| 4 people marked this as FAQ candidate. 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The following question is posed as it relates to a Pathfinder Society Organized Play character. As such, until an official answer is had, I would prefer to keep 'I would house rule ________' responses to a minimum.
I am aware that RAW, these two do not work. I am seeking information on official clarification.
Cites, and Links:
Vermin Empathy (Su): A blight druid can improve the attitude of vermin as a normal druid can with animals. Vermin have a starting attitude of unfriendly. The blight druid can also improve the attitude of animals and mindless undead creatures that were formerly animals, but she takes a –4 penalty on the check unless the animal or undead has a disease special attack. This ability replaces wild empathy.
-Advanced Player's Guide, Pages 98-99. Link
-----
You have a special bond with things that creep, crawl, skitter, and sting.
Prerequisite: Wild empathy class feature.
Benefit: You may target vermin with spells and special abilities that only affect animals (although they are still affected by spells targeting vermin as well). You may use wild empathy to influence vermin as easily as you influence animals.
- Advanced Player's Guide, Page 173. Link
-----
I have checked the official FAQ and Updates and it is silent on the issue.
It seems to me that this feat was all but made for the Blight Druid archetype. Unfortunately, the Feat specifically calls for Wild Empathy which is explicitly replaced by Vermin Empathy. I have searched the forum via the search tool to no avail.
Question: Is anyone aware of any PFS official answer on the inter-workings of these two options?
Bump. Please FAQ if you think the question has merit regarding an official clarification.
Many feats and class archetypes are created by freelancers who work independently of each other. The only way they could have been intended to work together would be if they were created by the same person.
I don't think they were intended to work together, but it would be nice if they did so I am FAQ'ing it, in the hopes of getting it changed.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In accordance with the new FAQ which states (for those who don't like links):
Question: Archetype: If an archetype replaces a class ability with a more specific version of that ability (or one that works similarly to the replaced ability), does the archetype's ability count as the original ability for the purpose of rules that improve the original ability?
Answer: It depends on how the archetype's ability is worded. If the archetype ability says it works like the standard ability, it counts as that ability. If the archetype's ability requires you to make a specific choice for the standard ability, it counts as that ability. Otherwise, the archetype ability doesn't count as the standard ability. (It doesn't matter if the archetype's ability name is different than the standard class ability it is replacing; it is the description and game mechanics of the archetype ability that matter.)
Example: The dragoon (fighter) archetype (Ultimate Combat) has an ability called "spear training," which requires the dragoon to select "spears" as his weapon training group, and refers to his weapon training bonus (even though this bonus follows a slightly different progression than standard weapon training). Therefore, this ability counts as weapon training for abilities that improve weapon training, such as gloves of dueling (Advanced Player's Guide), which increase the wearer's weapon training bonus.
Example: The archer (fighter) archetype gets several abilities (such as "expert archer") which replace weapon training and do not otherwise refer to the weapon training ability. Therefore, this ability does not count as weapon training for abilities that improve weapon training (such as gloves of dueling). This is the case even for the "expert archer," ability which has a bonus that improves every 4 fighter levels, exactly like weapon training.
—Pathfinder Design Team, 07/12/13
===========================================================
According to the PRD on Blight Druids:
Vermin Empathy (Su): A blight druid can improve the attitude of vermin as a normal druid can with animals. Vermin have a starting attitude of unfriendly. The blight druid can also improve the attitude of animals and mindless undead creatures that were formerly animals, but she takes a –4 penalty on the check unless the animal or undead has a disease special attack. This ability replaces wild empathy.
Since the Vermin Empathy works as a normal druid's Wild Empathy, and refers to such in the description of Vermin Empathy, a Feat that works with Wild Empathy will effect Vermin Empathy.
QED