>>Ask *Mark Seifter* All Your Questions Here!<<

[TrinitysEnd]

Sorry Chris! I'll just repeat the question I had asked that got deleted due to the other half of the post.

Do you read any webcomics? If so, which ones?

[Vrischika111]

I asked the question in a new thread in rules forum, but then I thought I might try my luck here:
asking the God of kineticist (not my words, even if I agree ;op )

telekinetic blast simple blast wild talent:

You throw a nearby unattended object at a single foe as a ranged attack. The object must weigh no more than 5 pounds per kineticist level you possess. If the attack hits, the target and the thrown object each take the blast’s damage. Since the object is enfolded in strands of aether, even if you use this power on a magic weapon or other unusual object, the attack doesn’t use any of the magic weapon’s bonuses or effects; it simply deals your blast damage.
Alternatively, you can loosen the strands of aether in order to deal damage to both the object and the target as though you had thrown the object yourself (instead of dealing your normal blast damage). You substitute your Constitution modifier for your Strength modifier if throwing the object would have added your Strength modifier on the damage roll, and you don’t take the –4 penalty on the attack roll for throwing an object that wasn’t designed to be thrown. In this case, the object’s special effects apply (including effects from its materials), and if the object is a weapon, you must be proficient with it and able to wield it with one hand; otherwise, the item deals damage as a one-handed improvised weapon for a creature of your size.

I get the 1st part however Ravingdork raised an interesting question in another thread :
1/ what does nearby mean ?
can it be the unattended potion from the other side of the room ?
can it be the table (using Telekinetic Haul) from the opposite side of the guy hiding behind desk (thus negating cover)

2/ my main question is : Why ever use the 2nd option ?
e.g. let's talk Lvl 7 and above (before , having the need of special material is not quite often encountered)
my blast deals 4D6+4+Con (+overflow)

what's the purpose of using the 2nd option, to throw a cold iron sword towards a fey ?
this would deal 1D8 (sword) + Con
just to avoid DR 5 / cold iron ?

the full blast would deal enough damage to absorb the DR and still deal more. without needing a pile of cold iron/silver/... sword in your backpack.

thrown alchemist fire ? you already deal damage to swarm
thrown holy water ? you blast is magical and already deals (1/2) damage...

[Thomas LeBlanc]

Mark, what do you use to fuel your design engine?

[Chess Pwn]

What do you think the chances of us getting a FAQ today are?

[TriOmegaZero]

It's always the waiting that gets me.

[KingOfAnything]

When is 5 pm Pacific Time?

[CBDunkerson]

KingOfAnything wrote:

When is 5 pm Pacific Time?

2 hours and 20 minutes from now

[TriOmegaZero]

Has that ACG FAQ page always been there?

[Kalindlara]

Since August, it appears. ^_^

The Rage FAQ is certainly nothing new. (You can see its fingerprints on Wardens of Sulfur Gulch, in fact.)

[TriOmegaZero]

Uh...what about the rest of the ACG FAQ pages?

Edit: Oh yeah, I should be more specific. I'm asking about the Adventure Card Game pages, not Advanced Class Guide page.

[Kalindlara]

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Uh...what about the rest of the ACG FAQ pages?

Edit: Oh yeah, I should be more specific. I'm asking about the Adventure Card Game pages, not Advanced Class Guide page.

Oops. ^_^

(I've taken to using PACG for the Card Game, for exactly this reason.)

[Lemartes]

Mark I think it was you that had a hand in the Manasaputras? If so what do you think about a playable pc race based on Manasaputras that would be similar to say an Aasimar?

I don't think that a plain Aasimar does them justice even though they are good aligned outsiders perhaps a specific bloodline of them maybe. However, I feel that they should be a completely new race. I suppose a Samsaran sorta fits the bill but more as something that might become a Manasaputra than something that is part Manasaputra.

It would be awesome if they were an addition to an upcoming bestiary. ;)

In the meantime how would you build one?

My first attempt is: Enlightened Vessel

Standard Racial Traits

Ability Score Racial Traits: Manasaputras are wise and move with sublime efficiency but their flesh is partially insubstantial. They gain +2 Wisdom and +2 dexterity, but suffer -2 constitution.

Type: Manasaputras are outsiders with the native subtype.

Size: Manasaputras are Medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Base Speed: Manasaputras have a base speed of 30 feet.

Languages: Manasaputras begin play speaking Common and Celestial. Manasaputras with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following languages: Draconic, Samsaran, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, and Sylvan. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

Defense Racial Traits

Flesh of Cosmic Fire: Manasaputras have fire resistance 5 and a 15% chance to ignore a critical hit or precision damage attack this does not stack with any other similar ability to ignore critical or precision damage.

Feat and Skill Racial Traits

Skilled: Manasaputra have a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Perception checks.

Magical Racial Traits

Spell-Like Ability (Sp): Manasaputras can use Analyze Aura once per day as a spell-like ability (caster level equal to the Manasaputra's class level).

Senses Racial Traits

Darkvision: Manasaputra have darkvision 60 ft. (they can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.)

I love Hindu mythology which is why the Manasaputra is one of my favourite "monsters". ;)

Any input is greatly appreciated! Thanks. :)

[Thomas LeBlanc]

Mark, the slow and steady dwarf racial trait says that their speed is never modified by armor and encumbrance. So they still suffer the max Dex bonus and ACP since those are not considered speed if the dwarf is affected by armor and/or encumbrance?

I can't believe I have been playing for so long and never thought of that before...

[dynilath]

Mark,
Daze(mass) is 8th level bonus spell for tranquility psychic.
But it is a 3-level spell for psychic.

Ethereal Jaunt is 6-level psychic spell and is also 14th level bonus spell for Dream and Self-perfection.

Are they designed to be like that?

[wraithstrike]

There are no 14th level spell. It is easier to understand if you use the level of the spell, and not the caster level needed to cast the spell.

[dynilath]

wraithstrike wrote:

There are no 14th level spell. It is easier to understand if you use the level of the spell, and not the caster level needed to cast the spell.

Errr im referring that

psychic get bonus spell from its psychic discipline on 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th...18th level.

[Hayato Ken]

Is there any opinion on sylph aerokineticists and air affinity?
I mean, it´s a little sad sylphs make such bad kineticists with their -2 CON. Perhaps air affinity could work for them like for sorcerers?

[Isabelle Lee]

Hayato Ken wrote:

Is there any opinion on sylph aerokineticists and air affinity?

I mean, it´s a little sad sylphs make such bad kineticists with their -2 CON. Perhaps air affinity could work for them like for sorcerers?

I'm also hoping to eventually see some support for geniekin kineticists. ^_^

[Forrestfire]

I've got a bit of an odd question that came up in my group. At the time, we ruled it conservatively, but after doing some digging, I'm honestly wondering how it's meant to work.

If I use Empower (or Maximize) Spell on a spell that has a source of dice-based bonus damage (in particular for this case, sneak attack), do those additional dice get affected too?

I found this post that seems to imply that the bonus dice would, but it' from 2010 and I wasn't sure if it still held.

The FAQ on Empower Spell says that the feat works on numerical bonuses, but the state of bonuses like sneak attack's damage boost feels vague.

So, I guess my question is: is there a ruling (or rule somewhere that I missed) you know of for how bonus dice work with Empower and Maximize spell? If not, what are your thoughts on this?

[Mark Seifter]

Hey everyone! The FAQ actually went up last Friday but was invisible (including to me). But it's visible now here.

[Kalindlara]

Yay for clarification! ^_^

[QuidEst]

Mark Seifter wrote:

Hey everyone! The FAQ actually went up last Friday but was invisible (including to me). But it's visible now here.

Wow, that's pretty short! Congrats!

[Kalindlara]

At least Hero Lab is halfway to fixing the mooncursed barbarian. ^_^

[Mark Seifter]

QuidEst wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

Hey everyone! The FAQ actually went up last Friday but was invisible (including to me). But it's visible now here.

Wow, that's pretty short! Congrats!

Thanks!

[Luthorne]

Mark Seifter wrote:

Hey everyone! The FAQ actually went up last Friday but was invisible (including to me). But it's visible now here.

While it's good to know, shouldn't the information for the Eyebiter Mesmerist's familiar show up in the Ultimate Intrigue FAQ?

[Mark Seifter]

Luthorne wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

Hey everyone! The FAQ actually went up last Friday but was invisible (including to me). But it's visible now here.

While it's good to know, shouldn't the information for the Eyebiter Mesmerist's familiar show up in the Ultimate Intrigue FAQ?

D'oh! I'll put it up there too (I can add but not modify or delete).

[Rysky]

Heh, I love Massacre's concise clarification.

FaQ wrote:

It's a 60-foot line of death.

[Plausible Pseudonym]

Rysky wrote:

Heh, I love Massacre's concise clarification.

FaQ wrote:

It's a 60-foot line of death.

That was cute, but Massacre is still not a great spell for its level. Wail of the Banshee will be better in about 80% of circumstances.

[Rysky]

Plausible Pseudonym wrote:

Rysky wrote:

Heh, I love Massacre's concise clarification.

FaQ wrote:

It's a 60-foot line of death.

That was cute, but Massacre is still not a great spell for its level. Wail of the Banshee will be better in about 80% of circumstances.

Eh, massacre is nice because it's more focused. wail of the banshee goes after everything around you indiscriminately.

[Luthorne]

Mark Seifter wrote:

Luthorne wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

Hey everyone! The FAQ actually went up last Friday but was invisible (including to me). But it's visible now here.

While it's good to know, shouldn't the information for the Eyebiter Mesmerist's familiar show up in the Ultimate Intrigue FAQ?

D'oh! I'll put it up there too (I can add but not modify or delete).

Yeah, I thought calling electric blast 'lightning blast' for the Occult Adventures FAQ was silly, but. I mean, I can see how it happened, letting your eyeball run around on its own definitely seems like Horror Adventures material, but yeah.

Unrelatedly I am so sad Haunted Heroes Handbook didn't have the Possessed Hand line of feats allowed for PFS, I totally wanted an Eyebiter with a detachable hand...

[Hayato Ken]

I have a question about automatic bonus progression, not sure if that was adressed before or somewhere else, didn´t find something.

I´m currently running Hells Rebells with this on a 15 PB, but with a rather large party of, where most times one or two players are missing.
Now a character died due to a spell crit on level 3.

Hells Rebells spoiler:

A human vigilante who had climbed into Scarplumes nest had been hit with a shocking grasp before, but enough hp to survive another hit whith a good chance of going down. Then she critted with a high damage outcome.

The player wants an unchained summoner now, which is the third person with a pet (cavalier with a big cat and a spiritualist). Besides having many pets now (which i might add as PC´s into the APL depending on how the next combats run then), there was the question wether the automatic bonus progression boni work only on the character itself or on the pets as well, or if they have to decide where to apply the bonus.

Thanks for consideration.

[Hayato Ken]

Isabelle Lee wrote:

Hayato Ken wrote:

Is there any opinion on sylph aerokineticists and air affinity?

I mean, it´s a little sad sylphs make such bad kineticists with their -2 CON. Perhaps air affinity could work for them like for sorcerers?

I'm also hoping to eventually see some support for geniekin kineticists. ^_^

Yes that´s overall a really missing point.

The different elemental affinities should be updated to reflect the many options besides being an elemental sorcerer or a cleric. That would be a really cool thing.

What do you think about this Mark Seifter or how would you see that?

[Luthorne]

Hayato Ken wrote:

Isabelle Lee wrote:

Hayato Ken wrote:

Is there any opinion on sylph aerokineticists and air affinity?

I mean, it´s a little sad sylphs make such bad kineticists with their -2 CON. Perhaps air affinity could work for them like for sorcerers?

I'm also hoping to eventually see some support for geniekin kineticists. ^_^

Yes that´s overall a really missing point.

The different elemental affinities should be updated to reflect the many options besides being an elemental sorcerer or a cleric. That would be a really cool thing.

What do you think about this Mark Seifter or how would you see that?

I think alternate racial traits might be easier to implement rather than revising existing ones, especially if space is an issue for existing ones.

[KingOfAnything]

Do "Change Shape" abilities given to familiars by class archetypes (Chosen One, Magical Child) emulate a specific spell? If not, what abilities from the chosen shape do they grant?

[Chess Pwn]

Did they not get anything in the recent book on planes? I figured we'd get some nice updates on the genie races in there. Just haven't had a chance to look at that book yet.

[Renkosuke]

Hi Mark, I come bearing strange and (perhaps) unusual questions!

This comes from my attempt to build a YoYo mage from a Void Kineticist. You may already see where this is going.

Question 1: How many times in a single round/action can a character be affected by a spell-Wall? In general, I'm talking about things like Wall of Fire that deal damage to creatures that pass through it, although I'll be trying to apply this logic to the Kineticist Wall infusion as well. For example, let's say our friend David the Dwarf is presented with a wall of fire, which he decides to move through, taking the fire damage as normal. He then sees a host of, say, 500 goblins on the other side staring him down, and, realizing that he probably can't deal with them by himself, decides to run back through the wall on the same turn. Would he take the fire damage again?

Say that he's a little braver than (or perhaps just not as bright as) your average dwarf and decides to hold his ground instead, but then got bullrushed by one of the goblins who had readied an action for the moment he appeared, back through the wall. Would he take the fire damage from the forced movement through the wall? Would it make any difference if the action was not readied and he was simply bullrushed on the goblin's turn?

Question 2: The Pushing Infusion wild talent says that it cannot be used with any form infusion that would fail to create a clear direction to push in, like Mobile Blast or Wall. This makes sense. However, Pulling Infusion doesn't have that line, and also says that the blast always drags the foe closer to you. Is it appropriate to interpret this as you creating a gravity field such that whenever the blast deals damage to an opponent and succeeds in the CMB roll, it will pull that opponent closer to you regardless of where your position was when the ability was used? To be more specific, if you created a Gravity Mobile Blast, Gravity Wall, Gravity Singularity, etc. with the pulling infusion, would it always pull a creature affected toward your current location, regardless of the position and shape of the blast and your initial/current positions?

Question 3: If you are capable of dealing damage multiple times in the same turn/action (as per Question 1) and Pulling Infusion indeed always pulls an affected target toward you (as per Question 2), is it then possible to place a Gravity Wall with the Pulling Infusion behind an enemy you are in melee with, and then, say, Elemental Ascetic Flurry him with Pushing Infusion on your fists to cause a YoYo effect that will end with either a very dizzy and possibly dead opponent, or a failed CMB check/attack roll?
Would it even be possible to throw down a pulling-infused wall between yourself and an enemy in a way that, if you succeed with your CMB roll they would be forced to take both the wall creation damage, and then the wall passing damage in the same turn?

To be fair, the average damage output is probably not too high since each CMB check only adds half your blast damage and the whole thing requires a -lot- of rolls. But it still sounds like fun!

Bonus Question! When using the Flurry of Blasts infusion, it states that Pushing Infusion gains an extra maximum 5 feet of push distance per extra hit. Would this apply to pulling infusion as well, or does it get left out?

Thanks as always!

[swoosh]

What was the thought process behind the Cardinal Cleric's trades? BAB, spontaneous cures and one domain for 4 skill points seems like a really hefty cost, especially when you contrast with Herald Caller or Roaming Exorcist archetypes, which have similar trades but seem to get a lot more value out of it.

Hayato Ken wrote:

Is there any opinion on sylph aerokineticists and air affinity?

I mean, it´s a little sad sylphs make such bad kineticists with their -2 CON. Perhaps air affinity could work for them like for sorcerers?

There's the dark elementalist from horror adventures which runs off int. Evil only and it's a kineticist archetype, which means it's bad by definition, but it's something.

I'd really love to see the X affinity racial traits get expanded to include kineticist stuff though, yeah.

[Mark Seifter]

And here's the latest FAQ:

FAQ wrote:

Adamantine: Adamantine says it bypasses hardness less than 20, but hardness says adamantine bypasses hardness of 20 or less. Which one should I use?

Use “less than 20” from the adamantine entry. Adamantine, which has 20 hardness, is strong enough to stand against adamantine (this is also why adamantine armor provides DR/— rather than DR/adamantine).

[Adamantine Golem]

But what does that mean for my soft, delicate fists?

Does it mean I get to bring the pain again (or still, I forget where they landed with Adamantine Golem fists)

[KingOfAnything]

FAQ-mass came early today. Good one.

[thewastedwalrus]

Adamantine Golem wrote:

But what does that mean for my soft, delicate fists?

Does it mean I get to bring the pain again (or still, I forget where they landed with Adamantine Golem fists)

Ah, I remember that thread. Good times.

Mark, do an Adamantine Golem's natural attacks count as adamantine for the purpose of bypassing Damage Reduction?

[wraithstrike]

thewastedwalrus wrote:

Adamantine Golem wrote:

But what does that mean for my soft, delicate fists?

Does it mean I get to bring the pain again (or still, I forget where they landed with Adamantine Golem fists)

Ah, I remember that thread. Good times.

Mark, do an Adamantine Golem's natural attacks count as adamantine for the purpose of bypassing Damage Reduction?

No, but they still bypass Adamantine DR. I would ask do they bypass adamantine DR if that is what you want to know.

The wording of the question matters.

[Squiggit]

It makes sense that adamantine isn't weak to itself, but on the same token it feels kind of weird that adamantine isn't any better at cutting adamantine than steel.

The mooncursed barbarian is a pretty cool archetype. Lots of fun stuff that can be done with it, but at the same time the animal choices aren' very well balanced. Do you have any ideas what someone could do to try to make the weaker options more appealing?

Specifically: Tiger just gives you everything you want in a melee build and Wolf is fairly serviceable if you're interested in trip (or just want to run as fast as possible), but Bear is literally just a worse Tiger and Boar just doesn't really offer much of anything unless you really need a 'weird' natural attack. Otherwise it's a slightly more damaging Wolf that loses trip and +10 speed, which sounds okay until you remember how great Tiger is at damage.

Shark and Crocodile meanwhile both feel really punishing if you can't leverage their swim speed (shark turns into a crappier wolf and croc ends up kind of sort of as a weaker tiger with half the speed). You can argue that's kind of okay, because swim speeds are a big part of what they offer, but I feel like aquatics are rare enough in a typical campaign that it's too punitive.

Second, how does Mooncursed interact with animals that have multiple subspecies in Pathfinder? Do you pick at the start of the campaign? Do you have to pick the most generic one (i.e. 'animal, common' version)? If not, can you pick every time you shift?
If no to the second one, given that the FAQ indicates that the original creature's size isn't important can you pick a larger version of the creature even if an appropriately sized one exists (i.e. can a level 6 mooncursed turn into a medium polar bear or does it have to be a black bear? Can a level 12 mooncursed turn into a large black bear instead of a grizzly? etc)?

This.. generally doesn't matter at all, but Crocodile gets slightly more appealing if you can pick Deinosuchus from level 1 and get a 30/40 move speed while shifted instead of a 20/30 one.

Oh, given that sharks don't have a regular land speed, I assume hybrid form sharks use your natural, nonshifted land speed? It makes the most sense but it isn't spelled out either so I want to make sure I didn't miss something.

[wingermage]

Hi mark

If there is a pc observing a shadow creature in normal light（giving shadow creature concealment）,could the shadow creature uses Stealth skill directly？

[Gisher]

Mark,

Does the Archmage Seance Boon apply to Telekinetic Projectile? The spell lacks the Target descriptor but the description mentions a target multiple times.

PRD wrote:

Seance Boon: Your damaging spells deal an additional 2 points of damage of the same type that they would normally deal to each target.

PRD wrote:

Telekinetic Projectile

School evocation; Level occultist 0, psychic 0, spiritualist 0

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S

Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)

Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw no; Spell Resistance no

You fling an object weighing up to 5 pounds at the target. You must succeed at a ranged attack (not a ranged touch attack) to hit your target; if you hit, you deal 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage to both the target and the object. The type of object thrown doesn't change the damage type or any other properties of the attack, even if you throw a weapon or magic item in this way.

[Lou Diamond]

Mark what would you think of a metamagic feat that would allow the caster to reshape the magic effect on the fly for instance a Fireball would become a Ray or a lightning bolt become a 30 blast.

What do you think about a metamagic feat that would allow an arcanist to empower his elemental attacks same for Maximizing the effect.

[wingermage]

Mark,

An Eidolon summoned using the spell Summon Eidolon with Augment Summons feat could get +4 Str and +4 Con (for duration of spell)?

[FiddlersGreen]

Hi Mark, I saw your name on the list of Familiar Folio authors, so I thought I'd run this question by you.

Merge with familiar

Merge with familiar wrote:

While merged, your familiar can't be targeted or affected by any means (including ongoing effects).

What does it mean that the familiar cannot be "affected by any means (including ongoing effects)". How does that interact with the durations of ongoing effects?

For example:
Round 1: Familiar is hasted for 7 rounds and hit with an acid arrow that will burn for 3 more rounds.
Round 2 and round 3: Familiar's master merges the familiar with himself.
Round 4: Familiar separates from master.

When the familiar emerges in round 4, is he:
1. Still hasted for 7 rounds and due to take 3 rounds of acid arrow damage?
2. Hasted for 5 rounds and due to take 1 more round of acid arrow damage?
3. No more haste or acid damage at all?

[Renkosuke]

Hi Mark!

I have another question that I've been wondering about for a while, but always forget to ask. It's a little more tame than my usual questions though :P

How exactly does the ongoing fire effect from Burning infusion work?
So the main points I'm wondering about are:

1) When do you take the first "tick" of damage? Is it when you first fail the save (ie: when the blast hits you), or is it the beginning/end of the turn after your first tick? If it's the latter, do you essentially get another save that next turn to remove the effect before you start taking ongoing fire damage?

2) What save DC do you use for the ongoing effect? Is it your substance infusion's save DC, or is it the standard DC15 to put out fire?

3) When does the target save for the effect? Is it on your turn or his own?

In regards to these, the only hints I could find are from the environmental hazard rules that imply you would take the damage when you first catch on fire, and then you could put it out on your own subsequent turns using the (usually lower) DC of 15. I see a lot of people play this very differently, so I was hoping to get some input on you for the original intent of the ability and/or how you would run it.

Thanks as always!

[Lou Diamond]

Mark, would you see anything wrong with a Mythic tier 1 power enduring Shield, it works exactly the same as enduring armor except it changes the armor bonus to a shield bonus? I made this for casters who wear armor.