jmclaus's page

I'd like for my druid to take the Scalykind domain with the Venom subdomain. However, this domain is not one of the basic options available, so I'm looking at options that will allow me to take it.

This is for PFS, so I'd prefer PFS-legal options. Just posting here for more visibility.

The best option I've found so far is the Veiled Adept archetype, which allows me to choose a domain or subdomain from an Eldest, which includes Ragadahn who offers the Venom subdomain. This is overall a pretty good option, but ideally I'd like to take the Blight Druid archetype and it is incompatible with Veiled Adept.

Are there any feats, traits, prestige classes, or archetypes compatible with Blight Druid that would work? I'd like to avoid losing Wild Shape progression for elemental forms, but I'd rather sacrifice a few effective levels of that than Blight Druid.

Is it intended that only one player per table gets the Shadowtouched Boon? The way it's phrased makes it seem like that is the case, but I could see that leading to inter-player resentment even though the benefits are somewhat questionable.

What is the light level of the Astral Plane? Based on the description in Planar Adventures I'd say dim, which would allow Deeper Darkness to create supernatural darkness, but having that be explicit would be nice.

In encounter A3, what type of action is it to attempt to disable the runes? I'm assuming it's meant to be a standard action but it's not spelled out anywhere and Disable Device normally takes several rounds for complex devices.

In previous seasons, it was possible to rebuild your character completely as long as you had not played a session as level 2 or higher. This allowed a rebuild at the beginning of level 2 after having played 3 scenarios, before playing your 4th.

However, the latest version of the guide appears slightly different.

1st-level characters may be rebuilt per the rules in Appendix 1: Character Creation. This is not a necessary step to completing a Chronicle sheet after an adventure, but a Chronicle sheet is required in order to confirm the changes. The same is true for retraining, as described below.

This means that you can no longer rebuild after three scenarios, as you would be level 2 immediately after completely the 3rd. Am I correct in my understanding of this change?

Calistria's Deific Obedience for Sentinels reads

1: Lucky Strike (Sp) divine favor 1/day, align weapon (chaotic only) 2/day, or keen edge 1/day

I believe the Divine Favor 1/day is an error and that it should be 3/day. Every single other deity (to my knowledge) has its 12 HD benefits as a choice between: 1st level spell 3/day, 2nd level spell 2/day, 3rd level spell 1/day.

Furthermore, Milani offers Divine Favor 3/day as part of her Exalted 12 HD boon, as do Falayna and Irez for Celestial Obedience.

If this indeed a typo, I was hoping that a Campaign Clarification would be issued.

Calistria's Deific Obedience for Sentinels reads

1: Lucky Strike (Sp) divine favor 1/day, align weapon (chaotic only) 2/day, or keen edge 1/day

I believe the Divine Favor 1/day is an error and that it should be 3/day. Every single other deity (to my knowledge) has its 12 HD benefits as a choice between: 1st level spell 3/day, 2nd level spell 2/day, 3rd level spell 1/day.

Furthermore, Milani offers Divine Favor 3/day as part of her Exalted 12 HD boon, as do Falayna and Irez for Celestial Obedience.

If this indeed a typo, I was hoping that a Campaign Clarification would be issued.

What is the effective level for the evolutions manifested by Evolving armor?

Specifically, what amount of resistance do you gain and can you select Improved Natural Armor twice?

As an added bonus, he can substitute a bull rush at full BAB in place of his third iterative attack (which he is unlikely to hit with) in the high tier due to the Knockback rage power.

How have other GMs ran Illaton? Based on the scenario, he is supposed to be able to parlay with the PCs before combat. However, his tactics say that he melds into stone when he first becomes aware of them, which is likely before the enter the room due to his tremorsense.

Did other GMs simply have him come out of the rock before the PCs approach the elemental gauge and warn them against approaching it? If not, it seems like combat would be pretty much inevitable otherwise.

Also, for those who might miss it, his stat block in the low tier is incorrect. He has Improved Critical in both tiers and therefore threatens on 19 - 20.

Does an Eidolon Anchoring Harness prevent instantaneous effects that would force it backs to its plane, such as Banishment, Dismissal, or Blasphemy?

If so, does the Eidolon only have to expend a single use of its master's SLA or does it have to continue to expend a use each round it wants to remain?

If a Shadow Puppeteer's shadow conjuration dies while he is maintaining the performance that summoned it, can he immediately summon another creature or must he spend another action to restart his performance?

I was considering the case where the GM plays a pregenerated character to fill out the table. Where does it say that the equipment can be sold like any other character?

Is there anything preventing selling a pregenerated character's gear for money, buying diamond dust with it, and using that diamond dust to clear conditions?

I know that you can only spend prestige to clear your own conditions, but I'm not sure that applies to spending gold. A normal character could sell their gear, buy a potion, and give it to another player, which isn't particularly different from the example above.

The Grenadier archetype from the Monster Codex has the following ability:

At 6th level, a grenadier can detonate a bomb so that it splashes in a 20-foot cone rather than affecting a radius. The cone starts at the alchemist and extends away from her in the direction she chooses. The alchemist designates one creature in the squares affected by the cone to be the target of the bomb and makes her attack roll against that creature; all other squares in the cone take splash damage. If the alchemist has the explosive bomb discovery and throws an explosive directed blast, the cone of splash damage is 30 feet long instead of 20 feet. This ability replaces swift poisoning.

How does this interact with Smoke Bomb, which is based on the splash radius of the bomb?

When the alchemist creates a bomb, he can choose to have it create a cloud of thick smoke when it detonates. The cloud functions as fog cloud, filling an area equal to twice the bomb's splash radius for 1 round per level.

Also, does using Directed Blast provoke? You're still making a ranged attack roll to hit the target, but that would make it rather weak as you have to use it much closer to your opponents.

That makes very little sense, considering a potion explicitly says the user is the caster and therefore the drinker of a potion would have to make a concentration check.

I'm guessing that's more of an oversight and a potion user shouldn't have to make a concentration check either. I realize now that there is no spellcasting ability score to base it off of.

If a creature attempts to use a wand on a magic-impeded plane, does it have to make a concentration check? I know that you don't normally need to make concentration checks to cast a wand defensively, but I haven't seen anything that says spell trigger items are free of all concentration checks.

Particular spells and spell-like abilities are more difficult to cast on planes with this trait, often because the nature of the plane interferes with the spell. To cast an impeded spell, the caster must make a concentration check (DC 20 + the level of the spell). If the check fails, the spell does not function but is still lost as a prepared spell or spell slot. If the check succeeds, the spell functions normally.

I don't think supernatural abilities get a Spell Level by RAW. I would go with this FAQ.

How have other GMs run the encounter with YL’NESEGVA? According to the scenario, it plane shifts away during the parley and only returns after an hour with reinforcements. It is unlikely that the PCs spend a full hour in the last encounter, meaning they could leave before YL’NESEGVA returns, which means they likely miss out on the money for the encounter.

The last combat at the high tier seems like it could wipe even the best of parties. Mass Suggestion at DC 25 can force all of the PCs to flee, which would then cause them to trigger the returning Moon Beast if they didn't manage to kill it the first time. The likely result is that a few PCs pass the save on suggestion, meaning the party is split and pulls 2 separate encounters.

Next questions...

** spoiler omitted **

I also had a question about The Face of the Void: how does one cure the condition? It seems similar to Feeblemind in terms of effect, so Break Enchantment seems like it should work but there is no CL listed.

Yes, I'm well aware of how to calculate attack bonuses. That wasn't my question.

You're right about the +3. I was considering a Medium elemental and didn't notice you mentioned small.

Actually an elemental would have +5, as per this FAQ. More importantly, this FAQ also clarifies that the elemental is using a weapon to make the disarm.

Can a creature that disarms a PC using a slam attack pick up the weapon as part of that disarm maneuver? In this case, the creature in question is a lightning elemental with a single slam attack but two arms.

The rules state that

If you successfully disarm your opponent without using a weapon, you may automatically pick up the item dropped.

Technically, a slam attack is a natural weapon, so reading completely RAW this wouldn't work. However, an unarmed strike counts as a manufactured weapon, meaning that technically the quoted clause would never apply.

Maren and Cookie aren't translators, they're citizens you can gather clues from. They have specific rules (gambling and potions) laid out for them.

Another issue I noticed was that it mentions the possibility of Thunder being made helpful, but doesn't give a Charisma modifier for him for the purpose of diplomacy. As it stands, the DC seems like it would be 10 or lower (if he starts friendly), making it trivial.

A couple of questions about the gathering of clues:

• Are the PCs able to communicate using Common with citizens other than Briel? Sylphs normally have Common as a racial language and nothing is mentioned to contradict that, but that would defeat the purpose of having a translator in the first place
• Is it impossible for the PCs to proceed without a translator? I could foresee the party being stingy with gold and not wanting to pay, which would force them to blunder around until they get 5 Awareness points
• Is it impossible to use the general skills (Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, Perform) for Maren and Cookie? It's not clear to me whether the individual rules presented are an alternative to those general skills or a replacement

Are there different boons for each tier or do Tier 1 - 3 receive the same boon/reward?

The book they are looking for is 40 feet off the ground, making it nearly impossible for a set of 1-2 players to read it without Fairuza's help. It just strikes me as poor design.

I'm quite confused about the elevation in area C2. Presumably the clouds in the middle are 40 feet above the balcony on the edge of the map, which is likely around 10 feet above C1. I don't see any mention of how PCs navigate the different height levels and it is unlikely that they can fly, especially in the 1-2 tier.

I also don't understand the arcane reservoir for Chalissier. Is it intended that he has used up 3 points before the fight? He should start with 5 or 9 points depending on the sub-tier.

Ah, I only checked the entry for a noble's outfit. That said, the PCs don't have to buy one themselves, as he will lend an outfit to each PC even if they haven't completed 6-11.

Jairo's story hasn't been addressed since 6-11, and in this module (8-10) it is never mentioned.

The module does say that he remembers any PC who played through 6-11, and even offers to give them a free noble's outfit (with gems) if they do not own one. This is necessary to avoid penalties when doing some of the social skill checks. (Other PCs who have not played 6-11 can buy a noble's outfit.)

So... wing it?

What penalties are there for not having a noble outfit's? I don't see anything in the scenario.

As the title says, can a creature with 15 foot reach attack a square that is 3 squares away in a diagonal direction from the creature's corner? I know that the space would be 20 feet away, but there is an FAQ allowing a creature with 10 foot reach to attack 2 diagonals away.

As outline in the PFS guide, players are not allowed to use their prestige to purchase spellcasting for other players:

Prestige Points are designed to be spent by characters on themselves.

Does this apply to rewards that affect multiple players? For example, can a player purchase Break Enchantment (which has a CL of 9) and include other players in the target? It seems a pretty big waste to only allow the player to target himself.

I had a couple of questions about the scenario.

1. In the map for encounter C, which parts are the bridge and where can the PCs get pushed off? My best guess right now is that the blue portions represent the bridge and the black portions represent lower ground, but this doesn't leave any room for the elementals to earth glide into the walls to climb to the ceiling, which is described in their tactics.

2. In the Development section of the last portion, the scenario states that

After the PCs successfully present three pieces of evidence, General Faiza bint Hanif crisply thanks them for their honesty and aims an icy glare at Captain Othis.

If the PCs successfully presented four or more pieces of incriminating evidence to the general, Othis is stripped of her rank and sentenced to a period of imprisonment for her crimes.

I'll go with 3 pieces of evidence because it benefits the players, but some clarification on this would be nice.

Would you allow enlarging an animal that has the giant template naturally?

I had two question about Rod of Giant Summoning:

1. If a creature summoned normally comes with a weapon, e.g. a cyclops using Summon Nature's Ally V, does that weapon get resized. The polymorph rules and Enlarge X spell specifically says this happen, but those don't cover this case.

2. Can a creature be targeted by a size increasing effect if summoned using the rod? For example, could a druid summon a Giant Velociraptor and then cast Animal Growth on it? It seems to me that the Giant template isn't a size increasing effect, but rather something that changes the base size of the creature. Such a summon creature should still be able to be enlarged, such like a creature that is natively Giant or an animal companion whose 4th/7th level advance has increased its size.

What outsider sub-types are allowed when creating a weapon with Bane property? The actual weapon property itself simply says "pick one subtype." However, in my opinion picking extraplanar as the subtype is at the very least cheesy, if not illegal. Similarly, choosing incorporeal or native also significantly broadens the scope of Bane. Has there been any clarification on this?

In particular, I am curious if something like an Animate Dream can even be targeted by a Bane effect, as its only subtypes are extraplanar and incorporeal.

The mimic has DR/magic. This means it treats it's attacks as magical weapons. This allows it to harm incorporeal creatures (such as a shadowdancer's shadow). Can it grapple them? Not per RAW, it would likely need to be ghost touch in some way, but that doesn't stop it from full-round attacking the creature.

Is this a general rule? I don't see anything describing that under the DR definition.

Also, is it intended that Valais help the PCs during combats prior to the last one? Should she fight the mimic and cultists alongside the PCs?

She has the Look of Fear ability, a gaze attack possessed by most types of Sakhil.

The latest version of the PFS prep document for Muzthari reads:

Handle gaze attack (Remember, this goes from Ethereal→Material but not vice versa)

All gaze attacks naturally go from Material → Ethereal:

Gaze attacks can affect ethereal opponents.

That means that when they first encounter her while on the ethereal plane, they are immediately subjected to her gaze attack. At the very least, that will affect Stealth checks.

Also, the tactics for the Maenads state that one of them targets as many PCs as possible with Mad Hallucination. However, this is a single target spell.

Has there been any news about whether the two pregen specials will affect other scenarios, similar to how playing Serpent's Rise affected the various scenario with Aspis Agents?

I understand that's the general consensus. I was wondering if it has been backed up by any sort of writing, as it doesn't appear to be in the guide.

Do class abilities apply to day job checks? The guide lists specific things that apply, which does not include class features:

Permanent bonuses from equipment, feats, racial bonuses, and traits affect your Day Job check as they would any check for the rolled skill, but temporary bonuses such as those granted by spell effects, other than crafter’s fortune, do not contribute, as the duration over which the Day Job check is made is undefined and represents a longer amount of time than a spell’s duration would permit the bonus to remain.

Although there are relatively few class abilities that give bonuses on Craft, Perform, or Profession, there are a lot that give bonuses on alternative day jobs. For example, with the Caravan vanity you can use Intimidate as a day job, which Inquisitors get a bonus on from the Stern Gaze class feature. Does this apply? It seems like it should.

Then there's the issue of the Alchemy class feature, which I've seen a lot of disagreement on. A lot of the argument against Alchemy applying to day jobs that it is situational, but the guide only makes a distinction of permanent vs. non-permanent bonuses. I feel like the guide doesn't clearly spell out what does and does not apply to day jobs.

What have other GMs done regarding eidolons, familiars, and animal companions? I see three potential options:

1. Disallow them from making influence / discovery checks at all.
2. Only allow them or their master to make an influence / discovery check per round.
3. Allow each of them to roll during each round, as if they were two separate players.

I think #3 is the most logical from an in-character standpoint, but #2 seems to the most balanced.

Other than that I, I had a few minor questions:

1. Is the town called Dustspawn or Dustpawn? There is a module called Doom Comes to Dustpawn, but the scenario repeatedly uses Dustspawn.

2. In the 1 - 2 subtier, the Isgeri bandits have a +4 on their climb, but I think it should be +3 = 1 (rank) + 3 (class skill) + 3 (strength) - 2 (chain shirt ACP) - 2 (heavy shield ACP). This could actually matter because the DC to climb up the rope in a single move action is 5.

Steven, when you say "not called out as a developer", what are you referring to? Is there a specific list of developers not part of the campaign staff? I've always assumed that SKR's forum rulings are (and JJ's aren't) legal for PFS, but SKR is not part of the campaign staff either.

Are James Jacobs' forum posts valid for Pathfinder Society. Version 7.0 of the guide states:

If a particular issue comes up repeatedly or causes a significant problem in one of your games, please raise any questions or concerns on the Pathfinder Society Messageboards at paizo.com/pathfindersociety, and the campaign management staff or the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game development team will work to provide you with an answer to avoid confusion in the future.

This makes it seems like James' posts are valid rulings, as he is a member of the development team. However, he's not on the design team and he personally admits he's not a rules guy.

Does anyone have a source of him or someone else saying hist posts shouldn't taken to be rules?

Manufactured weapon attacks do count against Max Attacks for Unchained Eidolon.

My mistake. I forgot that NPCs don't use the same rule for rolling their HP as PCs do.

I had one final question. Do the players need to do anything to unlock the Infiltrator boon on the chronicle? I don't see it mentioned at all in the scenario. I figured they just earned it automatically for playing, regardless of any success.

Ivara's HP seems incorrect. 6d8 + 23 should be 56. She gets maximum hit die on her first class level.