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Although the question is about selective channeling, the answer is pretty clear here.
Targeted spells require line of sight. It's pretty clear.Agreed. And attacks that target concealed opponents do not require line of sight. It's also quite clear. So, to be perfectly clear here, you are of the opinion that it is legal to cast magic missile at an invisible goblin, so long as you take 50% miss chance? And then magic missile works 100% of the time, 50% of the time. Your reductive argument and logic is good debate fodder, but you're arguing basically that the rules say that that the rules allow you to ignore the rules. The whole thing is kind of like an acid trip in a courtroom. (To be avoided)
Place a wager on that, my friend?
I completely agree with you, and most people would say a more nuanced approach here is more rational than straight RAW gameplay. But as a player and a DM, I feel that players should be able to somewhat predict effects that they generate since their characters would know how their abilities/spells/etc work, which is what the game rules basically supply. In a number of areas the RAW just make little sense, and even though a character would know that using silence would be better to sneak by 3000 blind monks than being invisible, the rules don't support it without fiat and players might not even think of it. Alternatively they might have one DM do it one way and in another game have a different DM do it another. I agree combining the checks was good, however I feel they could have been much more thorough in checking for areas where the merging left ambiguity and done more work to iron out those "edge" cases, many of which are extremely common in game.
I've always felt a bit uneasy about how this worked in Pathfinder, due to the combining of Spot & Listen. A big portion of why I dislike how this ends up affecting things is when reading the effect of invisibility. RAW, an invisible character on the other side of an opaque barrier from an astute guard receives +20 to stealth rolls made against that guard. Why? Invisibility specifically says that it doesnt stop sound, but the rules for invisibility apply a large bonus to stealth, in large swaths to this situation. The same would happen, by RAW, to an invisible character using stealth to creep by 3000 blind monks.
Keep in mind im talking only RAW here, most GMs would feel that same unease I mentioned earlier and probably wing some off-the-cuff modifiers in that situation. Its just a technical abnormality due to rules for invisibility, but it does come up with so much frequency that it sticks out in my head.
Add Orc sorc favored bonus to this list as well
They only stack if either of them says it stacks. If memory serves when I was going over the life oracle, the levels didn't stack with cleric. But its possible other classes/archtypes and channel granting abilities have other specific wording.
By strict RAW; it does not work on undead (unless they're 50% injured, lol). By plain logic, I'd say yeah, and what's more I'd allow it. I disagree, with a caveat. The text of carrion sense says specifically that it works on corpses. The first line in the bestiary entry for zombie states 'Zombies are the animated corpses of dead creatures, forced into foul unlife via necromantic magic like animate dead.' So specifically, zombies are corpses, which carrion sense works against. Skeletons are generally stripped of dead flesh (which is what carrion is) and are called 'the animated bones of dead creatures' in the bestiary. So I would say it does not work on them.
Indeed, thats quite an oversight on my part. Thanks for your help!
I'm curious about how the following interact:
Magical Knack: You were raised, either wholly or in part, by a magical creature, either after it found you abandoned in the woods or because your parents often left you in the care of a magical minion. This constant exposure to magic has made its mysteries easy for you to understand, even when you turn your mind to other devotions and tasks. Pick a class when you gain this trait—your caster level in that class gains a +2 trait bonus as long as this bonus doesn't raise your caster level above your current Hit Dice. Would magical knack bring your caster level for the given domain back up to your level? I understand the wisdom/charisma penalty would still apply, but unless I am mistaken it seems that magical knack might help mitigate the caster level drawback of the seperatist archtype. I admit I am not certain on this, which is why I felt compelled to ask here.
Off the top of my head, the wonderous item 'Robe of the Archmagi' gives you +2. Also anything that boosts your caster level, like the feat Varisian Tattoo, or the ioun stone that gives you +1 caster level. (Also, there is a campaign trait from the APG (forget the name atm) that gives you +1 DC +1 caster level for 3 spells that you pick)
BD I just wanted to take the time to thank you for your clear and concise response. I was unable to arrive at how the combination of these two disparate rules sets should combine in a way that didnt make the spell the only core polymorph spell to go out of its way to break the new core polymorph rules.
As a player of level 14 evoker/admixture wizard with lineage(shocking grasp), I felt I should chime in here in the thread about intensify spell. I have used intensified spell + reach spell + shocking grasp in basically every encounter in the game. The spell/feat combination is amazing, there is no save - and with reach spell it's a ray. Since I'm higher level now and dropping 10d6 on one target might not always be the best idea, I would like to point out that a quickened, reach spell, intensified shocking grasp is a 6th level slot. Being able to fire off these quickened rays has entirely changed my evokers combat dynamic. The admixture wizards ability to change the damage type of spells he casts to another basic energy type lets me get a lot of mileage out of this one combination. I would recommend this combo to any blaster, since it scales well with you all the way up to high level play with quickened spell. Since your thread is about intensify spell, I will say that it let's you get so much mileage out of your lower level spells, but at a cost of those spells having easier save DCs than their higher level equivalent (think intensified fireball vs cone of cold, both are 15d6 at level 15, but the cone has a +2 DC vs the fire, the fireball is only level 4 slot. Both have strengths and weaknesses) You arent going to get much use out of the feat until around level 8 or so, and it can be replaced with a rod of intensify spell if you dont intend to use it as much as a blaster might, by losing some of the flexibility that it gives higher level casters.
The very specific "you gain...", "you lose..." wording in the polymorph subschool spells are like that specifically to help standardize what was extremely broken and unfair in the previous incarnations of the spell. You only gain what the spell says you gain, and lose what it says, keeping in mind the section in the rules dedicated to exactly what happens for polymorph subschool spells. (In the Magic secion, under spell descriptions, in the transmutation section, polymorph subsection)
That says you lose the abilities (not the ability to use them)
That seems to override the general rules of polymorph with the specific wording in the second save. I doubt it to be a 'reminder' of the general rules of polymorph. This seems to replace the 'lose the abilities' quoted above. He still has them! He just can't use them. I dont see any combination that allows the creature to have the abilities and not use them, all of the wordings so far say 'loses the ability'
Good day all, Recently my friends and I were adventuring in the lovely layers of the Abyss and we were beset upon by some Pathfinder-adapted beholders. I guess for copyright reasons we'll call them Insane Large Eye'd Roundlings. For all 2 of you that aren't familiar with them, they have a large central eye that is basically an anti-magic cone, and bazillions of eye-stalks that shoot blazing death in various forms: disintegrate, charm, sleep, stone to flesh, etc (supernatural ability). On top of this they are 'naturally boyant' (read: naturally cheesy) so they float as an (EX) ability. My question is about how the spell "Baleful Polymorph" works in general, and then following into the specifics. Baleful polymorph begins with "as Beast Shape III" (which is a polymorph spell)
So this is a case of the specific save of baleful polymorph allowing things to 'come through' the beast shape 3 spell, and then allow a save? Or does it mean that if the base form had any (SU),(SP),(EX)+casting ability in its beast shape form, that THOSE are allowed to come through on a save? It seems worded to basically allow the former, so that baleful polymorph isn't effectively a save or die, but more of a Save-and-Save-or-die (Apologies for the long post) An Insane-Large-Eye'd-Roundling was hit with a baleful polymorph and it failed it's initial save. The druid decided a turtle was a good new animal addition to the environment and the legally-different-than-a-beholder became a turtle, however it made its next save.
Does this seem correct? And if so, it seems that baleful polymorph wouldnt stop a dragon that was turned into a dove from roasting the party with its dragon's breath, or a water-elemental turned into a monkey from dripping through a grate?
Considering that the point of origin of sight moves as a creature does, I don't see why it would reduce their speed. A human in a dungeon with a torch could run at full speed, no?
they need to do way instain mother
Somewhat related, check out the resurrection subdomain in the apg for a nice 'combo' with breath of life.
Now, my suggestion is to skip eps altogether and just decide when the party levels. Feel free, but keep a close eye on treasure (most likely the party will be lagging monetarily) when you ad-hoc level the party. On overall/average the party will get correct WBL from encounters around their CR until they level. If you level the party on a whim they will most likely have the incorrect amount of treasure for their party level.
I like the resurrection subdomain's granted power Gift of Life (Su): At 8th level, you can touch a creature that has died within the past minute to grant it a few moments of life. The dead creature returns to life for a number of rounds equal to your cleric level. Creatures returned to life in this way have a number of hit points equal to half your cleric level, and continue to be affected by any still-active spells, conditions, or afflictions present at the time of their death. At the end of this time, the creature dies again. The creature is free to act as it sees fit during this time. You are granted no control over it. You can use this power once per day at 8th level, plus one additional time per day for every four levels beyond 8th. And using it in conjunction with breath of life to get around the 'died within the last round casting' stipulation.
The pathfinder chronicler prestige class grants the bardic knowledge ability and technically isn't a bard.
OK, so maybe for 20th level characters, the point is moot. But our 6th level party doesn't have access to restoration. Right now they have Raise Dead via Ultimate Mercy. So if someone has a bad... In my entirely personal opinion, player choices that (temporarily) kill their character for some numerical benefit are so disgustingly cheezy that I would encourage any DM to throw a wrench in their plans and make things go sideways when its attempted, just on principle. But I'm sure some will manage to disagree.
Thanks Grick. Are there any effective differences between usage of a 'ranged touch' spell in combat and the use of a ray? Would things like weapon focus - ray not work on ranged touch spells? Is there any particular reason you can think of why the two are seperate entities?
Are there ranged touch spells that aren't effect: ray? If so, does missing with the 'ranged touch' spell hold the charge as per the rules regarding touch spells?
After reading this thread, this post is the most accurate answer to the 'remaining unanswered questions' here.
This makes the most sense. I award you full points, and may the gods have mercy upon your soul. I was not being sarcastic. I was just using a quote from the movie Billy Madison out of context. I honestly appreciate your help, and your answer does indeed make the most sense.
This makes the most sense. I award you full points, and may the gods have mercy upon your soul.
I would submit that the following change to the wording of this ability would clarify it: (original) Death Roll (Ex) When grappling a foe of its size or smaller, a crocodile can perform a death roll upon making a successful grapple check. As it clings to its foe, it tucks in its legs and rolls rapidly, twisting and wrenching its victim. The crocodile inflicts its bite damage and knocks the creature prone. If successful, the crocodile maintains its grapple. (proposed change) Death Roll (Ex) When grappling a foe of its size or smaller, a crocodile can perform a death roll upon making a successful grapple check. As it clings to its foe, it tucks in its legs and rolls rapidly, twisting and wrenching its victim. The crocodile inflicts its bite damage and knocks the creature prone. The use of this ability does not end the grapple. Why this change? Because when I first used this ability I thought the wording "the crocodile maintains its grapple" meant that it automatically succeeded on future grapple attempts used to maintain the grapple.
Thanks for your post, the breakdown of actions is helpful. Since the crocodile has the grab ability when using its bite attack, is the following series of events possible? Crocodile lands a bite attack and does its bite damage. As part of its bite attack it uses its grab attack, and is successful. Since grab allows a free grapple check, and the grapple was succesful, the crocodile knocks the creature prone and does bite damage as part of the death roll ability. Giving total damage of 2 bites.
Hello all, During my last gameplay session I summoned a crocodile and there were some questions about what appears to be a somewhat poorly worded ability called death roll. Here's the text from the PRD version of the ability: Death Roll (Ex) When grappling a foe of its size or smaller, a crocodile can perform a death roll upon making a successful grapple check. As it clings to its foe, it tucks in its legs and rolls rapidly, twisting and wrenching its victim. The crocodile inflicts its bite damage and knocks the creature prone. If successful, the crocodile maintains its grapple. I've searched the forum, and although there were a few posts that were related to the ability none of them questioned the wording of it. Can someone give me a brief overview of how this ability is intended to work? I am familiar with the flavored intent of the ability, ie, how a crocodile uses a death roll to pull limbs and flesh off of its meal. But how does that apply when using the ability, and what is the 'If successful' clause of this ability referring to, the knocking the target prone? The successful grapple? A successful bite? The text 'knocks the target prone', does that mean I make a free trip attack, or is the trip attack automatically successful? Thanks in advance for your help. |
