Drop Dead Studios Ask Me Anything #3

[AmberVael]

Q 91:
The Lich Oracle Curses grants (obviously death themed) bonus spells at some levels but not others. How would one make use of this on a Spheres Oracle? Same for any curse that grants bonus spells at some levels really.

A 91

My suggestion is the following:

Any time a curse would grant a Spheres Oracle one or more spells known, they should gain a single bonus talent instead. Otherwise, they get benefits as normal. So the Lich curse would grant its normal benefits at 1st and 15th levels, but would gain a bonus talent at 5th and 10th instead of spells known. Lycanthropy and other curses would work the same way.

[Mithril Leaf]

A 91

My suggestion is the following:

Any time a curse would grant a Spheres Oracle one or more spells known, they should gain a single bonus talent instead. Otherwise, they get benefits as normal. So the Lich curse would grant its normal benefits at 1st and 15th levels, but would gain a bonus talent at 5th and 10th instead of spells known. Lycanthropy and other curses would work the same way.

That does seem the obvious answer, and how I'd rule it as GM, but some confirmation of intention would be nice if available.

[AmberVael]

That does seem the obvious answer, and how I'd rule it as GM, but some confirmation of intention would be nice if available.

Expanded Options predates the formation of the current Spheres team, so its in a bit of a tricky spot. The short of it is that I'm playing carefully with my wording here since I'm not the author or Meyers and don't want to speak beyond my role without a go ahead (though I do have the agreement of several other writers with me on this). But I'm very confident in my response. If that bit gets errata? I'd lay all my money on my suggestion being what happens.

[A.J.Gibson]

That does seem the obvious answer, and how I'd rule it as GM, but some confirmation of intention would be nice if available.

There has been a lot of discussion about this sort of thing in the AoP thread, and I came to exactly the same conclusion Amber did. Pathfinder tends to value extra spells known very differently from case to case - a single feat buys you one spell known, while the human ACF gets you an extra one every level. Even among oracle curses, some grant 1 spell known, and others grant 2. The best way to look at these things is to figure out the original costing in PF. The dual-cursed oracle loses the 5th, 10th, and 15th level abilities of their curse in return for 2 additional revelations, and you can buy revelations with a feat, so one curse power = one feat is probably okay. Frankly, it's not like oracle curses are particularly balanced against each other, so don't worry about getting the balance perfect.

tl;dr - what Amber said.

[stack]

Q76 Would admixtured Radiant/Chilling blast that utilizes feat that changes save from reflex to fortitude affect undead, since Radiant's effect affects undead despite being fort based, or rather be fully ignored by undead?

A76: Good question, this takes a bit of parsing. In my understanding, the initial Fortitude save against the damage applies to undead, since blasts can effect objects, so their immunity to Fortitude saves doesn't apply.

For the rider effects, "any additional effects of the blast types are applied normally." The radiant blast would have its normal effect, while the fortitude save or be staggered effect of frost blast would be blocked by the undead immunities. The radiant blast bypass doesn't transfer to the frost blast rider.

[AlienFromBeyond]

Q92: Is it intentional that the Clear Path (zone) combat talent lets you move through your own zone without provoking AoOs in addition to other allies? Punishing Rebuke and Roving Flanker both have very clear wording that they don't benefit yourself, only other allies, but this doesn't despite the fact that it seems very powerful as it makes it way safer to move between multiple enemies provoking AoOs in your Patrol.

[stack]

Q92: Is it intentional that the Clear Path (zone) combat talent lets you move through your own zone without provoking AoOs in addition to other allies? Punishing Rebuke and Roving Flanker both have very clear wording that they don't benefit yourself, only other allies, but this doesn't despite the fact that it seems very powerful as it makes it way safer to move between multiple enemies provoking AoOs in your Patrol.

A92: You should not benefit from this. Must have slipped past.

[AlienFromBeyond]

A92: You should not benefit from this. Must have slipped past.

Probably because the feat it's associated with (Escape Route) is just as wonky in how it works, just look at all the arguments people have had about whether a character and their mount having the feat protect each other. Most think it does, so perhaps at the time Clear Path was just done to mimic that? Thanks for setting it straight though, I figured never provoking AoOs while moving around for my Patrol might have been too good on top of no AoOs for allies in the area as well.

[MrSandman]

Q93 The magical signs drawback says that everyone within thirty feet knows when you're using magic as well as the nature of said magic. Does that mean that they know the exact effect that you're using (and thus render illusion and subtle mind control unusable)? If not, what exactly do they know about the effect you're trying to create?

[Mithril Leaf]

Q 94:
Is the limit on Reanimating of 20 Hit Dice applied before or after the additional Hit Dice added by any templates, such as zombie?

[Nyekomimi]

Aside of hoping some of earlier questions get answered...

Q95: Does Masterful Defense count as using Crane Style for purpose of Crane Wing/Riposte?

[ICN]

Q96: Can Air Stunt and Diving Strike be used together? e.g. Bob gets a 30 on their check to jump as part of diving strike, leaping 30 ft. in the air. At that point, they use Air Stunt and get another 30, jumping an additional 30 ft. in the air. However, Bob would only take 3d6 falling damage, as Wall Stunt states: "Any fall damage that would be incurred is calculated after removing the height of the swift action jump." So would Diving Strike deal 3d6 damage or 6d6?

[pythor]

Q97: What's the height of the standard Barrier from the Protection Sphere in open air? The Core book doesn't say. I've heard arguments for spherical, but there's a newer talent that does that to your barrier, so I don't think that's right.

[Lirya]

Q98: Afterimage says

When moving more than 5 ft. during your turn using the movement mode corresponding to a package you possess, the speed of your motion causes you to leave behind an afterimage, which may foil your foe’s attacks. If you move more than 20 ft., you may expend your martial focus as a free action to leave behind an additional afterimage. These afterimages disappear at the start of your next turn.
...
For every 6 ranks in Acrobatics you possess, you may leave an additional afterimage.

Do you always get the additional afterimages if you have 6+ ranks in Acrobatics, or do you only get the additional images if you expend your martial focus?

My interpretation is that as written I think you always get the additional images for multiple ranks, but that if you do then the talent is too powerful compared to other options and expending martial focus is kind of pointless once you have 6 or more ranks.

Edit: A97: The protection sphere says

Ethereal creatures are technically stopped by the barrier, but can usually find a way around it (as the barrier does not cut through objects, and so usually stops at ground level).

This implies that the Barrier is a sphere that doesn't penetrate solids or liquids, so the coverage you get would depend on your environment (if you are flying then you could get a complete sphere, in a cave it would only produce two walls...)

If creating the barrier would cause it to go through another object, the barrier cuts harmlessly through the material (without compromising the integrity of the object, but preventing the object from being moved). If creating the barrier would cause it to go through a creature or animated object, the barrier shunts the creature just outside the effect of the sphere.

As you can see, all this talent actually does is allow the default barrier to penetrate objects, which is how it prevents more creatures from bypassing it.

[EldritchWeaver]

Q98: Afterimage says

Do you always get the additional afterimages if you have 6+ ranks in Acrobatics, or do you only get the additional images if you expend your martial focus?

My interpretation is that as written I think you always get the additional images for multiple ranks, but that if you do then the talent is too powerful compared to other options and expending martial focus is kind of pointless once you have 6 or more ranks.

A98:

You get only additional afterimages if you expend the martial focus. The last line specifies, that for every 6 ranks the number of potential afterimages increases by 1, so with 18 ranks and expending the focus you have overall 5 images. Without expending the focus, you get only one, regardless of the ranks.

[Lirya]

You get only additional afterimages if you expend the martial focus. The last line specifies, that for every 6 ranks the number of potential afterimages increases by 1, so with 18 ranks and expending the focus you have overall 5 images. Without expending the focus, you get only one, regardless of the ranks.

If you read the text in the book (or my quote) again you will see it says 'for every 6 ranks in Acrobatics you possess, you may leave an additional afterimage', not the number of potential afterimages increases by 1.

English may not be my first language, but in a new paragraph and with a lot of text in between, it is not at all clear that it refers to the images granted by expending focus. Though I agree that is likely the intended interpretation.

[ICN]

Q99: If you have both the leap and run packages and the Swift Movement talent, are the bonuses intended to stack? e.g. 30 ft. base speed, boosted to 40 ft. by the run package, and 50 ft. while jumping due to the leap package? Or is it just 40 ft. while running or leaping?

[Von Krieger]

Q 65

Is there a limit to how many alchemy sphere Formulae you can possess at one time? The language is "you cannot prepare more formulae at one time than..." which I interpret to mean in one 30 minute a person can not prepare more that X number of bombs, and that person can spend another 30 minute period to double the number of bombs they have.

A 65:

Not staff, but I can answer this.

The wiki has this to say for the Alchemy sphere's formulae:

You may craft any item whose formulae you know in 30 minutes, or 15 minutes if you have access to an alchemist’s lab or alchemist’s crafting kit, but due to the volatile nature of the enhanced formulae you cannot prepare more formulae at one time than a number equal to 1/2 your ranks in Craft (alchemy) (minimum 1) + the number of formulae talents you possess. For every 4 ranks in Craft (alchemy) you possess, you may craft 1 additional formulae as part of the same 30/15 minute time period.

It's meant to be a cap on how many you can prepare PERIOD, and a new bit was added after the book release that allows for being able to make multiple formulae at a time as you rank up the skill.

They're using "prepare" in a sense akin to the way spell slots are prepared.

[Valdimarian]

Q100 Does life sphere's "Clarified Strike" also qualify for the "Spell Attack" feat? (I assume it does, it as just added after Spell Attack was written)

Q101 Bit of an edge case, but is there currently a way to combine "Cone of Death" with "Greater Ghost Strike" or "Sculpt Blast"? (I'm wondering if you just need Spell Attack or if an additional feat would be needed)

[Drakhan]

Q102) This is more of a confirmation question. If a Sphere cleric has the healing domain, do they empower the cure ability of the life sphere? That seems to be the intention and most of the domain powers give entirely new abilities rather than affecting specific spells so wanted to confirm.

[Scowling Dragon]

Q101 Bit of an edge case, but is there currently a way to combine "Cone of Death" with "Greater Ghost Strike" or "Sculpt Blast"? (I'm wondering if you just need Spell Attack or if an additional feat would be needed)

A101: in the works for the death book

[A.J.Gibson]

[QUOTE=Valdimarian;23239876]Q100 Does life sphere's "Clarified Strike" also qualify for the "Spell Attack" feat? (I assume it does, it as just added after Spell Attack was written)

A100 I didn't write Spell Attack, but if it had been around at the time I wrote Clarified Strike, I would have added a caveat to make it compatible. So RAW, no, but that's mostly because of the phrasing chosen for Spell Attack.

Q102) This is more of a confirmation question. If a Sphere cleric has the healing domain, do they empower the cure ability of the life sphere? That seems to be the intention and most of the domain powers give entirely new abilities rather than affecting specific spells so wanted to confirm.

A102 This is one of those GM-call situations. The ability says that 'cure' spells are empowered (not spells that heal in general), and then states that it 'empowers' spells by increasing healing by 50% - which isn't what empower does! I suspect that it was written that was to make it compatible with the Heal spell, so I think it would be fair if it worked the same with the Cure ability of the Life sphere for purposes of restoring hit points.

[Slavezero]

A101: in the works for the death book

is there a doc with the book somewhere like the others have? i'd really like a chance to see whats in store for the death sphere

[Galacktic]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...book-Open-Beta

[Slavezero]

Q103: if an Armiger with the Antiquarian archtype uses a weapon with the bane enchant to attack with a SoP spell would they gain the increased damage? if no is there anyway they could like if they were using the Destructive Focus enchant?

Q104: when using Weaponize from the Telekinesis sphere to attack it says you deal damage as a bludgeon of the size you specify. does it actually take up the space the size normally needs or does it only use the Table to calculate the damage dice? and it also says if you have the Dancing Weapon talent you can treat it as a weapon you have proficiency with. does that mean if i had proficiency with unarmed attacks and one of the SoM Spheres that increased unarmed damage that my bludgeon would have increased damage as well? and could i increase the size of my blugeon still to add yet more damage on top of that?

Q105: if i get the Extended Range Destruction Talent would that effect Sculpt Blast so i would have a Medium-range cone and a Long-range Line?

[stack]

Q96: Can Air Stunt and Diving Strike be used together? e.g. Bob gets a 30 on their check to jump as part of diving strike, leaping 30 ft. in the air. At that point, they use Air Stunt and get another 30, jumping an additional 30 ft. in the air. However, Bob would only take 3d6 falling damage, as Wall Stunt states: "Any fall damage that would be incurred is calculated after removing the height of the swift action jump." So would Diving Strike deal 3d6 damage or 6d6?

A96: You calculate based on the falling damage you would take, so 3d6.

Q98: Afterimage says

Do you always get the additional afterimages if you have 6+ ranks in Acrobatics, or do you only get the additional images if you expend your martial focus?

My interpretation is that as written I think you always get the additional images for multiple ranks, but that if you do then the talent is too powerful compared to other options and expending martial focus is kind of pointless once you have 6 or more ranks.

A98:

You get only additional afterimages if you expend the martial focus. The last line specifies, that for every 6 ranks the number of potential afterimages increases by 1, so with 18 ranks and expending the focus you have overall 5 images. Without expending the focus, you get only one, regardless of the ranks.

If you read the text in the book (or my quote) again you will see it says 'for every 6 ranks in Acrobatics you possess, you may leave an additional afterimage', not the number of potential afterimages increases by 1.

English may not be my first language, but in a new paragraph and with a lot of text in between, it is not at all clear that it refers to the images granted by expending focus. Though I agree that is likely the intended interpretation.

A98: The additional images only apply when expending focus. The text ought to be tweaked to make this clear.

Q99: If you have both the leap and run packages and the Swift Movement talent, are the bonuses intended to stack? e.g. 30 ft. base speed, boosted to 40 ft. by the run package, and 50 ft. while jumping due to the leap package? Or is it just 40 ft. while running or leaping?

A99: It is a both a typed bonus to speed and from the same source, so it doesn't stack.

Q103: if an Armiger with the Antiquarian archtype uses a weapon with the bane enchant to attack with a SoP spell would they gain the increased damage? if no is there anyway they could like if they were using the Destructive Focus enchant?

Q104: when using Weaponize from the Telekinesis sphere to attack it says you deal damage as a bludgeon of the size you specify. does it actually take up the space the size normally needs or does it only use the Table to calculate the damage dice? and it also says if you have the Dancing Weapon talent you can treat it as a weapon you have proficiency with. does that mean if i had proficiency with unarmed attacks and one of the SoM Spheres that increased unarmed damage that my bludgeon would have increased damage as well? and could i increase the size of my blugeon still to add yet more damage on top of that?

Q105: if i get the Extended Range Destruction Talent would that effect Sculpt Blast so i would have a Medium-range cone and a Long-range Line?

A103: Bane wouldn't apply unless you are delivery the attack through the weapon (energy blade or similar).

104 I will leave to Amber to answer as I know she will do so thoroughly and with authority.

A105: Extended range does not impact the length of fixed-range shapes. If you had an ability that let the cone or line originate somewhere other than the caster, then extended range would increase the distance of the potential origin point, but I don't recall any such ability existing.

[Arcueid]

Q106 In the new nature sphere book for metal/plant/ect.. there's a new Dual sphere feat called "Primal Blast"; When you use this it lets you use casting ability modifier to hit and damage for blasts.
Now i't makes no mention of blast shapes and one can assume its primary purpose is for and blast that needs an attack roll, but how does it interact with Destructive Maw and Energy Blade?
Destructive Maw makes it a natural weapon, but its still an attack with a destructive blast so would it overwrite?
Energy blade uses an attack with a melee weapon along with the blast but i had to ask on this one because while i was about to write it off, technically as it stands Electric Blast blast type(effectively recreating shocking grasp) gives the foe a -3 to AC vs the blast, but as its been understood this does affect energy blade because energy blade is still technically a casted blast. As such it does raise the question if primal blast would result in a route where if someone met the requirements they could get casting modifier to hit/damage when using energy blade instead of the usual str/dex.

Edit: Also i guess i'd ask for how this would work with doomblade archetype for mageknight. Thats in a technical inbetween where its a destructive blast that can be augmented with blast types allowing it to in theory meet the prerequisites.
Blaster Armorist also, as that one also lets you use types and considers that also a destructive blast.

[Mehangel]

Q106 In the new nature sphere book for metal/plant/ect.. there's a new Dual sphere feat called "Primal Blast"; When you use this it lets you use casting ability modifier to hit and damage for blasts.
Now i't makes no mention of blast shapes and one can assume its primary purpose is for and blast that needs an attack roll, but how does it interact with Destructive Maw and Energy Blade?
Destructive Maw makes it a natural weapon, but its still an attack with a destructive blast so would it overwrite?
Energy blade uses an attack with a melee weapon along with the blast but i had to ask on this one because while i was about to write it off, technically as it stands Electric Blast blast type(effectively recreating shocking grasp) gives the foe a -3 to AC vs the blast, but as its been understood this does affect energy blade because energy blade is still technically a casted blast. As such it does raise the question if primal blast would result in a route where if someone met the requirements they could get casting modifier to hit/damage when using energy blade instead of the usual str/dex.

Edit: Also i guess i'd ask for how this would work with doomblade archetype for mageknight. Thats in a technical inbetween where its a destructive blast that can be augmented with blast types allowing it to in theory meet the prerequisites.
Blaster Armorist also, as that one also lets you use types and considers that also a destructive blast.

A106

• For destructive blasts without an attack roll (such as most blast shapes), the feat only grants a bonus to damage.
• For Destructive Maw, the feat applies to both the attack roll and damage roll with the destructive maw.
• For Energy Blade, the feat would apply to the weapon's attack roll (by replacing the previous ability modifier with your CAM) and the destructive blast damage (by increasing the damage dealt by your CAM); the weapon's damage roll is unaffected (keeping whatever ability modification it has, such as Strength mod to damage, etc).
• For Doomblade Mageknight, the feat applies to the destructive blade as if it were a destructive blast.
• For Blaster Armorist, the feat applies to the arm cannon as if it were a destructive blast.

[Arcueid]

A106

• For Energy Blade, the feat would apply to the weapon's attack roll and the destructive blast damage, but would have no effect on the weapons damage.

So for energy blade just want slight clarification.

Would the formula for damage then be:

Weapon Die + Str Modifier(or relevant weapon damage mod) + Destructive Blast + Casting Ability Modifier?

[Mehangel]

So for energy blade just want slight clarification.
Would the formula for damage then be:
Weapon Die + Str Modifier(or relevant weapon damage mod) + Destructive Blast + Casting Ability Modifier?

It is intended that the damage formula would be Weapon Die + Destructive Blast + Casting Ability Modifier. You can however get around this by using the Improved Energy Weapon feat. I will modify my previous post clarify for future readers. modified after discussion

You are correct.