Does hex require line of sight


Rules Questions

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For what it's worth, I don't have a horse in this race. In no way will I benefit from what I am proposing, because I don't play Pathfinder as a PC. I am strictly a GM and have spent a total of maybe 5 hours on the player side of the screen. I am a generally inclusive, not exclusive, GM and I don't run PFS. The RAW, as I see them, are what I adjudicate at my table.

I strongly believe the descriptions of supernatural abilities wholly contain the limitations on what a supernatural ability can target. If line of sight is required, the supernatural ability says so. Otherwise, I use what makes the most sense. Charm, Cackle, and whatever other hexes require the target to hear you, don't make sense to require line of effect. As long as you can hear the ability you should be able to be targeted by it. That is, after all, how the supernatural bardic performances work.

Dark Archive

I take "function like spells" to mean they have the same requirements as spells unless something specific says otherwise. So "target" in a hex means the same thing to me as "target" in a spell, and you need to see the target.

Scar is an example of something that breaks those rules - it lets you target someone you can't see and don't have line of effect to. But placing the scar does require those things.


Byakko wrote:
For those claiming that having LoS out to one mile is unreasonable... eh... you might want to get your glasses checked and/or leave the confines of your walled building.

You can pick out a distinguishable target at 1 mile? How about a small-sized creature like a gnome? Tiny? Trained snipers can kill at a 1000 yards, and that is with a high-powered scope, and that is a highly trained sniper.

Without vision enhancement (in game or in real life) or without a very distinct target, I find this to be a bit rich to assume you'll need LoS for the scar hex at 1 mile.

Byakko wrote:
(Also, if you feel the urge to bring up the Perception check modifiers for range, don't bother. It's well known and easily shown that the -1 per 10' modifier is just flat out broken, unreasonable, and unrealistic for attempting to observe things outside of a tiny bubble for a typical person.)

So, the rules matter...except when they don't.

Scarab Sages Developer

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My 2 cents, which certainly aren't official but do inform how I run the game.

We know from the "common terms" on page 13 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook that "Supernatural abilities are magical attacks, defenses, and qualities."

We know from the description of total cover on page 196 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook that "You can't make an attack against a target that has total cover."

Note that it doesn't say attack roll. It says you can't make an attack, and we know supernatural abilities are attacks.

We know from the description of total concealment on page 197 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook that "You can't attack an opponent that has total concealment, though you can attack into a square you think he occupies." Then it goes into the miss chance.


"Spell-like" is not the same as "like a spell." "Spell-like" is a defined term in the rules, "like a spell" is a descriptor.
"Supernatural abilities are magical but not spell-like" is used to differentiate the magical supernatural abilities from the also magical and just mentioned spell-like abilities.


The Archive has the right of it. They are terms in the game to categorize abilities.

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