Unseen Servant (RAW - reload crossbow? Prop shield up? Reload firearm?)

[Nefreet]

Just don't expect to show up at a PFS table, point to a printout of this thread, and expect the GM to run things how *you* want them run.

This situation is a perfect example of "your mileage may vary".

[lemeres]

With the discussion on tower shields: according to the rules of tower shields, only the person using them gets the benefits of total cover.

I'll admit though, I'd rule it as soft cover when it does this though. As in the kind you would get if you were standing behind anyone, shield or not. Usually, an unseen servant could not do this (it cannot be attacked, at least directly), but the tower shield would provide it enough presence to act as a meatshield.

But getting a few hirelings to stand in front of you might be cheaper than buying a wand on unseen servant in that respect....I mean, you don't even need to pay them if they die....What, that is sociopathic? Ok, alright, just buy donkeys and they will do the same thing. Now the only ones complaining are the druids.

[Zathyr]

Be a necromancer/crossbowman. No one complains when zombies die. ;)

For the record I'd say yes to 1 through 4. I don't see it as overly powerful. Unseen servant is a nice spell but it's slow and it goes away with basically the first area damage the party takes.

However I have a couple of questions about somewhat tangential things that have come up.

It is a move action to hand an item (like the crossbow) from one friendly creature to another? AFAIK that's not actually specified anywhere, and I recall trying to find an answer to it a while back and seeing a lot of mixed opinions. Personally I rule it's a free action to hold an item out towards another adjacent character and a move action from the receiver to take/wield it. That makes the most sense to me.

When you and a minion of some sort act on the same initiative (unseen servant, familiar, animal companion, etc.) can you go back and forth between creatures like some are suggesting? I've always run it that each creature takes their own actions in whatever order the player wishes, but each needs to be resolved before you move on to the next. I'm not sure if this was an old D&D ruling or just something that made sense for simplicity. I've been playing like this so long that the idea that a character can take some of its action, then another creature can take its action, and then the first character can take the rest of its action that same round just seems very, very wrong to me without using readied actions. You can't break up a full attack action like that, can you?

[lemeres]

Zathyr wrote:

Be a necromancer/crossbowman. No one complains when zombies die. ;)

I'd complain. Onyx is expensive. I mean, 25 gp per hit dice?

[ElyasRavenwood]

YIDM wrote:

I'm not asking for GM interpretation here or what would work in a home game...I'm asking for a strict interpretation of RAW as required for a Pathfinder Society Game.

By RAW - - reloading a crossbow in Pathfinder has no restrictions or requirements that unseen servant cannot perform (i.e. Str 2, DC 10, trained skill, combat action or d20 attack roll, etc.).

By RAW, reloading a firearm (especially with a paper cartridge) has no restrictions that unseen servant cannot perform (i.e. Str 2, DC 10, trained skill, combat action or d20 attack roll, etc.).

If these rules by RAW are correct, then, by RAW, an unseen servant can perform the said action of reloading crossbows or firearms.

Yes, reloading hands spell can also do this type of action, but it also has other abilities (namely making the ammo magic and being able to hit incorporeal creatures because of this fact). This is not my post, nor up for debate.

Also, part 2 of my question, by RAW, can a Str 2 creature prop up a darkwood tower shield? By RAW if we agree a creature with a Strength of 2 could, then, by virtue of that, an unseen servant which falls under the same rules should be able to do the same type of action.

So to be clear, by RAW, per Pathfinder Society rules, can an unseen servant:
1) Reload a crossbow
2) Reload a firearm
3) Reload a firearm with a alchemical paper cartridge
4) Prop up an item of 22.5 lb. (like a darkwood tower shield, or a table, plank of wood, etc.)

“I” am inclined to read the rules and say yes. From a strictly RAW standpoint, are these points (i.e. what unseen servant can/cannot do) in debate?

Can we get a Dev out here to reply?

Thanks.

YIDM

YIDM, While yes I am not a developer. I am however a Venture Captain in pathfinder Society, and I have been GMing in PFS for 4 years now. I have GMed 160+ games. I know there are plenty of people who have GMed more then I.

You are venturing into a "grey" area of the rules where things are not clearly defined. In such cases, GMs will adjudicate such questions as best they can. So you can expect some table variation between one GM and another in how they interpret the rules. You may get a GM who says yes, and you may get a GM who says no. Not every little thing is spelled out in RAW. I would be disinclined to allow such uses for an unseen servant. I think Nefreet gave a good example of a spell which does what you want with reloading hands.