Hero

{{page |text ={{Infobox answerpage }}
 * image = fcsidebar-1-hero.jpg
 * update = 2013.01.16

What's the difference between a class ability and a class feature?
See pages 28 and 29. To sum it up, class abilities are the stuff that's listed under Class Abilities on a class writeup, while class features are the other stuff, like saves, vitality, BAB, caster level and such.

Are the Force of Nature's elemental blasts counted as natural attacks?
No. Those attacks don't conform to any other existing attack type. They're so far unique and only follow the rules in that ability coupled with the universal rules for attacking.

===How does the Wicked Dance stance from Knife Basics interact with Ghost Basics and the Mist-Dancer's Spellshroud ability? I.e. Can a character with all of the above who is already in Wicked Dance stance cast a 0-level spell,spend an AD, and move twice their speed without breaking the stance?===

This is exactly the kind of thing your GM should be answering, as I can see multiple perfectly valid answers for each combination as more than one such combination of them may well crop up in the same game, and even in the same session, based on circumstances and the narrative at hand. That said, your reading is technically correct. Remember, however, that free actions are specifically and universally limited to GM fiat. I might allow that once for fun, twice to help the story along, but the second I smelled abuse the character would suddenly be operating on a healthy diet of zero free actions.

What is the benefit of making a Conceal Action check with the Mist-Dancer's Shadow's Hand ability?
There's no explicit action for picking pockets, it's just an action of 'I take that out of his pocket' with a Conceal Action check to cover it up. So long as you can still see what you're doing (thus, Line of Sight), you are intended to be able to pick pockets, open locks, and so forth out to 30ft. Stashing is the opposite action (say, hiding something in a person's pocket), but the same holds true. If you pick a pocket or stash an item from a distance using shadow's hand, the item is gained or stashed at range.

Priests only gain spells from Paths, correct? Do caster levels from other classes affect their Paths?
It's important to note that while you can have Priests who provide healing and whatnot, they function very differently from the D&D Cleric. Since they are not arcance casters, they do not have the Spellcasting skill and they do not learn or cast spells. That is why they have paths, which sometimes grant spells. Since Priests gain paths which sometimes grant spells, they need Caster Levels to make those spells work. It conveniently makes them better spellcasters should they later choose to pursue arcane spellcasting, but it's mainly there to increase the power of the magic they get through Paths. This is further illuminated at the very beginning of Chapter 3 (Divine Casters).

What's new in the Second edition character sheets?
They're completely updated to incorporate all Second Printing errata (like the Size mods, for example), and they're also overhauled to correct a number of small spacing and spelling errors. Plus, Michal E. Cross has done a wonderful job setting them up as form-fillable, with several upgrades over the previous iterations there as well.

===Can a Soldier with Cleave B/M/S, Greatsword B/M/S, Contempt, Darting Weapon, Flashing Weapon and the class abilities Most Deadly and Decisive Attack activate a critical targeting a standard NPC with tough I for 0 action dice as if he has spent 2 (killing the standard character)? (-1 from Cleave Supremacy, -1 from Most Deadly)===

Yes. Both abilities are -1 AD cost, minimum zero - you're just activating a 2 die crit for -2 dice.

Now what if he used the Greatsword trick Spiral Cutter with 5 standard characters in range &mdash; would only one critical activate, or could you normally have spent 5 separate action dice to activate the threat on each of the five targets?

With abilities that affect multiple targets, the rule is you can activate the crit against multiple targets by spending more action dice: "This cost is paid separately for each hit, even when multiple hits are scored with a single attack or action". With his -2 cost, he could crit each target once for 3 action dice, or kill them for a total of 8.

'''Since I don't know how that one will rule, we'll get rid of Tough and say that he kills all 5 of those Standard Characters with damage alone, but he's got +1 reach with his Claymore and so there are more standards within a 5ft's step so now, how does killing those 5 interact with Cleave B/M/S? It's only one attack, so it makes sense it would only give one extra, but with the wording I could see argument for it giving him multiple.'''

This I would rule entirely based on circumstance and abuse level. If the player used spiral cutter and killed 5 guys [say a huge mob of enemies was charging towards him] and wanted to 5ft step into the mob and keep swinging I would totally let him. The visual is fantastic, and I can't see it coming up too often.

Can you used Blessed to give a first level Priest access to the second step of a given alignment?
Blessed specifically only grants the 1st step of a Path, as does Acolyte (1st-level Priest ability). So no, but the combination can obviously used to gain the first step in two seperate Paths.

===Is there supposed to be a Beast upgrade for weapons, as there is for armour? The description for Beasts still includes "It can only use armor, handheld gear, and non-natural weapons specifically modified for its use," so I would suppose there would be a way to it, but other than hand-waving it or applying the Beast upgrade listed with Armour, I don't see how to do it.===

There is not a Beast upgrade for weapons at this time. Beast is a big drawback for characters in terms of Origin design.

How do feats and abilities granting action dice interact with those that determine their effect based on the number of dice you have?
A character option only increase uses of others based on your starting action dice is if they specifically denote the bonus action dice they give are starting action dice. Thus the Fortunate feat -- which only grants its die at the beginning of a session -- would not apply, while the More Than Luck ability from the Adventurer Specialty would.

What happens if a character with a Flawless ability doesn't even have any ranks in the particular skill? (For Example a low Strength Explorer with no ranks in Athletics)
Per the Untrained skills, the result is capped at 15.

Does the core ability for the soldier interact in any positive way with Favoured Gear? Makes it Three Dice? Four?
Some abilities allow you to roll 2 dice when you spend 1 action die. When two or more of these abilities apply to the same roll, you still only roll 2 dice for each action die spent. Yes, this is under Class Abilities and not the feat itself. Favoured Gear is one of those rare spots where a core abilty style option comes up outside of core abilities.

If you multiclass and gain a new level, can you buy ranks in class skills of your other classes or just the one you leveled up in?
You can buy ranks in your Origin skills at any level but you can only buy ranks in the class skills for the Class you have just selected for levelling up.

Could a Martial Artist with the right feats use both Topple and Gut(Polearm Mastery) & Earth Shaker(Club Supremacy) unarmed as part of their masters touch?
Master's Touch applies to attacks. Those are Trip Actions. So, no.

===What would the effect be if you used something like Backhand with Beatdown would you apply both types of damage or is this combination silly as you would just pick one type of damage to be the "instead"?===

Damage is never duplicated is this fashion, nor can a single instance of damage have more than 1 type. Sometimes damage will prompt other damage, as seen with the excruciating weapon quality, but this is really the only way you'll ever see a single attack inflicting more than 1 type of damage.

Does He Did It! stack with beguiling? I'm also puzzled why beguiling was linked to Taunt rather than Distract as its source action.
No. He Did It modifies the standard result, but Beguiling forces you to abandon the standard result to cause the target to become fixated on you. Since Beguiling forces you to toss the standard result and works on "you," the abilities would not function together. If they worked together, characters would use the combination to force a character to become fixated on a target, letting the beguiling taunter wail on the fixated target who then moves away, leaving the character free to just outright cancel that target's actions with no drawback. It's a Taunt because it fits more naturally the intent of the core action - but instead of drawing an attack you draw attention.

Does Thick Hide stack with DR gained from charms or essences on magic items?
Armor never stacks. Thick hide is armor, just like anything you wear. DR from other sources stack.

Would a Sage 10 / Priest 10 (Path of Fortune V) combining both instances of Proven Worth that combination grants increase his party's starting action dice by 2?
First, these instances of the proven worth ability are identical &mdash; they're just coming from different sources. Technically, they would not stack and gaining the ability a second time would do the character no good. At my table, I'd likely let the character's contribution rise by 1 die. However, I would not change or lift the limit imposed by the base ability text (the whole party would still be limited to no more than 3 dice from all instances of proven worth party-wide).

Path of Fortune Step IV: Does the whole party gain a +4 to Action Dice rolls?

Path of Fortune IV applies the results of steps II and III to everyone in the party, as it says.

Does Wise Counsel allow me to spend an action die to boost a damage roll that my teammate also boosted?
None of the abilities involved lift the base action die limit of 1 per roll, so no.

===If a duplicate ability is granted by a Talent and a Specialty do they stack somehow, or does the player simply gain it only once? For example, a Cunning Swindler would theoretically gain access to Charming twice.===

The stacking on abilities should almost always be obvious &mdash; in the case of charming, for example, you get the same ability again &mdash; so one more time per session. In cases where stacking is not obvious, the abilities usually aren't intended to stack, and one ability is "lost." Those cases should be very, very rare, however.

If a Martial Artist with Polearm Mastery and the Quake Strike ploy uses his Quake Strike, can he apply the Topple And Gut trick if he's holding a polearm?
Yes.

When the sage gains a "Flawless Skill" ability from his cross-training, are his levels in sage used to determine the exact DCs he can beat?
When a cross-trained ability uses Class or Caster Level to determine its effect, it is always considered to be 4.

When you multiclass, do you get the proficiencies from the new class you're getting?
No.

When a class ability lets you convert damage without penalty such as the monk's spirit fist, does that also mean no penalty to the damage dealt?
Yes

When you use the Soldier's Accurate with the Monster Slayer's Cut Deep and True does the attack gain the keen quality equal the results of both action dice?
I would allow it.

Is an Animal Partner gear? Specifically, does a Cavalier's Favored Gear (mount) apply to a Lancer's Lifetime Companion?
Though Animal Partner is not a Gear feat, I might allow it, ruling that it had to be the character with the feat making the check (using the "gear"), rather then the "gear" itself making a check.

===Circle of Power (like Natural attacks, etc.), if gained from multiple sources, becomes the highest+1, right? So a character with Circle of Power II from Mage and Circle of Power II from Rune Knight has Circle of Power III?===

Legacy abilities -- unlike natural attacks! -- stack normally, so for example Circle of Power II + Circle of Power II = Circle of Power IV, not III.

What happens when you use Take Heart on an elf?
They are set to half their vitality (like everyone else). Take heart gives you enough vitality to reach a point, however much vitality that is.

After you gain access to the Spellcasting skill, can you put points into it when taking non-Caster levels?
Yes, because the class ability is making it available to you, effectively like an Origin skill. If Spellcasting were a Class Skill, you would not be able to take ranks when in another class.

How does the Rune Knight's Rune-Carved ability work?
You pick 2 runes at every level, and can only apply them to your Favoured Weapon.

Do multiple instances of grueling and dread combatant stack? It's a possible combo at least once, via Stern & Orc Blood
I would say no.

Is the additional skill point from the Sharp Mind origin ability multiplied by 4 at first level?
No. It says you gain 1 additional skill point per level, rather than increasing your class skill points by 1.

Terrifying Look specifies that it increases the Will save DC's from stress damag but standard NPCs only make generic damage saves. How do these interact?
Those abilities apply to relevant NPC Damage saves (e.g. terrifying look would raise the DC only when the NPC suffers stress damage). The Paladin's Stand in Judgement works similarly.

Do abilities that allow you to use 2 dice when spending an action die combine with the Sage's Wise Counsel ability? And do action die bonuses apply to both dice or just one?
When you use Wise Counsel, you roll one of your dice and add the result to your team mate's roll, so the roll benefits from whatever the Sage can bring to bear, but none of the recipients abilities. You're not giving them an Action Die, you're spending one of your dice and giving them the bonus. If the Sage has a "roll 2 and add" ability that applies to the check, it applies when using Wise Counsel. If the recipient has the ability, it does not apply. And the +X applies to the Action Die result, not the individual dice. So in your example, you get a 5. However, Lady Luck's Smile would trigger on either or both dice since it's expanding the detonation range.

If a teammate has a "Practiced" ability, does it affect Wise Consul used on their behalf?
That combo would not work. A sage with Practiced spending an AD on a relevant skill for another character would benefit if the check they were boosting failed.

Since Blindsight is essentially superior to both Darkvision I and II, does possessing it count as meeting the requirements for character options that require some form of Darkvision?
Not specifically, though I could see a GM making that call at his table.

Various skill Mastery feats, and the Priest Core ability allow for re-rolls (on a limited basis). Can those re-rolls be used on errors?
The Skill feats ignore errors, but Priest's does not.

===An elf already ignores the 2nd and 4th Range increment and has improved vision range. The Dead Eye's Thousand Yard Stare also does this and gives improved vision range, though reduced from what an elf gets. Can these combine?===

Nothing about the ability seems stackable with the elf ability to me. Fortunately, it's an optional ability and the elf version of the ability is modestly better, so elves get to keep their shtick.

===How exactly does the Assassin's ability to make a Mask or Ambush check as a free action works for disguises? Do they suddenly gain a costume or would it be a way of 'rerolling' the Mask Check for whatever costume I'm currently wearing?===

There's more to "disguise" than actually changing your appearance. How you walk has a lot to do with it too. Easiest way to think about it, is how many movies have the runner escaping the chasers by ditching a hat in a crowd, or grabbing a hat and jumping into a crowd of them? Or tossing away their jacket, or something equally simple like that. That's whats going on here.

As Thick Hide is considered partial armor you can't take off, what happens when something like acid damage is indicated to have destroyed the armour?
Since I wouldn't imagine the character would lose his skin, I would ignore the acid damage effects on destroying armor.

===With glint of madness, you get a free threaten when you take down an opponent. Saurians with desert clutch and ruthless humans get the menacing threat quality. Meaning they get to target 3 opponents with their threaten maneuver. Do these work together for the free threaten?===

I'd absolutely allow that combo.

If you get Crunch! twice in an Origin, do they stack?
Yes.

Can Master's Touch I be used to apply specific weapon attack tricks (for instance, hammer attack tricks) to unarmed attacks, or do they have to be generic melee attack tricks?
No, it's outside the scope of that ability. It is permissable under Master's Touch II (which allows Hammer tricks to be applied to Swords and so on).

Does the Striking taalent's ability to Distract up to three opponents stack with the "Fan Service" feat, which causes Standard characters to become fixated?
As written all three are fixated. Also, each target is rolling separately versus the single Distract roll and the sneak attack and critical hit things are explicitly called out, so it's not necessarily a general rule.

For the purposes of a master class' Continuity ability, is Spellcasting a valid skill?
Nope. Spellcasting is intentionally never a class skill for anyone.

===I have 3 human characters: Andre the Giant, Peter Dinklage, and Patrick Stewart, who is a vanguard. With Andre to the left of him and Peter to the right, Sir Pat gets the benefit of his specialty's stand together ability. In the event that having only 1 horse between the three of them Peter decides to strap a riding harness to Andre's back and rides him into battle as a mounted character, I would be correct in believing, would I not, that Sir Pat astride his horse doesn't suddenly lose the benefit of Stand Together? If Pete is also a vanguard, does he lose his bonus even if Pat keep his?===

You would be correct in that assumption, yes. Pete would not gain that bonus (which is different from "losing it," as it's not on all the time &mdash; it's a perk enjoyed under very specific circumstances, not a base ability enjoyed at one's leisure).

===Sneak Attack. I just went through the entire core book, and the only mention that I could find about range limitations are in the damage type itself, with specifies "vitals within Reach" (reach having been defined earlier in the same chapter). The Deadeye has Ranged Sneak Attack as an ability, but it doesn't actually give a new range, or alter the existing range. So what does it do?===

This is one of those rules that is intentionally vague to allow for interpretation. Some tables will rule that "what you can reach" is "Melee Reach," while others will rule that it's "trained bow range." Depends on the game, story flavor, and so on.

Why don't Giants have any Strength and/or Constitution modifiers?
Size affects the most important things strength and con modify for simply being a bigger person, Lifting/Carrying Capacity, and Wounds respectively. The ability to use your strength, via its modifier is not something Giants are better at than average, for their size. Goblins, for example, are stronger than most small creatures.

When you get a Speciality, for example, Fighter, do you get the bonus feat (Armour Basics), and one more from the 3 on offer?
When you choose your Specialty you get the listed fead and ALL of the following points. So taking Fighter as a Specialty, you get the Bonus feat Armor Basics as well as Attribute Training, Extra Proficiency and Melee Combat Expert). There is nothing to choose from in a Specialty, you get the whole package.

What does the feat expert ability do?
Some feats and abilities have statistics determined by the number of feats you have of a certain type. Such as the Spinning Shield stance from Pole Arms Basics on page 90 and the Parry trick on page 222. So if a character option says you can use it equal to the number of melee combat feats you posses, a fighter with 3 feats can use it 5 times.

===The extra Feat as noted in the Career Level table on page 27, is that in addition to the Bonus Feat you get with your Speciality? For example, a Fighter gets you the Bonus Feat: Armour Basics. Or is that the bonus feat itself?===

The bonus feats (and other things, like attribute bonus and proficiencies) you gain from career levels is entirely separate from other things, like class levels and origin bonuses. So in your case you get both Armour Basics and another feat.

How does multiclassing work with regards to vitality?
There is no multi-class penalties like in D&D 3.0. You only get the x4 bonus at your absolute first level. So a Mage 4 / Soldier 1 is 5th level. Not 1st. The "Sum" bit refers to the fact that as a Mage 4 / Soldier 1, you don't lose access to those skills (or vitality) you gained as a mage. You gain the listed vitality + your con mod for each individual level you take. Again, the Sum bit refers to you not losing your earlier levels vitality. So a Mage 4 who takes a level in Soldier gains 12 + Con Mod, added to his existing vitality from mage.

On the default character sheet, in the magic section, there's an entry under 'Spells Know', for 'Ranks', what's it for?
Ranks in the Spellcasting skill.

===There's Druid as a Speciality, but I couldn't find a Class that continued this Druid tradition. Not in the way Soldier carries on from the Fighter, or Scout carries on from the Ranger speciality, or Burglar from Rogue for example. Which class would be the best fit for continuing to play a Druid PC?===

Specialities aren't supposed to be class specific, Fighter is equally useful (perhaps moreso) for other classes (it's great for low proficiency classes). That said, if you wanted to be a Druid, it largely depends on your view of them -- If you want to be a caster, well that's Mage, Priest give more limited casting but lots of flavor and potential butt kicking, while Scout, Keeper, Martial Artist, Lancer, Assassin, Explorer, or Sage all are strong options, but depending on concept you could make any class work with it.. None of them are D&D druids, but all work for the what i was looking at for the time.

===My friend paid for 18 Dex (+4), he took Unborn which enabled him to increase any attribute by 2, so he upped his Dex to 20 (+5). He then took the splinter feat 'Unborn: clockwork' which gave another 2 to Initiative (+7). He also took 'Decisive' which gave him +5 to Initiatve for a total of +12. He also got +1 from something I can't remember right now. So Initiative is +13 at 1st level.===

Remember his other attributes are lower because of that 18. If he's ended up with some below 10, make them actual liabilities to him. Team checks can be your friend here. Remember, part of choosing to be very good at one thing is choosing to be bad at other things. You don't need to punish him, just remind him of what he didn't take once in a while. And let him go first.

Do classes provide the number + Con modifier every time they level?
If it seems overly generous, then read the "Fragile Heroes" Campaign Quality. Most people however would disagree with you.

===It's hard work coming up with 4 class skills for the paths on page 309. Do you think it would be short changing my players if I made their priest characters take two Crafting skills for their chosen path?===

Firstly, Crafting isn't multiple skills: you only ever take the skill once, but as you put ranks into it (and through certain other abilities), you gain more crafting focuses that allow you to make more things with the skill. If you look across classes, you'll see that each class with the same number of skill points per level has the same number of class skills. Shorting the Priest by a skill or two isn't going to destroy the game but it might make the Priest less attractive. What you might do as a house rule is add one standard priest skill to an alignment, then allow those who select that alignment to gain one additional skill as a class skill. For instance, if you have the alignment Beauty, you might want Impress to be an alignment skill. If you do so, let the player select (or you select for him) one skill to become a Priest skill.

I couldn't find any rules concerning the effects of Bleeding, Fixated etc, on Unborn pcs like the 'Clockwork' for example, and whether or not they are affected by them or not. Are there any?
Check character creation page 9; under type, which refers you to page 226 to define the rules for type. PCs and NPCs use the same rules for type.

===The Balataic talent (Adventure Companion, pg 23) has bloodthirsty which only allows them to attack one character per round. This does not keep them from using area-type attacks like Blade-Weaver Mastery's bladestorm trick, does it?===

My mental image is that a person doing a bladestorm isn't attacking any one person in particular &mdash; they just twirl around with sharp-bits pointing out and people too close get minced. }}