Since the effect of Ability Mastery lasts for 24 hours before being renewed in a 10 minute ritual, is it even active long enough if repeatedly applied to the same ability score to be considered a permanent increase, much like an enhancement bonus increasing magic item.
For the sake of clarity, here's the text for Ability Mastery
Prerequisite(s): Use Magic Device 3 ranks, base Fortitude saving throw bonus +4.
Benefit(s): Once per day, you can focus your thoughts for 10 minutes on a suit of magic armor or a wondrous item that has a transmutation spell of 2nd level or higher listed in its construction requirements and that occupies a slot on your body. At the end of the meditation, you gain a +2 enhancement bonus to one ability score of your choice. This benefit lasts for 24 hours. You must wear the item in order to gain this benefit; if the item is removed before this feat’s benefit ends, the benefit is immediately lost and cannot be regained until 24 hours have passed since the feat’s last activation. You can gain only one benefit from this feat at a time.
So, if applied to Intelligence, would this be effectively the same as a headband of vast intelligence +2 if you string activations within the 24 hour period?
What issue being temporary for 23.99 hrs a day are you hoping to fix by being permanent for 24 hrs a day?
I assume, since he specified Intelligence, he is trying to get skill ranks from it similar to how a headband of vast intelligence grants skill ranks after 24 hours.
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Unfortunately, no. It's not on long enough to be considered a permanent bonus. It's just an extremely long duration half strength version of an enhancement spell.
As a house rule I would let you buy feats using the ability prerequisites, but no bonus skill ranks. And if for any reason the ritual wasn't done for a day you would lose access to the feat until your score is restored.
So I have to ask does pathfinder change how x/day abilities work from 3.5? Since this might change things, in 3.x those abilities started a timer once you used a usage it was 24 hours till your uses came back, not the next morning. If that's how this works then yeah it is sadly not permanent. However if it just resets in the morning one could manage to swing it around using odd timings to keep it active.
However ask your GM if he is fine with it counting honestly.
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Technically it is permanent since it lasts for 24 hours a day. However there are some issues with using it for inteligence and getting skill ranks.
Say day one you use it and select a skill. Except you only gain access for 0 seconds since it is only permanent at 24 hours. And then it takes another 24 hours to get it to be permanent.
So no skill ranks. But you could use it to qaulify for feats with an ability requirement. You just couldnt use them if you dont use your ability boost.
Owner - D20 Hobbies
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in 3.x those abilities started a timer once you used a usage it was 24 hours till your uses came back, not the next morning.
I believe you are remembering incorrectly. In 3.5 FAQ, they specified that everything came back at the same time but "a GM could change that if they felt the players were exploiting the system".
Unfortunately it seems my 2008 thread that spawned 50 or so FAQ from WotC just before 4e release has been lost to time. All remaining links to the content is now dead. Anyone have an archive of my thread and/or the WotC responses?
What issue being temporary for 23.99 hrs a day are you hoping to fix by being permanent for 24 hrs a day?I assume, since he specified Intelligence, he is trying to get skill ranks from it similar to how a headband of vast intelligence grants skill ranks after 24 hours.
*cough* She. But yes, that's basically what I'm trying to work out.
Unfortunately, no. It's not on long enough to be considered a permanent bonus. It's just an extremely long duration half strength version of an enhancement spell.
As a house rule I would let you buy feats using the ability prerequisites, but no bonus skill ranks. And if for any reason the ritual wasn't done for a day you would lose access to the feat until your score is restored.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. In fact, I think that's how most prerequisites work as well, given how ranks in Fly work, and I think this even works with stuff like Barbarian Rage and Alchemist Mutagen. The confusion was mostly whether it was permanent enough to start affecting stuff like resource pools and skill ranks, or even languages known. Which, yeah, I think it doesn't. I mostly wanted to see what others thought.
in 3.x those abilities started a timer once you used a usage it was 24 hours till your uses came back, not the next morning.I believe you are remembering incorrectly. In 3.5 FAQ, they specified that everything came back at the same time but "a GM could change that if they felt the players were exploiting the system".
Unfortunately it seems my 2008 thread that spawned 50 or so FAQ from WotC just before 4e release has been lost to time. All remaining links to the content is now dead. Anyone have an archive of my thread and/or the WotC responses?
May have been 3.0 with Deities and Demigods is where I spotted the rule.
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Owner - D20 Hobbies
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Loved that book (3e Deities and Demigods), I used the Berserk PrC on page 201.
There is a blurb about that on page 30, but it seems specific to the deities use of their powers. It's a couple pages after the section on them being 60th level creatures and hugely powerful with 300,000 xp at their disposal to make items and other such.
Why does this FAQ not apply?
Where is the general rule that you do not gain skill ranks when you temporarily increase intelligence?
I mean cats grace has a specific clause preventing you, and the headband tells you how it handles the skill increases, but this ability doesn't so you get the skill increase, right?
Why does this FAQ not apply?
Where is the general rule that you do not gain skill ranks when you temporarily increase intelligence?
I mean cats grace has a specific clause preventing you, and the headband tells you how it handles the skill increases, but this ability doesn't so you get the skill increase, right?
That's actually an interesting FAQ. It does seem to suggest that, as a bonus lasting for a lot longer than the spells and without the specific clause of the headbands on how you gain the increase, that Ability Mastery might grant you a permanent increase.
Nice.
They don't waste words on every thing that could give a bonus to Int to say you can't get ranks for temporary bonuses.
So the FAQ must apply. There is no general rule stating that it doesn't apply to skill ranks. And I don't see how you can extrapolate a general rule from rules that are clearly specific to their source (headbands and cats grace).
I can't even see much of a basis for inferring such a rule. The FAQ kills any argument based on the wording in ability score bonuses.
If that is right, then even if ability mastery only lasted for 10 minutes, for those 10 minutes you should get bonus skill ranks.