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

[wraithstrike]

Ed Reppert wrote:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusarigama

:-)

I wanted to reply with something creative, but I have nothing.

Well played.. :)

[asdffghjkl01]

Honestly no one knows how that weapon works, some people just pick it up and start swinging and others become confused with no save.

In all seriousness, I'd love some clarification on that weapon and the double kamas

[Killer_GM]

wraithstrike wrote:

I think I've been running incorporeal creatures incorrectly for a long time.

Not if your players don't know you have...

[shadram]

Hi Mark,

Firstly a big thanks for all the details given at PaizoCon, I watched all the streamed panels and eagerly await the recordings of the rest.

Question time - not sure if you're the right person to ask, but...

I'm running a game using playtest rules at the moment, and have a problem in that, in the playtest Bestiary, all the intelligent humanoid monsters (orcs, hobgoblins, lizardfolk, etc) dried up at around 4th level, and the only threats at higher levels were increasingly bigger monsters. There's a couple of NPC stat blocks, but right now it's hard to run anything other than wilderness or dungeon adventures.

Does the full 2E bestiary fix this, and give a range of levels of monstrous humanoids to fill the gap? Or do we need to wait until the Gamemastery Guide and the NPC stat blocks and monster creation rules to resolve this? On a related note, are NPC creation rules in the Core Rules or Bestiary, or are those waiting for the GMG too?

Thanks in advance for your answer!

[Mark Seifter]

Arcane Mark is back from PaizoCon hiatus with a special PaizoCon round-up! Join Linda and me for a lowdown of Paizocon reveals, impressions, and news, plus ask questions in chat! Handy if you don't have time to listen to all the recordings.

7PM PDT tonight!

[Quandary]

I saw your stream on Leshies, which I hadn't thought much about before (other than "cute"), and was curious if you could expand on cosmological soul/essence aspects of them.

I was curious about the parallel of Leshies:Vital essence to (aligned?)Outsiders:Spirit essence. And considering 1st World angle, how Fey are immortal (in the 1st world), is that even a stronger similarity to Leshie immortality? (with the Druidic rituals for Leshie sprits extending their immortality to material plane).

I also was reminded of Xiomorn and Pech, the former (in their greater form) also having aspect of immortality, and the latter explicitly coded as both Fey and Earth subtype (at least in 1E). So in 2E cosmological terms, would at least Xiomorn be seen as MATERIAL homologue to Vital essence sentience ala Leshies? (and by extension, their creators Elemental Lords having similar role to Green Man etc and aligned Outsiders?) Pech may be some blend with broader essences available to Fey, thus perhaps akin to the many plant-themed Fey? Any idea of relation of Leshies and Green Man to the extremely-Plant-Fey?

Also curious how "Animal life" fits into Vital essence alongside this plant strain seen in Leshies. Or is it some other mix of essence?

Just brainstorming based on that line of thought... Any examples of Mental essence that would be good analog too?

[sdfsdfgsdgsdfds]

Does the alchemist's wings need standard action to start?

[Steve Geddes]

I came here expecting to flag-for-spam based purely on a username. :p

[Ferious Thune]

Hey Mark. Thanks again for continuing to answer questions and provide insight into game development.

I've got another set of rules questions. These are all around the Armor Spikes FAQ, but not related to Armor Spikes. A lot of things got confused in the years after that FAQ was issued that have nothing to do with Armor Spikes or Two-Weapon Fighting.

If a character with BAB+6 is wielding a Two-Handed Weapon and wearing a spiked gauntlet, can they make their +6 attack with the weapon, remove one hand from their weapon as a free action, and then make their +1 attack with the spiked gauntlet?

If the same character makes their full-attack with the Two-Handed Weapon, can they remove one hand from the weapon at the end of their turn, and then threaten and make AoOs with the spiked gauntlet?

Can a character with Improved Unarmed Strike who is wielding a Two-Handed reach weapon threaten at 10 feet with the reach weapon and 5 feet with their Unarmed Strike?

Thanks

[wraithstrike]

Ferious Thune wrote:

Hey Mark. Thanks again for continuing to answer questions and provide insight into game development.

I've got another set of rules questions. These are all around the Armor Spikes FAQ, but not related to Armor Spikes. A lot of things got confused in the years after that FAQ was issued that have nothing to do with Armor Spikes or Two-Weapon Fighting.

If a character with BAB+6 is wielding a Two-Handed Weapon and wearing a spiked gauntlet, can they make their +6 attack with the weapon, remove one hand from their weapon as a free action, and then make their +1 attack with the spiked gauntlet?

If the same character makes their full-attack with the Two-Handed Weapon, can they remove one hand from the weapon at the end of their turn, and then threaten and make AoOs with the spiked gauntlet?

Can a character with Improved Unarmed Strike who is wielding a Two-Handed reach weapon threaten at 10 feet with the reach weapon and 5 feet with their Unarmed Strike?

Thanks

Taking your hand off of a weapon is a free action. That's why casters can hold staves and/or two handed weapons and still remove a hand to cast a spell.

So once your hand is off the two handed weapon you can attack with the gauntlet for AoO's, but you can't attack with the two handed weapon.

Pathfinder FAQ wrote:

Two-Handed Weapons: What kind of action is it to remove your hand from a two-handed weapon or re-grab it with both hands?

Both are free actions. For example, a wizard wielding a quarterstaff can let go of the weapon with one hand as a free action, cast a spell as a standard action, and grasp the weapon again with that hand as a free action; this means the wizard is still able to make attacks of opportunity with the weapon (which requires using two hands).

As with any free action, the GM may decide a reasonable limit to how many times per round you can release and re-grasp the weapon (one release and re-grasp per round is fair).

[Ferious Thune]

I'm pretty sure I know the answers, but there are VOs out there reading threads from years after the FAQ that take it out of context where GMs have come to very different conclusions, and then passing that information on as true or at least as acceptable table variation.

I.e. that once you've used both hands to attack with a Two-handed weapon, you can't attack with any other weapon in those hands until your next turn, even when you aren't TWF and including iterative attacks and AoOs. Since none of the designers directly responded to that at the time (posters weren't kind to them after the Armor Spikes FAQ, and the designers responded accordingly), I'm hoping we might get something here, however unofficial it is.

[David knott 242]

Should a Medium who incurs 5 influence points and thus temporarily becomes an NPC under the GM's control be aware of and remember what the possessing spirit did while in control of his body? Or should he simply black out and then wake up with no memory of what happened while he was not in control of himself?

[LxRivers]

Hi! I have a little confusion about the class feat of Watersinger and Stonesinger.
They all allow bards add specific spells to the bard's spell list.

Watersinger Spells:

Watersinger Spells: A watersinger adds certain water-themed spells to his spell list. He adds these abilities to his spell list as soon as his bard level allows him to cast spells of that spell level. 0—create water; 1st—hydraulic push , slipstream 2nd—aqueous orb , hydraulic torrent , water walk; 3rd—fluid form , ride the waves ; 4th—control water, communal water walk ; 5th—vortex 6th—seamantle.

Earth Magic:

Earth Magic: A stonesinger is treated as having the Eschew Materials feat so long as he is touching natural or manufactured stone. Additionally, a stonesinger adds the following spells to the bard spell list at the listed level: 1—magic stone, 2—stone shield, 3—stone shape, 4—earth glide, 5—stoneskin, 6—stone tell.

In such cases, do I add these spells to my list of spell known in the specific levels? Or I just add them to the bard spell list, and if I want to cast such spell from a scroll before the level it will be added, I need a UMD check?
Regarding for your response.

[Ascalaphus]

In PF2, gnomes can gain proficiency in kukris with the Gnome Weapon Familiarity feat. But they don't gain access, because kukris don't have the "gnome" trait in Table 6-7, unlike for example dogslicers->goblin.

Is it intentional that kukris are the only weapon that an ancestry gives you proficiency in, but not access?

Bob Jonquet's implying something like that here but it seems unlikely to me.

[The NPC]

Mr. Mark Seifter,

Are you familiar with 3PP class and Primal Host? If so, in your estimation how would you recreate it using PF2E rules?

[Tacticslion]

When will you be able to upload the Arcane Mark episode with Diego Valdez to YouTube? :D

(Also, how are you?)

[asdffghjkl01]

Mark, let me ask you some questions about the class you designed, the medium. Hopefully you'll be able to answer these questions pretty easily since its your class!

1) "Seance Boon: Your damaging spells deal an additional 2 points of damage of the same type that they would normally deal to each target." How does this ability interact with spells that have multiple hits, like magic missile? I get that it says "to each target", but what if I aim 5 magic missiles at a single enemy?

2) What counts as "your...spells"? Does it work with a wand? A scroll? A staff of entwined serpents with the line "At will, the wielder can use the staff to cast magic missile"?

3) If I played a storyteller medium that focused on the Marshal spirit, would inspiring call do absolutely nothing or can I use the bonus to knowledge skills in place of my spirit bonus since they scale at the same speed and are functionally the same thing?

4) Not entirely a medium question, but can a spiritualist's phantom participate in a seance? They are intelligent and can maintain contact for an hour (although everyone will get slimed), but I'm not sure if they could open their spirit to another spirit, granted that is essentially what the players are doing.

[Lelomenia]

I agree that they both count as fighter levels, it’s just questionable whether you can add them together. For example,

Mark Seifter wrote:

Chess Pwn wrote:

Hey Mark, How does having 2 sources of the same class work?

Like a fighter 3 brawler 1, does he count as fighter 4 for things like weapon specialization or is he a fighter 3 and fighter 1?

I think technically it only stacks if it says it does

[Tacticslion]

How’s life?

[Ed Reppert]

First Edition CRB wrote:

A bane weapon excels against certain foes. Against a designated foe, the weapon’s enhancement bonus is +2 better than its actual bonus. It also deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against the foe.

In second edition terms, this seems to be equivalent to +2 additional potency and +2d6 damage, which is not quite additional "striking" because a striking rune increase the weapon's damage dice, which is not always d6.

It would be possible, I think, to just straight convert this to a 2E property rune, but I worry that it might be overpowered, because it takes the attack bonus to as much as +5, and the damage bonus to as much as +3 damage dice + 2d6, which afaik nothing else (so far anyway) can do.

If a straight conversion is overpowered, how would you tone it down?

[Ed Reppert]

The Alara'hai are major artifacts with intelligence, purpose, and, in second edition terms maximum fundamental runes (if not more). Or at least maximum potency. That was +5 in first edition, but is +3 in second. Since these are major artifacts, I suppose they might be +5 potency even in second edition. Would that be too overpowered?

[Roswynn]

Hi Mark!

First of all kudos again for being promoted to design manager, you totally deserve it - you're nice, and enthusiastic, and you care about feedback, and you love your job, and I've always said you're a great person! ^___^

Enough with the ass-kissing though. My group and I have a couple design questions - I don't know if you answer these considering it's the off-topic forum, but hey, I'm giving it a try.

One thing my druid always whines about is that there are no magic items to enhance her spell attack against AC, while the fighter and rogue have magic weapons. It's also hard for her to find spells that attack Will, and Reflex and Fortitude are usually a bit difficult to hit.

Second questions, if I may and if you know anything - Age of Ashes, was it still being written while the 2e rules hadn't been completely finalized yet? Could it potentially be a little imbalanced or did the writers perfectly know what they were doing? Sometimes we meet a fight that really makes us panick, and the party has to retreat and rethink their tactics - working as intended?

If you can answer, we'll be very grateful! If you can't, thank you anyways to you and all the other designers (and Paizo in general) for an awesome game we can't wait to play every week!

Cheers!

Rossana-

[Roswynn]

Hahah! Thanks Mark for answering in the other thread and sorry for bringing game questions to the Off Topic forums - you're the best! (Your fellow designers are awesome too of course... and the editors... and the fluff writers, and the artists, okay I'll stop).

[Mark Seifter]

Roswynn wrote:

Hahah! Thanks Mark for answering in the other thread and sorry for bringing game questions to the Off Topic forums - you're the best! (Your fellow designers are awesome too of course... and the editors... and the fluff writers, and the artists, okay I'll stop).

Thanks! Couldn't respond here because we (Logan and I) got the greenlight to use those titles on the stream namecards but not to talk about the positions, until recently. I'm excited about he possibilities!

[Diego Rossi]

Hi Mark, I hope it is all going well.
A first edition question.
I am following a thread where people repeat ad nauseam that a metamagiched cantrip, if it stays at level 0, can be cast an unlimited number of times, as it is a cantrip.
I am almost sure that one of you guys stated that once a cantrip is modified by a metamagic, even one at 0 cost, it is a spell and casting it consume a spell slot. But I am unable to find the reference.
You know who said that or can you give your opinion?
Thanks.

[GamingGuru83]

I was curious to know if the Kineticist utility wild talent, Ride The Blast, allows one to bypass a Wall of Force? I ask this since...

A) It has been highly insinuated that Ride the Blast is a teleportation effect.

and

B) The talent states "You appear at the end of the blast’s path, adjacent to the blast’s target..."

So I assumed that would include the square behind where a Kineticist had impacted the target if it were a creature. And then thought it could work on a 2D depthless field, right?

[DrakeRoberts]

Mark, is a Vanguard's Entropic Strike "wielded in a hand"? I'm looking at the Android feat "Arm Extensions" which takes a penalty to attack when you attack with a "weapon wield in your hands". By my way of looking at it, since an Entropic Strike clearly states it doesn't take a hand, it can't be wielded in your hand, but this interpretation has been met with some resistance by others. I mean, in theory, arm extensions extend your reach, which I believe applies to all attacks, and thus could even be made with a kick, but that seems weird to me. I just figure that the whole wielded line was purposeful or it would just say a -2 to all attacks. Anyhow, I'd love your input. While making an attack without the -2 is strong, it does prevent the use of weapon fusions or traits on your attack.

[Bondranx]

Mark, not sure if this is still an active thread or even where to ask this otherwise, does the Kineticist, when using Kinetic blade, deal full kinetic blast damage, including composite blast damage, on all iterative attacks used as part of a full attack action. Or is the blade only valid on a single attack in the action

[Xelaaredn]

Bondranx wrote:

Mark, not sure if this is still an active thread or even where to ask this otherwise, does the Kineticist, when using Kinetic blade, deal full kinetic blast damage, including composite blast damage, on all iterative attacks used as part of a full attack action. Or is the blade only valid on a single attack in the action

Not Mark, obviously, but yes. It says as such in the talent description:

Kinetic Blade wrote:

You can use this form infusion once as part of an attack action, a charge action, or a full-attack action in order to make melee attacks with your kinetic blade. Since it’s part of another action (and isn’t an action itself), using this wild talent doesn’t provoke any additional attacks of opportunity. The kinetic blade deals your kinetic blast damage on each hit (applying any modifiers to your kinetic blast’s damage as normal, but not your Strength modifier).

Emphasis mine, but yeah, it wouldn't be plural if it only worked on one of the attacks you made that round. Same goes if you use it with a composite blast, it does the composite blast damage for each attack. That does bring up the question on if you have to pay the composite blast cost for each attack made with it using kinetic blade but... shrugs

I know someone took a similar question to James Jacobs once and he said it would only work on one attack, but then also turned around and stated that he had no clue what the ability even was, but assumed it was a kineticist thing since the one who posed the question mentioned the class, and he went on to state he's never even looked at the class's rules much less close enough to know how it works.

So if you/your DM came across that already... dude has no clue and didn't bother trying to find out before he answered.

[Ed Reppert]

Which may be why he now declines (mostly anyways) to answer any rules-related questions at all on his "ask my anything" thread. I guess it's "ask me anything but that". :-)

[Ederook]

Hey Mark,
Question on Kinetic Blasts. During combat you can ready an action:

d20pfsrd.com wrote:

Readying an Action

You can ready a standard action, a move action, a swift action, or a free action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the conditions under which you will take it. Then, anytime before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition. The action occurs just before the action that triggers it. If the triggered action is part of another character’s activities, you interrupt the other character. Assuming he is still capable of doing so, he continues his actions once you complete your readied action

But there's a specific feat called Delay Blast:

d20pfsrd.com wrote:

When you use a kinetic blast, you can specify a number of rounds between 1 and 5. When that number of rounds has passed, the kinetic blast takes effect at the beginning of your turn. In the interim, you can take a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity to cause the blast to take effect earlier than you initially selected. If you delay another blast while you already have a delayed blast pending, the previous delayed blast dissipates harmlessly.

You must make any decisions you would make about the delayed blast—including designating target positions, choosing infusions, and determining or shaping the area—when you first use the blast. The blast originates from your position at the time you used the blast, not your current position when the blast takes effect, and it targets the position or area you had specified (which may or may not include any targets). A delayed blast radiates an aura of magic appropriate for its spell level even while it is delayed, and during that time, it can be dispelled by dispel magic.

When would the feat be more useful than just readying it? Is it just giving the option to do so out of combat?

Thanks!

[Fallendemon13]

Hey Mark!

I'm sorry for bringing up an apparently dead subject, but I've had a really hard time finding any information. I found a single link mentioning that you answered this question in a Grab-Bag FAQ, but there are no digital records of this FAQ that I can find.

Greater Tyrant Totem, from what I found, is supposed to do 1d4+Str as a small barbarian, 1d6+Str as a medium barbarian, but no mention of scaling. I'd assume 1d8+Str for a large (I'm building an ogre character) based on the Damage Dice Progression chart, but would really appreciate confirmation. I'd also like to confirm if the Gluttonous Gobbler feat (an ogre specific feat that also grants swallow whole) is scaled in the same way?

It's been really frustrating since there seems to be no standard for Swallow Whole other than Eidolons. Why does the barbarian's Swallow Whole seem like it's worse than an Eidolon's Swallow Whole evolution anyway? (Swallow Whole=Bite damage+1d6)

If you could confirm for me the damage scaling, I'd really appreciate it. Any other comments helping to explain why the damage is scaled that way would be GREAT so I can show my GM the ruling.

[LordGirallon]

Hello Mark!
Assuming there's no reference to removed class features, can unchained classes from pathfinder unchained take racial favored class option for their chained counterparts?