How does a Chameleon's aptitude focus work?

[weckar]

So, I was reading the 1st level chameleon ability, and a weird thing stood out to me:
An aptitude focus ability is usable once per day at 1st level, twice per day at 5th level, and three times per day at 10th level. Except it looks like all aptitude focuses are passive boosts. Does this mean they last for one combat? One attack?

[GreatDane]

An aptitude focus lasts 24 hours. (Second sentence of the ability, for reference.)

[weckar]

Then what does the line about x uses per day of aptitude focus abilities refer to?

[Cerefel]

As you level up in chameleon you start gaining the ability to switch aptitudes throughout the day instead of having to stick with the one you picked that morning.

[weckar]

Once per day, you can select one of five areas upon which to focus your ever-shifting talents. After meditating for 1 hour, you gain the chosen abilities for 24 hours or until you change your aptitude focus. An aptitude focus ability is usable once per day at 1st level, twice per day at 5th level, and three times per day at 10th level. At 5th level, you can change your aptitude focus one time per day, and at 10th level you can change your aptitude focus two times per day. If you change to the arcane focus or divine focus ability, you must still obey the normal rules for preparing spells (including any rest required). The changing thing is in the line following the one I indicated.

[Lans]

You get the ability to maintain more choices of aptitude

[zergling.exe]

The changing thing is in the line following the one I indicated.

Reread the first two sentences of your quote.

Once per day, you can select one of five areas upon which to focus your ever-shifting talents. After meditating for 1 hour, you gain the chosen abilities for 24 hours or until you change your aptitude focus.
It just means that when you can use it more than once per day, you can change what "class" you are emulating in the middle of the day.

[Segev]

Just to try to provide an additional perspective, let's walk through a quick example (bearing in mind that I don't have the class in front of me so I can't remember the specific aptitudes' mechanics).

When you pick an aptitude one morning, you decide you want to be a "wizard," so you get out your spellbook and study it, and you pick Int as one of your stats to boost.

Later, however, you realize that you actually would be doing better as a "cleric," because you actually need to convince a knightly order you're going to travel with that you're holy enough to go on their sacred quest. So you swap to a divine suite of spells and boost your Wisdom instead of your Int.


The thing is that while it lasts all day, you can have only one aptitude at a time (unless you get a feature that says otherwise). So if you can use it X times per day, each time you use it, you replace the old one.

The uses/day are how many times you can swap "classes." In all cases, they last 24 hours. (In fact, this can be used to increase your flexibility the next day by swapping an unused aptitude use at the end of the day. You'll still have it "up" the next day, and thus don't have to spend any of the next day's until you want to change.)

[weckar]

Seems to me the line is rather superfluous then because it says the same thing as the next line...

[Segev]

Seems to me the line is rather superfluous then because it says the same thing as the next line...

The next sentence is a clarification of the first. That's all. It states it two different ways in case it isn't clear to some readers one way.

[Cerefel]

Don't forget that at level 7 or so you can have 2 aptitudes at the same time and BOTH count towards your uses per day. In effect, you can only swap out one of them during the day if you do so.

[weckar]

Thanks for the insights. Guess I was just being a bit of a dummy.