if i had more than one) and the spell. and from how Spell-strike it worded, it just says 'when a magus casts a spell with a range of "touch" ... as part of a melee attack' see the confusing part?

And Spell-strike goes on to state "when used in concert with Spell-Combat, his melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks". So i know you can use both so long you take the penalties.

So if i take the full round action to use Spell Combat and Spell-strike. how does that work? and is this correct?

Hey Guys, first let me start off with a quick apology as i'm mostly focusing on DnD5e with this question, but i'm sure the same applies to Pathfinder anyway and the PFS community is a little more active i figured i'd also get a quicker, more helpful response.

Anyway, So i've been playing a paladin in DnD 5e and i was trying to come up with some flavor text for when i cast a spell, when i noticed that i am particularly not good at it. I mean, i can spit something out like

"By the light of [insert deity here] I feel my wrath!"
or
"May [insert deity] protect us!".

But that sounds really generic and when I'm in game I find myself saying a lot of the same words over and over. So I'm looking for some help with these "invocations" or "holy proverbs" that would act like the verbal components of the spell. Something that i can say in character, and preferably something specific enough so that instead of saying "i cast cure light wounds" i can say what would sound like me reciting a holy text or other proverb or something so that over time both the DM and other players would recognize what spell i was casting by what invocation i was reciting. (effectively staying character while functionally progressing the game). Oh, and it needs to be restively short, like a few lines at the most.

Of course this could apply to any class and not just a divine one. And while i like the idea of writing something up and translating it to something like Latin in google, i'd rather it be in english for now. I'd probably do that if i was playing a more arcane class. And I know Bards tend to favor short poetic verses. But Holy proverbs escape me.

If it helps my character worships Pelor, god of the Sun, Light, Time, Agriculture, Fire (sometimes) and other generic good guy god stuff.

Here's a short list of some commonly used spells i have in DnD 5e

Bless
Thunderous/wrathful/searing smite (3 separate spells)
Crusader's Mantle
Aura of Vitality
Command
Spirit Guardians
Compel Duel
Lesser Restoration (this one comes up a lot)
Cure Wounds (5e doesn't have a distinction between light and moderate)

Thanks for your help guys, and if u have any other advice to help me come up with these on my own i'd GREATLY appreciate it!