Official Rules Response
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Hey there Occult Adventures fans. In order to make a FAQ page for a new product, we need some FAQs to start the page up. Today, we've taken many of the most frequently-asked Occult Adventures topics and FAQed them all. Thank you for your patience during the Gencon FAQ drought!
Awesome! thanks!
Thanks for this!
One thing I'm not liking is all the racial FCB that can't be taken for levels. Now the dwarfs and the half-orcs can't FCB lv1. And the halflings can't start until lv6 or 7 depending on how it works. I really prefer FCB that can be taken at lv1, even if you change what it is effecting later levels.
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One thing I'm not liking is all the racial FCB that can't be taken for levels. Now the dwarfs and the half-orcs can't FCB lv1. And the halflings can't start until lv6 or 7 depending on how it works. I really prefer FCB that can be taken at lv1, even if you change what it is effecting later levels.
I'm honestly not particularly opposed to those particular FCBs working from 1st level, but they'll need specific clarification to do so by RAW. I have that on my list for eventual discussion.
One thing I'm not liking is all the racial FCB that can't be taken for levels. Now the dwarfs and the half-orcs can't FCB lv1. And the halflings can't start until lv6 or 7 depending on how it works. I really prefer FCB that can be taken at lv1, even if you change what it is effecting later levels.I'm honestly not particularly opposed to those particular FCBs working from 1st level, but they'll need specific clarification to do so by RAW. I have that on my list for eventual discussion.
While it's being discussed, which level could the halfling take the FCB 6 or 7? can you take it the level the gain the ability or do you need the ability before level up, similar to prestige classes.
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Hopefully this will eventually get to addressing things like how increasing a Spiritualist Phantom's Int will reduce its skill points per hit die, the Ghost Rider issues, etc.
Ectoplasmic Lash from Archtype Ectoplasmist...
Is it a Natural Attack or manufactured weapon attack?
Assuming it is a natural attack, if a character has claws, is one or both of them taken up by the wielding of the Ectoplasmic Lash, or are they separate attacks in addition to the Lash?
Manufactured weapon attack. They are called out as light melee weapons, single one-handed melee weapon and two-handed melee weapon. So claws can be used with a -5 as secondary attacks.
Should we ask FAQ questions here?
In case this is where we should ask questions for the OA FAQ, my two coppers is: What qualifies a character from using a different prehensile appendage for the kineticist's simple blast ability?
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Manufactured weapon attack. They are called out as light melee weapons, single one-handed melee weapon and two-handed melee weapon. So claws can be used with a -5 as secondary attacks.Ectoplasmic Lash from Archtype Ectoplasmist...
Is it a Natural Attack or manufactured weapon attack?
Assuming it is a natural attack, if a character has claws, is one or both of them taken up by the wielding of the Ectoplasmic Lash, or are they separate attacks in addition to the Lash?
An Unarmed attack is considered a light weapon. It does damage as the equivalent weapons but doesn't actually say manufactured anywhere in the text. I am not sure if they meant for them to be Natural attacks or not, but it is a stark difference between that and the Mindblade.
It is being noted as a Natural Attack in Herolab, and used in addition to claw attacks (with my Changling).
Yes, natural weapons are light. They can't be one handed or two handed. Since they can be those types, that means they can't be natural.
Also look at spiritual combat. It talks about being able to "make all of her attacks with a single light or one-handed ectoplasmic lash wielded in one hand". This makes no sense is we are talking about a natural weapon as a single one can only make a single attack. "all of her attacks" implies multiple attacks from BAB. it also states "before or after making the ectoplasmic lash attacks" again implying multiple attacks which a single natural attack can't make normally.
For me, it's have to explicitly say it's a natural attack. A generic 'weapon' is usually meant to be generic and not specific type like manufactured or natural.
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I see your point. I was thinking that it was Manufactured that need to be specified, as there are other natural attacks that are used with the hand/arm area, like Claws, Pinchers and the like. The wonky wording on the other abilities that mimic Spell Combat is the reason I ask the question.
That the weapon itself is an ectoplasmic wet noodle makes the determination even more confusing. For now, I shall use either/or, and likely bring out the two handed variety for the most damage. I will use the claw attacks when I haven't summoned the tentacle. (Or when I can't use a two handed weapon)
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A few of the spell list entries are a bit wonky.
Psychic's overwhelming presence and Spiritualist's bestow curse are already on the FAQ, so I'll skip them.
Conflicts.
Page 45/Mesmerist: agonizing rebuke appears on both levels 2 and 3. Which one is it?
Page 71/Psychic: water walk (communal) appears on level 4. Recent Ultimate Combat errata dropped its level from 4 to 2 for other casters as it is weaker than normal water walk. Should psychic's water walk (communal) also be dropped to level 2?
Page 77/Spiritualist: locate object appears on both levels 2 and 3. Which one is it?
Page 77/Spiritualist: phantom steed appears on both levels 2 and 3. Which one is it?
Page 77/Spiritualist: remove curse appears on both levels 3 and 4. Which one is it?
Typos.
Page 58/Occultist level 1 abjuration spells: abjuring step should be adjuring step.
Page 69/Psychic level 1 spells: abjuring step should be adjuring step.
Page 69/Psychic level 1 spells: delusional pride is listed twice.
Page 77/Spiritualist level 5 spells: planar adaption should be planar adaptation.
Page 77/Spiritualist level 5 spells: mindfog should be mind fog.
Other.
Healing thief is at a surprisingly low level (1) for Mesmerist, though this could be intentional.
Calm spirit is originally from Occult Mysteries. The versions are identical.
Enshroud thoughts is originally from Blood of Elements, type changed from enchantment to abjuration. This is probably intentional.
drats, no clarification on the occultist conjuration resonant power, even just to confirm it is what was intended
Psychic should have Magic Circle Against E/G/L/C and/or Thamaturgic Circle on their spell list. They get Planar Binding, and even Agonize, so they should have these so those two spells aren't pointless (partially so in the case of Agonize, since you can still use that one with Planar Ally).
Am I just being dense, or is the Reanimated Medium really confusingly phrased?
I get that the medium (which I'll refer to as X, meaning the inhabiting spirit of the character) having a higher influence over his own body (spiritless without assistance, henceforth Y) is good and that he invites a legend (Z) in there with him, I'm just a little fuzzy on what else happens. Looking at it as-is, it reads to me like he (X) and the spirit (Z) have two different influence totals, but there is no clarification in-text. If they have two different influence totals, who gains the 3 points of influence when he channels a legendary spirit?
Was the intention of this to make the medium immediately suffer the influence penalty from the legendary spirit, because that kind of looks like what it means if the legend is the one that gets the 3 influence when it's channeled. It seems counterintuitive that the Medium should suffer an influence penalty practically all the time when he has Z bound, although that may have been the intention.
So...X is the only one who gains and loses influence over his body? Do I track the legend's influence separately, but suffer no penalties when it has 5 or more influence over the body? Does "The spirit" (at the beginning of the quote) refer to the Medium's spirit, X, or the spirit of the legend he's channeling, Z?
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I hate to be the guy that points this out but:
There is no "lightning" blast, only electricity. Do we need errata for the FAQ? :)Kineticist Torrent Infusion: This infusion seems to be missing lightning blast as an associated blast. Is that intentional?
Lightning blast should be included. This will be reflected in the next errata.
I take the blame for this one. I pointed it out, but I kept calling it Lightning every time I mentioned something about the Lightning Electric Blast, so it probably stuck in Mark's (and by extension the rest of the PDT's) head. =)
Ok, that makes sense. Nice to know the concern becomes "revert to a corpse, temporarily" rather than "become an NPC". Having the influence penalty practically all the time sucks a lot (particularly trickster), but part of the fun of playing a medium at all is experimenting with wildly different personalities. Thanks for the clarification!
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So does anyone know whether Magic Items stay on the Spiritualist's Phantom when it changes to Incorporeal Form or when it Phase Lurches through something? Do they just drop off, or do they Phase Lurch/become incorporeal along with it? It would really limit the practicality of those abilities if the Phantom has to put all of its stuff back on every time.
I also haven't seen any information about the other properties of the Ectoplasmic Form.
Is it solid, or some sort of gel?
Is it sticky/slimy, or does it feel approximately like what it's supposed to look like (e.g. skin, clothes, armour, etc.)?
What degree of control does the Phantom have over its appearance (e.g. can it look like it's wearing different clothes)?
Is the ectoplasmic Phantom heavier or lighter than it appears?
Does it function like the ectoplasmic spells (i.e. can it hit both corporeal and incorporeal?)?
Is it opaque or translucent?
Since the Phantom is always a humanoid shape generally resembling what they looked like in life, can they be made to appear as a "real" person via Disguise (if not a Humanoid, then at least a Native Outsider)?
Posting this here mostly 'cause I figure the rules team is most likely to notice it: The Ectoplasmatist archetype for the Spiritualist does not replace the Bond Senses class feature. Is it meant to, or is there some other ability that was meant to go there?