Rules Questions


Round 1: Cavalier and Oracle

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mdt wrote:

Oracle Clarification needed.

Bones Focus wrote:


Armor of Bones (Su): You can conjure armor made of bones that grants you a +2 armor bonus. At 7th level, and every four levels hereafter, this bonus increases by +2. At 13th level, this armor grants you DR 5/bludgeoning. You can use this armor for a number of minutes per day equal to your oracle level. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be spent in 1 minute increments.

Does Armor of Bones stack with worn armor? If it does, it needs to specify it stacks with worn armor, or it needs to have a bonus type (such as sacred/profane). I don't think it's all that overpowered considering the duration to let it stack with worn armor, and it gives a cool image as bones grow out of your body and over your armor, clicking and interlocking.

If it doesn't stack, I'd up the duration to 10 minutes per level instead, with the thought this is the person's primary defense ability, and they won't be using worn armor a lot. That would make for a very good tumble artist as this stuff wouldn't have ACP.

I'm betting it doesn't stack (it would be kind of weird if it did), and I agree with upping the duration some, otherwise it's just to limiting.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Evil Lincoln wrote:
"I'ma kill you, Ooze!"

Yep. Cavaliers can totally get by with Int:3. ;)


Jason Bulmahn wrote:

I am thinking that the oracle class will probably get Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.

As for the divine focus needed for spellcasting, this is something I am still working on. I am thinking that it will be a symbol of the oracles focus, like an actual bone for the bones focus.

Thoughts

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I would prefer to see them get eschew material (if clerics needed to use material components other than their holy symbols we have been playing wrong for years anyway).....

In regards to a focus....I like the idea of an Oracle making something specific to them as an individual, whether that be a mask, rattle, staff, or their favorite weapon.


mdt wrote:

And another clarification...

The oracle can get inflict light wounds, but short of multiclassing, they cannot channel negative energy. Normally, class abilities don't reference abilities from other classes. Was this an artifact left over from an earlier version of the oracle that could channel energy? Or did the channel energy ability get left off the playtest doc? Or is this just a strange reference to a power a straight oracle shouldn't have?

Did you notice the revelation called .....

Undead Servitude (Su): You gain Command Undead as a
bonus feat. You can channel negative energy a number of
times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier, but
only to use Command Undead. You can take other feats to
add to this ability, such as Improved Channeling, but not
feats that alter this ability, such as Alignment Channel.
The DC to save against your channeled energy is equal to
10 + 1/2 your oracle level + your Charisma modifier.


nighttree wrote:

Did you notice the revelation called .....

Undead Servitude (Su): You gain Command Undead as a
bonus feat. You can channel negative energy a number of
times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier, but
only to use Command Undead. You can take other feats to
add to this ability, such as Improved Channeling, but not
feats that alter this ability, such as Alignment Channel.
The DC to save against your channeled energy is equal to
10 + 1/2 your oracle level + your Charisma modifier.

However, Command Undead does not cause negative energy damage, which is what the reference to channel negative energy was referring to.

They bleed extra when taking negative energy damage from channel negative energy, which the Oracle can't do.

Unless they multiclass. So maybe that is what it is referring to.


nighttree wrote:


Did you notice the revelation called .....
Undead Servitude (Su): You gain Command Undead as a
bonus feat. You can channel negative energy a number of
times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier, but
only to use Command Undead
. You can take other feats to
add to this ability, such as Improved Channeling, but not
feats that alter this ability, such as Alignment Channel.
The DC to save against your channeled energy is equal to
10 + 1/2 your oracle level + your Charisma modifier.

Yes, as a matter of fact I did. If you read, as QOshea also pointed out, you only get it for purposes of Commanding Undead (see bolded in your quote). That means there is no negative energy being channeled, and thus why I asked if it was an artifact of a previous build of the class.


Is it just me, since no one else seems to have mentioned it, but the fact that issuing a challenge, automatically confers the Cavalier as being flanked, seems quite ludicrous to me. Thinking that a rogue, just says, "wait for him to issue a challenge... OK, now SNEAK ATTACK!"

If the Cavalier requires some kind of debuff for issuing a challenge, I think conferring "automatic flank" is extremely detrimental. I think it might be better to disallow any Attacks of Opportunity to anyone other than the target of the challenge, until the target is down. That way he still has a weakness related to the challenge, but doesn't grant a free Sneak Attack by rogues in combat.

Edit: my real goal here is to create a Samurai flavored Cavalier for my oriental setting, Kaidan. I think with a specific list of Samurai feats to have access to, like: Ancestral Weapon and Iaijutsu Strike, will more than realize a Samurai based on the Cavalier.

GP


Another fix that would conserve the "penalty vs. opponents other than the target" flavor without allowing auto-sneak-attacks by rogues would be to simply say that the Cavalier's AC is reduced by 2 versus characters other than the target. It has the same effect as a flank (-2 AC vs. +2 to hit) minus the allowing of sneak attacks and other similar effects.

Scarab Sages

in regards to the Oracle clouded vision curse -
Can I assume that since the orcs & dwarves dont get their 60' darkvision ie its reduced to 30' that gnomes, elves & half elves also lose their lowlight vision or have it reduced to 30' ?

if so to me that is a big hit to all these races & would likely mean the oracle with clouded vision curse will only be played by humans & halflings who dont have a vision ability to lose/reduce ??

Scarab Sages

Inverse Rain wrote:
Another fix that would conserve the "penalty vs. opponents other than the target" flavor without allowing auto-sneak-attacks by rogues would be to simply say that the Cavalier's AC is reduced by 2 versus characters other than the target. It has the same effect as a flank (-2 AC vs. +2 to hit) minus the allowing of sneak attacks and other similar effects.

I like this idea better than auto flanked


Ceefood wrote:
Inverse Rain wrote:
Another fix that would conserve the "penalty vs. opponents other than the target" flavor without allowing auto-sneak-attacks by rogues would be to simply say that the Cavalier's AC is reduced by 2 versus characters other than the target. It has the same effect as a flank (-2 AC vs. +2 to hit) minus the allowing of sneak attacks and other similar effects.
I like this idea better than auto flanked

I agree, auto-flank is a bit much. I would also rather see it worded as above.

Dark Archive

Jason Bulmahn wrote:
It is not, as of the current rules, language or intelligence dependent. You could not challenge a chair, since it is not a foe (but this language does need a bit of clarification). Besides, precision based damage is not going to do you much good against a chair.

With apologies for the tangent, I feel compelled to mention that you just inspired a riotous encounter for my players involving an overstuffed leather construct.


James Jacobs wrote:
One of the TRICKIEST things with these classes is to make them cool, fun, and exciting, but NOT to make them something that replaces one of the 11 base classes. The cavalier's a great example, and we'll be looking at it very closely (and studying the playtest feedback) to make sure he's not poaching too much from the fighter and the paladin.

I may not be seeing the big picture properly with cavalier, but it seems to be built more for large scale skirmishes than for close-knit dungeon crawl groups. As a DM, my adventures are dungeon heavy and as I'm reading the cavalier rules, it seems like it would lose a huge chunk of its abilities in this case.

1) Mounts don't do very well going into caves or any other indoor structures, so nullifies the mount based class abilities.

2) Walking around narrow passages and low ceilings with a banner aren't very practical, though could cause some comedic relief before getting annoying (catching on door frames or rock walls, keeping the cavalier from going through a door, etc.)

So in a dungeon setting, they'd be little more than fighters with a lot of feats and a couple of nifty tricks. Unless there's something I'm just not clicking with.

I'm also not seeing a big benefit in oaths as they stand, as some adventures may only last a few hours - 1 day in game. Though some will go on for several days in game a lot won't. Is the DM to assume that a character maintains their vow during down time between adventures and then apply the bonus at the beginning of the next?

To me, it seems that oaths should gain the bonus UNTIL the task is complete because the cavalier would be focusing 100% on the completion of that oath.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Jason Bulmahn wrote:
I am thinking that the oracle class will probably get Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.

That would mostly be extraneous as there are next to no cleric spells in the core that would actually benefit from this feat.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

One question I had was how long does it take to swear an oath?

Scarab Sages

Jigg wrote:
2) Walking around narrow passages and low ceilings with a banner aren't very practical, though could cause some comedic relief before getting annoying (catching on door frames or rock walls, keeping the cavalier from going through a door, etc.)

Though it may not be RAW, you could rule for this type of cavalier that "displaying his colors" ie the symbols and colors of his banner on say, his shield for all to see would satisfy this requirement. Honestly if you wanted to get technical about it, you would have to speficy that he had a bannerman or was mounted to display his banner otherwise, unless you are now asking the cavalier to give up his shield to hold a flag :) So maybe the banner when mounted, and his shield colors when on foot?


Jigg wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
One of the TRICKIEST things with these classes is to make them cool, fun, and exciting, but NOT to make them something that replaces one of the 11 base classes. The cavalier's a great example, and we'll be looking at it very closely (and studying the playtest feedback) to make sure he's not poaching too much from the fighter and the paladin.

I may not be seeing the big picture properly with cavalier, but it seems to be built more for large scale skirmishes than for close-knit dungeon crawl groups. As a DM, my adventures are dungeon heavy and as I'm reading the cavalier rules, it seems like it would lose a huge chunk of its abilities in this case.

1) Mounts don't do very well going into caves or any other indoor structures, so nullifies the mount based class abilities.

2) Walking around narrow passages and low ceilings with a banner aren't very practical, though could cause some comedic relief before getting annoying (catching on door frames or rock walls, keeping the cavalier from going through a door, etc.)

So in a dungeon setting, they'd be little more than fighters with a lot of feats and a couple of nifty tricks. Unless there's something I'm just not clicking with.

I'm also not seeing a big benefit in oaths as they stand, as some adventures may only last a few hours - 1 day in game. Though some will go on for several days in game a lot won't. Is the DM to assume that a character maintains their vow during down time between adventures and then apply the bonus at the beginning of the next?

To me, it seems that oaths should gain the bonus UNTIL the task is complete because the cavalier would be focusing 100% on the completion of that oath.

Some of these issues (like mounts or animal companions) beleaguer the current paladin, druid, ranger, etc. The paladin has always had his 'trusty mount' buff removed in a dungeon crawl. But the concept of the mount still fits the class, I think.


Would a multi-class cav/paladin get dual mounts?


redcelt32 wrote:
Though it may not be RAW, you could rule for this type of cavalier that "displaying his colors" ie the symbols and colors of his banner on say, his shield for all to see would satisfy this requirement.

His shield, a crest on his tabard, etc. I don't think it makes sense to micro-manage the class to the point that he has to physically carry a banner on a lance...


I'm also worried about the particulars of the banner. As a non-magical object, it seems far too vulnerable to destruction — basically a vulnerability that doesn't scale defensively with class level. It gets an object save, right? Maybe this power needs to include an object save bonus for the Banner itself, if the rule stands as it is.

Other than that, I like it. Someone above said it treads on the bard a little, but every other class has to share a little. Having two classes that can easily group buff with non-spell abilities just increases the number of competent party combinations. Plus, some people are really put off by the bard, but that doesn't make this type of power any less useful!

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

Evil Lincoln wrote:

I'm also worried about the particulars of the banner. As a non-magical object, it seems far too vulnerable to destruction — basically a vulnerability that doesn't scale defensively with class level. It gets an object save, right? Maybe this power needs to include an object save bonus for the Banner itself, if the rule stands as it is.

Other than that, I like it. Someone above said it treads on the bard a little, but every other class has to share a little. Having two classes that can easily group buff with non-spell abilities just increases the number of competent party combinations. Plus, some people are really put off by the bard, but that doesn't make this type of power any less useful!

As an attended object (on the cavalier's person), it doesn't need a save. It should only be damaged on a 1 on the saving throw, possibly, unless it is specifically targeted. If that's the case, I think it's a great class ability if it causes your foes to spend an action attacking the banner instead of the PCs directly.


JoelF847 wrote:
I think it's a great class ability if it causes your foes to spend an action attacking the banner instead of the PCs directly.

Isn't that the definition of metagaming though?


redcelt32 wrote:
Jigg wrote:
2) Walking around narrow passages and low ceilings with a banner aren't very practical, though could cause some comedic relief before getting annoying (catching on door frames or rock walls, keeping the cavalier from going through a door, etc.)

Though it may not be RAW, you could rule for this type of cavalier that "displaying his colors" ie the symbols and colors of his banner on say, his shield for all to see would satisfy this requirement. Honestly if you wanted to get technical about it, you would have to speficy that he had a bannerman or was mounted to display his banner otherwise, unless you are now asking the cavalier to give up his shield to hold a flag :) So maybe the banner when mounted, and his shield colors when on foot?

This is what I was thinking...the Cavalier is granted the privilege of bearing their Order's crest upon their shield/armor. In my head when I read banner, I envision either someone mounted on a horse racing across a battlefield or of a samurai with the banner strapped to his back.

Dark Archive

Blake Duffey wrote:
Would a multi-class cav/paladin get dual mounts?

Any other time there is duplication of pet/mount/animal companion, it just factors up the levels for each class for the creature's abilities.

That's not official, but it is pretty much how all of such things have worked in my experience.

+1 to make this explicit in the writeup.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

I know it should be obvious, but what starting funds should the Cavalier and the Oracle get?

Does Cavalier = Fighter and does Oracle = Cleric?

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Oracles seem like they should be Bard-equivalent to me. Light armor, and all.

Dark Archive

tejón wrote:
Oracles seem like they should be Bard-equivalent to me. Light armor, and all.

... In so much the Oracle seems to be equivalent to the sorcerer. "Bloodlines" and spontaneous casting. They even have the same spell progression.


Draeke Raefel wrote:
tejón wrote:
Oracles seem like they should be Bard-equivalent to me. Light armor, and all.
... In so much the Oracle seems to be equivalent to the sorcerer. "Bloodlines" and spontaneous casting. They even have the same spell progression.

It seems to me as well that the Oracle is the divine version of a Sorceror.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Jigg wrote:
Draeke Raefel wrote:
tejón wrote:
Oracles seem like they should be Bard-equivalent to me. Light armor, and all.
... In so much the Oracle seems to be equivalent to the sorcerer. "Bloodlines" and spontaneous casting. They even have the same spell progression.
It seems to me as well that the Oracle is the divine version of a Sorceror.

Sorry... I was referring to starting gold, in response to Lord Fyre. Oracles have higher gear expectations than a sorcerer or wizard, but lower than a cleric. Bard seems appropriate.


In the Oracle class there are many time that it says you gain an improvement on a Curse or Revelation based on your level. In many of them they do not specify that it is class level just at a certain level you gain an increased Bonus.

Clouded Vision: Your eyes are obscured, making it
difficult for you to see. You cannot see anything beyond
30 feet, but you can see as if you had darkvision. At 5th
level, this distance increases to 60 feet. At 10th level, you
gain blindsense out to a range of 30 feet. At 15th level, you
gain blindsight out to a range of 15 feet.

So does this mean that whether I am a 15th level Oracle or a 3 Oracle/12 Monk I will have blind sight?

Maneuver Mastery (Ex): Select one type of combat
maneuver (see page 198 of the Pathfinder RPG Core
Rulebook). When performing the selected maneuver,
you treat your oracle level as your base attack bonus
when determining your CMB. At 7th level, you gain the
Improved feat (such as Improved Trip) that grants you
a bonus when performing that maneuver. At 11th level,
you gain the Greater feat (such as Greater Trip) that
grants you a bonus when performing that maneuver.
You do not need to meet the prerequisites to receive
these feats.

In this example does it mean I get the improved and greater maneuvers no matter my combination of classes?

I'm just using these two abilities as examples. The Oracle class has many other times when this would come up and my DM wanted clarification. Another question I had was whether or not you could take a revelation like Maneuver Mastery multiple times? It doesn't mention it anywhere that I saw.

Thank you

Dark Archive

I think most people would rightly assume that when a class mentions level in it's ability descriptions it is referring to that class' level. Other classes do specify using either <insert class> level or "class level". I think that it is safe to assume that taking levels of other classes would not enhance your oracle class abilities. Oddly, only the saving throw descriptions specifically say Oracle level. If they were keeping consistent either the save dcs would simply say 1/2 level or the other level dependent benefits would also say "oracle level".

Honestly, I don't think they should need to specify Oracle level in the ability descriptions for the oracle class. But, it would make it more specific and open it up to less RAW rules lawyering in the future.


Draeke Raefel wrote:
I think most people would rightly assume that when a class mentions level in it's ability descriptions it is referring to that class' level.

From the multiclassing rules in the Core rulebook:

"Note that there are a number of effects and prerequisites that rely on a character's level or Hit Dice. Such effects are always based on the total number of levels or Hit Dice a character possesses, not just those from one class. The exception to this is class abilities, most of which are based on the total number of class levels that a character possesses of that particular class."


I agree that normally it would be based on the class level. However, in the case of these Oracles abilities they do not show up under the class advancement chart as gain Curse/Revelation bonuses. So it confused me a little. It makes me think that the bonuses are driven more from the ability than the level of the class. Wish it would be more specific saying class level because in the rules it does say "most of which are based on the total number of class levels" not all of which.

Dark Archive

FuriousPoop wrote:
I agree that normally it would be based on the class level. However, in the case of these Oracles abilities they do not show up under the class advancement chart as gain Curse/Revelation bonuses. So it confused me a little. It makes me think that the bonuses are driven more from the ability than the level of the class. Wish it would be more specific saying class level because in the rules it does say "most of which are based on the total number of class levels" not all of which.

Huh? The class advancement chart specifically notes when you gain Revelations and that you gain a curse at 1st level... I am not sure I understand your confusion... By being on the advancement chart they are obviously class abilities. The problem is all revelations don't necessarily have an 11th or 13th or 7th level ability. So they leave it up to the description for each Revelation/Curse to describe what they get at what levels.

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