Opening Roar clarification - Two, Three or Four?


Playtest General Discussion

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Text for reference. Notably, not a free action, so it doesn't run into trigger issues.

OPENING ROAR wrote:

At the start of a combat encounter, if you are aware of your foes and aren't attempting to Sneak or Hide, you can roll Intimidation for your initiative and can use the result to demoralize one foe within range.

Additionally, if you have the Battle Cry feat, you can Demoralize up to two creatures within 60 feet of you who you're aware of.

So my question is... how does this feat actually function if you have Battle Cry? Does it:

A) Let you demoralize up to two creatures within 60 feet, using your initiative result as the check result?

B) Let you demoralize one creature within range (30 or weapon range with Intimidating Shot) using your initiative result as the check result, then roll two more Intimidate checks with Battle Cry?

C) Let you demoralize one creature within range using your initiative result as the check result, then roll two more Intimidate checks, then use Battle Cry because you rolled initiative to demoralize one more creature (totalling 4).

D) Something else?


Exocist wrote:
A) Let you demoralize up to two creatures within 60 feet, using your initiative result as the check result?

It's A.

There's an issue in how they wrote Opening Roar as they don't specify that you can Demoralize as a free action. As written, you can use your initiative roll to Demoralize, but you don't Demoralize. That's obviously not what's intended.

With the mistake corrected, the feat makes much more sense, especially why they have to handle the interaction with Battle Cry as it is completely shut down by Opening Roar.

It should be flagged for errata.

Edit: I can see someone bringing the concept of "non actions" into the game. But that would create more issues than anything as the rules don't support that. For example "non actions" would not trigger reactions (Reflexive Strike says: "A creature within your reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it's using.") and would not be affected by their own traits (Concentrate states: "An action with this trait requires a degree of mental concentration and discipline.", Auditory states: "An action with the auditory trait can be successfully performed only if the creature using the action can speak or otherwise produce the required sounds."). So you can't Demoralize as a non action without having to rewrite the whole book.

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