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Will there be any archetype, to any class, that would let players easily create Magical Girl kind of character? I mean, Magical Child Vigillante missed the point quite nicely, so...Uh, Magical Child gave you a transform sequence, which is what Magical Girl's are known for.
Abilities beyond that would vary from each medium depicting them so it's kinda hard to say they "missed" [trademark ability from popular Magical Girl Anime A] when it's completely different in [popular Magical Girl Anime B].
Well, to be honest, the standard(as in, pretty much all have this) tropes include much more than just a transformation. Those who complain about this are usually not looking for a specific ability from a specific magical girl... but they are looking for the basic setup almost all magical girls have in one form or another.
They almost universally all have a blast power of some kind. They almost always have a cute and fuzzy, usually a mentor/conscience. Many of them are good in melee combat, at least for blocking with fewer being decent at dealing damage this way.Simply put the magical girl archetype is missing some form of blasting power. This could have been solved with a Kineticist type blast or by changing the spell list. The summoner list is fine, I think, because support based magical girls are a thing. But adding some blasting spells could have helped.
In the end the magical girl is just a very very poor bard who doesn't get to sing. And honestly... if they had given the archetype to the Bard instead I think things would have worked out much better.
Owner - D20 Hobbies
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I have a cool idea how to make a cool class cooler, so cool kids can be cool. You know you want to hear it!
The Evangelist has a per-requisite:
Feat: Deific Obedience
It's all about the cool good people, so I understand why it doesn't including Demonic Obedience as another option.
But shouldn't it have said:
Celestial Obedience or Deific Obedience
Because as it stands now, nothing in Deific Obedience prohibits you from taking the feat with a god from the Celestial list. Then you can take the Evangelist prestige class with a Celestial god. Deific Obedience is just a feat tax in that case?
Or is it that this shouldn't be possible and the requirement of Deific Obedience is short hand for "a god on it's list"?
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Deifiic Obedience boons tend to be much weaker than the others, so I see potential balance issues. This already the most powerful PrC.
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Are we going to be fortunate enough to have a FAQ or a follow up on gauntlets and such?
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Are we going to be fortunate enough to have a FAQ or a follow up on gauntlets and such?
We were planning on it and even had unusually high early-week activity on FAQ stuff, but then Jason was sick for the last few days, so we couldn't finalize it. Let's wish for him to get well soon, and we should be seeing something next week if he does!
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If you have a sword with the Flaming Enchantment and attack a weapon immune swarm, do you still apply the flaming damage, or is that negated as well?
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Quick Occult Questions, Mark:
The description of ley lines says: "Occult skill unlocks such as dowsing can also help detect the presence of ley lines over long distances, which can be quite useful in locating an accessible portion of a ley line"
The dousing skill unlock doesn't set a DC for finding a ley line. What do you think would be appropriate? Would it be easier to find more powerful ley lines?
Appreciate your thoughts! Thanks.
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Hey Mark, I know this is a rules question but I feel like the rule is pretty clear on this so I didn't know where else to ask this question.
The courtly hunter archetype from Ultimate Intrigue specifically states that "Levels in other classes that grant animal companions do not stack with levels of courtly hunter for the purpose of determining the abilities of her courtly companion." I was originally looking at grabbing levels of sacred huntsmaster to pick up the hunter tactics ability (which is why I assume this sentence exists). But this rule sort of ... opened up a whole new can of worms for me and I was wondering if you had any insight.
1) If courtly companions and animal companions don't stack, does that mean if I multiclass into, say, druid that I get a second animal companion? (Aka a courtly companion from hunter levels and an animal companion from druid levels.)
2) Even though the levels don't stack, does my courtly companion benefit from abilities and other effects that affect animal companions? (Like hunter tactics, or Celestial Servant.)
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Thanks for taking the time to do this. I have a few questions about the Control Winds spell. Does this spell move with the caster, or is it immobile? My second, and more important, question is the spell lists Fortitude negates. Just what does fortitude negate? Does it only negate picking up/pushing enemies, or would it negate all the wind effects such as perception penalties, ranged attack penalties, fly penalties/etc? My third question is if multiple castings of this spell stack. Thanks again!
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1)What are some of your favorite bloodline arcanas and why?
2)What is your favorite kineticist defense ability?
3)What are your top 5 favorite classes?
4)What are your favorite feat choices you like regardless of class?
5)What are favorite arcane, divine, and psychic spells?
1) I like ones that do something a little interesting, rather than just provide a DC increase or more damage. So from the original set, undead bloodline is the most interesting in that regard.
2) I'm a fan of aether's defense, especially the way it makes burn an "I'm OK right now but pay for it later" deal when used tactically mid-fight.
3) Hmm, it's tough, and it depends on what I'm rating about them (cool flavor, fun stuff in play, super-great design, and so on). Today, I'll just pick the two I wrote (kineticist and medium), the one I did a lot of work on but wasn't the only author (vigilante), and then two of the three classes I've played in long-term campaigns (alchemist, bard, and summoner).
4) Eldritch Heritage gives out class features for feats, generally not something you can do and so always a consideration to take, but the Cha requirement means it might not exactly be "regardless of class". Lookout is extremely good if someone in the party always acts on the surprise round. Leadership is a lot of fun in terms of the roleplay dynamic of having the NPC around, though obviously only for campaigns that roll with it.
5) Favorite is tough again, for the same reason as classes but also because finding spells unique to the three types of magic are hard. There can't be too many spells that are strictly limited to psychic casters, so that might be the easiest to figure out. divide mind is pretty cool. I'd pick dream voyage for the great art and fun twist on transport spells, but it's not exclusive. What spells are actually strictly arcane only? Hmm...I guess mnemonic enhancer is, but I don't really like it that much. Blessing of fervor is pretty cool in terms of divine-only spells, although it runs into some weird out-of-combat stuff at high levels that is mostly the fault of other spells. It's hard to find exclusives!
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Which style strike of the unchained monk is your favorite?
Which do you feel sounds the coolest if different?
Flying kick is my favorite. It's super cool and highly useful in play. It also sounds cool. Hammerblow and spin kick both have really cool sounding names too!
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I have asked that question in other threads, but I would rather do it again here for a somewhat more official statement.
Are kineticists intended to be able to benefit from the to-hit bonus from combat stamina on their kinetic blasts (presuming the feat is allowed and they took it)? How about for the kinetic fist and kinetic blade infusions?
Also, how would you price items giving enhancements to kinetic blast - i.e. bane, vicious, un/holy, etc - and what items do you think work best thematically? I am thinking rods, scepters, staves, orbs and the like.
Only kinetic fist of those options meets the requirements for combat stamina.
I would recommend not making those items; as a whole, effects that mess with the blast's composition are where substance infusions live. Perhaps, if an item is desirable for your game, it could be an item that grants a new substance infusion with a particular associated wild talent level or burn cost, though that has its own set of dangers (collecting lots of them if they aren't highly expensive being first on that list, especially with a bane-like option).
What do you think on Words of Power?
Any hint on when will they be expanded?
My little brother played a WoP sorcerer in the playtest for UM and we had an NPC in our Kingmaker game that we unpetrified who was an ancient elf who cast using old magic and used WoP. They are actually really cool blasters, and they have a small handful of abilities that are significantly more powerful than other casters, but then of course they lack the preponderance of other options most casters have. If you already have a normal caster and have the WoP character focus on the more-powerful WoP options, they can be an enormous asset, but I wouldn't recommend them as your only spellcaster due to breadth of options.
No clue on when they'll be expanded.
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Was curious about infernal healing.
(Preface: THIS PARTICULAR QUESTION HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ALIGNMENT)
The components for the spell are "1 drop of devil blood or 1 dose of unholy water".
Now, unholy water costs 25g, whereas there is no listed price for a "drop" of devil blood, which has lead to two assumptions about it.
The first, that unholy water costs 25g so therefore the devil blood must also cost a similar amount and thus not being subject to the eschew materials feat.
The second is that since there is no price listed for devil blood then the spell qualifies for eschew materials.
What are your thoughts?
Not in the RPG line, so not my purview. The default is usually no price, but on the other hand, it makes no sense to include a 25 gp component as an alternative to a component that you automatically have in your spell component pouch (even without Eschew Materials), which free materials are. I think it's a spell that's a little confused with what it wants to do.
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Hey Mark, since I can't seem to find the ruling for it, how do you deal with clerics that have access to a subdomain of a domain the cleric normally wouldn't have access to? Like how clerics of Kostchtchie have access to the Ice subdomain, even though they don't have access to the Water domain. Do they only gain that specific power and gain half of a domain in exchange for getting one they wouldn't normally have, or would they technically get the Water domain entirely but with the Ice subdomain modifier?
I would guess you get everything but the subdomain is mandatory; you can't take the domain without it.
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it's about the system of checks and balances we use to ensure that nobody in the company (including me) can just make a weird (or flat-out wrong) off-the-cuff ruling and have it be official.We remember Doli.May he rest in peace.This is probably really old news, and I'm probably the only person shere that doesn't know it, but... what?
When I was a player, I was playing PFS at Paizocon when our friends at the table told us they had come across a very unusual ruling involving splash weapons, that it takes a full-round action to draw and prepare a splash weapon as per the actions in combat chart (which I thought was just for when you're using oil), which they had apparently heard from a particular designer himself. I refused to believe this, but then, in a bizarre fit of coincidence, that same designer was walking past shortly after, and they pulled him over, where he definitively confirmed this statement as binding (this before designer commentary was no longer binding). As Venture Lieutenants, Linda and I reluctantly felt like we had to enforce this ruling, even though we didn't agree with it, and especially when affected our own characters negatively. A combination of that action economy sink and a statistically superior on the average but extremely bad on the worst case decision by a GM-run pregen Kyra to split up damage between two swarms (since one of them had only 1 hp left, but it's turn was next, so she attacked the one with more health instead) led to Doli the horse dying. It was especially funny RP because my character, a Taldan cavalier, had been suspicious of the Qadiran Kyra from the beginning of the adventure, and the party bard had been trying to talk him down from that, but losing his mount from her (objectively smart but bad luck) choice more than erased all that progress. First World Bard was the GM for that encounter, and he really wanted to just give us the usual action economy on splash weapons. Later, when I worked here, I asked the others on the PDT, and they agreed that the chart was referring to oil, not things like acid or alchemist's fire. So that's a good example of why our individual posts aren't binding, only PDT posts after a full discussion of the whole team.
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Can you ask why the Psychic didn't get Protection (Magic Circle Against) from Evil on its spell list, or the new Thaumaturgic Circle on its spell list? It's a pretty weird oversight given that they have Planar Binding as an option, so I wonder if it was deliberate, an oversight, or an unfortunate loss due to space concerns?
I'm pretty sure I asked this during the spell list stage, and the reason was that bringing things over is in their wheelhouse but not those abjurations. They can either team up or I guess perhaps bring things over that are uncontrolled; sounds super-safe!
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Mark, how are your personal games going? Having fun? Playing, GMing, or both? Or are you too busy?
Also, do you have a current "favorite" (or maybe just "default") snack food?
(Mine is currently "freezer chicken" of various kinds by Tyson, acquired from Publix.)
I finished my Jade Regent game a few months back with an epic finale involving a much more robust and powerful set of final foes, but the PCs kicked ass. Then one of the enemies transformed into his "final form", since it takes place in the totally-not-Japan empire after all.
After a long hiatus, I played in my Curse of the Crimson Throne game last weekend. Our ranger died, but the druid figured out that the bad guys needed higher caster level dimension door scrolls to grab his body, and they rolled a natural 2 on the UMD check, failing (they would have succeeded on a 3, or auto-succeeded with the lower CL scroll). Thus, we barely kept his body and gear. Mirror image plus the various miss chances on red mantis make them hard to pin down long enough to kill them when they pop in to ambush and then leave after a round, but we did manage to off their leader.
I tend to eat a variety of snacks, such as crackers and cookies. Thegreenteagamer is right than I'm not aware of Publix.
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Can you offer insight into how Unchained Rage Powers are supposed to interact with a RP granting class that isn't the UnBarb?
Can other classes take them?
Can the Unbarb take chained Rage Powers?
The Class and it's Rage Powers seem kinda stillborn since I haven't seen any love for Unchained Rage Powers since Unchained came out.
Been kinda curious about this for awhile.
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Tac, Publix is mostly a Florida thing - I don't think he's likely to have heard of its awesomeness, being from Massachusetts and now Washington.
He may never know of the glory of their subs, either, which is...just the saddest thing I think I may know Paizo employees have to deal with.
Fair enough. Fair... e... nough.
Alas, I have once again been defeated. Having arrived at the top of page 75, I have run out of time. I... need more time.
Mark, how do I l33t h4x some magical forces to get more time?
Hmm...you could hack together an AI to handle some aspects of your daily tasks, like a chatbot to handle all your incoming chats. Then, you would have more time to do other things.
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Heh.
Also, Mark, have you ever seen, Scooby Doo!: Mystery Incorporated, and if so, how much did you like it? :)
Haven't seen it, but was a big Scooby Doo fan as a little kid. Is that the one where Velma is a tsundere?
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What's your opinion about Rage and Bardic performance working together?
First line of bardic performance says it uses perform skill, but then many don't reference making a perform check, and JJ said that the line was leftover and not meant to be in. But then there's the storyteller medium that causes more issues.
Storyteller Medium
"This ability is similar in all respects to bardic performance as used by a bard of the storyteller's medium level (including interactions with feats, spells, and other abilities), and uses Perform (act), Perform (comedy), or Perform (oratory) as the storyteller's performance skill. However, a storyteller gains only the following types of bardic performance: inspire courage (2nd level), inspire competence (3rd level), inspire greatness (9th level), and inspire heroics (15th level)."This is from an RPG line book, and says it's limited to certain perform skills, yet none of the types of performances it can do require a skill check. So why say it can only use certain skills as the performance skill if none of them need a performance skill, or are all performances using a skill and just not caring about the result, or something else?
Interestingly, skald's inspired rage doesn't add Perform to the list of allowed Cha-based skills, so the skald would be in a lot of trouble, I think, if he couldn't perform while performing inspired rage. That said, I can see the other side as well. It would seem to me that the most consistent and non-disruptive alternative is to say that bards and skalds are all technically using some kind of performance when they use their bardic performance / raging song class features (I mean, they aren't just standing there and the individual performances have auditory or visual components, with performs also having auditory or visual components) but aren't making skill checks unless the performance requires a skill check, thus allowing them in rage. However, that's just the result I reach when trying to find a consistent and non-disruptive alternative and not necessarily what I strongly think it means.
EDIT: Scratch that, Grigorii points out that skalds specifically face no skill restrictions in raging song. That actually lends evidence to the viewpoint that ragers can't do performance, since otherwise there's not much reason to give them the exception (truth be told, performance could be argued pretty persuasively to be something requiring some level of concentration independent of the Perform skill rationale, so that line on skalds seems persuasive to me).
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Mark, do you think a Mythic Path power that increased all of the fixed numeric scores for a Judgment by 3 would be ok or do you think it would be overpowered for a number of minutes equal to his tier for 1 mythic power point?
On the same mein would a path power that allowed an inquisitor to have an additional Judgment active would be a good path power?
I think increasing the bonuses with mythic powers is something that is currently not always a great fit in my eyes, so I wouldn't suggest adding more (and if you do, a flat increase might not be equitable since various judgments scale at different rates, so maybe it would be an effective level increase to determine the effects of the judgments). However, adding an additional judgment active at the same time sounds cooler to me. It doesn't skew the math higher on you but instead adds more versatility.
Heh.
Also, Mark, have you ever seen, Scooby Doo!: Mystery Incorporated, and if so, how much did you like it? :)
Haven't seen it, but was a big Scooby Doo fan as a little kid. Is that the one where Velma is a tsundere?
... a little bit. ... maybe. I promise nothing. >.>
(Yes.)
EDIT: For ninja-Mark!
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Hah, reminds me of the time we realized dwarves are a race of tsunderes.
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If using consolidated skills, what would be the class skills for a kineticist? Stealth is the only obvious one; Acrobatics is part of Acrobatics and Athletics, but none of the other skills in those are by default a class skill for kineticists normally. Craft and Profession are now background skills, Heal is half of Survival, Intimidate is one-third of Influence, Perception is half of Perception, and Use Magic Device is one-third of Spellcraft...on the other hand, when I compared Barbarian, the class skills seemed to be chosen more based on theme; for example, they get Nature despite only having one of the four skills that make it up as a class skill, and don't get Perception despite having half of it. So yeah, since you made the kineticist, figured you'd be the best to ask about what's on theme there.
For elemental additions to class skills, so far I've been leaning towards ruling that if they give one skill that's part of a consolidated skill as a class skill, they give the consolidated skill as a class skill, so Aether gets Knowledge (engineering)* and Finesse, Air gets Acrobatics and Nature, Earth gets Athletics and Nature, Fire gets Acrobatics and Nature, and Water gets Athletics and Nature...would you handle it in a different way? Similarly already ruled that if you get a trait that gives you a skill as a class skill, you get the consolidated skill as a class skill, but any trait bonuses to skill checks only apply to that use of the consolidated skill. But if you'd tackle it from a different perspective (or swap some around), I'd be interested in hearing your viewpoint...maybe only one consolidated skill should be a class skill, rather than both?
*as a background skill
It's tricky. I'd say perhaps Acrobatics, Stealth, maybe Survival and one extra from element, probably the Knowledge for all of them because Acrobatics is for all, and not being consistent on Knowledge or not would be unequitable (as is, this is worse for aether with a background skill, but aether has excellent utility anyway and will be fine). This does put it on the high end. of skills for a class with its number of skill points, up there with the swashbuckler, if we keep Survival.
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Can you explain in detail the number of melee attacks a magus with spellstrike and spell combat would get if using them together with a zeroth level touch spell?
Second level (aka pre-haste and iteratives?) I believe it should be two attacks. Spell combat gives me a spell and an attack, and I use the spell to cast arcane mark, converting the free touch attack into a weapon attack instead via spellstrike, for a total of two attacks.
Heh.
Also, Mark, have you ever seen, Scooby Doo!: Mystery Incorporated, and if so, how much did you like it? :)
Haven't seen it, but was a big Scooby Doo fan as a little kid. Is that the one where Velma is a tsundere?
... a little bit. ... maybe. I promise nothing. >.>
(Yes.)
EDIT: For ninja-Mark!
Incidentally... do you have Netflix?
(This is a leading question. The ultimate goal, if you do, is to say, "Then watch this!"... but I've just done that, soooooo...)
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Mark, I was wondering if you could give a pointer as to how best to interpret a rule concerning the Brawler's Martial Training ability.
For reference:
At 1st level, a brawler counts her total brawler levels as both fighter levels and monk levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats. She also counts as both a fighter and a monk for feats and magic items that have different effects based on whether the character has levels in those classes (such as Stunning Fist and a monk's robe). This ability does not automatically grant feats normally granted to fighters and monks based on class level, namely Stunning Fist.I embolded the key issue that I and others are having with this. The debate stems from how to interpret "counts as". Does this mean that Brawler levels in these conditions are to be "in the place of" Fighter and Monk levels? Or are they "in addition to"?
For example, does a Brawler-2/Fighter-2 qualify for Weapon Specialization? Or how many times per day can a Brawler-4/Monk-4 perform a Stunning Fist?
Technically, the levels only stack if they say they stack (I think this dates back to the FAQ where channel energy didn't stack between classes that gained it, even with an effective cleric level, but instead you gained two separate pools of it), but I would probably allow this particular instance in a home game, as it doesn't seem like a problematic combo.
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Now that you've lived there awhile. What's your favorite park in Seattle. :-)
Well Marymoor park is right nearby, but the Washington Park Arboretum is pretty nice. Linda and I went with a friend once.
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Mark. could a pitfiend summon someone who is bound to him using his summon ability? Conversely could the mortal bound to the Pitfiend summon his master using summon planer alley?
Is there an infernal power that would allow the master and servant to communicate with one another at a distance.
The devilbound template doesn't offer this feature automatically, but it certainly wouldn't be an unusual thing to add on with either a modified version of the template, a feat, a magic item, or something similar. I recall a PFS scenario had a devilbound NPC with a magic item that did both of these things.
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Interestingly, skald's inspired rage doesn't add Perform to the list of allowed Cha-based skills, so the skald would be in a lot of trouble, I think, if he couldn't perform while performing inspired rage. That said, I can see the other side as well. It would seem to me that the most consistent and non-disruptive alternative is to say that bards and skalds are all technically using some kind of performance when they use their bardic performance / raging song class features (I mean, they aren't just standing there and the individual performances have auditory or visual components, with performs also having auditory or visual components) but aren't making skill checks unless the performance requires a skill check, thus allowing them in rage. However, that's just the result I reach when trying to find a consistent and...What's your opinion about Rage and Bardic performance working together?
First line of bardic performance says it uses perform skill, but then many don't reference making a perform check, and JJ said that the line was leftover and not meant to be in. But then there's the storyteller medium that causes more issues.
Storyteller Medium
"This ability is similar in all respects to bardic performance as used by a bard of the storyteller's medium level (including interactions with feats, spells, and other abilities), and uses Perform (act), Perform (comedy), or Perform (oratory) as the storyteller's performance skill. However, a storyteller gains only the following types of bardic performance: inspire courage (2nd level), inspire competence (3rd level), inspire greatness (9th level), and inspire heroics (15th level)."This is from an RPG line book, and says it's limited to certain perform skills, yet none of the types of performances it can do require a skill check. So why say it can only use certain skills as the performance skill if none of them need a performance skill, or are all performances using a skill and just not caring about the result, or something else?
Skalds do not face skill or action restrictions from their own inspired rage.
While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
Does that line change how you might rule for a bard/barbarian multiclass character?
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Hi, Mark!
I've been thinking about playing a telekineticist in a (hopefully not too fat off) game of Mummy's Mask. What does gather power look like for a telekineticist? Maybe the strands of aether in the radius levitating or rattling all the unattended objects nearby? I'm having a harder time coming up with what it would look like for aether's elemental overflow; what do you imagine for that effect?
I like your idea for gather power, and also consider that the strands refract light, despite being mostly invisible, like the art of the aether elemental (intentionally drawn when it's refracting light so it wouldn't just be invisible), so it could create a beautiful rainbow-stranded corona.
For elemental overflow, some of your body matter is becoming like aether, so you might start becoming weirdly flexible and bendy like strands of aether (either in a Dexy way if you pick Dex or in a sort of corded muscle way on the off-chance you boost Strength), and parts of you might either seem to momentarily vanish or refract light as well and glow with a rainbow iridescence (or both, leaving a seeming gap outlined with colorful lights).
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...Interestingly, skald's inspired rage doesn't add Perform to the list of allowed Cha-based skills, so the skald would be in a lot of trouble, I think, if he couldn't perform while performing inspired rage. That said, I can see the other side as well. It would seem to me that the most consistent and non-disruptive alternative is to say that bards and skalds are all technically using some kind of performance when they use their bardic performance / raging song class features (I mean, they aren't just standing there and the individual performances have auditory or visual components, with performs also having auditory or visual components) but aren't making skill checks unless the performance requires a skill check, thus allowing them in rage. However, that's just the result I reach whenWhat's your opinion about Rage and Bardic performance working together?
First line of bardic performance says it uses perform skill, but then many don't reference making a perform check, and JJ said that the line was leftover and not meant to be in. But then there's the storyteller medium that causes more issues.
Storyteller Medium
"This ability is similar in all respects to bardic performance as used by a bard of the storyteller's medium level (including interactions with feats, spells, and other abilities), and uses Perform (act), Perform (comedy), or Perform (oratory) as the storyteller's performance skill. However, a storyteller gains only the following types of bardic performance: inspire courage (2nd level), inspire competence (3rd level), inspire greatness (9th level), and inspire heroics (15th level)."This is from an RPG line book, and says it's limited to certain perform skills, yet none of the types of performances it can do require a skill check. So why say it can only use certain skills as the performance skill if none of them need a performance skill, or are all performances using a skill and just not caring about the result, or something else?
Good point! I've edited above, as that line strongly suggests that this was necessary to make skalds work and thus that it wouldn't have worked otherwise. That side honestly seemed like it had slightly more standing other than the skald seemingly not working, due to performances also possibly requiring some level of concentration.
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They are still very much TWF masters, with or without Double Slice.Ah, I appear to have missed the last part of that FAQ. Well that sucks considering unchained Rogue's were looking to be the TWF masters.That was before the FAQ that came out and said that anything that increases str doesn't work for Rogue's dex. So no double sliceHey Mark. I was curious if double slice would allow the Unchained Rogue to get full dex to damage on his offhand weapon while Two-weapon fighting?
I've seen this questioned multiple times in threads, with about a fairly even split between people who say it does and people who say it doesn't.
If you could offer clarification I'd really appreciate it.
I concur with this. The TWF Unchained rogue in my Jade Regent game could do a lot of damage. He was made even more deadly by his wife the bard and the Two-Weapon Feint/Greater Feint ninja.
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before we all take it as gospel.As a friendly reminder, the boilerplate still holds: it shouldn't be taken as gospel at all, and shouldn't be taken as rules, unless it's the PDT account making the statement. :)
This is correct. Crucially, the FAQ process is much more rigorous than the Herolab questions process, so one shouldn't assign the latter the weight of the former. Herolab questions tend to be questions that aren't frequently asked (though not always, as here). They are coding a computer system and so need a quick ruling because they can't let anything stay ambiguous. When I first came across these, I asked the others if we should release them on FAQs, but they correctly pointed out that, independent of the lower rigor being an issue (and increased rigor meaning it would take too long to answer for Lone Wolf), it would make the FAQs less useful because they'd be cluttered with all sorts of questions that are either not asked or not relevant for non-computer systems (like how to code into the system some unlikely interactions with temporary hit points).
If you want a rigorous answer from the whole PDT (or I guess "gospel" as mentioned in the post, though I think you shouldn't consider us as "gospel" and should instead rule in a way that works best for your game), you want a FAQ, not one of those Lone Wolf answers.
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Mark would a magus/archmage with component freedom somatic be able to use spell strike and spell combat 2 handing his weapon and casting spells?
I'd think it wouldn't help, since using spells with no somatic component doesn't remove the spell combat restrictions either.
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I was wondering if a skald can take multiple blood lines?
I don't think skalds have bloodlines. If you mean chains of totem rage powers, then no, those are limited to one totem per character.
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Mark, while I like the kineticist's burning infusion, especially for its bonus to attack, DCs, and caster level checks against the on-fire target, I find myself hesitant to use it at times due to still not fully understanding how exactly the target puts it out:
I assume the "Reflex negates" is to avoid getting set on fire to begin with. But if already on fire from burning infusion, does the target:
1) Start suffering taking the 1d6 on-fire damage immediately once they fail the initial saving throw? Or on its next turn like with alchemist's fire?
2) What's the actions to put out the fire? Is it a full round action (like with immolation bombs, explosive bombs, and alchemist's fire)? Is it like the like the Environment Catch on Fire rules where I think it's a free Reflex save at beginning of target's turn (if they fail, more damage) and during their turn they can get another saving throw if "rolling on the ground or smothering the fire with cloaks or the like permits the character another save with a +4 bonus" (I assume full-round action for that too)?
3) What's the DC to put out the fire? Is it like the Environment Catch on Fire rules of a flat DC 15 Reflex save to put out fires on clothing and equipment or does one use the initial saving throw DC of 10 + half kineticist level + Con modifier?
As of late I've been doing target starts takes on-fire damage on their subsequent turns (like with alchemist fire, but where it actually sticks around) and full-round action to put it out using the initial Reflex DC because I felt that DC 15 Reflex of the Environment rules was rather low and for equipment rather than actual person on fire and the actual DC used is the "avoiding set on fire DC to begin with" in general. But I'd like to be sure on the procedures and difficulties so as to not be unfairly penalizing my burning infusion victims.
Yeah, the catching on fire rules are pretty confusing and seem almost-contradictory at times in multiple places. I tend to pretty much agree with you on much of what you include here, with one exception that (annoyingly), ongoing damage is just not as codified as it should be, so when it happens during your turn is unclear, despite being important if it might knock you out (and bleed you might never take if you can stop it before end of turn). We could really use something like a "beginning of turn phase" and "end of turn phase" that has specific things that happen during them (with ongoing damage picking a side and sticking with it).
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Metamorph. Intended that it loses access to all form changing discoveries when it uses Shapechanger? The RAW here is pretty clear, but from a flavor standpoint given the archetype's theming it seems strange that transmutational alchemist discoveries are mostly useless for it.
Also probably been asked this but what's the deal with that Brew Potion feat that it can't use at all?
Also also after reading the archetype... Do you have any idea why the Alchemist base class is so messily written? Mutagen, Bombs and its 'spellcasting' are separate, unique class features. Except they're not because they're a subset of the alchemy class feature. Except they're not because they have their own separate, independent entries and aren't really tied to the Alchemy class feature at all. Bombs do +int mod damage. Except they might not, because the throw anything class feature says it's the reason that bombs do +int mod damage. Except it doesn't because bombs say they do +int mod damage on their own and don't reference throw anything at all.
It makes things very weird and makes archetypes messy and no matter what position you take on it, it's a waste of word count and is needlessly ambiguous in a way no other class is
Metamorph could trade out Brew Potion to another archetype or team up with allies to make some potions. That said, trading it out for a form-shift related ability isn't too bad of an idea either.
I'm not sure why alchemist is written so confusingly. As a player of an alchemist since the class came out in a Curse of the Crimson Throne game that had numerous hiatuses, I've been aware of these for a while. It really winds up using up words all over the place, especially in archetypes. It also has a design that leads to other considerations that make it easy to have problems with archetypes (like having features that vary in usefulness based on your build, so when you replace them, you have to rate their potency based on the builds that would actually take an archetype that replaces them). On the other hand, it also has a lot of cool pieces. I wish it could have been more streamlined, though, as you say.
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It's nice to know I won't have to keep track of all those Ultimate Equipment FAQ's anymore.Are you ready for PaizoCon?Skipping here: Not yet! But I'm close in part by running last year's games again. And the delve is nearly set. And aaargh it's less than a week!?!
:erhem: In related news, no FAQ this week or next week, but many FAQs became print with the recent errata.
Will the old FAQs be cleared out?
While the list for Ultimate Equipment isn't anywhere near as long as some of the other books, it would be nice to keep it just to the 'open items' which haven't been updated in the errata / PRD yet.
On the other hand, a lot of FAQs fall in to the 'should have always been obvious' category and thus might need to remain even after the update. The errata didn't have any change to 'Impact' because it always should have been clear that it didn't stack with 'lead blades'. Yet we have a FAQ for that... so potentially the same logic would apply to something like 'Sleeves of Many Garments' even after the errata update.
I know the community team removed some FAQs that were actively incorrect due to errata (like the one saying Titan Maulers can't wield bigger weapons), but not sure if removing the ones that are correct and redundant is the right move. If the question is important enough to be frequently asked, it's probably worth having the answer to it readily available (especially if someone has an old printing or mostly remembers from an older printing and didn't notice that the errata have changed how it works).
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Hey Mark, quick question for you; does the Dune Drifter's "Challenge" ability work with the ranged attacks made by the Drifter's gun?
(Was it intentional that it not work with firearms, or an oversight that should be house ruled?)
It's not in my purview, but I'd tend to side with PFS Campaign Clarifications when they're available, and the Campaign Clar says they would apply.
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How do the Orator feat, the Cunning Liar/Clever Wordplay/Bruising Intellect series of traits, and the Student of Philosophy trait interact with the verbal dueling rules in Ultimate Intrigue?
The verbal dueling rules cover only the Ironclad Logic feat for substituting Intelligence for Charisma during verbal duels.
The Ironclad Logic feat is a combo for the feats and traits you suggest. It specifically is the only way to sub in Intelligence for verbal duels, but you need to either use a tactic tied to an Int skill already (Linguistics, Knowledge, etc) or possess one of the feats and traits you suggest in order to do so. However, on your list, abilities like student of philosophy that only sometimes use Int for that skill don't seem sufficient to make it overall an "Intelligence-based skill". Most of the others always apply though, and should combo with Ironclad Logic to expand your Int uses in verbal duels to more skills.
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If anything, I think several classes could use a magical girl archetype such as kineticist, bard, magus, swashbuckler, etc.
So mark are you excited about Paizocon?
Seen any movies lately?
Woo for late answers! I'm excited about Paizocon; lots of fun, great to chat with so many of you guys there. Haven't seen any movies lately. Have I missed anything particularly good?
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Mark, I've noticed that beyond Advanced Class Origins, no new Brawler archetypes have been released, even if the other ACG classes have proliferated in varying but definitely much higher levels in comparison.
Any particular reason for this? Is a great part of the Brawler design space being taken up by other classes?
Having worked on developing the renegade, and playing a brawler myself, I think they're cool and deserve archetypes. I think they've just been off-theme lots of times in a row. They're specifically the non-mystical/theosophical/occult monk, so having an occult archetype would be weird, and they aren't skillsy enough to have made it onto the intrigue outline for archetypes, and wound up not having enough initial horror ideas to have carried a spread for the horror outline. Their best chance/closest shot was probably making it into the Other Class Archetypes section of intrigue; I would say their real best chance by far would have otherwise been to pick up an archetype in Other Class Archetypes for Horror, but Horror doesn't have one of those grab bag sections, and other classes had a lot of strong horror ideas on the outline.
That said, I don't concoct the outlines; this is based on speculation and looking at the finished outlines.
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One more pathfinder question question.
Do you think, as written, the Occultist's Conjuration Resonant Power is broken? And if so do you have any suggested ways to improve it?
It is weird that the only Occultist spell that it works with is Glitterdust.
Glitterdust, sha'irs, new spells, and giving the implement over to other characters all work. Logan and I sort of added resonant powers to the class from Jason's initial draft, and back when they had two, the idea that the summoning one was more useful for lending to the conjurer and the other was better for you (plus both were not as juicy as resonances for schools like divination, making you decide between getting a great resonance from divination or more uses of the more powerful servitor focus power). When Jason chose one to keep for each school to help make it less complicated, I noted that the class didn't have summon monster. I still put them in for sha'ir though.
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Helpless: A helpless character is paralyzed, held, bound, sleeping, unconscious, or otherwise completely at an opponent's mercy. A helpless target is treated as having a Dexterity of 0 (–5 modifier). Melee attacks against a helpless target get a +4 bonus (equivalent to attacking a prone target). Ranged attacks get no special bonus against helpless targets. Rogues can sneak attack helpless targets.
As a full-round action, an enemy can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless foe. An enemy can also use a bow or crossbow, provided he is adjacent to the target. The attacker automatically hits and scores a critical hit. (A rogue also gets his sneak attack damage bonus against a helpless foe when delivering a coup de grace.) If the defender survives, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or die. Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity.
Creatures that are immune to critical hits do not take critical damage, nor do they need to make Fortitude saves to avoid being killed by a coup de grace.
Pinned: A pinned creature is tightly bound and can take few actions. A pinned creature cannot move and is denied its Dexterity bonus. A pinned character also takes an additional –4 penalty to his Armor Class. A pinned creature is limited in the actions that it can take. A pinned creature can always attempt to free itself, usually through a combat maneuver check or Escape Artist check. A pinned creature can take verbal and mental actions, but cannot cast any spells that require a somatic or material component. A pinned character who attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability must make a concentration check (DC 10 + grappler's CMB + spell level) or lose the spell. Pinned is a more severe version of grappled, and their effects do not stack.What's the difference between a bound character who is Helpless and a bound character who is Pinned? Is a character whose hands are tied less bound (Pinned) than one who is tied to...
So a variation on this one was high on my list of questions that I asked Jason after becoming a designer. "Tightly bound and can take few actions" is a flavor text lead-in, but the "bound" in the helpless condition seems to be an actual keyword for a condition that is never defined anywhere (I wish there were fewer things that are never defined anywhere, and it looks like we also inherited a few from 3.X, including positive and negative energy never being defined or explained on their own). Jason told me that the never-defined "bound" condition is meant for a situation where someone is not just tied up in the field but extremely thoroughly tied up over a long period of time during which they were already helpless and unable to prevent it, generally because they were captured and to be used as a hostage. So I guess this is for when the villain has bound your helpless ally and she threatens to kill him, but he's still conscious. I like Jason's answer and am planning to use it in my games, but of course, officially there's no answer in the text, so "bound" is an undefined condition in the midst of a list, so the list works OK if you just ignore the undefined term in there.