Paizo Please Fix List - A Running List

[Nelroy]

I would love to see a thread that just includes direct feedback to Paizo and doesn't get drowned with spats, complaints and unnecessary reply chains. Perhaps this can be it!

My main constructive criticism here: The guts of the rulebook are solid, but there is an abundance of confusing and contradictory language throughout the rulebook and it needs fixing. I understand we are in playtest, but the rulebook is riddled with confusing language, discrepancies, and conflicting information. We are also given a lot of specific mechanics in great detail, but also areas where specific care really needed and not at all present.

Difficult to playtest if mechanics to be tested are not clear.

Ground rules that i think will help keep this useful:
- Keep it constructive... leave emotions out please.
- Site your sources - Include Page Numbers/Book being referenced
- Be as specific as you can without getting too lost in minutia... cut to the heart of the issue you are presenting.
- Let Paizo editors find misspellings/grammar mistakes, but let's point out confusing verbage that makes a game rule/mechanic unclear or able to be interpreted in multiple ways.
- If you feel the rulebook is missing something; i.e. - a specific mechanic/or mechanic that appear broken, a useful table, etc. feel free to present that.
- Limit replies. And certainly only reply if you have a specific answer you can back up with sited reference (Book, Page Number, Official Errata, etc.)
- No RAI battles. We need specific fixes/answers to specific issues/questions. And the Specific overrides General convention (Rulebook 299) Paizo has supplied us should also apply to them as game developers. Let's challenge Paizo to get both clear and specific with their product and push them to make a great product.

I’ll post a few below to get it started.

Please post and (to the best of your ability) be specific, clear and concise (admittedly not one of my strengths).

Paizo friends - feel free to post replies / answers if you have them. I have really enjoyed your past products and would like to see PF2.0 be a success.

[Nelroy]

WEAPON TRAIT - DEADLY

Traits - Rulebook 415
&
Weapon Traits - Rulebook 182

“Deadly On a critical hit, a weapon with this trait adds a weapon
damage die of the listed size. This damage increases to two dice if the weapon is master quality and three dice if the weapon is legendary. For instance, a master-quality rapier deals 2d6 additional piercing damage on a critical hit.“

Conflicting info:
Weapon Table, Rapier entry - Rulebook 180

The table list the deadly damage die as d8.

Clarification required:
Is rapier deadly d6 or deadly d8?

[Nelroy]

This would be incredibly useful for me as both DM and PC:

Conditions Table
- A table with cliff notes description of each Condition, how it is negated, and page number to the condition.

[Nelroy]

This would be incredibly useful for me as both DM and PC:

Master Table with Actions/Activities.
- I would love to see a table that players and DM can reference with ease and for quick reference of all common actions/activities as well as those available via skills and feat.
- This grid should include a brief description of the activity (similar to the description of feats in the feat table in PF 1), number of associated actions, traits any prerequisites / requirements, and should be organized by type (common actions, skill based actions (broken out by skill), feat based skills, and page number where the full action’s description/mechanics can be found in the rulebook (bonus for digital version - page number a clickable link).

[Nelroy]

RELIEVING PERSISTENT DAMAGE - ACTION & DCs

Persistent Damage - Pg. 323

“You or an ally can spend actions to help you recover from persistent damage, such as casting healing spells or using Medicine to Administer First Aid against bleeding, dousing a flame, or washing off acid; successfully doing so reduces the DC of that condition’s flat check to 15 and usually lets you immediately attempt an extra flat check to end that persistent damage. The reduction to the DC lasts until you remove the persistent damage or gain another persistent damage condition with the same damage type.”

Couple issues below (1. Clarification on what actions can be taken to offer flat DC 15 check & 2. Conflicting Information-Sited below):

1)What Actions can be used to to offer flat DC 15 check?

Clarification required:
Is this saying that Administer First Aid can be used to douse flame/acid?
-or-
What action/activity do we take to Douse/Flame Acid?
-and-
What about other damage types like Positive/Negative Energy & Electricity?

2) Conflicting Info:
Administer First Aid - pg. 152
Persistent Damage - Pg. 323

Administer First Aid-
“Success The creature at 0 Hit Points gains 1 Hit Point, or you end the persistent bleed damage (see page 323).”

Persistent Damage Entry-
You or an ally can spend actions to help you recover from persistent damage, such as casting healing spells or using Medicine to Administer First Aid against bleeding, dousing a flame, or washing off acid; successfully doing so reduces the DC of that condition’s flat check to 15

Clarification(s) required:
-Does success at Administer First Aid end the condition or offer an immediate DC 15 flat check.
-if Administer first aid is not required to douse conditions other than bleed, is a check required to be made by the PC attempting to douse the condition? And if so, what is the skill associated with the check and does DC remain 15 per Administer First Aid precedent?

[Nelroy]

CLERIC FEAT: IMPROVED COMMUNAL HEALING

Improved Communal Healing - Rulebook 76

“You can grant the bonus healing from Communal Healing to any creature within the range of your heal spell instead of just yourself. You also get the benefit of Communal Healing when you target only yourself with a heal spell, though you must give the bonus healing to someone other than yourself.”

Confusion: Language is a little broad… “any creature”.

Clarification Required: For the first sentence: Is this just one other creature within range? Or any/all creature that is within range?

Someone in 2nd sentence seems to imply that that target applies to only one other creature.

[TintoTenga]

I greatly support the idea of this thread. I refrain from posting much in other threads because of how they tend to develop.

Nelroy wrote:

This would be incredibly useful for me as both DM and PC:

Conditions Table (...)

Master Table with Actions/Activities. (...)

Yes, this would be very convenient and would speed up gameplay considerably!

I would also like to see another one with all Traits that have rules associated with them.

[dnoisette]

Some things requiring clarification, in relation to and inspired from the Giant Barbarian Totem:

1) Are characters normally allowed to wield weapons that are smaller or larger than their size?
2) If they do so, do they take a penaly? What is it exactly?
3) Are there any benefits or side effects to wielding smaller/larger weapons than your size?
4) Do they have a different damage die?

There is little information in the core rulebook regarding PCs being allowed to wield under/oversized weapons. We don't even know if that is at all possible and what the consequences are.
In addition, this makes assessing the Giant Totem's overall usefulness and power a bit tricky.

Another one that needs to be clarified:
NATURAL MEDICINE (p.169)
The description states that "You can use this feat to heal a particular creature only once per day."
Does this mean you are not allowed to use the feat again on the same creature after it has been successfully healed or after you have tried only once?

[Nelroy]

WHAT EXACTLY ARE PHYSICAL ATTACKS & DO/CAN THEY INCLUDE SPELL ATTACKS THAT TARGET AC &/OR TAC?

The term Physical Attacks is never clearly defined. Needs to be defined so Mechanics are clear for the below reactions (or the Trigger language needs to be adjusted):

Shield Block Reaction Trigger - Rulebook 309

“Trigger - While you have your shield raised, you take damage from a physical attack.”

Defensive Roll Reaction Trigger - Rulebook 124 

“Trigger - A physical attack would reduce you to 0 Hit Points.”

CONFUSION: Do spells that deal damage and target AC or TAC trigger these reactions? (spells that could trigger the above reactions: Chill Touch, Acid Splash, Acid Arrow, Telekinetic Projectile).

Noteworthy Items:
“Spell Attacks” can be found in the Spells Chapter (Rulebook 197).

“Physical Damage” can be found in traits section (Rulebook 422).

“Physical Attack” is present in one other place (that i have found anyway) and that is while referencing Barbarian Spirit Totem’s ability to hit Incorporeal Creatures (Rulebook 56).

“Physical attack” is not included in the index or traits list and is not included in the Strike Action (Rulebook 308).

[Alchemaic]

PLEASE DO: Make the four floating ability score bonuses more obvious. Or, I guess, more obviously floating random bonuses not tied to class, background, ancestry, etc. Right now the section on character creation is the only place that those bonuses are listed, and it's not 100% crystal clear to someone reading that section that the bonuses aren't referring to the bonuses from other sources.

[RazarTuk]

Rarity, p. 10

Weapon Familiarity, pp. 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 37

Characters should not be granted specific access to uncommon items. I think that's fine with spells, but item rarity should strictly be determined at the setting level. For example, elven curve blades should probably be uncommon for anyone in the Five Kings Mountains, but common for anyone in Kyonin. Elves and half-elves shouldn't gain access to some secret elven black market where they can buy curve blades anyway, just because they got a feat.

Additionally, a clause should be added to the section on rarity to say that GMs are allowed to declare common items uncommon or vice versa, such as swapping the rarity of longswords and katanas for an East Asian themed game.

[Nelroy]

ROGUE CLASS FEAT: BLUDGEONER - MACE WEAPON GROUP

Rule Book 121

"You make brutal bludgeoning attacks that daze your foes. You can deal sneak attack damage with one-handed weapons of the club and mace groups even if they don’t have the agile or finesse trait."

No Mace Group in Weapons Section - Rule Book 180 - 183.

[Elleth]

Blood Magic, Sorcerer feat 8, page 132 wrote:

Anytime you cast a noncantrip spell while you have persistent bleed damage, you can give yourself or any target affected by that spell temporary Hit Points equal to 1d6 + the spell’s level.

Possibly reading it wrong but I don't think the or is clear enough in this case as to whether it's one individual or not. I'm also not clear on how it interacts with long-lasting AOE spells like Field of Life.

[Nelroy]

HALFLING SLING STAFF - CAN IT BE USED AS A MELEE WEAPON?

Uncommon Martial Ranged Weapons - Rulebook 182

Halfling Sling staff does not appear in any Melee Weapon lists, so is unclear if it can be used as a "staff"… and whether it should be considered a simple weapon when used this way.

[Starfox]

Elleth wrote:

Blood Magic, Sorcerer feat 8, page 132 wrote:

Anytime you cast a noncantrip spell while you have persistent bleed damage, you can give yourself or any target affected by that spell temporary Hit Points equal to 1d6 + the spell’s level.

Possibly reading it wrong but I don't think the or is clear enough in this case as to whether it's one individual or not. I'm also not clear on how it interacts with long-lasting AOE spells like Field of Life.

Also, can you take next round's bleed damage of these temporary Hp? I see no reason why you couldn't, but not all GMs might be so lenient.

[hyphz]

RELIEVING PERSISTENT DAMAGE - ACTION & DCs

Persistent Damage - Pg. 323

How do creatures act to reduce persistent damage? To what extent is the act of reducing persistent damage abstracted? (Can a fungus coated with acid wash it off?)

3D EVERYTHING

All material related to combat in 3D through flight or other means needs clarification.

REVERSE GRAVITY SPELL

If a Reverse Gravity spell does not cover the entire area between floor and ceiling, is there no falling damage or are there rules for calculating the remaining momentum after the transition plane?

States "You can move along the plane at which the two forms of gravity meet". What movement method and speed is used? Is it intended that a target can simply walk to the edge of the gravity field and then fall out?

CLASS FEATS AND MULTICLASSING

Is there a difference between being given a "class feat" and a "<name of your class> feat" (eg "fighter feat" or "sorcerer feat"), especially with respect to taking Class Dedication feats?

EXPLORATION MODE

Generally needs clarification and fixes.

[hyphz]

WOODEN ARMOR

Page 177: "suits of armor and weapons.. are made from ordinary, common materials like iron, leather, steel, and wood." A Druid has anathema against wearing metal armor. As such, precisely which armor can or cannot be made from wood is critically important to them. Please clarify which armor can be made of which normal material.

TUMBLE THROUGH

Tumble Through reads "you can try to move through the space of one enemy". Is this intended to indicate that if two enemies are next to each other, it is impossible to tumble past both?

Tumble Through states that you provoke reactions upon failure, but does not state that you do not do so on success. Does successfully Tumbling Through a character provoke their AoOs or other reactions?

Tumble Through states that on failure you "trigger reactions as if you had moved out of the square you started in". What if this space was not the space where the Acrobatics check was made?

GENERAL: LAST ACTION

Can the term "your last action" refer to an action taken in a previous round?

Can the term "your last action" refer to a reaction?

If the last action taken was a Dependent Ability, does the term "your last action" refer to the use of the dependent ability or to the most recently used dependent action? (Eg, after Savage Slice, is your "last action" considered to be Savage Slice, or Savage Slice's dependent Strike?)

[ikarinokami]

1. clarify when unarmed attacks are effected by class effects that affect weapons. it is currently very ambiguous when unarmed strike functions as a weapon and when it does not.

[hyphz]

REACTIONS

When a movement or other action ".. does not provoke reactions", does that include Readied actions? If so, how wide can the specifier of the trigger for the Readied action be? (If movement does not trigger reactions, does a readied action with the trigger ".. if an enemy ever exists on this space.." still fire?)

[hyphz]

META AWARENESS

- Are creatures aware of which other creatures can perform AoOs?
- Are creatures aware of which other creatures have inbuilt reactions other than AoOs?
- Are creatures aware of actions other creatures have readied?
- Are creatures aware of which other creatures will not die immediately upon reaching 0HP?
- Do creatures affected by spells or abilities with lasting effects conditional upon their action know those conditions?

[Starfox]

ikarinokami wrote:

1. clarify when unarmed attacks are effected by class effects that affect weapons. it is currently very ambiguous when unarmed strike functions as a weapon and when it does not.

Preferred solution: List Unarmed Attack in the weapon table, giving it all the interaction keywords. That way its not ambiguous how you use combat maneuvers.

[dragonhunterq]

Animal Companion - specialised companion RACER (page 286/7)
Currently grants Master rank in Fortitude, but companions get that by default just for becoming specialised companions, so it does nothing.

[DireLemming]

Multiclass Archetypes: Bard

EXPERT BARD SPELLCASTING:
"You become an expert in spell rolls and spell DCs for casting divine spells and in attacks you make with divine spells."

MASTER BARD SPELLCASTING:
"You become a master in spell rolls and spell DCs for casting divine spells and in attacks you make with divine spells."

Pretty sure these should grant increases in Occult spell-casting, not divine.