slaygeist's page

DCs are calculated as 10 + your check modifier. Penalties to a check thus also apply to the associated DC unless otherwise stated. So a penalty to Reflex saves would affect your Reflex DC against being Tripped, for instance.

Oh neat, then it does work the way I originally hoped and is quite nice for keeping up the Feint debuff on a target. Thank you for the clarification on this!

I have a Scoundrel Rogue, and when choosing feats it seemed like Distracting Feint would be a great choice as it would help me keep the Feint debuff up after I landed it the first time. But then after reading the descriptions of the skill action and the feat more closely, it seems like it might not actually do anything here?

Feint says "Attempt a Deception check against that opponent’s Perception DC".

Distracting Feint says: "While a creature is flat-footed by your Feint, it also takes a –2 circumstance penalty to Perception checks and Reflex saves."

So, my understanding is that when using Feint I am the one making a check against the opponent's Perception DC, which would NOT have a -2 circumstance penalty (since it says the penalty applies to their Perception checks, not to their Perception score). Ergo, applying Distracting Feint to a creature does NOT make future attempts to Feint against them easier.

Just want to verify that my reading and understanding of the interaction here is correct.

Is it intended that neither "Intimidating Glare" nor "Intimidating Prowess" interact with "Scare to Death"?

The "Intimidating Glare" and "Intimidating Prowess" feats both specify the Demoralize action (or Demoralize/Coerce for the latter) and "Scare to Death" is not the same as the base Demoralize action. From an intuitive or RP standpoint, it feels really bad that neither of those effects would apply to one's ability to use Scare to Death.

For a gameplay example, imagine an Animal Rage Barbarian (with Raging Intimidation) roaring directly in an enemy's face (using Scare to Death). It makes no sense that a) the enemy needs to "understand my language" and b) my threatening physical appearance would have no bearing on the attempt.

This is where my confusion as a player comes in. To me the term "statistics" is too broad, and would cover virtually everything you all listed.

@Quandry: Why do you suggest Speed not fall under the "statistics" umbrella? I.e. if I have to use my own statistics, do I not use my own Speed as well?

Unless I'm supposed to interpret "except you use your own statistics" as "except you use your own statistics unless the animal form's are higher"?

EDIT: Just to add a comparison of my own likely stats vs the animal form, even if we interpret the rule as "unless the animal form's are better" - none of the form's are better (except Speed).

AC: 17 + level (8) = 25, vs my own (using regular Hide armor as an example) 10 (base) + 10 (trained prof) + 3 (DEX) + 3 (Item) = 26
Athletics: +14, vs my own: 14 (master prof) + 4 (STR) = +18
Unarmed Attack: +14, vs my own: 12 (expert prof) + 4 (STR) = +16 (and this doesn't include any bonus from handwraps if I have them, so could be higher)
Damage Bonus: I assume this doesn't stack with my own bonus, which will already by higher than +5: 4 (STR) + 5 (Rage) + 2 (weapon spec) = +11.

If I'm playing an Animal Instinct Barbarian who has chosen Cat as my animal, I'm not sure what benefit this feat gives me. The wording is specifically:

"You transform into your animal. You gain the effects of the 3rd-level animal form spell except you use your own statistics, temporary Hit Points, and unarmed attacks instead of those granted by animal form."

So, if I use my own statistics, temp HP, and attacks, what do I get from the spell? As best I could tell, I may get:
- Low-light vision and Imprecise Scent 30ft (both of which I might already have from earlier Barbarian feats or Ancestry).
- I get to ignore my armor's speed penalty.

It seems like nothing else applies because of the feat tells me I use all my own values for everything else. Are there other mechanical advantages to this feat that I am missing? Perhaps this feat is really more for flavor/RP purposes?