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My players are currently exploring a decrepit abandoned mansion in a homebrew campaign I'm running. At the end of the last session they were exploring a dressing room with rotted furniture, piles of old crumbling clothing, and a spider swarm that they have just discovered and will have to fight.

As I plan for the next session, it occurs to me that several of the party have fire-based magic and attacks and are likely to use them, while in a room that is full of flammable materials, in a crumbling wooden structure.

Are there any rules for running a house fire? Any suggestions for how quickly it should spread? I figure I can probably fudge something based on the environmental damage rules, but I'm curious if anyone else has every had to run a situation like this.

Ether Spiders can shift into the Ethereal Plane as an action. When ethereal, they are invisible and insubstantial to creatures on the material plane who don't have the ability to see into the ethereal plane.

What happens if someone throws Dust of Appearance on an Ether Spider before it goes ethereal? Does it remain visible to people not on the Ethereal plane because of the dust, or does it turn invisible anyway because it being invisible is due to it being on the ethereal plane rather than being simply invisible?

I only ask this because it may come up in the next few sessons of the game I'm running, and I want to know what the rules say just in case it does.

Here's a question that came up in my last game session.

Let's say a cleric is casting Talking Corpse to try and communicate with a corpse, but the corpse does not have a working throat and mouth. However, it does have hands, and the corpse when alive knew Sign Language, and so does the caster. Could the corpse answer the cleric's questions with sign language instead of speaking?

I know that by strict rules as written this wouldn't work, as the corpse "must have a throat and mouth to speak at all". But as a GM, I'd be inclined to allow it.

Let's assume that a character has a Aeon Wyrd familiar. The familiar can hold an Aeon Stone, and the character with the familiar gains the stone's benefits without using up one of their investiture slots for the day, as stated in the rules for that familiar.

Now assume that character gets a Familiar Tattoo (from Secrets of Magic), and has their familiar meld into the tattoo. Does the Aeon Wyrd carry its held Aeon Stone with it into the tattoo? And if so, does the character still gain the stone's benefits while the tattoo is merged?

Illusory Disguise changes how you look, and if you heighten it to second level it changes how you smell and sound. But does it change how you feel? If a human uses Illusory Disguise to disguise themselves as a lizardman, and someone touches them, will they feel like they have skin or scales?

In an upcoming homebrew campaign I'm running, I've decided to let my players use the third party Exotic Ancestry races. One of my players has decided to play a Centaur barbarian, and specifically wants to eventually take the feat that lets her trample enemies. I didn't realize initially that a centaur is a Large race, and now I'm looking to see what all the game mechanics ramifications of that will be.

From what I understand, a Large creature like a centaur occupies a 10x10 space, but as a "long" Large creature they only have 5' reach. Her armor will cost twice what normal human armor does, but unless I'm mistaken she will still use normal-sized weapons, on account of still having a normal humanoid torso. Moving through 5" corridors will require me to use the squeezing rules. This may be a real concern if there are any fights in cramped indoor spaces.

Are there any rules for centaurs making climbing checks? There don't seem to be any rules in the ancestry about it or any game-mechanics reason to penalize them, but realistically a centaur shouldn't even have a chance of trying to climb a cliff wall or something like that. I'm not even sure they should be able to handle a ladder. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of penalizing players with penalties that aren't even in the rules at all.

Are there any rules for having one player ride another, in case they decide that they want to put one of the other party members on the centaur's back?

Anything else I need to look out for when letting someone play a Large, non-humanoid character like this?

From Bestiary 3, the Radiant Warden has the Gatekeeper Aura ability:

"A creature that uses a teleportation ability within the aura’s emanation or enters it via a teleportation ability must succeed a DC 38 Will save or become sickened 1 and have its destination changed to a point of the radiant warden’s choosing within the emanation. On a successful save, the creature arrives as intended but is still sickened 1."

Questions on this:

Is the destination point of the teleport chosen once, or is it done on a case by case basis? Does the Radiant Warden simply designate a single place where all teleporters end up, or can it decide on a case by case basis for each teleport that happens?

If the latter, does this imply that the Radiant Warden can detect any act of teleportation within the aura? If it has to decide where a teleport is redirected to, presumably that means that it knows that someone attempted to teleport, even if it can't detect them otherwise.

Does the use of a teleportation ability within the aura apply to the source location of the teleport, the destination location, or both? The wording would seem to apply that it only applies if the creature using the teleportation ability is within the aura at at the start of the teleport, which means it wouldn't redirect someone teleporting from outside the aura to within it.

For an upcoming game, my players may encounter a NPC who is under the effect of a homebrew magical item, that among other things is placing the NPC under a permanent Dominate effect. My players may want to free this NPC from this effect once they realize what's going on. I want to make this somewhat difficult, but not impossible. Something that a mid-level spellcaster could do.

In First Edition, this seems like it would be a clear case where a Break Enchantment spell would do the trick, but Break Enchantment somehow doesn't exist in 2E. What would be the 2E equivalent? Remove Curse? Dispel Magic, possibly heightened?

I've just started playing in an Age of Extinction campaign. We're one session in and still all level one. I am playing a Leaf Leshy Maestro Bard, and am aiming to make a multi-role character who can perform support/debuff/buff magic and also fight when required.

I am currently planning to take a multi-class dedication into Swashbuckler at level 2, with the goal of using it to gain panache for when I am in melee combat. I'm not sure which Swashbuckler style would be the best to take. Battledancer looks interesting, but I'm not really sure how the Performance check works or what triggers it. Fencer might fit better if I'm going to be doing this when going into melee with my rapier, or possibly Gymnast?

Any advice on which to pick?

This might seem like a trivial and strange question, but it occurred to me to wonder as I'm putting together a Leaf Leshy Bard for an upcoming campaign. If the party is all meeting at a tavern, or celebrating at one after a successful adventure, will my character even be capable of drinking with everyone else, and if so does he become intoxicated?

On the one hand, there's nothing in the Leshy ancestry about poison resistance, which is what I would assume would grant immunity to alcohol.

On the other hand, the Plant Nourishment ability implies that I don't even have the physical ability to imbibe food and drink like a normal person would, or at least I don't get any benefit from it if I do.

So now I'm picturing my character getting a drink with his pals, pouring it on his foliage, and then getting sick but not drunk as a result. Is that about how the rules say it would work in this case?

I have a level 7 Star Shaman, took the 3rd level Polymorph spell, and am looking at forms to take. The Lurker in Light looks like a really interesting choice, but I'm concerned about the "Only in bright light" requirement on the invisibility and once-a-day Dimension Door.

If I activate my Starlight Form ability from Star Shaman, does that generate enough light to let me use those abilities?

And if I turn invisible, while generating the light that lets me turn invisible, what happens? Is there just a glow coming from nowhere, or do I start to flicker on and off rapidly in an endless paradoxical loop?

I'm trying to pick out some forms to use with Polymorph 2, and the examples in the Alien Archive book have me confused as to what I actually get.

On page 145, the rulebook says that Polymorph 2 can grant land speed of 40 feet, climb of 20, or swim speed of 30 feet.

However, the pre-built 2nd level Kalo form on page 146 lists a swim speed of 40 feet.

Which is it? If I take the prebuilt form, do I get swim of 40 feet, or am I limited to the 30 feet specified under the Polymorph 2 rules?

The Polymorph rules are confusing enough, when the pre-built forms contradict the rules on what forms can have it's even harder to figure out.

Can weapon fusions be applied to a weapon that is part of a Nuar Maze-Core?

If so, does the effect of the weapon fusion apply to all of the modes of the maze-core, or only one of them? What if one of the modes of the maze-core is something not a weapon, like a laser pistol/computer combo? I expect that a fusion that changed or enhanced damage would do nothing on the computer, but if it was a Calling fusion, would it make me able to call my computer to my hand?

How does it affect the cost? Would the cost of the Fusion be based on the highest level of the items in the maze-core, or just one if it can be only applied to one?

I have been invited to a Starfinder game starting soonish. None of us have much if any Starfinder experience at all, although most of us have a lot of Pathfinder experience.

The GM is staring us off at level 3, and is allowing use of the Alien Archive races. I have decided to play a Drow, mostly as a roleplaying challenge and for variety, and playing a Mystic as I've decided to try that class out.

Drow don't get a WIS bonus, but they do get a DEX bonus, so I've decided to pick Ace Pilot as my theme and Star Shaman for my Connection. Starting stats are:

STR: 10 (+0)
DEX: 16 (+3)
CON: 8 (-1)
INT: 10 (+0)
WIS: 16 (+3)
CHA: 13 (+1)

I'm hoping that CON penalty won't be as painful as it would be in Pathfinder.

My role in starship combat is cemented, I can max out Piloting and have a pretty good time there. I'm trying to figure out what my role outside of starship combat will be, and what feats to take.

In-combat healing is pretty terrible, and HP healing seems to be very limited even with magic. I get a few nice damage spells and some nice save-or-die/save-or-suck effects, but my spells per day are painfully limited.

Should I just get Longarm Proficiency and shoot things like everyone else seems to do? It's probably my best option for dealing damage, but I'll never be as good at it as the combat classes are.

I'm really tempted to get a needler pistol and shoot people with poison darts, as it's especially appropriate for a Drow, but poison is so damn expensive.

I'm also strongly tempted to get a poison spur augmentation as a holdout/surprise close range last resort, but my CON penalty is going to make the DC on that a joke.

Can the free upgrade slot that Androids get as part of their body accept the Jump Jets upgrade? It says on the description of the slot that it can be installed only in light or heavy armor, and the android slot can take any upgrade that can be installed in light armor, so it seems to me that it should work.

Does the "Capacity:20" indicate how many times the Jump Jets can be used? If so, how does recharging it work?

If I have an Ioun Wyrd familiar, with multiple Ioun Stones incorporated into it, what happens to the Ioun Stones when I cast Merge With Familiar? Are they now orbiting me, or are they merged into me along with the familiar? Do they still keep providing their benefits to me? It would seem to me that they should, since they are incorporated into the body of the familiar rather than merely orbiting it, and the familiar is certainly still within 30 feet of me when merged, but I want to know if there's an official ruling.

I have an ongoing plotline in my Pathfinder campaign involving the use of the (third-party) Analyze Ancestry spell to try and find the lost heir to a kingdom. There is a NPC in the game who has a strong vested interest in making this spell read something other than the truth when cast on them. Is there any spell or other method that can be used to falsify the results of this spell? I don't want to block it entirely, but instead have a set of false information that will be provided instead of the truth. I had considered False Vision, but I'm not sure that it will quite have the right effect, since that seems to be for the purpose of making an illusion that is only seen by someone trying to scry on the target.

I'm trying to figure out ways that a Witch could have a Tattoo Familiar. So far I've figure out two, but neither of them is great.

First method would be to take a single-level dip of Tattoed Sorcerer. This would get me a Tattoo Familiar at level 1, and unless I'm mistaken that should carry over as my familiar as I start taking Witch levels. The downside of this method is being 1 level behind on my Witch spells and hexes, in exchange for a single level of Sorcerer that's going to be marginally useful. Taking the Sage bloodline if permitted would at least make those Sorcerer spells based on INT.

Second method would be to take a level of Tattoed Mystic at some point. This doesn't become available till level 6 at the earliest, and has a feat tax (Spell Focus, Mystic Tattoo), and then I'll be a level behind on my Witch abilities anyway after that. I could take the Prestigious Spellcaster feat to get back the lost level of Witch spells, but that doesn't help my hexes.

Any other options I'm overlooking?

Gamer looking for a Pathfinder group somewhere within reasonable driving distance of Somerset, NJ. I have just recently gotten into Pathfinder and have been DMing a group for about a year, but I'd actually like to have a chance to play too, so I'm looking for a game with openings for a new player. Prefer weekday evenings, either weekly, biweekly, or monthly, but I could also make a weekend game if it wasn't more often than twice a month. I am not interested in online gaming, I prefer face-to-face tabletop gaming, and prefer a game that's more roleplay oriented.

In the Pathfinder game I run, Cedric the Mighty was not supposed to be a DMPC. He was supposed to be a one-shot NPC who persuaded the PCs to deal with a bandit problem in his home village as an introductory adventure at the start of the campaign. He had an actual character sheet, but as I was only planning to have him around for one adventure I put very little effort into optimizing him.

My players had different ideas. When the bandits were defeated, the high-charisma female half-elf Rogue with maxed-out social skills presented Cedric with the greatsword taken from the bandit leader and asked him if he wouldn't please join the party as her protector, and there really was no way poor low-Wisdom Cedric was going to say no to that. Since then I've tried to play him low-key yet effective, a simple 'I hit it with my sword' Fighter who neither steals the spotlight nor is a load on the party in combat. He actually came near death due to some unfortunate rolls against several Fey with poisoned blades recently, and the party all panicked and rallied to save him, so it's not likely that I'll be able to get rid of him anytime soon.

The party is going to be hitting level 5 soon, and the player of the Monk/Sorcerer who has become friends with Cedric has told me that he is going to start teaching Cedric how to fight bare-handed. That has got me thinking to have him take a Monk level or two next, but I'm not sure which archetypes and feats would be best. I want to keep him on that line of just effective, not a load on the group but also not overshadowing anyone.

Cedric's stats:

Race: Human
Fighter 4
STR: 19, Dex: 14, Con: 16, INT: 11, WIS: 8, CHA: 11
Feats taken: Dodge, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Toughness, Weapon Focus: Greatsword
Weapon is a Greatsword, wears Scale Mail, doesn't have any magic items or other noteworthy equipment yet.

The other PCs in the party are:
Human, Monk 2 (Master of Many Styles), Sorcerer 2 (Draconic Bloodline)
Half-elf, Rogue 4
Gnome, Cleric 4
Half-Orc, Barbarian 1/Ranger 3

It's not a terribly high-optimazation group. This is the first RPG for several of the players, and the first Pathfinder game for all of us. In the long term, the Monk/Sorcerer is planning to take levels in Dragon Disciple, and the Rogue is considering going for Arcane Archer after taking a few levels in some spellcasting class.

I'm thinking to have Cedric take one or two levels in Monk, but I want to do so in a way that works well with his current build. Cedric wears armor, and likes to hit things with his sword. He is willing to learn how to fight unarmed, but doesn't intend to stop wearing armor, and has a Wisdom penalty so any of the Monk class abilities that are based on Wisdom bonus or only work when unarmored will be lost on him. I'm thinking either Master of Many Styles with the Dragon Style feat (which is what the Monk/Sorcerer PC has, so it would make sense) or possibly a Manuever Master monk, but I'm still fairly new to Pathfinder and really don't know the strengths and weaknesses of the classes like all of you do. Any suggestions?