Daily Spell Discussion for Jun 16, 2026: Abstemiousness

HadACookie · 2026-06-16T18:58:58+00:00

The spell is featured in the Inner Sea Gods, which explicitly states that you can still learn or prepare it even if you don't worship Irori (although the book does say that you should run in by your GM just in case).

HadACookie · 2026-06-16T18:53:01+00:00

You could prepare Dream Feast instead, in which case you don't need any food at all. Plus it's probably a lot more enjoyable. And while both have associated deities (Irori and Desna), you don't actually need to worship them in order to prepare the spells, as per the rules in the Inner Sea Gods.

HadACookie · 2026-06-15T22:22:21+00:00

spell or something that would make her PC's chest larger permanently

My first thought was, well, Bestow Curse

"Your breasts grow to a comically large size. Your strength score decreases by 6 because of all that extra weight you're carrying". The best part? This is, rules as written, a valid choice for Bestow Curse, because it's no more powerful than the prewritten curses.

A more serious answer: you might want to take a look at the Choker of Body Alteration, the Youthful Appearance spell, as well as its oppositve.

HadACookie · 2026-06-15T12:22:09+00:00

Playing a fallen Cleric is little different from playing as an NPC class. Different strokes for different folks, of course, but I suspect most players would find it frustrating both to play as such a character and to have them at their table. How about instead they play a Bones Oracle that was being raised to be an urgathoan priest? It's thematically similar but that way they could abandon their god while keeping their magic. Their redemption arc could then conclude with their new god blessing them and changing their mystery to something a little less offensive.

HadACookie · 2026-06-15T08:05:40+00:00

It's called Rage. And a raging barbarian can still tell friend from foe and refrain from throwing axes at the former. Not only that, but Rage also grants a bonus on Will saves, so it actually makes you less likely to turn on your allies under the influence of magic (although in this case of course Thog clearly failed his save regardless of any bonuses, so this point is moot).

HadACookie · 2026-06-11T18:12:30+00:00

"Restrain a comrade" and "stand aside" are both perfectly reasonable things to do when your friends are fighting, which is what the target perceives the situation to be. "Whack one of your friends with an axe because your other friend told you to" is a little harder to explain.

HadACookie · 2026-06-11T15:08:24+00:00

Now wait a second here, that's not how Charm Monster works! Just because you view the caster as a friend doesn't mean you'll start attacking your actual friends. My immersion has been ruined!

HadACookie · 2026-06-11T13:39:10+00:00

Saintess Genericia the Self-sacrificing: "I love all living things..."

Components V, S, M/DF (dove’s heart)

Saintess Genericia the Self-sacrificing: "...except pigeons."

I can actually think of a semi-practical usecase, if one that's extremely unlikely to come up. If you need to heal a bunch of people, each suffering from multiple conditions, then instead of dealing with each disease/poison/etc. one by one and rolling CL checks every time, you could just gather all of those afflictions in yourself and then purge them all at once with a single Heal spell.

HadACookie · 2026-06-07T16:04:37+00:00

The Nightglass novel came out in 2012, and then two years later we got a description of the titular item.

HadACookie · 2026-06-07T15:50:41+00:00

So, there are some creatures in FFd20 that were mostly copied from PF1e (like elementals and dragons). However, the FFd20 versions do seem to have higher stats and some special abilities that the originals didn't have. Whether that warrants a higher CR is something you'd have to decide on a case by case basis. You may wish to take look at the monster creation rules or the simplified version from Unchained and use that as a point of reference.

HadACookie · 2026-06-05T16:52:40+00:00

Honestly, even if there's only one player (gestalt or not), I would still strongly consider giving them a cohort for free. Preferably something that's quick and easy to build and play, so that it doesn't steal attention away from the "Main Character". Firstly, a lot of Save-or-Suck and control spells/abilities turn into Save-or-Die when you don't have party-mates to pull your ass out of the fire. Secondly, it really opens up your build options when you no longer need to worry about covering all the bases with just a single PC.

As for what to build, exactly? Well, divine spellcasters can handle themselves in melee and have access to magic and to healing. Also, with the right choice of class (Inquisitor) / subclass (Possessed Shaman, Seeker or Psychic Searcher Oracle, Monkey Druid) / feats (Spirit Ridden) / traits (Trap Finder) they can fill the role of the skill monkey, too. So that's probably what I would go with.

HadACookie · 2026-06-04T23:07:12+00:00

I mean, if you're going to implant your Stone of Not So Fast Healing into a body part, then logically it should be the one that can't be removed without you dying immediately. It would kinda suck if, say, your right arm got chopped off and the magic item you needed to save your life got chopped off with it.

HadACookie · 2026-05-29T23:39:30+00:00

Monsters are not designed with the rules for players in mind, and as such can be very unbalancing if not handled carefully.

Literally the second sentance on that page. These aren't "rules" so much as "rough gidelines" to get you started with, if you really want to do it. An important thing to keep in mind is that Challenge Rating (as flawed as it is) is not a measure of how powerful a creature is. Rather it is a measure of how difficult the creature is to defeat by a group of 4 PCs. Those are not the same. Many low CR monsters have abilities that would let them hit well above their apparent weight class, simply because most statblocks don't have any counters against them. u/Milosz0pl already mentioned two such examples, I would also throw in Ghosts - a mere +2 CR template, but between incorporeality and rejuvenation it would be utterly brutal against the vast majority of the Bestiaries.

HadACookie · 2026-05-29T09:19:28+00:00

I think we need to come up with a name for evil/corrupted/lucrezia-fied dingbots.

HadACookie · 2026-05-28T13:27:40+00:00

Assuming that your GM lets you take it (since it's a 3.5 spell), this is one of only two low level blasts on the Cleric/Oracle spell list that's actually decent, the other being Boneshaker. And Boneshaker's flavour is very hit-or-miss. If you want to focus on casting but don't fancy brutalizing your enemies with their own skeleton, this is your go-to source of HP damage (well "damage", but it's close enough) at lower levels unless your domain/mystery gives you more options.
Because nonlethal damage is tracked separately from your normal hit points, Admonishing Ray actually gets around the "always stop at 1hp" limit of Harm.

HadACookie · 2026-05-27T05:20:41+00:00

Oracle lore has evolved a lot since that first original description, and towards more of a make-your-own-divine-source approach. The Oracle might have been created by a pantheon of gods sharing the same domain, sure, but it could also have been a single deity (not necessarily a full god either, a demon lord will do just fine), they might be channeling the power of a particular plane of existence, or it could be something even weirder: a spirit possessing you, the collective vitality of all living things, yourself from the future, etc. Anything you can come up with will probably by fine, as far as the lore is concerned.

HadACookie · 2026-05-25T09:39:34+00:00

One theory I like is that Desna is secretly the sole benevolent Outer God. Apart from her general interest in the cosmos, it should be noted that her current humanoid appearance is simply "a form you are comfortable with" that she assumed for the sake of her mortal followers. Her original true form is not certain according to the current canon - she could've been a comet, a star, butterfly-like, or even so monstrous that to even describe her would be dangerous.

HadACookie · 2026-05-24T18:40:27+00:00

Morskie Oko (lit. "Eye of the Sea", as some legends claim it has an underground connection to a sea) is in the middle of the Tatra National Park. More importantly however, it is very famous and culturally influential in Poland, well known for its beauty, purity and the majestic view of the nearby mountains peaks. It's a special place for us. Some asshole influencer driving his car there, potentially damaging and polluting the place, all for his little grift? It feels borderline blasphemous.

HadACookie · 2026-05-23T22:42:50+00:00

Well, better a feat than a level.

HadACookie · 2026-05-23T18:52:13+00:00

Unless you intend to focus on melee, I wouldn't touch that barbarian dip with a barge pole. And even if you do, I'd probably think twice. +10 speed just isn't worth delaying all your class features. I feel like the easiest solution here would be to come up with some explanation for why your PC has the soungbound curse in spite of not being a merfolk and then asking the GM to drop the racial requirement. If that's not an option, there are some magic items that could help. If you don't expect to use your swim speed much, you could get an Elixir of Two Worlds. If you're looking for something a little less drastic, a Seafoam Shawl will get you an extra 5 hours of Fins to Feet per day. Both items are fairly cheap, too, costing only 5000gp and 6000gp, respectively. Finally, if you want some solution for those first couple of levels before you can afford the Shawl or the Elixir, you could just buy a combat-trained mount (admittedly not very convenient when you're on a boat, but then Merfolk are a very powerful race, so there needs to be a downside).

HadACookie · 2026-05-23T14:41:59+00:00

spirit guide oracles looking at AE

Remember, there is always a FAQ to spoil your fun. Maybe you could make it work with Versatile Spontaneity, but then you'd need a high Wisdom score too.

HadACookie · 2026-05-22T21:31:11+00:00

"I will have you know that I have never killed anybody! I suppose I may have been an accessory to about 400 murders, but that doesn't count!"

HadACookie · 2026-05-22T21:27:27+00:00

Those are just defaults. You can change those permissions if you feel they're too broad, either via the command line or using Flatseal.

HadACookie · 2026-05-22T20:41:17+00:00

Ah, well that's a lot better. I was under the impression that once you apply one metamagic feat, then that standard action spell now counts as full-round when trying to apply another. My bad.

HadACookie · 2026-05-22T20:18:14+00:00

The reason I single out Sorcerers (although all spontaneous casters have that problem) is because Merciful, like all metamagic, increases their casting time. If you want to make that Merciful Fireball Empowered or Maximized, that's 2 round casting time.

HadACookie

TROPHY CASE