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

[Master of None]

It seems like it might be OK to ask mechanics questions here but I apologize if it is not. I will start off with a simple one and see how it goes…

Ultimate Intrigue wrote:

Acrobatic Spellcaster (Combat)

Your skillful movements prevent foes from disrupting your spells.

Prerequisites: Combat Casting, Skill Focus (Acrobatics).

Benefit: When you succeed at an Acrobatics check to move through a threatened square without provoking attacks of opportunity or to move through an enemy’s space, creatures denied attacks of opportunity by your Acrobatics check also cannot make attacks of opportunity against you when you cast spells for the remainder of your turn.

Normal: Casting a spell within an enemy’s reach provokes attacks of opportunity even after you succeed at an Acrobatics check to move through a threatened square.

My question is, can you make the acrobatics check to avoid the attack of opportunity from spellcasting without making a move action? I am asking from the perspective of a Magus who would like to use acrobatics to avoid the AoO and still be able to use Spell Combat which requires a full round action.

[AlgaeNymph]

Mark, is it possible you missed my question, or are you still going through the backlog?

I know my last question's small-time, but I'd like to have it answered before I move on to other questions.

[Secret Wizard]

Markerino,

One of my favorite abilities ever printed is the Iroran Paladin's Confident Defense:

Quote:

Confident Defense (Ex): At 1st level, when wearing light or no armor and not using a shield, an Iroran paladin adds 1 point of his Charisma bonus (if any) per class level to his Dexterity bonus to his Armor Class. If he is caught flat-footed or otherwise denied his Dexterity bonus, he also loses this bonus. This ability replaces his proficiency with medium armor, heavy armor, and shields.

I particularly like it because:

a) it discourages dumps while optimizing ability scores,

b) enables light-armored STR-based builds, as 12 DEX/16 CHA already maximizes light armor AC by level 2.

Sadly I never saw any ability using this design again.

Do you guys prefer to keep STR guys in heavier armors and DEX guys in lighter armors for optics?

[trecladi]

Chess Pwn wrote:

trecladi wrote:

Dear Mark,

I have a few question but can't find answers on the forum.

- Can stunning fist used while flurrying?
- Can unchained monk go only in a straight line while using flying kick?
- last one, can I put brawling enchantment to bracers of armor?

thank you in advance.

Yes, just declare it on one of your attacks,

I don't know, so Mark can weigh in here.
No, they aren't light armor.

That's so kind of you.

So let's wait for Mark answer 'bout flying kick.

As for Brawling, It would be awesome if you had a faq or page to link me!

[Chess Pwn]

trecladi wrote:

As for Brawling, It would be awesome if you had a faq or page to link me!

Do you have anything saying it is light armor? There's a FAQ that says mithral medium can't have brawling cause it's not light armor. Bracers aren't light armor for anything, so why would they count as light armor for brawling?

[Ed Reppert]

Hm. What does this "brawling" thing say about no armor? How, exactly, is "armor" defined? Is a Mage Armor spell armor?

[Luthorne]

Ed Reppert wrote:

Hm. What does this "brawling" thing say about no armor? How, exactly, is "armor" defined? Is a Mage Armor spell armor?

Brawling.

Ultimate Equipment wrote:

The brawling ability can be applied only to light armor.

Mage armor is not armor. It is a spell.

[Ed Reppert]

My point is that without a clear definition of what armor is it's kind of hard to say what it is not.

[Luthorne]

Ed Reppert wrote:

My point is that without a clear definition of what armor is it's kind of hard to say what it is not.

Is there a reason to assume that the rules are referring to things that are not objects listed as armor under appropriate sections in various sourcebooks (such as here, here, and here) as armor? It seems like a stretch to assume effects or objects not under this category are armor, unless they explicitly state that they're considered armor for appropriate effects...

[Ed Reppert]

I'm not assuming anything. I'm saying I don't know.

[Chemlak]

For this purpose: armor is anything which takes the armor body slot. Bracers are not armor.

[Joana]

In regards to the Adventurer's Guide Lore Warden: What was the logic behind excluding Appraise from their class skills? Not only is it one of the least-used skills in the game, but it actually seems flavor-correct in that Pathfinder agents ought to be able to recognize the correct MacGuffin they're searching for.

I'm not mad, just curious why that one Int-based skill was singled out to be excluded. :)

[Mark Seifter]

Last FAQ Friday in a while (with Paizocon and then Jason at UK Games Expo):

FAQ wrote:

Mythic Form of the Dragon: Mythic form of the dragon says that it increases my breath weapon damage to 10d6, but 10d6 isn’t actually an increase for form of the dragon II or III. Does that mean the mythic version reduces my damage?

No, instead mythic form of the dragon should increase your breath weapon damage by 2d8. This will be reflected in the next errata.

[Gisher]

It's a FAQ Friday!

[MichaelCullen]

Psychic Magic wrote:

When a spell calls for an expensive material component, a psychic spellcaster can instead use any item with both significant meaning and a value greater than or equal to the spell's component cost.

Can we get some guildlines as to what is meant by "any item" and "significant meaning".

1.) Would a well known Door such as the one outside the Mines of Moria count as an item? Is there a size limit on what an item is? Could a tavern be used?

2.) What if the item is magic, intelligent, or an artifact? Does it receive a saving throw against anihilation? Is this another way of destroying an artifact, consumption as a material component?

3.) Does it matter to whom the item has significant meaning?

4.) How significant is significant? If every time a psychic wishes to cast a spell with an expensive component, they have to destroy something as significant as their wedding ring, then I doubt many of these spells will ever be cast. How significant is significant?

[Ed Reppert]

Chemlak wrote:

For this purpose: armor is anything which takes the armor body slot. Bracers are not armor.

Are gauntlets armor?

[Luthorne]

Ed Reppert wrote:

Chemlak wrote:

For this purpose: armor is anything which takes the armor body slot. Bracers are not armor.

Are gauntlets armor?

They're light weapons that sometimes come for free with some forms of armor.

[Ed Reppert]

Luthorne wrote:

Ed Reppert wrote:

Chemlak wrote:

For this purpose: armor is anything which takes the armor body slot. Bracers are not armor.

Are gauntlets armor?

They're light weapons that sometimes come for free with some forms of armor.

Interesting. Gauntlets are listed in the simple light weapons table in Ultimate Equipment. Locked gauntlets are listed as armor "extras" in the same book.

[Secret Wizard]

Mark,

Why is Paizo still printing Weapon Training-type scaling abilities, which give you a big bonus in one instance, and smaller bonuses in others, nesting doll-style?

Weapon Training, Maneuver Training, Favored Enemy, Favored Terrain... all of these abilities make you feel like crap when you can't apply your highest bonus, your smaller bonuses provide little "joy". This should be the first thing to get Unchained in your next books.

[Loxsis]

Mark,

I have a question about replacing Utility/Infusion Wild Talents

At 6th, 10th, and 16th levels, a kineticist can replace one of her utility wild talents with another wild talent of the same level or lower

and

At 5th, 11th, and 17th levels, a kineticist can replace one of her infusions with another infusion of the same effective spell level or lower

Is there any plans to alter this to being more in line with a fighters ability to replace combat feats?

[Dark Midian]

Wise fwom youw gwave!

Any chance of an FAQ this week?

[Chess Pwn]

no Jason is at UK Games Expo this week so the PDT can't be all together to make a FAQ.

[Renkosuke]

Hi Mark,

Has there been any word with how Two-Weapon Rend works with an Elemental Annihilator? When I asked you something like half a year ago, you mentioned that since Double Slice and whatnot are called out to use Con instead of Strength, then Two-Weapon Rend, which is one of the bonus feats, should probably also use Con instead of strength, but there hasn't been any campaign clarifications or FAQs that reference it.

Just wondering, mostly for future reference. Thanks a lot!

[DrakeRoberts]

Mark,
With it being from a soft-cover book, is there any chance or prospectof getting the Questioner archetypre for investigator to ignore Arcane Spell Failure (assuming that, like a bard, it should)? Or is that something that would never happen due to being in a soft-cover book?

[TheDarkLordMaul]

Hi Mark! I'm currently playing a Titan fighter in a PFS game and boy do I have a plan for later... I'm planning on multiclassing into Alchemist (4 levels) and getting 2 vestigial arms, now I can wield 2 Large Sized Greatswords.....

my question are as follows
Does the standard TWF feat apply to this so -4 to both weapons, or is there a different ruling for having 4 arms using 2 weapons?
What is the Str Modifier added onto the damage of these? are they both x1.5? is my off-hand(s) reduced to x0.75?

[Darth Blaster]

Dear MarkI have a rule question about crane style

It says:
" You take only a –2 penalty on attack rolls for fighting defensively. While using this style and fighting defensively or using the total defense action, you gain an additional +1 dodge bonus to your Armor Class."

So whether" –2 penalty on attack rolls for fighting defensively"this ability can effect in the time not using this style or not?

[God of desire]

Dear Mark
I have a question about Double barreled musket.This guy can fire two bullet at once.
When it equip with far reaching sight ,can the shot from it be as "a single shot" which is written in the description of far reaching sight that says"spend a full round action to make a single shot"?
That means I wanna know can I use far reaching sight to make a single shot that shot two bullets at once with Double barreled musket?

Thanks

[Snowblind]

Hey Mark. I have a question about the Warlock Vigilante.

Quote:

Spellcasting
...
This replaces the 4th-, 8th-, 10th-, 14th-, and 16th-level vigilante talents.

Social Simulacrum (Sp): ...

A warlock must be at least 8th level to select this talent.

The vigilante doesn't have access to an Extra X feat, so the level restriction is nonsensical, since it gets de facto limited to level 12, since that is the earliest talent you get after 6th.

So...is it *actually* supposed to be limited to level 12 for an ability that does something similar to a spell available at level 7, or is that an error?

[Dark Midian]

Here's hoping there's an FAQ this week, since hopefully all of the devs are back in the office.

[Mark Seifter]

Jason got back from UK Games Expo (where he subbed for Wes unexpectedly because of Wes's departure), but now he has his brother's wedding, I'm afraid. I think we'll have everybody in next week, so we'll see what we can do!

[Dark Midian]

Mark Seifter wrote:

Jason got back from UK Games Expo (where he subbed for Wes unexpectedly because of Wes's departure), but now he has his brother's wedding, I'm afraid. I think we'll have everybody in next week, so we'll see what we can do!

It's a wonder you guys get any work done with the head honchos out of the office half of the time. ;P

[Mark Seifter]

Dark Midian wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

Jason got back from UK Games Expo (where he subbed for Wes unexpectedly because of Wes's departure), but now he has his brother's wedding, I'm afraid. I think we'll have everybody in next week, so we'll see what we can do!

It's a wonder you guys get any work done with the head honchos out of the office half of the time. ;P

The Late May to mid-August stretch has been historically extremely rough, and this year is no exception.

[MichaelCullen]

Mark congrats on 10,000 personal posts.

[Dark Midian]

Mark Seifter wrote:

Jason got back from UK Games Expo (where he subbed for Wes unexpectedly because of Wes's departure), but now he has his brother's wedding, I'm afraid. I think we'll have everybody in next week, so we'll see what we can do!

My body is mostly ready!

[MichaelCullen]

Mark it might be worth taking a look at, but I think I have found a good errata candidate from the Core Rulebook.

There seems to be a rules conflict between the Magic and the Combat chapters when it comes to the number of "free touches" a caster can make after casting a touch range spell. Specifically, the number of free touches on the round that the spell is cast.

According to the Combat chapter:

CRB wrote:

Touch Spells in Combat: Many spells have a range of touch. To use these spells, you cast the spell and then touch the subject. In the same round that you cast the spell, you may also touch (or attempt to touch) as a free action. You may take your move before casting the spell, after touching the target, or between casting the spell and touching the target. You can automatically touch one friend or use the spell on yourself, but to touch an opponent, you must succeed on an attack roll.

So per the Combat chapter you get "one" free touch.

According to the Magic chapter

CRB wrote:

Touch: You must touch a creature or object to affect it. A touch spell that deals damage can score a critical hit just as a weapon can. A touch spell threatens a critical hit on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a successful critical hit. Some touch spells allow you to touch multiple targets. You can touch up to 6 willing targets as part of the casting, but all targets of the spell must be touched in the same round that you finish casting the spell. If the spell allows you to touch targets over multiple rounds, touching 6 creatures is a full-round action.

So according to the Magic chapter you get "up to six" free touches.

Both of these rules refer to the number of touches you get during the round that you cast the spell. They just give different numbers.

This makes a big difference when trying to buff the party in combat with spells like resist energy communal.

[Beeky]

Would a Kineticist's Fire Blast get the effects of Burning Amplification (feat from Magic tactics toolbox)?

[Dark Midian]

Beeky wrote:

Would a Kineticist's Fire Blast get the effects of Burning Amplification (feat from Magic tactics toolbox)?

A. It's not a spell

B. Allowing Burning Amplification would bypass the infusions pyrokineticists already get for lighting people on fire

[Renkosuke]

Although this isn't the place to discuss rules (as opposed to asking them from the Great Seifter) I just wanted to chip into Dark Midian's response in that a Fire Blast can be classified as a spell depending on how you interpret Spell-Like Abilities (this is a can of worms).

Also, Infusions/Utilities and Feats sorta exist on a 1-to-1 basis, although infusions/utilities tend to be somewhat stronger than feats most of the time (my reasoning for this is the Elemental Annihilator, which trades out utilities for bonus feats on a 1-to-1 basis, plus the Extra Wild Talent feat).

Burning Amplification actually functions inferior to Burning Infusion (penalty on attack roll/save, still requires a separate save for the fire, no immediate catch-on-fire damage, no bonus to hit/SR checks/etc. for the rest of your fire blasts), so I don't think this trade-off is entirely bad. If you're trying to stack it with another substance infusion to essentially double-down, you're still taking the -1 DC and whatnot. Plus you don't benefit from searing flame when using the feat. All in all, I don't really see a reason to disallow it.

I am going to go slither back into hiding now.

[Just a Guess]

Is it intentional that the Synergist Witch's ability can grant her a climb-, swim-, burrow and/or fly- speed but not a base speed?

If so, why is that?

[Rysky]

Just a Guess wrote:

Is it intentional that the Synergist Witch's ability can grant her a climb-, swim-, burrow and/or fly- speed but not a base speed?

If so, why is that?

Probably because classes/archetypes are built on the assumption that humanoids, who already have a land speed, are the ones using them.

[Vaniglio]

Hi Mark,
Can I add Power Attack bonus damage to ALL melee damage rolls? Strange Example: Bulette Rampage Feat, Constrict, Etc

Can a ranger level 16 in any of his favored terrains use stealth as "free" action while adjacent to an enemy?

Ty for your time :)

[Mark Seifter]

FAQ Friday returns!

FAQ wrote:

Temporary Hit Points: When determining my current hit point total for effects like power word kill, do I include my temporary hit points?

Yes, add your temporary hit points together with your remaining normal hit points to determine your hit point total for the purpose of effects that have differing effects based on your current hit point total.

[Kalindlara]

Huh. I wouldn't necessarily have expected that answer... but I suppose it makes sense. ^_^

[Rysky]

Cool!

[ckdragons]

Hey Mark, will you ever release more than 1 update/clarification on FAQ Friday? There are a lot of good questions on these forums that could use some FAQ love. 1 new FAQ each week seems like a very slow process.

[Gisher]

Yay! FAQ Friday!

[TOZ]

ckdragons wrote:

Hey Mark, will you ever release more than 1 update/clarification on FAQ Friday?

Yes, they will.

[Dark Midian]

Mark did say just a while ago that from May to August is the most brutal time of year for Paizo devs, owing to the crunch of just after PaizoCon all the way up to GenCon.

[DubiousYak]

Mark, recently I made an Geokineticist and I love the class!

Basic Geokinesis gives them the ability to Sift at will. IN summuary it lets you search at a distance at -5 to your Perception check when you can do that anyway at -3.

As far as I can tell, Sift just lets you be far away in case your actions would spring an attack.

Is this a correct interpretation? Is there something I'm missing that makes this a bit more useful?

[ckdragons]

Can baleful polymorph be removed by dispel magic since it has a duration of "permanent"? Or is it a curse and requires remove curse as mentioned in Curses in CRB?