Simple Q&A by RAW for Pathfinder 4

[Savannah]

(This is a fairly high procedure thread; please read the entire instructions carefully before posting. Thanks.)

Ever have a simple, straight-forward rules question that you can’t figure out the answer to? Ask it here. No question is too simple. No more worrying about whether your question is “worth” starting a thread. Ask here and receive an answer. You are, of course, welcome to start a thread for your question, and if you think your question is subject to many interpretations or will start a debate, you are encouraged to start a new thread for it.

This thread will serve as a catch-all for simple, discreet questions that can be answered quickly according to the RAW (Rules As Written). This thread is for all simple RAW questions about Pathfinder.

If your question is about D&D 4e, ask here
If your question is about real world weapons and armor ask it here.
If your question is about homebrew rulings start a thread regarding it.
If you are looking for the meaning of an acronym or abbreviation look here.
If you want to find a certain feat or ability, Lists of Stuff and X stat to Y bonus are both useful threads.

The Procedure:

Do:
Label your questions with bold Q#s.
Label your answers with the bold Q# that you are responding to and/or quote the question.
Be sure that your answer is correct before you post it; if you are the least bit uncertain, just let it pass and get the next one.
Try to give your answers in as clear and straightforward terms as possible.
Feel free to quote or link to relevant rules in the SRD, Errata, or FAQ that supports your answer. (You may want to give your answer and then modify it to add support – otherwise someone else may answer while you’re assembling yours.)
Specify if your question is for a system other than Pathfinder (the default for this thread).

Don’t:
Ask Homebrew rules questions here.
Ask trick questions or attempt to “stump the panel,” so to speak.
Answer a question that’s already been recently answered.
Offer contradictions, clarifications, exceptions, or extensions of prior answers unless, in your opinion, the answer give is plainly and completely wrong.
Post to debate the answers given.
Post to carry on other conversations whether tangentially related or wholly unrelated.

Dispute Resolution Procedure:
If you dispute someone’s answer – meaning that they got it wrong in a critical fashion – post your answer and suggest that the original questioner start a thread to discuss it further if they want it hashed out.
If someone disputes your answer, don’t respond. Just wait to see if the original questioner starts a new thread to discuss it.
If your question leads to a disputed answer, start a new thread if you’d like it discussed further.

Here are some sample questions. “Bad” questions just mean they should be asked in their own thread where you can get many answers and opinions. “Good” questions just mean that these are the types of questions that are amenable to a quick straightforward answer (probably).

Sample “Bad” Questions:
How do I play Pathfinder? (Great question, but not for this thread.)
What is a good 10 level TWF build? (Far too broad and requires much opinion)
Which is better GURPS or D&D?

Sample “Good” Questions:
Q.1. Are there any Large for PC races?
Q.2. As a sorcerer/rogue, do I get to add sneak attack damage to my attack spells?
Q.3. What effect would Dispel Magic have on a golem or similar construct?
Q.4. Is there a feat that allows me to get a familiar?

{The first several versions of this thread seemed to run pretty efficiently, but if you have any comments about how this thread could be improved please PM me.}

The previous thread can be found here.

Please start over with the numbering.

[Psyren]

Previous Thread A1038/A0: This is a bit open-ended and so your best bet might be to make its own thread. Aside from resistance bonuses and saving throw feats, a cheap way for wizards to boost their saves in the early game is via their familiar (which they can release and replace later with a more generally useful one.) There are also racial and trait bonuses, which won't take up your feats or require spell slots or wealth.

[Kurald Galain]

Q1: The feat Empower Spell explicitly increases the dice by 50% and the modifiers by 50%. Suppose I am an orc-blooded sorcerer, level 6, casting empowered fireball (via a metamagic rod). Is it correct by strict RAW that I deal 9d6+13 damage now, i.e. 6d6 boosted to 9d6, +9 bonus from orc blooded, and this bonus increased by 50%?

[Spore]

A1 First of all, static numbers are not affected by Empower Spell.

Benefit: All variable, numeric effects of an empowered spell are increased by half including bonuses to those dice rolls.

So an Empowered Fireball cast on caster level 6 does 9d6+9 (because your dice are empowered, you deal extra damage from the Bloodline ability).

[Fenryr]

Q2

Enemy melee attack hits my PC with natural 20 (or exceeds the PC's AC). PC uses a Hero Point or Stagger-Proof boots (Immediate action and you may move up to 30 feet) to move away from enemy. The enemy still hits? What happens if it's a ranged attack or a spell?

[Kurald Galain]

Q3 If I understand the ability rules correctly, then if intelligence drain causes my wizard's int to drop below 11, I lose the ability to cast 1st-level wizard spells (since drain actually reduces the score), whereas with intelligence penalties and intelligence damage I retain full spellcasting ability albeit at a lower DC (since the only thing damage does is "apply a penalty to the skills and statistics that are based on that ability"). Is that correct or am I missing something?

[MizuDevil]

Q4:
Animal companion have this bonus in table:
Str/Dex Bonus: Add this modifier to the animal companion's Strength and Dexterity scores.
Is this just +1/+1 bonus on Str and Dex, or this is modifier that receives from every 2 ability score (12,14,16)?
Will it increase carrying capacity of companion or no?

[boriss283]

Q5 Hello. I just found hunger rules for undead creatures. And i want to know, what kind of undeads must eat ? For example i know that vampires and ghouls must eat, also in rules writen, that zombies must eat. But where can i found more accurate information abot it ? And there is Table: Withdrawal Penalties with a maximum 10 hunger fails. This is maximum penalties from hunger, or thay may be highter ?

[Psyren]

A2: Yes and yes, interrupting effects can mess with the flow of actions in a round. So moving away from someone, whether as a readied action or an immediate action, can cause their attack to whiff. Normally you would have to word this pretty well, but both effects simply let you move without specifying conditions so it should be fine.

A3: No, damage and penalties are treated just like drain, your ability score is lower. In general, temporary changes to ability scores work just like the permanent ones, they just use abbreviated language since they can fall off and be reapplied more easily mid-fight and so rebuilding your entire character can be a chore.

A4: It's the score, not the modifier. Yes, an increase in your companion's strength score will affect its carrying capacity even if it's an odd number.

A5: The rules apply to "carnivorous or life-draining" undead. This is intentionally broad so it can apply to a wide variety, but I would say that all the ones you listed should be included at a minimum. Note that zombies under someone's control (e.g. rebuked by a cleric) probably should not be able to succumb to hunger like this.

[MizuDevil]

Q6:
Animal have slots for magic items, wolf have this slot "belt (saddle)". Can wolf use other belts, or only saddle (Wolf is my companion mount and I want to increase its carrying capacity with Belt, Heavyload)?

[Psyren]

A6: That line means it has a belt slot, but it can only wear magic saddles there.

"Available slots followed by either “(saddle)” or “(horseshoes)” denote that creatures of that body type can only wear magic items in the appropriate slots as long as they are either saddles or horseshoes, respectively. (For instance, a hoofed quadruped can wear a saddle of the sky-river, but not a belt of dwarvenkind)."

However, that shouldn't stop you from asking your GM - just make a custom "Heavyload Saddle" that works just like the belt and you're good to go. You can even ask to enchant it as if it were a Belt of Physical Perfection too, and just pay to do so (along with the 50% markup.)

[Kurald Galain]

A3: No, damage and penalties are treated just like drain, your ability score is lower. In general, temporary changes to ability scores work just like the permanent ones, they just use abbreviated language since they can fall off and be reapplied more easily mid-fight and so rebuilding your entire character can be a chore.

Q7 Could you clarify this? The rulebook spells out a clear difference between ability damage (only penalizes rolls, drops you unconscious when an ability goes below one), ability penalties (only penalizes rolls, score cannot go below one), and ability drain (modify all statistics related to the ability). Are you suggesting that damage, drain, and penalties do the exact same thing?

[Psyren]

Q7 Could you clarify this? The rulebook spells out a clear difference between ability damage (only penalizes rolls, drops you unconscious when an ability goes below one), ability penalties (only penalizes rolls, score cannot go below one), and ability drain (modify all statistics related to the ability). Are you suggesting that damage, drain, and penalties do the exact same thing?

The FAQ I linked does clarify it. They state that the rulebook summarized in some places so you would not need to do a full rebuild - but in reality, temporary and permanent changes are meant to treated the same under the rules. A temporary penalty can make you unable to cast just like permanent drain can.

[Kurald Galain]

Q8 How does the samurai's Honor In All Things ability interact with the Community Minded trait?

[Psyren]

A8: It doesn't - Honor in All Things is linked to a specific check. ("Whenever the samurai makes a skill check or saving throw, he can call upon his honor as a free action to grant him a +4 morale bonus on the roll.") Making the bonus last longer doesn't do anything because the roll came and went. You're not making that same roll on subsequent rounds. Even if you're rolling against an ongoing effect, you would be using different/additional rolls to do it.

[Shadowscale]

Q9 Assimg a small and tiny character take the feat allowing one to ride mounts their own size category what default options are availed for them if they're cavaliers or Paladins?

[Psyren]

A9: Under Animal Companions, search for the phrase "Size Small." That should get you there.

For both classes, the list is basically any animal companion your GM lets you get away with, unless you're playing PFS.

[Qc Storm]

This thread smells fresh.

Q10

Sanguine Perfection looks like a functional Iron Heart Surge. A few things aren't entirely clear however. Do you ignore every effect on the list at the same time? So if you are both paralyzed and sleeping, you would shake off both temporarily?

Q11

Does Path of War still have the "initiator must be able to move" clause for maneuvers? Does anything prevent you using the maneuver once you are petrified/asleep/paralyzed? Can you use the immediate action as you are struck by the status effect (as soon as you know what's happening, but before you are rocky and immobile).

Q12

If you are currently under the effect of the maneuver and receive a new status effect (say, daze), do you ignore it too?

[Artillery]

Q13: A character who was base Large size manifested Metamorphosis to go up 2 size categories and used the Primal Warrior Stance which gives an effective increase of +2 size categories to weapon dmg. This character uses natural attacks such as claws and had Stong Jaw cast on them

Would they benefit from the specific x2 dmg for Gargantuan and Colossal creature clause of Strong Jaw or just gain the +2 real categories and +2 effective categories due to how size increases in Pathfinder don't stack?

Q14a: Can a Psion uses True Metamorphasis to change the type of their Psicrystal to Humanoid and then use True Mind Switch to swap bodies with their psicrystal.

Q14b: If so does the Psion now in his Psicrystal's body gain the extraordinary abilities of a Psicrystal. Eg, Natural Armor adjustment, Intelligence adjustment, Alertness, Improved Evasion, Personality, Sighted, Telepathic speech, and Power Resistance?

Q15a: If a Psion Egoist uses the discipline ability Shared Effect to share personal range Psychometabolic powers do the additional targets need to be willing?

Q15b: Does this mean that due to not having power resistance or saves for personal powers can this be used on creatures immune to magic/powers such as Golems? An example being changing the type of a Golem to humanoid using shared True Metamorphasis to remove immunity to ability damage and then using shared Psychofeedback to increase strength by 1 and reduce charisma by 1.

[Psyren]

Sanguine Perfection - while being worded far better than Iron Heart Surge was - still needs some time in the editing room

A10: You ignore as many as your key initiation modifier allows. For example, if your KIM is Charisma and you have 14 Cha, and you were suffering from 3 conditions on the list, it would only suppress/remove two of them. (Presumably, you would get to choose which two, but this is not clear.)

A11: Yes, Path of War retains the "you must be able to move" clause. This is a dysfunction as written, or at the very least makes SP much weaker as you currently need to initiate it in response to something that would paralyze you, knock you unconscious, daze/stun you etc.

A12: Yes - as long as your KIM is high enough, you can suppress a new condition as it comes in. However, it's not clear whether being subject to the same condition twice counts against this limit (e.g. your SP is currently suppressing a vampire's energy drain effect on you, and the monster slams you again.)

I'll be dropping these off in the PoW thread momentarily for some dev insight.

A13: Metamorphosis was written prior to the global [url=http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9t5u]Pathfinder ruling on size increases.[/quote] Metamorphosis will still work fine as it is a true 2x size increase, however two of your other options (Strongjaw and Primal Warrior Stance) will no longer stack as they are both "effective increases" - thus you will only gain the better one. In addition, your damage dice will now increase according to a streamlined formula, so please consult this when determining the final result based on your weapon.

A14a: As written, you don't actually lose your previous type with True Metamorphosis, you only gain a new one (which you can then swap around during the power's duration.) Your psicrystal would thus be a "construct humanoid" and retain its mind-affecting immunity. Assuming your GM rules otherwise however, you would be able to do this.

A14b: Yes, you would gain these abilities if the switch is allowed.

A15a: As written no, nor would they be subject to PR. This is likely a dysfunction.

A15b: See A14a - as written True Metamorphosis does not actually remove a construct's previous type, so you could not turn off their racial immunities in this way.

[MizuDevil]

Q16:
Dhampirs with subraces have alternate weakness, this weakness replace Light Sensitivity?

Q17:
Bard have Perform (Cha) skill as class, he can choice one perform ass class skill, or any perform he takes give him +3 from class?

Q18:
Can dhampir with feat Natural Charmer take 20 when use skills on PC character?

[Psyren]

A16: Yes.

A17: Each one you take gets the bonus, but you have to buy them individually. For example, both Perform (Dance) and Perform (Sing) are class skills for you, but you won't get the bonus until you actually spend a skill rank on each of them. If you only spend a skill rank on Perfom (Dance), the bonus will be 4+Cha (3+1), while your Perform (Sing) bonus will be 0+Cha.

A18: Yes, but since this only works if they are already friendly, most of the time it's just getting them to provide a little extra help. It can be useful but not overpowered. EDIT: I just realized you were asking if you can use these skills ON a PC - the answer is no, the only way to convince other PCs of something is through roleplay.

[MizuDevil]

Q18a:
I know that PC cant use Diplomacy and Intimidate to affect another character (Only demoralize), but what about bluff? Can I convince that something is truth?
Can I use it on PC (If no, can I somewhere read about that)?

[Psyren]

A18a: You can Bluff PCs - however, only NPCs have "attitudes" so Natural Charmer is unusable against other players.

[Qc Storm]

Sanguine Perfection - while being worded far better than Iron Heart Surge was - still needs some time in the editing room

A10: You ignore as many as your key initiation modifier allows. For example, if your KIM is Charisma and you have 14 Cha, and you were suffering from 3 conditions on the list, it would only suppress/remove two of them. (Presumably, you would get to choose which two, but this is not clear.)

A11: Yes, Path of War retains the "you must be able to move" clause. This is a dysfunction as written, or at the very least makes SP much weaker as you currently need to initiate it in response to something that would paralyze you, knock you unconscious, daze/stun you etc.

A12: Yes - as long as your KIM is high enough, you can suppress a new condition as it comes in. However, it's not clear whether being subject to the same condition twice counts against this limit (e.g. your SP is currently suppressing a vampire's energy drain effect on you, and the monster slams you again.)

I'll be dropping these off in the PoW thread momentarily for some dev insight.

Drop me a PM when you get an answer.

[Psyren]

Drop me a PM when you get an answer.

Answer was posted - here you go.

(My PM box keeps filling up so I try to avoid using it when possible.)

[Kurald Galain]

Q19 Does a masterwork gauntlet give me +1 to hit?

[Psyren]

A19: If you're attacking with the gauntlet, yes. And it won't stack with any enhancement bonus on the gauntlet.

[Mehangel]

Q20: According to d20pfsrd.com:

Undead "Cannot heal damage on its own if it has no Intelligence score, although it can be healed. Negative energy (such as an inflict spell) can heal undead creatures. The fast healing special quality works regardless of the creature's Intelligence score."

The specific verbiage seems to imply that not all negative energy heals undead. If a spell or ability dealing negative energy damage does not explicitly state that it heals undead, does it?

[Psyren]

A20: You can read it either way because English is funny like that. It can be read as "Negative energy (all types, such as this example of negative energy)" or as "Negative energy (that works like this example of negative energy)". Judging by most of the examples I've seen though, the first was the intended one. What negative energy specifically were you wondering about?