dhemery's page

Once you’ve selected a specific familiar, you can’t change it without losing your familiar—this uses the same rules as if your familiar had died.

What constitutes "losing" a familiar?

Does it have to die? (Probably not, or the "as if it had died" text wouldn't be meaningful.)

Can a familiar simply be dismissed? Can a Witch essentially choose a different familiar each day by dismissing their current one just before daily prep?

What happens if you use Spirit's Mercy to purify a spirit remnant with unfinished business?

The rules clearly state what happens if you purify a spirit remnant during your daily preparations:

Rejuvenating Spirits: Though all spirit wisps and most remnants can pass on immediately when purified, if a spirit remnant came from a creature with the rejuvenation special ability (such as most ghosts), a recurring haunt, or another entity who ordinarily doesn’t pass on when destroyed, its ties to this world are too strong for it to easily pass on. When a spirit remnant from such an entity is released as part of your daily preparations, instead of joining the River of Souls, it begins re-forming itself in the time and location noted in its rejuvenation ability. However, you learn a clue about the spirit’s unfinished business, which may help you put it to rest permanently.

So if the spirit remnant has unfinished business:

Spirit's Mercy is less clear about spirit remnants with unfinished business:

Spirit’s Mercy [reaction] (necromancy) Trigger You take positive or negative damage, or you take any type of damage caused by a haunt, ghost, or other incorporeal undead; Cost 1 spirit wisp or remnant; Effect You purify a spirit by having it perform a final act of mercy to lessen the damage caused by another spirit. This grants you resistance to positive and negative damage (or resistance to all damage if caused by a haunt or incorporeal undead) against the triggering effect. If you expend a spirit wisp, the resistance is equal to twice your level. If you expend a spirit remnant, the resistance is equal to three times the level of the incorporeal undead or haunt from which you gained the remnant.

If the spirit remnant purified by Spirit's Mercy has unfinished business, what happens after this "final" act of mercy?

The section on Held Items (CRB 572) says that held items "need to be held to use them."

What does an everburning torch do when you’re not holding it? Does it continue shedding light? If so it seems like you can use it just fine even when you’re not holding it.

Okay, maybe the specific text of everburning torch overrides the general rule.

But then, the Constant Abilities section (CRB 531) says:

Some magic items have abilities that always function. You don’t have to use any actions to do anything special (beyond wearing and investing a worn item or wielding a held item) to make these abilities work. For example, an everburning torch always sheds light, and a flaming weapon deals fire damage every time it deals damage.

Does that parenthetical bit mean that an everburning torch sheds light only if you’re wielding it?

The counteract rules (CRB 458) say, "Successfully counteracting an effect ends it unless noted otherwise."

What if the effect is a constant effect from a magical item? Does the effect end permanently? Or does something else happen?

For example, does counteracting the light effect from an Everburning Torch turn it permanently into a mundane torch? Or does something else happen?

Is there somewhere a "feat calculator"? Some software (web, iOS, or Mac) where you can indicate feat-relevant facts about your character (class, level, class features, current feats), and it displays the list of feats for which the character qualifies?

I'm new-ish at Pathfinder, and when I roll a new character, I still find the smorgasbord of feats overwhelming. The alphabetical listings don't guide me to the feats relevant to my character. I'm hoping for a quicker way to narrow down the list, so I don't spend all of my time scanning and reading feats I don't qualify for.

If I understand right, Detect Magic reveals only a spell's or magic item's school and aura strength. It does not, all by itself, reveal other details of the spell or item.

But a successful Spellcraft check, made while applying Detect Magic, identifies "the properties of a magic item" (emphasis mine). Which properties, exactly, does this reveal? Full details of the spell or item, as shown in its description? The general nature of its effects? How to use or trigger it? Something else?

I'm a GM starting a new campaign. I'm trying to parse the rules about racial weapons--e.g. "Elves... treat any weapon with the word 'elven' in its name as a martial weapon."

One player in my game insists that the rule automatically gives all Elves proficiency with such weapons. For example, he thinks that any Elf would, by that rule, be proficient with the Elven Curve Blade, normally an exotic weapon.

I interpret the rule differently. I read it as saying that the Elven Curve Blade is, for Elves, not an exotic weapon, but a martial weapon. But that does not, in and of itself, make every Elf proficient with the weapon. In order to use the weapon proficiently, the character would have to gain the required martial proficiency in some other way--either by via a class-granted proficiency or by taking the Martial Weapon Proficiency feat.

So the level 1 Elf Magus in the group would be proficient with the Elven Curve Blade by virtue of Magis' proficiency in all martial weapons. But the level 1 Elf Rogue in the group, not having (by class) any special proficiencies with martial weapons, would not be proficient, unless he took the Martial Weapon Proficiency feat.

Of course, being the GM, I could decide this by fiat, regardless of the rules. But I would like to know: What is the intention of the rule about treating racial weapons as martial weapons?