Simple Q&A by RAW for Pathfinder 4

[Psyren]

A143: Yes - VMC Ranger from Pathfinder Unchained will give you a favored enemy at 7 without actually leaving your primary class.

[Unbodied]

Q144

Can you repair a Psicrystal with a Craft: Sculpture check?

[Kurald Galain]

Q145: if I prepare a spell and don't cast it for a week, it stays prepared, correct? So using the woad paint above, I can prepare one emergency escape spell with still and eschew, and only pay the woad cost once until I actually use it?

[JDL]

Q 146

A dwarf fighter in full plate, a human cleric in a breastplate, a halfling rogue in a chain shirt and an elf wizard in clothes all get tossed off the side of a ship into deep water, falling 10 feet before they hit the surface. How far do each of them sink underwater?

[Psyren]

A144: Nearly any craft skill will do but it needs to be one you can use with the Craft Construct feat, and you will need that feat. Otherwise you'll need a power to do it, however the psicrystal's "share powers" ability means you can heal it even with things that don't heal constructs like Heal Injuries, or personal range powers like Natural Healing. If it's not your psicrystal, you're stuck with things like repair damage or make whole.

A145: Prepared spells stay that way until cast, so it will be active as long as you want it to be. Not sure where the week is coming from. The paint can be washed off you or otherwise removed however if not cast.

A146: There's no rules for how fast things sink AFAIK. (Maybe in Skull & Shackles or one of the other boat/pirate supplements?)

[Kurald Galain]

Q147: If I use the Elemental Body spell, can I still cast spells in my new form? Why or why not? What about Beast Shape and Undead Anatomy?

[Psyren]

A147:

Elemental Body: Yes (elementals have hands and generally can speak.)
Beast Shape: No (animals cannot speak and have no hands. Some magical beasts can speak but generally still have no hands.)
Undead Anatomy: Depends (see below.)

In all cases you will either need Eschew Materials, Natural Spell or a similar ability for any spells that require material components of any kind, otherwise your material components meld into your form and are inaccessible. (Of course, you can always drop your component pouch before shifting and then pick it up also, or hand one to a friend etc.)

The rule that governs this is here:

When you cast a polymorph spell that changes you into a creature of the animal, dragon, elemental, magical beast, plant, or vermin type, all of your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function). Items that require activation cannot be used while you maintain that form. While in such a form, you cannot cast any spells that require material components (unless you have the Eschew Materials or Natural Spell feat), and can only cast spells with somatic or verbal components if the form you choose has the capability to make such movements or speak, such as a dragon. Other polymorph spells might be subject to this restriction as well, if they change you into a form that is unlike your original form (subject to GM discretion). If your new form does not cause your equipment to meld into your form, the equipment resizes to match your new size.

Basically the rule is saying "if you take a form that can't speak, you can't cast V spells, and if you take a form without hands, you can't cast S spells."

So back to Undead Anatomy - The majority of the ones you can turn into have hands (because of the "vaguely humanoid-shaped" requirement) so you're good from a somatic perspective. Some can also speak (e.g. ghouls, mummies), letting you cast in these forms - however, some cannot (skeletons, zombies) and therefore you would be unable to cast in those forms.

[Bucky]

Q148: Is it safe to apply contact poisons to my natural weapons, assuming I have Poison Use as a class feature?

[Unbodied]

Q149

The dpfsr page for the Pathfinder Pouch lists both the market price and crafting cost of said item as 1000 gp. Is this a typo?

[Psyren]

Can you link to the item you're talking about? I don't see "pathfinder pouch" anywhere.

EDIT: Never mind, I found it! It appears to be an item from 3.5 Golarion; I don't have that book so I couldn't tell you whether it was a typo on the PFSRD or an error printed verbatim. Either way it should be half-priced as you noted, but the item's entry takes precedence.

Maybe it'll get updated in Ultimate Intrigue...?

[JDL]

A 148: Probably yes

Referring to the Adder Strike feat, the text implies that protecting yourself from exposure to contact poison would allow you to apply a poison to a natural attack as a swift action. Obviously any other poison such as injury would be unaffected by application to a natural attack, since these have to be administered as part of an attack that does damage to the target, not simply smeared on the skin. Thus we can assume that without Adder Strike, applying a contact poison to a natural attack (such as an elbow, knee or foot protected by clothing) as a standard action does not run into trouble.

Q 150

Similar to the Pathfinder Pouch question, the Vial of Efficacious Medicine has a listed price of 700 gp but a construction price of 4,500 gp. Is this a typo from missing a 0 or correct RAW?

[Psyren]

A148: Actually Adder Strike pretty much says this is not safe. You can only do it safely if your natural weapon or unarmed strike is covered, and natural weapons other than slams are unlikely to be (e.g. claws will poke through gloves, there's no way to cover a tail or bite etc.) Your safest bet is to use injury poison.

A149: See previous post.

A150: The consensus over on the boards seems to be that the 700 is grossly underpriced and should either be 7k or even 9k. But Player Companions pretty much never see errata/FAQ so this will require houserules.

[Unbodied]

Q151

Do masterwork tools give a +2 bonus on checks to craft magic items?

[Firest Kathon]

A151: Yes. The skill check to craft a magic item is a normal skill check. Note that the SRD only lists (masterwork) tools for Craft skills, but not for the Spellcraft skill.

[Griffin]

Q152

Oh mighty wise gods of the forum, I ask thee, is the damage of holy/unholy weapons (the extra 2d6 damage) considered some kind of energy damage? does DR/ like adamantite/cold iron/- aply to it?

[Firest Kathon]

A152: The additional damage has the same type as the normal damage of the weapon (e.g. slashing in case of a longsword). It is not energy damage, and it does not overcome any material-based damage reduction (e.g. cold iron) unless the weapon is of the correct material. However, a weapon with the Holy/Unholy enchantment is considered good-/evil-aligned, respectively, and therefor overcomes the corresponding alignment-based damage reduction.

[Barstro]

Barbed arrows

Benefit(s) When a barbed arrow is attached to a length of silk rope and fired from a bow, the arrow's range increment is reduced to 30 feet, but it gains the grapple special weapon quality.

Grapple: On a successful critical hit with a weapon of this type, you can grapple the target of the attack. The wielder can then attempt a combat maneuver check to grapple his opponent as a free action. This grapple attempt does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the creature you are attempting to grapple if that creature is not threatening you. While you grapple the target with a grappling weapon, you can only move or damage the creature on your turn. You are still considered grappled, though you do not have to be adjacent to the creature to continue the grapple. If you move far enough away to be out of the weapon’s reach, you end the grapple with that action. Source: Ultimate Combat.

Q153a
Can the silk rope be reused even though the arrow is destroyed upon a hit.

Q153b
How does the grapple actually work? Assuming I crit, do I have to hold the rope until the beginning of my next turn and then drop it as a free action? Am I considered grappled while doing so?

[Psyren]

A152: If it's not energy damage then it's weapon damage as written, because properties like that (e.g. bane, holy and vicious) say "it {i.e. the weapon} deals extra xd6 damage." Therefore it's the same type of damage as the weapon bearing it unless otherwise noted.

Ninja'd

A153a: No, silk rope is a separate item and thus would survive the arrow's destruction (and be reusable.)

A153b It would work just like grappling with a reach weapon e.g. kusarigama. Yes, you're considered grappled, yes you have to maintain your hold on the rope etc.

[Unbodied]

Q154

Does the base Psion only get one Craft: X skill as a class skill?

[Barstro]

Q155

Benefit: If the arrow hits, it makes a trip attack against the target with a CMB of +5; the target falls prone if it fails its check, but if it succeeds it cannot attempt to trip you in return.

Is the CM check a 1d20+5 to beat CMD? That seems low for a 25gp arrow that otherwise does no damage. But, tying it into the player's CMB+5 seems OP.

[Qc Storm]

Q156

About confusion. The worst roll states that the victim must "attack the nearest creature". What counts as an attack in this case? Must wizards fling spells? Nuke the battlefield with a fireball? How is the cast spell decided, if any? Or must they charge bravely charge the nearest target with a dagger?

[JDL]

A 156: The assumption is that Confusion's effect refers to the Attack Action.

Per the SRD:

Attack Action: An attack action is a type of standard action. Some combat options can modify only this specific sort of action. When taking an attack action, you can apply all appropriate options that modify an attack action. Thus, you can apply both Greater Weapon of the Chosen and Vital Strike to the same attack, as both modify your attack action. You can apply these to any combat option that takes the place of a melee attack made using an attack action (such as the trip combat maneuver), though options that increase damage don't cause attacks to deal damage if they wouldn't otherwise do so (such as Vital Strike and trip). You can't combine options that modify attack actions with standard actions that aren't attack actions, such as Cleave.

Thus attempting an unarmed strike would qualify, as would a melee or ranged attack with a weapon, or a combat maneuver in place of an attack. However using a standard action ability such as performing a Cleave, casting a spell, using a skill such as Intimidate etc. would not count as an attack action.

[Kurald Galain]

A156 This is admittedly a bit of a gray area, but I would rule that a confused creature would use what counts as a straightforward attack for that creature. So a barbarian would charge, a blaster wizard would cast his favorite blasting spell, and so on, but no clever combos or strategies. On the other hand, a dominated creature would attack to the best of his ability, including whatever tricks, novas, and trump cards he has available.

[Psyren]

A154: No, every class writes "Craft (Int)" that way and it's meant to apply to any/all of the craft skills. Basically you're supposed to treat it like "Knowledge (all skills, taken individually.)"

A155: It's 1d20+5, which yes, is pretty weak. I'm not sure where you're getting that the arrow does no damage though, it has to hit to make the trip attempt. The idea is you can put enough arrows in the air that one of them will be a 20 eventually.

[Barstro]

A155: It's 1d20+5, which yes, is pretty weak. I'm not sure where you're getting that the arrow does no damage though, it has to hit to make the trip attempt. The idea is you can put enough arrows in the air that one of them will be a 20 eventually.

From the creator, apparently. Just wasn't sure if there had been real rulings.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2k1r0?El...w-deals-damage

[Psyren]

From the creator, apparently. Just wasn't sure if there had been real rulings.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2k1r0?El...w-deals-damage

Even if that was the intent (and keep in mind the "creator" isn't actually a Paizo designer, this was created as part of the RPG Superstar fan design project), that doesn't mean that's what made it to the finished product. It's a touch ambiguous, but without text explicitly saying the arrow deals no damage (for example like the dye arrow and tangleshot arrow have), they inherit the damage from a bow like every other arrow.

[Qc Storm]

A 156: The assumption is that Confusion's effect refers to the Attack Action.

Per the SRD:

Attack Action: An attack action is a type of standard action. Some combat options can modify only this specific sort of action. When taking an attack action, you can apply all appropriate options that modify an attack action. Thus, you can apply both Greater Weapon of the Chosen and Vital Strike to the same attack, as both modify your attack action. You can apply these to any combat option that takes the place of a melee attack made using an attack action (such as the trip combat maneuver), though options that increase damage don't cause attacks to deal damage if they wouldn't otherwise do so (such as Vital Strike and trip). You can't combine options that modify attack actions with standard actions that aren't attack actions, such as Cleave.

Thus attempting an unarmed strike would qualify, as would a melee or ranged attack with a weapon, or a combat maneuver in place of an attack. However using a standard action ability such as performing a Cleave, casting a spell, using a skill such as Intimidate etc. would not count as an attack action.

Does that include Full Attacks and Charges?

[JDL]

Does that include Full Attacks and Charges?

By RAW, no. By RAI, it's the DM's call. The wording doesn't cover any action type other than attacking, so by strict wording it wouldn't even cover performing a Move action to enter range of the creature or draw a weapon either. The question of what would occur to an unarmed confused PC with no creature in reach is left to the DM to decide. If you're holding anything, remember that it's an attack action to throw it as an improvised weapon.

[Unbodied]

A154: No, every class writes "Craft (Int)" that way and it's meant to apply to any/all of the craft skills. Basically you're supposed to treat it like "Knowledge (all skills, taken individually.)"

Q154 But the Mindwright archetype for the Psion specifies that you get every Craft and Proffession skill so now I'm confused.

[Unbodied]

Q155

Is it necessary to have the appropriate psionic discipline to craft a Psionatrix or does not having it merely add a +5 to the craft DC like other missed requirements?