When can I use Guidance?

[SuperBidi]

Hi everyone,

I'm opening this thread to get your point of view.
In PF2, every +1 matters. And I have an issue with Guidance as I feel I don't use it enough. But there are situations where I don't know if I can use it or not.

For example, can I use Guidance on Recall Knowledge checks? Like, I hear about something I can make a Recall Knowledge check on, but I wait for the conversation to be over before casting Guidance and making the check. It seems supported by the rules but a bit weird for a behavior.
Another example: let's say there's a strange door with weird symbols on it. My character gets to look at it, and the DM tells me to roll an Arcana check. Can I use Guidance on this check or is it already too late?

I'd love to have your insight on what situations you would consider using Guidance as normal and in what situations you would consider it's not. Mostly because, as I play PFS, I don't want to have a long debate with the DM everytime I use it, so I'll stick with the situations most people here agree on.

As a side note, these questions are valid for any other kind of buffs, not only Guidance.

[KrispyXIV]

Considering the low action cost (1 action) and limitation on use (once per hour), as well as the limited marginal utility (same bonus as Aid but doesn't require a roll at a stage in the game where hitting DC 20 is still unreliable or critical failure is a significant risk), I personally as a GM would allow you to use it in all of the "Exploration Mode" style situations you described.

Really, with the once per hour limitation and non-stacking with Aid it has built in I think you should be able to apply it in pretty much any Exploration time-scale scenario you can remember to.

Sadly, none of that really helps for PFS. All of the above is subject to GM interpretation.

[Aratorin]

Recall Knowledge is an Action, that you have to intentionally take, so yes, of course you can Cast Guidance first.

[coriolis]

Personally, I would allow it on any action that can be resolved in a few seconds -- recalling a bit of information, opening a lock, jumping, applying first aid, etc.

However, I have seen GMs which are much more liberal. For instance, I recently played in a PFS scenario where you have to convince some local villagers to become Pathfinder sympathizers over many days. The GM allowed guidance to count for the daily Diplomacy check we had to make to rally them to our cause.

[kpulv]

SuperBidi wrote:

For example, can I use Guidance on Recall Knowledge checks? Like, I hear about something I can make a Recall Knowledge check on, but I wait for the conversation to be over before casting Guidance and making the check. It seems supported by the rules but a bit weird for a behavior.

Another example: let's say there's a strange door with weird symbols on it. My character gets to look at it, and the DM tells me to roll an Arcana check. Can I use Guidance on this check or is it already too late?

I think both those cases are appropriate uses of it. For the example of hearing something I can see guidance as taking a moment to clear your mind before thinking with a quick prayer or magic word. Depending on the situation, creatures familiar enough with magic would probably find that pretty standard. I suppose you could startle someone depending on how your verbal component sounds.

In the example of the strange door with weird symbols, I believe the 2e way to approach that situation is instead "You see a strange door with weird symbols, you can try a recall knowledge arcana to see if you recognize anything," and then at that point go ahead and cast guidance and try the recall knowledge.

I've been pretty open ended with how the players in my game use it. I think I've only denied it for checks that are resolving something that narratively takes an entire day such as exploring a huge area on a map with a single roll. I feel like guidance has to apply on something specific that the character is doing in a brief moment, and shorter than the one hour cooldown, but I'm only basing that off of experiences in other games with similar abilities/spells and I'm not sure if that's a fair restriction either.

[SuperBidi]

From your messages, it looks to me I can use it more often than I currently do without pissing most DMs and players. I'll use it on more checks in the future.

Thanks for your help.

[HumbleGamer]

Since its duration, I'd say any action which requires from 0 to 6 seconds.

One of the best cantrip, since he fills too good whatever the class you intend to use.