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#3:From my understanding, restrictions such as 1/day are used for options that would otherwise have been banned. It's the mindset of "something is better than nothing".But this is, again, a potentially-major errata by another name. People don't like it when the book they just paid for is now "wrong". They don't like it when something doesn't work like what the printed text says. That kind of thing leaves a bad taste in people's mouths, possibly more so than actually banning that option.
And here? There's no errata document on the product page, so it's even worse. You have to look in a completely different (almost unrelated) document to find the errata.
I'm not speaking to any specific item but a big "balancing factor" in non-PFS play is the GM. A combat option usable Int+level/day could turn out to be fine in a campaign where the GM throws prolonged sequential battles at the PCs. But if the party is only going to be facing three short fights a day the option becomes equivalent to "at will."
Similarly if a player has a particularly overpowering item, the GM can design the occasional encounter that negates it's usefulness, forcing the players to use alternate strategies.
It's difficult to overstress how many campaigns get played by friends sitting around a kitchen table. Campaigns either loosely based on a book, movie, or TV show, or where the GM has completely made up the story. Where the GM is constantly tweaking things to provide a fun challenge. But that's not an option in PFS. In order to keep things as consistent as possible the GMs can't add or subtract things. So the banning or changing of some character options keeps the challenge level roughly equivalent.
So just because something is too powerful for PFS, that doesn't mean it isn't a good option or inspiration for a home game group.
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lets take a basketball. With it you can play horse, or basketball or...
But if you play officially, it's just basketball. All the other game modes available to you at purchase of the equipment are useless if you are wanting to play in a standardized environment.
a deck of cards comes with jokers, but many games available to be played with a deck of cards don't use jokers. Thus if you only play the non-joker games, then those cards are wasted material you've bought.
Bowling can have bumpers for a home game, but standardized play requires no bumpers.
Video games fights, like smash tournaments or street fighter, will often have some characters banned from the tournament.
Some games are only made in Japanese and never make it to America for play. One in America could question and say, "why make game X if you're never going to offer it to America? It's a waste to make if it's not opened up as options for everyone everywhere."
like the concept of company 1 making material and company 2, which is closely tied to 1, only using a subset of available material is something that is lots of places in our lives. Why is it suddenly an abomination here for Paizo and PFS to follow the same model?
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I think the format of PFS lends to 1+stat mod per day abilities becoming "at will" as Kevin said above. Especially with the ease of purchase and ubiquitousness of stat items and alternate racial favored class bonuses, you could easily get an unlimited number of uses as far as PFS is concerned. Changing it to once per day puts it back on the same balanced playing field the ability was designed for. A true limit.
EDIT: not familiar with the succor hex, but if it's anything like the spammability of slumber, I don't want to see it in every encounter. As a fellow player or GM.
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Additional Resources says under Ultimate Combat that:
"A samurai may only choose from the listed animals for his mount."
However, the Monster Codex entry allows:
"Ratfolk: Only ratfolk characters may take legal choices from this section. Non-ratfolk PCs may not use anything from this section. Everything in this section is legal for play."
Monster Codex itself states "A ratfolk with the animal companion, mount, or similar class feature can select a riding rat as her mount."
So can a ratfolk samurai select a riding rat as a mount, or not?
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Just to be clear, especially as the Qadira clarifications are still forthcoming:
The AR provide a way for Cavaliers, Rangers, and Paladins to get a Shissah companion:
A PC who must select an animal companion from a limited list (e.g. cavalier, paladin, or ranger) may select a shissah in place of a horse, but unless it is that PC's first animal companion selected, the PC must spend 4 Prestige Points to gain such a mount; each additional shissah acquired costs 4 additional Prestige Points.
However, the other cool variant horses, the Genie-Touched, are still inaccessible to Paladins and Rangers, by the strictest RAW. The feat requires the "animal companion or mount" class features. The Divine Bond (Mount) and Hunter's Bond (Animal Companion) class features wouldn't qualify.
If that's intended, that's fine. If there should be a way for those classes to take them, a clarification would be appreciated.
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Just to be clear, especially as the Qadira clarifications are still forthcoming:
The AR provide a way for Cavaliers, Rangers, and Paladins to get a Shissah companion:
A PC who must select an animal companion from a limited list (e.g. cavalier, paladin, or ranger) may select a shissah in place of a horse, but unless it is that PC's first animal companion selected, the PC must spend 4 Prestige Points to gain such a mount; each additional shissah acquired costs 4 additional Prestige Points.However, the other cool variant horses, the Genie-Touched, are still inaccessible to Paladins and Rangers, by the strictest RAW. The feat requires the "animal companion or mount" class features. The Divine Bond (Mount) and Hunter's Bond (Animal Companion) class features wouldn't qualify.
If that's intended, that's fine. If there should be a way for those classes to take them, a clarification would be appreciated.
Neither would druid's with their Nature's Bond (Animal Companion) by that rule.
This obviously isn't true, and so it comes down to the rule, that if you have a feature (animal companion) inside another feature, it still counts as having the feature. So paladins have mounts and druid's and rangers have animal companions.
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A Ratfolk Samurai should be able to take a riding rat no problem, provided the player owns the Monster Codex. The Additional Resources entry for Ultimate Combat shouldn't be expected to account for other sources that make additional mounts available. The Monster Codex specifically makes riding rats available if the class has a mount and the character is a Ratfolk.
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That's what I'd hope and how I want to interpret it. I was just looking at it side by side with Monstrous Mount from Inner Sea Combat, which is more explicit. It did seem grey enough to me that I wouldn't be 100% comfortable telling someone it was a valid option for a Paladin, hence the clarification request.
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As long as we're asking about improved familiars, I know that the question of their intelligence score comes up regularly. As far as I know, we've never gotten an official answer from Paizo.
Do they keep their int from the Bestiary, or do they use the int from the wizard familiar table in the Core Rulebook, even if it's lower than the Bestiary entry?
I'd assume you go with whichever is higher, but I don't think that's ever been officially stated.
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Venture-Agent, Georgia—Atlanta
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Not sure if this is the right place to post this: in the latest version of Additional Resources, the Alchemist Discoveries in Heroes of the High Court are not listed as legal but the latest version of Campaign Clarifications has a clarification for one of the discoveries, implying that it is legal. Since the discoveries aren't called out as illegal in AR, I'm assuming that the intention was for them to be legal and this was just an oversight?
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Not sure if this is the right place to post this: in the latest version of Additional Resources, the Alchemist Discoveries in Heroes of the High Court are not listed as legal but the latest version of Campaign Clarifications has a clarification for one of the discoveries, implying that it is legal. Since the discoveries aren't called out as illegal in AR, I'm assuming that the intention was for them to be legal and this was just an oversight?
Try the Additional Resources Updates thread. As this is an editorial disconnect, that's actually what that thread is for.
Venture-Captain, Nebraska—Omaha
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I don't think this has been commented on so I will add now.
An archetype ofSlayer, Vanguard, grants Vanguard's Bond
The problem with this ability is that the Slayer's Studied Target bonus is +1 at 4th level so half of .5 or 0 bonus. It does not increase to +2 until 5th level.
So for PFS, can we get a campaign clarification that the minimum bonus granted to allies is +1?
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Hello everyone. Since as someone else in this thread put it the Campaign Clarification document is also partially a "PFS house rules" I thought this might be the most appropriate place to put my comment/request/thought.
I know there has to be other things this applies to also, but I have one in particular that I am looking at.
Some options in the game say "compatible with A, B, C, D, etc." then lead into something of the effect of "can be expanded to similar appropriate options at GM discretion".
Obviously for PFS the specifically listed options are the only ones available, but release timing can make things that very much should fit on the list not options.
The one I have specifically is the Mammoth Rider prestige class and its Steed ability released in 2012.
Steed(Ex)
A mammoth rider can choose from among the following animal companions to serve as her loyal steed:Arsinoitherium, aurochs, baluchitherium, camel, cat(big), elk, horse, mastodon (elephant), megaloceros, rhinoceros, triceratops, wolf, or woolly mammoth (use stats for a mastodon).
A GM might expand this list to include other possible steeds. This steed functions as a druid's animal companion, replacing any animal companion or mount gained from another class. The mammoth rider's class levels stack with other classes that grant an animal companion to determine her effective druid level.
With specifically the new bestiaries that have come out, several new things would fall directly in line with this set of creatures, and I would think most GM's would be willing to put them in, but because PFS is the way it is, that is not possible.
A lot of things like this use classifications, like if for instance it had said something like "may choose any creature that is capable of being ridden under normal circumstances and is at least large size in it's second animal companion stage" (I am not good at wording and that may not be a proper interpretation of the list as is, but is an example), then it would have been future applicable like a lot of options are, but in this case it is not.
I understand this would be difficult/hard, but I think it could be useful for the expansion of the game to either have these types of lists re-evaluated and added to every so often, or given some sort of wording that gives a baseline for the "GM discretion" portion to allow it to be future content compatible.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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How does the escape judgement granted by the heretic inquisitor archetype work?
Escape (Su): Each time the inquisitor using this judgment hits an opponent with a melee or ranged attack, she can use a move action attempt to create a diversion to hide (see the Stealth skill)
If I hit with a melee attack (as a standard action) and then take a move action to create a diversion to hide, I still don't have the cover or concealment required to remain hidden. Does this work like hide in plain sight?
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I ran across a confusing situation in the new campaign clarifications with the bestiary 6 entry on the elasmotherium.
It states that the powerful charge damage for the elasmotherium should be 2D8+2Str mod.
This is counter to every understanding of how to figure up powerful charge damage I have found on the forums.
Up to this point I had seen powerful charge as 2(dice)+(Normal STR Mod)+(.5STR Mod) [Normal STR Mod meaning whatever the attack it is based on normally getting either 1 or 1.5].
The elasmotherium normal gore is 2D6+1.5STR Mod which should have translated to 4D6+2STR Mod.
2D8+2STR Mod looks like a 1 damage progression (not one size just one step) up and an additional .5STR mod, which may be the same for the STR mod change, but is completely different for the damage dice.
Because of this getting a clarification of how exactly to generically get powerful charge damage for an animal companion would be really useful for not only fully understanding how to apply it to other animal companions, but also if something modifies the base attack of the elasmotherium (such as strong jaw/improved natural attack or some type of size increase like animal growth) to know how to then adjust the powerful charge ability.
Please and thank you.
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I ran across a confusing situation in the new campaign clarifications with the bestiary 6 entry on the elasmotherium.
It states that the powerful charge damage for the elasmotherium should be 2D8+2Str mod.
This is counter to every understanding of how to figure up powerful charge damage I have found on the forums.
Up to this point I had seen powerful charge as 2(dice)+(Normal STR Mod)+(.5STR Mod) [Normal STR Mod meaning whatever the attack it is based on normally getting either 1 or 1.5].
The elasmotherium normal gore is 2D6+1.5STR Mod which should have translated to 4D6+2STR Mod.
2D8+2STR Mod looks like a 1 damage progression (not one size just one step) up and an additional .5STR mod, which may be the same for the STR mod change, but is completely different for the damage dice.
Because of this getting a clarification of how exactly to generically get powerful charge damage for an animal companion would be really useful for not only fully understanding how to apply it to other animal companions, but also if something modifies the base attack of the elasmotherium (such as strong jaw/improved natural attack or some type of size increase like animal growth) to know how to then adjust the powerful charge ability.
Please and thank you.
Lot to unpack here, but hopefully I can boil it down to where it makes sense. The important starting point is that not every creature in the Bestiaries uses the same formulas. Sometimes the authors and developers make deviations in order to make a particular attack thematically tied to a creature more or less damaging than a generic formula would indicate. However:
The animal companion version of this creature uses the same formula as the base creature
An elasmotherium has:
- gore 6d6+18
- powerful charge (gore, 6d8+24)
- a strength modifier of +12
So the powerful charge is one step higher on the damage chart than the gore and gets double the strength modifier as a damage bonus.
Therefore the animal companion's powerful charge should be one step higher on the damage chart than its gore and get double the strength modified as a damage bonus. Which works out to 2d8 + double strength modifier.
If the elasmotherium animal companion has a size modifier on its gore (animal growth, strong jaw, etc.) figure out the new damage of the gore as normal. Then for the powerful charge increase by one step and do double strength modifier as bonus damage.
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Lot to unpack here...
Quote trimmed for size of page/discussion sake.
Thank you Kevin. Not giving an ability a consistent modifier makes things clear as mud, but I kind of understand for thematics and such, just have to make sure I can find both the stack block for the animal companion and the base creature for anything with powerful charge.
Thanks again.
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How do you qualify for the Legalistic Reading feat from Heroes of the High Court? It is legal per Additional Resources but has a prerequisite of Scribe Scroll - which no PFS characters can have. And there does not appear to be a Clarification.
I'm asking "for a friend" who has a really great Prophet of Kalistrade he's bringing to PaizoCon.
(We will leave aside for the moment the issue of how difficult it is to actually use the feat - there is only a 25% chance for a 10th level caster to successfully use it on a first level scroll.)
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Recommendation that Mark Moreland's clarification to Irori's Sentinel Boon from Inner Sea Gods be added to the campaign clarification document. Thanks!
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Seeing as someone is asking for inner sea god boon fixes perhaps something can be done for these boons?
Pg. 6 - Andoletta: 2: Demanding Presence (Sp) You can cast silenced dictum once per day.
SLAs don't have components.
Pg. 8 - Ashava: 2: Moonlight (Sp) You can cast an enlarged sunbeam once per day.
Enlarge spell only works on close, medium, and long range spells. Sunbeam has a fixed range, so it doesn't apply.
Pg. 12 - Eritrice: 2: Unbeamed Eye (Sp) You can cast silenced true seeing three times per day. This ability is the equivalent of a 7th-level spell.
SLAs don't have components.
Pg. 14 - Immonhiel: 2: Swamp Healer (Sp) You can cast empowered heal 1/day.
You can only empower a spell with a randomly rolled output, not a fixed number like Heal.
Pg. 16 - Jaidz: 2: Courageous Roar (Sp) You can cast still greater heroism three times per day
SLAs don't have components.
Pg. 22 - Seramaydiel: 2: Quiet Muse (Sp) You can cast silenced brilliant inspiration three times per day.
SLAs don't have components.
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Could we get a clarification of the intended restriction on Kraken Caller wildshape please?
Wild Shape (Su): A kraken caller’s options for wild shape are limited to animals with the aquatic or water subtype or that have the amphibious special quality.
There are no animals with the water subtype, and no animals (not even amphibians) with the amphibious special quality. There are around 15 animals with the aquatic subtype across bestiaries 1 through 4.
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Would there be any way to get a clarification on how Wordstrike from Ultimate Magic is supposed to function?
Wordstrike (Su): At 3rd level, the sound striker bard can spend 1 round of bardic performance as a standard action to direct a burst of sonically charged words at a creature or object. This performance deals 1d4 points of damage plus the bard's level to an object, or half this damage to a living creature. This performance replaces inspire competence.
Nothing is said about range, damage type (presumed to be sonic but it's not explicit), or whether or not an attack roll or saving throw is involved.
Thanks in advance!
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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Would there be any way to get a clarification on how Wordstrike from Ultimate Magic is supposed to function?
Wordstrike (Su): At 3rd level, the sound striker bard can spend 1 round of bardic performance as a standard action to direct a burst of sonically charged words at a creature or object. This performance deals 1d4 points of damage plus the bard's level to an object, or half this damage to a living creature. This performance replaces inspire competence.Nothing is said about range, damage type (presumed to be sonic but it's not explicit), or whether or not an attack roll or saving throw is involved.
Thanks in advance!
Those questions should be addressed by the FAQ.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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Wordstrike != Weird Words, so how is that FAQ relevant?
Reading comprehension failure? I just saw sound striker and leaped to a conclusion.
Though I would probably use that FAQ as guidance for wordstrike (ranged touch attack with a range of 30 feet)
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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The swashbuckler deed opportune parry and riposte states:
At 1st level, when an opponent makes a melee attack against the swashbuckler, she can spend 1 panache point and expend a use of an attack of opportunity to attempt to parry that attack. The swashbuckler makes an attack roll as if she were making an attack of opportunity; for each size category the attacking creature is larger than the swashbuckler, the swashbuckler takes a –2 penalty on this roll. If her result is greater than the attacking creature's result, the creature's attack automatically misses. The swashbuckler must declare the use of this ability after the creature's attack is announced, but before its attack roll is made. Upon performing a successful parry and if she has at least 1 panache point, the swashbuckler can as an immediate action make an attack against the creature whose attack she parried, provided that creature is within her reach. This deed's cost cannot be reduced by any ability or effect that reduces the number of panache points a deed costs.
A riposte is a quick return thrust following a parry. Please specify that the riposte must be a melee attack, and not a ranged attack as the rules currently allow.
This might be more properly in the realm of an erratum.
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Venture-Captain, Nebraska—Omaha
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The swashbuckler deed opportune parry and riposte states:
At 1st level, when an opponent makes a melee attack against the swashbuckler, she can spend 1 panache point and expend a use of an attack of opportunity to attempt to parry that attack. The swashbuckler makes an attack roll as if she were making an attack of opportunity; for each size category the attacking creature is larger than the swashbuckler, the swashbuckler takes a –2 penalty on this roll. If her result is greater than the attacking creature's result, the creature's attack automatically misses. The swashbuckler must declare the use of this ability after the creature's attack is announced, but before its attack roll is made. Upon performing a successful parry and if she has at least 1 panache point, the swashbuckler can as an immediate action make an attack against the creature whose attack she parried, provided that creature is within her reach. This deed's cost cannot be reduced by any ability or effect that reduces the number of panache points a deed costs.A riposte is a quick return thrust following a parry. Please specify that the riposte must be a melee attack, and not a ranged attack as the rules currently allow.
This might be more properly in the realm of an erratum.
If someone wants to use their bow or rifle or crossbow or pistol to parry a melee attack then attempt an ranged attack (which provokes an AOO), I see no problem with that.
If someone wants to use their bow or rifle or crossbow or pistol to parry a melee attack then attempt an ranged attack (which provokes an AOO), I see no problem with that.
I seem to remember Legolas doing something like that a couple of times. I think I saw a couple of Amazons do the same thing in "Wonder Woman", which I saw yesterday.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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How do favored class bonuses that increase an oracle’s level for the purposes of determining her curse ability (changeling, gnome, halfling, tengu) interact with curses such as Blackened that add spells to the oracle’s list of spells known at specified oracle levels? Are the spells added as the highest level spell the oracle can cast when she gains the listed level (e.g. a halfling Blackened curse oracle who puts all of her favored class bonuses into increasing her level for determining the effects of her curse would count as a 15th level oracle at 10th level, would she add delayed blast fireball as a 5th level spell to her spells known)? Or does that favored class bonus have no effect on such curses?
How do favored class bonuses that increase an oracle’s level for the purposes of determining her curse ability (changeling, gnome, halfling, tengu) interact with curses such as Blackened that add spells to the oracle’s list of spells known at specified oracle levels? Are the spells added as the highest level spell the oracle can cast when she gains the listed level (e.g. a halfling Blackened curse oracle who puts all of her favored class bonuses into increasing her level for determining the effects of her curse would count as a 15th level oracle at 10th level, would she add delayed blast fireball as a 5th level spell to her spells known)? Or does that favored class bonus have no effect on such curses?
Well possibly you get in on your known earlier but still don't have the slot to cast it.
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Venture-Agent, Nebraska—Omaha
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Well possibly you get in on your known earlier but still don't have the slot to cast it.That would fall into the category of 'that favored class bonus has no effect on such curses'.
That's not exactly no effect. You can use spell trigger and spell completion items earlier. It is too small an effect to be particularly desirable.
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The vexing dodger is missing a fair bit of crunch from how its abilities work, leading to a lot of ambiguity.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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The vexing dodger is missing a fair bit of crunch from how its abilities work, leading to a lot of ambiguity.
Yeah, that one is bonkers.
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Quite a few times now somebody has taken me aside and asked me how the vexing dodger works.
I give some general advice and say explain the ambiguities at the beginning of each session and ask your GM, expect your answers to vary wildly, here's how I think I'd do it if asked right now. (I have not even been consistent with that answer)
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Speaking of hilariously squishy crunch, some guidance on how to interpret the Hunter class would be useful, regarding the skirmisher tricks. Apologies if this has been repeated upthread, but I searched and didn't find anything:
The animal companion can use skirmisher tricks when commanded, a number of times per day equal to half its Hit Dice plus its Wisdom modifier.
These are missing DCs, for starters, and it's also not clear how a number of them interact with the animal companion. Bolster Companion, Heel, and Sic 'Em could theoretically make sense if there was some guidance on how to swap the animal companion and the master in some way.