While you are flatfooted, are you denied your dexterity bonus to reflex saves?
Assuming you are, if Caster casts fireball, you fail to identify it with spellcraft, are you then flatfooted against it? You don't have any reason to know it's a fireball so getting less damage from it due to quick reactions (dex bonus) shouldn't apply, but you know the opponent is there so you shouldn't be flatfooted against things they do unless they feint.
@Lady-J
Alright then.
Lets assume some GM has 'Dex bonus does not apply to Reflex saves when flatfooted' in their houserules, lets assume that GM plays things by RAW, their houserule is written so their houserule is part of the RAW at their table, and they don't houserule anything else. How would my second question work out?
Assuming your GM has 'Dex bonus does not apply to Reflex saves when flat-footed' (which some rookie GMs mistakenly do, as do some who've been at it a while even), you automatically just voided RAW. Just saying it to let it be said, as Lady-J just quoted the RAW. It is now in houserule territory, not RAW, even if you write it down :)
For your second question: if you do that, the only people who are likely to get their Dex bonus on Reflex saves vs. spells are going to be bards, sorcerers, and other full-casters. They might have the Spellcraft to ID the spell as it hits, and a Dex bonus for the save. As Lady-J pointed out, evasion will be useless. Unless you have some form of Uncanny Dodge to help with that flat-footed issue.
Is your GM actively trying to buff the strongest classes, i.e. full casters, even more? Because that's what he's doing.
@Derklord
Purely hypothetical.
Ah as Lathiira states, this is point you need to go back to the author of the house rule, to see if they have considered the knock on effects of that rule. You have left the rule book behind and we cannot know the answer to your question.
To do so you probably need to know why the rule change was implemented (Does the author perceive it as an oversight of the rules or fix a problem or just 'feels right' or some other reason - each of these reasons could lead to a different answer).
That said - why do you feel like you have to ID a spell to not be flatfooted against it? I can (just - if I squint) see the justification for no dex to reflex when flatfooted (albeit I think it is a really bad rule) I can see no justification for needing to ID a spell. There's simply no precedence for it anywhere.
While you are flatfooted, are you denied your dexterity bonus to reflex saves?
Assuming you are, if Caster casts fireball, you fail to identify it with spellcraft, are you then flatfooted against it? You don't have any reason to know it's a fireball so getting less damage from it due to quick reactions (dex bonus) shouldn't apply, but you know the opponent is there so you shouldn't be flatfooted against things they do unless they feint.
So actually... being flat-footed doesn't deny you dex bonus to saves.
A character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed, unable to react normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to AC and Combat Maneuver Defense (CMD) (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity, unless he has the Combat Reflexes feat or Uncanny Dodge class ability.
Characters with Uncanny Dodge retain their Dexterity bonus to their AC and can make attacks of opportunity before they have acted in the first round of combat.
Also, not identifying a spell doesn't make you flat-footed against it. Outside of specific special abilities that might tell you that you make an opponent flat-footed, you are normally only flat-footed at the start of combat until you take your first action.
So even if your GM did rule that being flat-footed denied dex to reflex saves (which it doesn't) you would still get to make the save (just without that bonus) and not identifying the spell as it was cast at you does not make you flat-footed. If it did it would be mentioned in the rules some place, and it is not.
That said - why do you feel like you have to ID a spell to not be flatfooted against it? I can (just - if I squint) see the justification for no dex to reflex when flatfooted (albeit I think it is a really bad rule) I can see no justification for needing to ID a spell. There's simply no precedence for it anywhere.
It's a purely thematic justification with no rules or balance backing.
If you don't know what the spell is, you have no reason to aim dodge something that could just as easily be CLW or dancing lights as far as you're concerned. Imagine pointing a gun at someone who doesn't know what a gun is. Would they dodge? No. Same reason why someone who doesn't know what spell is wouldn't dodge.The former question was what I was really after, the latter was just an interesting query to me.
If you see the ground opening up below you, you don't need to know if it's even a spell in the first place - you want to jump away from there.
If you see grappling vines sprout around you, you don't need to know what exactly the spell does - you try not to get caught by them. If a glowing fiery small orb flies by you and then expands into a ball of fire, you don't care what exactly it is, you try not to get hurt.