Firstly I hope I got the right forum area.
Second, I've only just started reading the pathfinder book, so just correct me if I've missed something.I quickly noticed that cantrips and orisons are now considered to be 'at will' 'spell like abilities'.
Well that's dandy, but I can't find 'at will' actually defined anywhere. In 3.0 it was defined in the monster manual, because only monsters had at will powers.Am I missing something or has this not been explained anywhere? It's one of those things makes sense when you already know what it means, but can be a cause for argument when not defined. For example: At will can mean, at a moments thought. Or it can mean, regardless of other circumstances (no components). Or it can mean that you can do it all day long.
It is still a spell that requires a standard action to cast. So, the player/PC/NPC can cast it as often as they wish, on their turn, using a standard actions.
This will require a few minor modifications to hiding things, as detect magic is a cantrip, so make sure that most of the nifty hiding spots for magic has a thin film of lead lining the container/hiding spot.
In case it has been missed, Cure Minor Wounds has been removed (otherwise it gave free healing between fights).
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I actually like the flavour of stabilize better than cure minor wounds. First it makes more sense from a simulation perspective, and second it just admits what the spell was used for anyway.
There is one player in my group who mixes up "at will" and "free action", more as a slip of mind than actual confusion but the OPs point is valid. If we are expecting new players to pick up PRPG and play it out of the book the concept needs to be explained.
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I too would like to see "at will" and "free action" definitively differentiated. I play with players who are much less rules-savvy than I am, and this kind of confusion happens in my games a lot.
For people who recognize the terms as specific rules terms, it makes sense, but to people reading it for the first time, it's a little confusing. Even a simple change from "...can be used at will" to "...is an at-will ability" would make a difference, because then it's obvious that it's a game term rather than a simple description.
And I'm also content with the Cure Minor Wounds -> Stabilize change, but I also think that it might not be entirely necessary. Remember that (barring Quicken Spell) you can only cast CMW once per round, meaning it takes 6 seconds to heal 1hp. In PRPG, the average 1st level character has more than 14hp. Assuming you've been knocked down to 4hp, it'll take over a minute to get back to full health. If you have to do that for all your party members too, you'll be sitting and healing for 4+ minutes. The higher in level you get, the bigger this time chunk gets. In adventures where time is a factor (which hopefully is most of them) this doesn't really work out too well. As long as your players aren't annoying enough to turtle after every single fight, I don't see a problem. Really, I'm just a fan of having PCs wake up with full HP.
[/threadjack]
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It basically comes down to an over-economy of words:
Search for "will" on Merriam Webster's online dictionary, there are over 20 different meanings and usages, ranging nouns and verbs. When someone sees the term "at-will" and the game already has the term "Will save", they start getting confused. Even the phrase "at will" can mean "whenever you want" or "however many times you want" (this last bit is the normal confusion).
I would like to see a hardcore information architect set loose on the final before it's released. I like the beta, but it isn't actually a complete reference— the order of information wasn't great in the original PHB and it seems to have been made worse in the merging.
Those of us who know the rules already tend to have a "blind spot" when it comes to noticing what isn't in the document. Naïve proofreaders and information architecture are the best solution.
Someone who doesn't know the rules (or several people) should read the thing cover-to-cover, with a Paizo editor on hand so they can share the moments they get "lost." A certain amount of delaying and cross referencing is inevitable, but I still don't feel comfortable handing my girlfriend the Pathfinder Beta and saying simply "Read this, and you shall know the game." And she's smarter than I am!
When a new player can read the book, having never played 3.5, and know everything they need to play the game, Pathfinder RPG will be a "complete" book.
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I agree that "at will" can be a confusing term.
What replacement would you recommend?
Well, you could just say "...usable %/day" (where % stand for the infinity symbol) or maybe "...usable unlimited/day."
In monster entries, instead of "At will- blah blah, 3/day- blah blah" have "Unlimited- blah blah, 3/day- blah blah"
Just my 2cp off the top of my head.
I agree that "at will" can be a confusing term.
What replacement would you recommend?
Willy-nilly! Egregiously! With Great Justice!
Okay, maybe I have no useful contributions...
Ad Libitum? (al)
I'm a sucker for latin. Per Day abilities are Per Diem in my campaign as well...
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I agree that "at will" can be a confusing term.
What replacement would you recommend?
Willy-nilly! Egregiously! With Great Justice!
Okay, maybe I have no useful contributions...
Ad Libitum? (al)
I'm a sucker for latin. Per Day abilities are Per Diem in my campaign as well...
Heh, my wife works in medical, so per diem has a different meaning in our house (essentially "as needed", which would confuse the "at will" issue even more).
We don't need a new term for it, we just need the term to be defined. Preferably somewhere close to where it's used. In P-RPG it's main use is by spell casters and cantrips, so in that section of the Magic chapter it should lay out the definition. Or in the beginning when it talks about Clerics, or include it in the glossary in the back.
The term itself is only ambiguous so long as it isn't defined.
-S