Cleric Holy Symbol made a little differently


Pathfinder Society

Shadow Lodge

I have a cleric of Sarenrae and was looking at a differenet way to have my holy symbol ready to hand. I was looking at having a masterwork scimitar crafted with the holy symbol as part of the hilt and pommel of the scimitar. That was it would only take w swift action to re-position my hand on the scimitar and present the holy symbol for use.( holy symbol in hand with scimitar running down the forearm) Is this game breaking or just giving the character more character/uniqueness?

This question is mostly for venture captain/lieutenants and GM's.

Though I wouldnt mind everyones thoughts.

Grand Lodge 5/5 Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic

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Look at the consecrated weapon channel foci (Adventurer's Armory p24)

It costs +150gp, but effectively makes you able to use your weapon as a holy symbol and even makes it possible to charge it for a half damage channel smite.

Grand Lodge 4/5 *

This. Crafting isn't allowed in PFS, so you need a solution "by the book".

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Also of Note...

You don't need to take an action to present your holy symbol, it just needs be be obviously visible.

The only time you would need to take an action is if you are hiding it for some reason.

Shadow Lodge

Scott Young wrote:

This. Crafting isn't allowed in PFS, so you need a solution "by the book".

I understand that PC crafting is not allowed. But the way I understood things was that anything beyond normal (masterwork, etc) is crafted by NPCs on a by order bases. If I'm wrong in this let me know.

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

You can't get custom items, whether from NPCs or PCs. You can only have gear exactly as printed in legal resources or on chronicle sheets, unless otherwise specified by the Guide or Official FAQ.

Grand Lodge 5/5 Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic

Jacob Saltband wrote:
I understand that PC crafting is not allowed. But the way I understood things was that anything beyond normal (masterwork, etc) is crafted by NPCs on a by order bases. If I'm wrong in this let me know.

Well, you are right, but you can only have things crafted that are Pathfinder Society legal. The 'Consecrated Weapon' "enhancement" (+150gp) to make your weapon a 'Channel Focus' is completely Pathfinder Society legal and actually is exactly what you describe (with the exception that you don't need a swift action to put it in 'holy symbol mode' and that you can charge it with a channel to "pseudo" 'channel smite').

Just buy the Adventurer's Armory if you don't have it yet and read page 24.

1/5

Hmmm... how would that work with unarmed strike?

Grand Lodge 5/5 Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic

Funky Badger wrote:
Hmmm... how would that work with unarmed strike?

It wouldn't. But you could go for Authoritative vestments.

With unarmed strike you actually could hold a holy symbol in your hand anyway!

Shadow Lodge

Auke Teeninga wrote:
Jacob Saltband wrote:
I understand that PC crafting is not allowed. But the way I understood things was that anything beyond normal (masterwork, etc) is crafted by NPCs on a by order bases. If I'm wrong in this let me know.

Well, you are right, but you can only have things crafted that are Pathfinder Society legal. The 'Consecrated Weapon' "enhancement" (+150gp) to make your weapon a 'Channel Focus' is completely Pathfinder Society legal and actually is exactly what you describe (with the exception that you don't need a swift action to put it in 'holy symbol mode' and that you can charge it with a channel to "pseudo" 'channel smite').

Just buy the Adventurer's Armory if you don't have it yet and read page 24.

Thanks Thats what I was looking for.

Shadow Lodge

Jiggy wrote:
You can't get custom items, whether from NPCs or PCs. You can only have gear exactly as printed in legal resources or on chronicle sheets, unless otherwise specified by the Guide or Official FAQ.

The problem I have with saying you cant get custom items is that one of the original characters from the core rules has a custom item as his arcane focus.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 *

Jacob Saltband wrote:
Jiggy wrote:
You can't get custom items, whether from NPCs or PCs. You can only have gear exactly as printed in legal resources or on chronicle sheets, unless otherwise specified by the Guide or Official FAQ.
The problem I have with saying you cant get custom items is that one of the original characters from the core rules has a custom item as his arcane focus.

What character and item are you referring to?

Dark Archive 3/5 **

Auke Teeninga wrote:
Funky Badger wrote:
Hmmm... how would that work with unarmed strike?

It wouldn't. But you could go for Authoritative vestments.

With unarmed strike you actually could hold a holy symbol in your hand anyway!

Now I just imagine a monk beating someone to death with a holy symbol screaming, "FEEL THE CLEANSING FLAME OF SARENRAE!".

Grand Lodge 4/5

The Great Rinaldo! wrote:
Jacob Saltband wrote:
Jiggy wrote:
You can't get custom items, whether from NPCs or PCs. You can only have gear exactly as printed in legal resources or on chronicle sheets, unless otherwise specified by the Guide or Official FAQ.
The problem I have with saying you cant get custom items is that one of the original characters from the core rules has a custom item as his arcane focus.
What character and item are you referring to?

Would you believe Ezren?

He has a cane as his Arcane Bond. IIRC.

Grand Lodge 5/5 *

kinevon wrote:
The Great Rinaldo! wrote:
Jacob Saltband wrote:
Jiggy wrote:
You can't get custom items, whether from NPCs or PCs. You can only have gear exactly as printed in legal resources or on chronicle sheets, unless otherwise specified by the Guide or Official FAQ.
The problem I have with saying you cant get custom items is that one of the original characters from the core rules has a custom item as his arcane focus.
What character and item are you referring to?

Would you believe Ezren?

He has a cane as his Arcane Bond. IIRC.

Ezren has:

1) Bought a club. (an item defined as a weapon)
2) Named that weapon as his arcane bond. (perfectly legal)
3) Re-skinned his club as a cane. (bit shaky on whether re-skinning is allowed in PFS and to what extent, but this seems harmless enough.)

His cane isn't a custom item; it's an item in the base rules that he has reskinned. In all ways, his cane functions as a club, he just calls it a cane.

Shadow Lodge

Ninjaiguana wrote:
kinevon wrote:
The Great Rinaldo! wrote:
Jacob Saltband wrote:
Jiggy wrote:
You can't get custom items, whether from NPCs or PCs. You can only have gear exactly as printed in legal resources or on chronicle sheets, unless otherwise specified by the Guide or Official FAQ.
The problem I have with saying you cant get custom items is that one of the original characters from the core rules has a custom item as his arcane focus.
What character and item are you referring to?

Would you believe Ezren?

He has a cane as his Arcane Bond. IIRC.

Ezren has:

1) Bought a club. (an item defined as a weapon)
2) Named that weapon as his arcane bond. (perfectly legal)
3) Re-skinned his club as a cane. (bit shaky on whether re-skinning is allowed in PFS and to what extent, but this seems harmless enough.)

His cane isn't a custom item; it's an item in the base rules that he has reskinned. In all ways, his cane functions as a club, he just calls it a cane.

So this "reskinning" as you call it is a way to make items more personnal, just so long as the item is based off of a legal item from the books.

Thats pretty much what I was looking to do for my cleric. Something a little more personnal. Not looking to break any rules just looking to give my character a little individualism.

The Exchange 5/5

It would cost a little, but you might think of getting a Continual Flame cast on your holy symbol (Sarenrae?)... it make it much more impressive - and lights up the room!

Sovereign Court 2/5

Oh dear. If this is turning into another reskinning debate then I'm taking an early weekend.


Consecrated Weapon, Santified Shield, Holy Symbol-ized wayfinder, the birthmark trait (I think) and some new clerical robe dohicky from Ultimate Equipment all come to mind.

Grand Lodge 5/5 *

Jacob Saltband wrote:
Ninjaiguana wrote:
kinevon wrote:
The Great Rinaldo! wrote:
Jacob Saltband wrote:
Jiggy wrote:
You can't get custom items, whether from NPCs or PCs. You can only have gear exactly as printed in legal resources or on chronicle sheets, unless otherwise specified by the Guide or Official FAQ.
The problem I have with saying you cant get custom items is that one of the original characters from the core rules has a custom item as his arcane focus.
What character and item are you referring to?

Would you believe Ezren?

He has a cane as his Arcane Bond. IIRC.

Ezren has:

1) Bought a club. (an item defined as a weapon)
2) Named that weapon as his arcane bond. (perfectly legal)
3) Re-skinned his club as a cane. (bit shaky on whether re-skinning is allowed in PFS and to what extent, but this seems harmless enough.)

His cane isn't a custom item; it's an item in the base rules that he has reskinned. In all ways, his cane functions as a club, he just calls it a cane.

So this "reskinning" as you call it is a way to make items more personnal, just so long as the item is based off of a legal item from the books.

Thats pretty much what I was looking to do for my cleric. Something a little more personnal. Not looking to break any rules just looking to give my character a little individualism.

Well, the trick is that Ezren's 'cane' is identical to a club in everything but name. You couldn't, say, have a short sword with a lockpicking kit hidden in the pommel, meaning it can double as a set of thieves tools. Basically, re-skinning an object can't grant you any benefits beyond those the object already grants you, nor remove any penalties that the normal object applies. It has to do exactly what the object does, but you just describe it differently. A re-skinned object is not 'based off' the legal item - it *is* the legal item. It just looks a bit different.

For instance, one of my characters has a 'parrying glove'. It's a series of metal strips and mail mesh that fastens on like a forearm-length glove, and helps him deflect attacks. Mechanically, it's a buckler. It's priced as a buckler, it's statted as a buckler. I mention it when I describe the character, and if anyone at the table objects, for that scenario, it really *is* a buckler, and not a glove*. It's only there because the character is a duelist type, and a buckler didn't fit my image of him, but a 'parrying glove' did. That's the limit of re-skinning; no mechanical differences from the base item, period.

* That's the other thing you have to be prepared for with re-skinned items; you need to be able to let them be 'un re-skinned' on a scenario-by-scenario basis if a GM or player objects to your re-skinning. If they're asking, it either bothers them, or they have another equally good reason for asking. If you've re-skinned an item, you don't get to object to this. You just have to play it as the base item for that game. If the re-skinning truly is purely cosmetic, this shouldn't prove an issue.

Grand Lodge 4/5

I hate to get into this but... in addition to what Ninjaiguana said, there's one more limitation:

You cannot re-skin something into something else that is already statted up in the game. If (and I repeat if) there were already a parrying glove defined in the game, then he would not be able to reskin a buckler as a parrying glove, regardless of how he handled the stats.

Grand Lodge 5/5 *

Jonathan Cary wrote:

I hate to get into this but... in addition to what Ninjaiguana said, there's one more limitation:

You cannot re-skin something into something else that is already statted up in the game. If (and I repeat if) there were already a parrying glove defined in the game, then he would not be able to reskin a buckler as a parrying glove, regardless of how he handled the stats.

Very true. I apologise for not mentioning that in my post.

...There *isn't* a parrying glove out there, right? :S

Grand Lodge 4/5

Not that I'm aware of. I'm not going to go looking for it, either!

Dark Archive 2/5

Is it possible to have your holy symbol tattooed on your hand, arm, etc?

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Dawn Reed-Burton wrote:
Is it possible to have your holy symbol tattooed on your hand, arm, etc?

Yes. UE lists a Holy Symbol Tattoo for 100gp in the adventuring gear section.

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CanisDirus wrote:
Dawn Reed-Burton wrote:
Is it possible to have your holy symbol tattooed on your hand, arm, etc?
Yes. UE lists a Holy Symbol Tattoo for 100gp in the adventuring gear section.

Alternatively, the Birthmark trait is free and comes with a save bonus to boot.

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