Simple Q&A by RAW for Pathfinder 4

[Psyren]

A102: As written it should work. "This works just like the overrun combat maneuver, but the trampling creature does not need to make a check, it merely has to move over opponents in its path." There is no specified number of targets so it should affect swarms.

[skypse]

Q103:

Gigantic Steed (Ex)

A mammoth rider's steed increases to Huge size. The creature receives a –1 penalty on attack rolls and to AC, and a –2 penalty to Dexterity (to a minimum of 1); its base damage increases by one size category; and its reach increases to 10 feet. It also gains a +2 size bonus to its Strength and Constitution.

So the companion takes -2 to Dex because the ability says so, -1 to AC because the ability says so and since it increases to huge size it should also take size penalties which means -2 Dex and -1 to AC due to the increased size. Is that correct?

Transmutation Effect
DESCRIPTION
The target animal grows to twice its normal size and eight times its normal weight. This alteration changes the animal's size category to the next largest, grants it a +8 size bonus to Strength and a +4 size bonus to Constitution (and thus an extra 2 hit points per HD), and imposes a -2 size penalty to Dexterity. The creature's existing natural armor bonus increases by 2. The size change also affects the animal's modifier to AC, attack rolls, and its base damage. The animal's space and reach change as appropriate to the new size, but its speed does not change. If insufficient room is available for the desired growth, the creature attains the maximum possible size and may make a Strength check (using its increased Strength) to burst any enclosures in the process. If it fails, it is constrained without harm by the materials enclosing it--the spell cannot be used to crush a creature by increasing its size.

Size bonuses don't stack. I get that. However Gigantic Steed is an Ex ability which means that it has no magical effect (so I have to assume that the size increase is normal just like a companion's level 7 advancement from medium to large if I have to explain it somehow) and Animal Growth is a transmutation spell. Does any effect of it work with the Gigantic Steed ability or is it useless due to bad writing?

Transmutation Effect
Laying a hand upon an allied creature's jaw, claws, tentacles, or other natural weapons, you enhance the power of that creature's natural attacks. Each natural attack that creature makes deals damage as if the creature were two sizes larger than it actually is. If the creature is already Gargantuan or Colossal-sized, double the amount of damage dealt by each of its natural attacks instead. This spell does not actually change the creature's size; all of its statistics except the amount of damage dealt by its natural attacks remain unchanged.

Strong Jaw does not change the creature's size and it does not give any size bonuses which means that the natural damage size SHOULD normally increase right? So my Huge Wolf from my PrC should be dealing 4d6 damage since it is treated as if it was Colossal.

HOWEVER: Since Gigantic Steed is an Ex ability and Animal Growth is a spell, the effects DO stack but the bonuses DON'T. Which means that by casting Animal Growth to my Huge Wolf it does nothing except from increasing the occupying space as well as increasing his size to Gargantuan WITHOUT any bonuses correct? Which by turn means, that if I cast Strong Jaw to my Gargantuan-sized-Huge-statistics Wolf, it will double the damage of the Gargantuan size so the Bite attack will deal 4d8 damage. Is this correct or not?

[Psychoalpha]

Q: 104

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



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).

This is kind of belated, but I just started reading this thread. Isn't the above incorrect due to the FAQ on the subject found here?

Empower Spell: If I use Empower Spell on a spell that has a die roll with a numerical bonus (such as cure moderate wounds), does the feat affect the numerical bonus?

Yes. For example, if you empower cure moderate wounds, the +50% from the feat applies to the 2d8 and to the level-based bonus.

Posing this as a question because the FAQ is from 2011 and maybe something has changed between then and now. I don't always keep up as well as I should.

[unseenmage]

Q105

How far can an Eidolon be from it's Summoner?

[Psyren]

A103a: The most likely answer is that they were restating/summarizing the size penalties your companion would normally take, rather than applying additional untyped ones.
A103b: Size effects don't stack, whether they are from magic or something else. You only apply the larger one. (However, see below.)
A103c: There are two relatively new FAQs that addresses these kinds of combinations. The upshot is that you only get one size increase and one "effective" size increase. This does let you combine Animal Growth and Strongjaw, however, it does NOT let you combine Animal Growth + Gigantic Steed, as these are both actual size increases. Reference the damage table FAQ to know what your final damage will be with Strongjaw.

A104: You misread his post. By "static numbers" he meant numbers that vary with caster level but don't have an associated random die roll, like the 10 HP/level from a heal spell. If you look at Sporegg's math, he calculated the Fireball's Empowered damage correctly.

A105: This information is found under the 1st-level "Life Link" ability - the maximum range is 10,000 feet before it despawns.The eidolon also takes health penalties (current and maximum) if it is operating far from its summoner, as follows:

Within 100ft: Full strength
100-1,000ft: 50% HP
1,000ft to 10,000ft: 25% HP
>10,000ft: Despawns.

[grarrrg]

A103b/A103c I interpret the the FAQ slightly different.
I break it down as 3 pieces:
Base Size Modifier
Total Size Increase (e.g. Enlarge Person)
Partial Size Increase (e.g. Strong Jaw)

Base Size Modifier would be very permanent things like "At level 4 a Bear Animal Companion is now Medium". It is not "Small with size increase" it is just flat out "Medium". So a (4th level+) Bear could still benefit from Animal Growth AND Strong Jaw.
The most likely beneficiaries of Animal Growth are Animal Companions, and it would be utterly silly to not have Animal Growth work on the majority of them.

So I interpret the Mammoth Rider's "Mount is now Huge" as it is now "Huge", not "Large with size increase". So Animal Growth would still give it a size boost.

[Psyren]

A103b/A103c I interpret the the FAQ slightly different.
I break it down as 3 pieces:
Base Size Modifier
Total Size Increase (e.g. Enlarge Person)
Partial Size Increase (e.g. Strong Jaw)

Base Size Modifier would be very permanent things like "At level 4 a Bear Animal Companion is now Medium". It is not "Small with size increase" it is just flat out "Medium". So a (4th level+) Bear could still benefit from Animal Growth AND Strong Jaw.
The most likely beneficiaries of Animal Growth are Animal Companions, and it would be utterly silly to not have Animal Growth work on the majority of them.

So I interpret the Mammoth Rider's "Mount is now Huge" as it is now "Huge", not "Large with size increase". So Animal Growth would still give it a size boost.

I read it that way too normally. The problem though is that the animal companion size increase comes purely from advancement. The Mammoth Rider's comes from a special ability: "Gigantic Steed (Ex)." Thus I consider it to be a size increasing effect, much like a spell would be. If the master were to lose somehow lose that extraordinary ability, the mount would shrink, and thus that size is not intrinsic to the creature.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Q#106
Do sizes of object's operate under different rules than creatures? To elaborate, would an object roughly the same size as a Halfling be a Small-sized object? I'm about to start a game with the Telekinesis Sphere and trying to have a sample list of items I can affect so the GM knows and can plan accordingly.

[genderlich]

Q 107

If a Medusa wears a Hat of Disguise and looks like a human, is her gaze attack still active? If so, is it something she can turn on and off at will, or is it just constantly anyone within 30 feet is always affected?

[Psyren]

A106 open: Without knowing the specific wording of the ability itself I couldn't tell you if, for example "small object" is intended to mean "Small object." Is this from Spheres of Power? You may have to ask the designer or one of the other players who uses this rule system.

A107: "...The creature can also veil its eyes, thus negating its gaze ability." As a mundane disguise would be able to do this, it should be easy to incorporate such a protection into the magical one.

[Extra Anchovies]

Q 108
Are there any restrictions on what the activation conditions for a use-activated item can be, or any restrictions on how often a use-activated item can be activated? For example, if I created a magic shoe that created a certain spell effect each time I took a step, could I activate it numerous times per turn by taking a move action to move up to my speed?

[Mehangel]

Q 109:
Are there any alchemical items that are particularly useful vs Abberations? (i.e. How Holy Water is useful vs Undead and Evil Outsiders)

[Cieyrin]

A 106 Assuming you're referring to Telekinetic Sphere, my best point of reference for object size vs. creature size is the Animated Object listing, which seems to make them fairly equivalent, with example items for reference.

A 109 None that I'm aware of but this seems the kind of question to have its own thread for crowd sourcing.

[unseenmage]

Q110

How would one go about converting Race Points to CR? For when a PC becomes an NPC and templates get applied or something?

[Psyren]

A110: You can't really convert it on a points basis; the points are at best a rough guideline for how strong some abilities are compared to others, and even then it doesn't take a number of factors into account like circumstance and optimization.

At best we can determine that there are examples of "CR +0" that top out around 22 RP, but that doesn't mean that any configuration you can devise that costs 22 or less will be CR 0. It's an art, not a science, so you're supposed to evaluate the overall finished product against creatures of similar power.

[unseenmage]

Q111
Can the Craft Robot feat be used to apply the Robot subtype to Animated Objects?
Asking from both the player and GM sides of the table on this one.

[Psyren]

A111: Assuming you mean this Craft Robot feat - it looks like it is designed to let you craft existing robots, not to add the robot subtype to a non-robot construct, unless I'm missing something.

From the DM's perspective it's obviously much simpler - create a custom animated object with the robot subtype, determine its CR, and then anyone at the table who has the feat can use it to make that.

[Totema]

Q112: Could an Oracle of Bones with the Undead Servitude revelation make use of the Void Scythe's channeling ability?

[Psyren]

A112: As written no. "You can channel negative energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier, but only to use Command Undead."

[MesiDoomstalker]

Q113: The feat Extra Bane doesn't make sense to me. The Bane Class feature does not limit uses per day, but by duration. What benefit does Extra Bane give?

[Psyren]

A113: Psst, try reading it
(Less facetiously, the feat extends duration as well.)

[MesiDoomstalker]

A113: Psst, try reading it
(Less facetiously, the feat extends duration as well.)

Note to self: the list of feats has an short-hand description of feats, actually click and read individual feats.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Q114 Can you use Familiar Archetypes for Improved Familiars?

[Psyren]

A114: Yes - however, note that most of them trade away "speak with animals of its own kind" which Improved Familiars don't get, so that limits your choices.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Dammit... there goes my dream of having my pet pseudodragon joining me in combat (Wanted the mauler archetype because reasons)

[Griffin]

Q115

Im trying to adapt the Houri race (Bastard and bloodlines 3.5 or 3.0) and even though there are some things I wouldn't been able to do adapt, there is one point were I have reached controversy with a friend, a Houri is the offspring of a nymph and an elf, so is a sort of half elf and fey, to represent this, I need to know if I can choose more than one race type, in this case Humanoid (Subtype Elf) and Fey, is that possible? I couldn't find anything on the rules that said that I can't, but neither something that supports that I can.

[Fenryr]

Q116

Damage Reduction and Bane.

Let's presume my PC has a +3 weapon with Bane Cow(or +3 Amulet of Mighty Fists). This Cow is a formidable opponent and has DR 10/Good. Does the Bane makes the weapon +5 and allows to ignore the DR/Good?

[Psyren]

A115 open: I don't think you can have multiple creature types, but there are a lot of monsters in PF so I may be missing one that does. If you want my personal approach, I would make it humanoid, then add an ability similar to the Constructed ability possessed by Androids and Inevitables that lets it count as Fey for various purposes. You could call it "Fey Blood" or "First World Aspect" or something.

A116: Yes, the enhancement bonus will increase vs. that wretched bovine, and yes, this will allow you to smite your way past Bessie's mighty DR. You can even defeat DR 10/epic if such a variable bonus causes a strong enough boost.

[Griffin]

Q117

There are several templates in the PF bestiary, however I can't find anywhere if a Player character can use them, is there anywhere on the rules that states that player character can't use this templates? like for example Half fey? or can they be used?

[Psyren]

A117a: Templates require GM permission in PF just like they did in 3.5. Essentially applying a template to your character means you're playing a monster, which requires GM approval. (The exception is a template applied by a spell or class feature, though none pop into my head at the moment.)

A117b: I'm not seeing a half-fey template, where is that? I see "Fey Creature" which turns you into fey, and "Fey-Touched" which lets you be both types but appears to be 3rd-party.