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View Full Version : Rules Q&A Building a race using PFSRD race builder



OGDojo
2024-02-27, 04:19 AM
So, i am building a witcher race (i know its been done a few times but i wanna try making my own) and i am trying to do it using the race builder as they are supposedly no longer human (i woulda done it as a template but decided that using the race builder was a better option cuz it would allow me to balance it a bit better) so i wanted to stick to a 20 point race and wanted to give it some cool abilities, However not all is going according to plan, you see, heres my issue. according to the rules of the "Spell-Like ability" both lesser and greater, you cannot deal damage with the spell even if it is a once per day thing, however according to the "Fell Magic" Racial Trait, you get chill touch which is a 1st level attacking spell that does damage which breaks both of the rules of the 2 previous spell like ability traits. so I'm thinking that the race builder just threw these two racial traits in there and decided on the two limiters after building the other traits OR they specifically put the other traits in despite knowing that it would counter the ruling of the two spell like ability traits.

is there an errata that is like "heres some spells we decided that its okay to use." or perhaps a ruling that damaging spells are ok but not targeting or perhaps it was a misprint and they accidentally just copied the wording from the At Will spell like ability trait. (unlikely)

the reason im so curious/concerned is because having a damaging or targeted spell once per day doesn't sound overpowered, perhaps theres a combo you can do with the spell like ability that activates as a standard action that can just demolish your opponents that i'm not seeing? can anyone help with this?

also im not looking for "Its the rules just deal with it" answer, i know the rule, i read the rule, but i feel like my race will suffer if i dont at least try to figure out a way around it.

Rynjin
2024-02-27, 04:23 AM
This isn't a "them's the rules" situation, it's an "ask your GM" situation.

icefractal
2024-02-27, 04:52 PM
Yeah, honestly that limit seems questionably useful balance-wise. If I were to think of "SLAs that could be problematic to have" it would be those that skip an expensive material component, like Masterwork Transformation. Or possibly those on an obscure list that would normally have delayed access, although PF1 has a lot less of those than 3.5E. Offensive spells are already limited by action economy, often a stronger limit than per-day resources in practice.

So IMO, it's just excessive caution on Paizo's part. I don't see any contradiction here though. There are specific SLA traits that give whatever SLAs they say, and also - separately - there's a "pick any SLA" trait that has these limits.

Kurald Galain
2024-02-27, 05:05 PM
I don't see any contradiction here though. There are specific SLA traits that give whatever SLAs they say, and also - separately - there's a "pick any SLA" trait that has these limits.

This.

Also, how about you tell us what spell, specifically, you're talking about? Then we can tell you if that's balanced or not.

OGDojo
2024-02-29, 11:08 AM
So the spell in question that i wanted was either Hydraulic push or Telekinesis, they are spells that allow you to move your opponent without touching them but they are technically Attacks, even tho they do not actually deal damage.

Kurald Galain
2024-02-29, 11:31 AM
So the spell in question that i wanted was either Hydraulic push or Telekinesis, they are spells that allow you to move your opponent without touching them but they are technically Attacks, even tho they do not actually deal damage.
Sure. Well, the Undine race has Hydro Push as an SLA, so that should be fair game. It's more of a fun spell than a really powerful one, anyway. TK is a 5th-level spell so should be off-limits (the SLA racial only goes up to level four), in addition to be fairly powerful and versatile.