Hello!
First time posting here, but I've been stalking the boards for a little while.
My group just switched over to Pathfinder mid-campaign (from 3.5), so we are all still settling into our slightly shinier and ever so subtly different characters.
I'm playing a druid and have been trying to figure out how things will work under the new rules.
Firstly, I am a it confused about the details of the "a thousand faces" ability. Is it essentially Alter Self as the spell at will (as a supernatural ability so it can't be dispelled)? Or does the druid alter her appearance permanently each time she uses the ability (meaning there is no duration restriction)? Additionally, the ability doesn't in fact allow you to impersonate specific people, does it (there is nothing in the spell description that contradicts the general polymorph rules)?
Second, and this is a generic spellcasting rule, do spell effects that give you "X squares per level" have to be continuous if it is not explicitly stated in the spell description? Take for example Spike Stones which affects "one 20-ft. square/level". Does that mean I can take 10 different squares within the range of the spell and affect them? or do they all have to form one area (like a wall?)
Thank you!
First off welcome Hands out Rum
1: It works just like alter self.
2: The area have to be touching, you cant' skip out 5' area but hit the next. If it says 20' area that is what it is a 20' square affecting everything with in that area. You can not divide up the area unless the spell says you may. For spike stone it affects everything in a 20' box.
As to #2, I think you may have misunderstood there, Seeker. Yes, you have to have the 20ft. squares be 20ft. squares, but no, they don't have to touch each other. See the difference between spike stones and wall of force - if it has to be continuous, it will say so in the description, like wall of force does (and many other wall spells).
Thank you for your quick replies.
I have one more subtlety to add to the mix. I understand that wall of force has to be continuous and says so in the spell description, but what about something like Transmute Rock to Mud which has an area of "up to two 10-ft. cubes/level (S)". It is a volume rather than an area unlike my original example and it has the "shapeable" descriptor, which seems to indicate that it's a single shapeable area, where as the original is just a set of squares. Is this a correct interpretation?
2: The area have to be touching, you cant' skip out 5' area but hit the next. If it says 20' area that is what it is a 20' square affecting everything with in that area. You can not divide up the area unless the spell says you may. For spike stone it affects everything in a 20' box.
citation?
All I found was this which does not agree with your statement.
(S) Shapeable: If an area or effect entry ends with “(S),” you can shape the spell. A shaped effect or area can have no dimension smaller than 10 feet. Many effects or areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes. Three-dimensional volumes are most often needed to define aerial or underwater effects and areas.
Thank you for your quick replies.
I have one more subtlety to add to the mix. I understand that wall of force has to be continuous and says so in the spell description, but what about something like Transmute Rock to Mud which has an area of "up to two 10-ft. cubes/level (S)". It is a volume rather than an area unlike my original example and it has the "shapeable" descriptor, which seems to indicate that it's a single shapeable area, where as the original is just a set of squares. Is this a correct interpretation?
Ummm...as far as I know, it doesn't have to be a single area either, it just allows for finer control when it's shapeable (you could do a 15ft. x 15ft. x 10ft, for example), but as the bit Abraham quoted above says, nothing can be smaller than 10ft. (also you can't go deeper than 10ft., per the spell description). But I think you could make multiple 10ft. cube sinkholes that aren't connected, if you wanted to...
I was taking his statement as hit a space skip a space, hit a space skip a space like do x-x-x-x-x which ya can not do
Seems is misunderstood what he was saying