how exactly does the concentrate trait work


Pathfinder Second Edition General Discussion


The book just says "An action with this trait requires a degree of mental concentration and discipline". Do you have to spend an action to keep it running every round?


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No, not unless there's further language saying so. It's only during the doing of that action that there's concentration, which can be brief.


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For example, you can't rage and use any actions with the Concentrate trait at the same time.


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A lot of traits are simply a tag that is given to something - an action or spell or piece of equipment. By themselves, these traits don't do anything. They are simply a way of designating which things are affected by other rules. For example (as Totally Not Gorbacz said) the Concentrate trait on actions interacts with the Rage rules, and Manipulate interacts with Attack of Opportunity.

There are other traits (notably weapon traits such as Agile or Backswing) that do have rules directly associated with them.


Yqatuba wrote:
The book just says "An action with this trait requires a degree of mental concentration and discipline". Do you have to spend an action to keep it running every round?

It depends on the action.

Sustain a Spell has the Concentrate trait. The 1-action spent on Sustain a Spell accounts for the time spent concentrating.

Cast a Spell has no traits by itself and the components (somatic, verbal, material, focus) that make up the casting of a spell have traits that apply. Verbal components have the Concentrate trait. So casting a 2-action Heal requires concentration to speak the verbal components, but that action is represented by the 2-actions spent on casting Heal.

If you Cast a Spell to cast Bless, it has the Concentrate trait by virtue of the verbal component, but its duration is 1 minute, and you don't need to spend an action every round to keep it going. It does, however, have a special Sustain a Spell action that can be used during the duration, but other than that, the concentration is done once the spell is cast.

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