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I am interested in a kitsune which will rely on disguise, but I'm fairly confused by mechanics. Depending on interpretation it could be the difference between +10 and +30 or more to disguise.

Kitsune have Change Shape:

(Su): A kitsune can assume the appearance of a specific single human form of the same sex. The kitsune always takes this specific form when she uses this ability. A kitsune in human form cannot use her bite attack, but gains a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to appear human. Changing shape is a standard action. This ability otherwise functions as alter self, except that the kitsune does not adjust her ability scores and can remain in this form indefinitely.

Then there is the racial feat, Realistic likeness:

Benefit: You can precisely mimic the physical features of any individual you have encountered. When you use your racial change shape ability, you can attempt to take the form of an individual, granting you a +10 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks made to fool others with your impersonation.

I was having an argument about whether the +10 bonuses should stack for a +20 to impersonate a particular person. One perspective is they do not because the base +10 bonus is only for the kitsunes specific altar-ego human form, so that in either case you get +10 My position is that it seems pretty clearly to be written as stacking. Specifically, given these two clauses:

"gains a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to appear human"

"When you use your racial change shape ability when you impersonate a specific person"

Both conditions are met. Nothing contradicts them stacking, and the bonus types are different. I looked online but I've been unable to find an unambiguous answer.

Additionally, there are spells which improve disguises. Extrapolating my reasoning so far, what prevents you from just stacking all (typeless, not contradictory) effects?

Change Shape: +10 racial
Realistic likeness: +10 circumstance bonus
Altar self: polymorph, +10 untyped
disguise self: will savable, +10 untyped
Vocal Alteration: +10 untyped bonus for listeners

for a potential of +50 to the opposed check, not including competence/trait bonuses, and so forth. I would not feel comfortable trying to stack all of these effects in a real game but where have I gone wrong if so?

(The only idea I have is that a magical effect, including kitsune racial, is "used during the creation of a disguise" so you only get to use one. But I still strongly believe kitsune should get +20 to impersonation.)

The goblin rogue favored class bonus says : "Add a +1 bonus on the rogue's sneak attack damage rolls during the surprise round or before the target has acted in combat." - How would you interpret this: per sneak attack dice, or on a total entire round action?

I've encountered the concept of adding effects to magic items, as per the rulebook:

For items that take up a space on a character’s body, each additional power not only has no discount but instead has a 50% increase in price

Does that imply that there really are no built-in limits on power besides gold and the will of the DM? A player in my group is forgoing his belt of dexterity for a belt of tumbling because it is important to his playstyle, but mightn't he just tack on the tumbling effect for a modest 1.2k and free up his slot, for example:

"Belt of dextrous tumbling": +2 dex, +4 acrobatics when avoiding AOO, 5.2k

What are the realistic limits on this kind of behavior, or are there none? I'm curious about opinions as well as rulings. (for reference, my DM doesn't allow magic item crafting but is permissive with gold and "magic marts")

Also my reading of the magic item creation rules is that besides those listed in the material (e.g. ring of invisibility) custom items are purely discretionary. So a ring of true strike continuous effect for 2k is patently absurd, but what about 2k (spell lvl 1 * caster lvl 1 * 2k) for a ring of obscuring mist, on command, or continuous effect? This particular example isn't important, but in general is it permissible to slap a spell on an item for command/continuous effect and be done with it, within reason?

Per the ACG:

characters with a mix of grit, luck, and panache, they pool the resources together into a combined pool. (Those who use panache and luck gain twice their Charisma bonus in their pool.)

This made me suggest to a swashbuckler friend the possibility of taking a dip in gunslinger, since he was complaining about running out of panache, and liked the flavor of a pistol as a range weapon.

I further noticed that RAW mysterious stranger would seem to DOUBLE his panache pool for a 1 point dip. I did a google search and turned up a thread debating this point, and linking to a larger thread full of rules lawyers battling about the nuances surrounding ability sources, bonus types, double dipping, etc.

I also found some a source dated from within the past couple of weeks (https://pcgenorg.atlassian.net/browse/DATA-2487) which suggests there is an errata to directly contradict my source, but as seems to be the case I don't know where to look for errata and end up mostly confused.

2) p.102 box on Grit, Luck and Panache

which is errata'd to read "those who use panache and luch do not gain twice their Charisma bonus..."

My best conclusion is that the INTENTION is that an attribute never contribute to the same thing twice (double dip), regardless of how it effects that change. A rules lawyer might say "but grit is not panache, they merely act in exactly the same ways!" to which a GM might say "no, you're wrong, end of discussion".

So it seems that (for instance) a swashbuckler might dip gunslinger 1 to good effect - getting wisdom to his panache pool - but not charisma through mysterious stranger. I'm curious if that conclusion is correct, and why, (and is there any collected repository of errata? I understanding interpreting things RAI and using discretion but I'm a power-gamer at heart and prefer an objective standard when possible).

Thanks. And sorry just to clarify: nothing other than Cruoromancer/blood command and oracle/juju mystery/Spirit Vessels increase the total amount of undead you control at one time?

The rules text for animate dead states:

"No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level."

My question concerns effects that can increase this limit:

* Undead master - When you cast animate dead or use the Command Undead feat, you are considered to be four levels higher when determining the number of Hit Dice you ANIMATE

* Spell specialization (and other effects like Dhampir wizard favored class bonus) Treat your caster level as being two higher for all level-variable effects of the spell.

I have encountered numerous contradictory interpretations on the net for these as written, I'd kind of like to know what the general consensus if is there is one. RAW I can see undead master not applying but a permissive DM granting it as RAI (otherwise the feat is stupid). But for + caster level I am uncertain I could interpret the limit being by the game (e.g. any character normally controls a max of 4HD of animated creature) or through the spells (e.g. when you cast animate dead the spell checks if you exceed 4HD caster level in animated creatures).

edit: and an additional question that doesn't really belong in the form but I thought I'd add it: Is there any reason to specialize as a necromancer in general? I could be an evil cleric/oracle and be 100% as competent in another role, and just cast animate dead for 4HD on the side, or be a "necromancer" (etc juju mastery, undead lord archetype) and maybe get 5 or 6HD, but is that all the upside?

Thanks all, the main thing I was missing was the minimum caster level 8. I kind of see the purpose of staves now (expanding spell list, saving up/storing spell slots during down time, avoiding AOO in melee) but it seems like there's very little reason to ever use them for spells below level 3. I guess I'll stick with wands for the time being.

(No, UMD would not be enough to let him charge the staff if clerics didn't get detect magic; you can fool the staff into casting but you can't fool it into being recharged.)

Right, that's why I put 10 charge detect magic on there to confirm that you could (at least RAW) get around the charging limitation for as little as 80g (200*8*.5/10). Or just let the arcane caster charge it.

I haven't played pathfinder much so I've never encountered staves in the wild, and didn't give them much thought because the ones listed in the rulebook look bad to me. Real bad. For example:

Staff of Minor Arcana 8k
Shield (1 charge)
Magic missile (2 charges)

However, I came across a formula for creating staves that says the price is: 400gp × the level of the highest-level spell × the level of the caster, plus 75% of the value of the next most costly ability (300 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster), plus 1/2 the value of any other abilities (200 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster).

But that doesn't seem to line up with the listed staves. Shield and magic missle are level 1 spells so by my interpretation that staff of minor arcana should cost:

400*1*1 + 300*1*.5 = 550
(.5 because of 2 charges per use)

My best guess is that since craft staves requires level 11 you get
400*1*11 + 300*1*11*.5 = 6050 which is close. But I have seen other forum posts using lower numbers (not 1 though) for caster level, and more broadly It seems very strange to me that crafter level would effect the price of a staff when it has nothing to do with its power (because they work on users' caster level and DC, not the creators).

Additionally: "He can also imbue one staff with a portion of his power so long as one or more of the spells cast by the staff
is on his spell list", so how much would this staff cost to buy at magicmart with a permissive GM, and could a cleric effectively use and charge it:

Magic missle (not on oracle list) (1 charge)
detect magic (on oracle list) (10 charges)