Pathfinder 1E Warlock Questions

[GhostWheel]

So I've been trying to scour the net for answers, and hope you guys can help me.

Regarding the warlock class created by Adamant Entertainment, it says that they suffer from arcane spell failure (which seems to imply that their abilities have somatic components), but their school abilities are for the most part supernatural in nature.

Does that mean that they can use them in melee without provoking AoOs? Can they still cast them while paralyzed/grappled, and so on?

If they take the Shift school power (Conjuration - Teleportation), could they take Dimensional Agility to be able to move after using it? And would using it be a standard action, or a swift action, since the original ability is a swift action?

Hopefully you guys can help me, as I can't find the answers anywhere else.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Your text is black, which for most of us means that it displays on a black background and therefore is illegible (I had to highlight it to read it). Something people sometimes do accidentally here at ENW; just an FYI.

Also, since you probably can't post links yet, this is the link.

***

To the actual question, a supernatural (Su) ability lacks components and has very few requirements. According to the special ability text, a Su ability does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Since there are no somatic or verbal components, it is not prohibited by grapple either.

Paralysis is a thornier issue and I am not entirely sure what the ruling is on that. I am not sure that there is an official ruling; none was evident to me when I checked quickly. The paralysis text says that you can take purely mental actions; no physical element is specified under Su abilities or these abilities in particular, so AFAICT the answer is that you can use them while paralyzed. A GM would hardly be unreasonable in reversing that and saying that some modicum of physical action is required.

If they take the Shift school power (Conjuration - Teleportation), could they take Dimensional Agility to be able to move after using it?

No. The relevant text on Dimensional Agility says "After using abundant step or casting dimension door". Using the shift power is like dimension door, but it is not casting dimension door. That's why they felt the need to list abundant step specifically, even though it is also based off of the spell. The text was probably written this way to prevent these kinds of combinations as they can lead to unforeseen consequences, but if you wanted to houserule it back in you certainly could.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Does that mean that they can use them in melee without provoking AoOs? Can they still cast them while paralyzed/grappled, and so on?[/COLOR]

If they take the Shift school power (Conjuration - Teleportation), could they take Dimensional Agility to be able to move after using it? And would using it be a standard action, or a swift action, since the original ability is a swift action?

Hopefully you guys can help me, as I can't find the answers anywhere else.

The general problem with third-party material is that, while it's designed to be used with the core product, the core product isn't written in a way to take the new stuff into consideration. It also doesn't have quite the budget for quality assurance, so you get errors (although first-party stuff has its own share of problems, as well).

Judging by the Arcane Armor Mastery class feature for the warlock - At 1st level, the warlock does not suffer an arcane failure penalty when using a school ability while wearing light armor - it sounds like it was written under the assumption that arcane spell failure would apply, even though ASF doesn't normally apply to Supernatural abilities. That sounds to me as though they want the class to treat these abilities as though they were spells, even though the rules of the game go against it. It was probably an honest mistake by the class designer.

So how does that extend to provoking an AoO? Well, you don't know. We don't have enough information to go by. The RAW are in contradiction to the general rules of the game. Honestly, the best thing to do at this point would be to ask your GM, and give all relevant information. You're not going to find a consensus online.

And just to show how little consensus you're going to find, I'm going to disagree on the Dimensional Agility thing as well - after you spend your swift action for the ability, you would be able to take any actions you have remaining (standard+move, or full-round). The feat describes the physical trait which your character possesses, and there's no good reason why it wouldn't apply in a situation that is just like a situation where it applies. I can't imagine which physical reality it could possible be modeling, if the feat didn't apply.

I wouldn't even call it a house rule. I would just say that it's my honest interpretation of what the RAW is trying to say, once you get past its obtuse language.

 

[Ahnehnois]

[MENTION=6775031]Saelorn[/MENTION]
You are right in that the text of this warlock is contradictory. There is nothing in the arcane schools that would cause a spell failure chance to apply to its supernatural abilities, but the armor class feature assumes that it does. This presumably just bad writing; it would seem the RAI was that the failure chance should apply. Since the rationale for it is unclear (it doesn't say whether there's anything like a somatic component or what is involved in doing this action), there's no basis to say whether these abilities are subject to other types of adverse circumstances (AoOs, paralysis, and so on).

The Dimensional Agility thing may be a more straightforward example of RAW and RAI mixing up. As I read it, the feat would only work for abilities specifically enumerated (casting the spell and the one class feature) and not other situations, such as a shadowdancer's shadow jump, or a monster with Dimension Door as a spell-like ability. I think that extending it to other situations is a violating of a strict interpretation of RAW, but not necessarily unreasonable. The in-game logic you give is reasonable.