Pathfinder 1E Sacred Geometry - Ladies and gentlemen, Pathfinder has jumped the shark

[Dungeoneer]

Spell-ing Bee:
Open a dictionary and have the DM pick five words. Spell them all correctly. If you do this you are now the DM's favorite player for the rest of the session, but the other players will beat you up and take your lunch money when the DM isn't looking.

 

[Michael Morris]

Spell memorization mastery: Memorize the entry of a spell. Before play begins prove to the DM you can recite the spell's entry in the rules from memory. If you do you can use the spell in addition to the spells your character has prepared, and without using a spell slot.

Lotsa flavah, balanced yes?

EDIT: I would note this is insanely broken in my setting since I make it a point to make spell entries as short as possible. One spell's entire entry:

Counterspell
Balcran Abjuration (Dispel)
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Range: Close
Target: One spell in casting
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Counter Target Spell

[Casting Time and Duration are omitted because they are at their respective defaults of 1 action and instantaneous]

 

[Umbran]

Just curious for the math fans out there: how hard would it be if you said either "multiplication by zero is not allowed"?

It isn't hard at all. Why not? Because the feat does not specify what numerical base you're using! Woot!

I now call on the Great Spirit of Tom Lehrer (who is not dead yet, but is awesome enough to have a spirit to call on anyway)...

[video=youtube_share;UIKGV2cTgqA]http://youtu.be/UIKGV2cTgqA[/video]

I think this demonstrates well enough that while such a feat may be fun for a person, it isn't a great general game mechanic.

I think it also shows that you shouldn't give such things to min-maxing mathematicians or physicists

 

[Kinak]

I'm a Physicist (and BTW, additions, multiplications, etc. are arithmetic, not algebra!), I like the numerological flavor of the feat, but I think I would never allow it. Stopping mid-action for a player to do a bunch of calculations doesn't strike me as particularly fun...

Yeah, most of my players couldn't do the calculations fast enough for combat to keep flowing. But they're also self-aware enough to realize that, so we'd never have a problem.

But we also discourage in-combat summoning, shapeshifting, and eidolons/companions for the same reason.

Spell memorization mastery: Memorize the entry of a spell. Before play begins prove to the DM you can recite the spell's entry in the rules from memory. If you do you can use the spell in addition to the spells your character has prepared, and without using a spell slot.

You mean mnemonic enhancer?

Actually, I've run into a several GMs that use the houserule that if you don't know what a spell does when your turn comes up, you can't cast it. Obviously the balance plays out differently, but it's testing the same skill as your joke feat and mnemonic enhancer.

And, certainly, plenty of GMs use the old "if you can't remember the bonus, it doesn't apply" and "decide your action or we're moving to the next person" table rules.

Getting back to the most obvious example, shapeshifting and summoning: the powers of memorizing Bestiary entries for fun and profit. Do these 1d4+1 celestial dire sharks come pre-jumped?

What I'm trying to say is: rewarding characters for their players' skills and decisions is neither new nor shocking. If you don't like this particular example, by all means don't use it. It probably won't come up in my games either, but it's not some sort of revolutionary development.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Evenglare]

This looks awesome! Currently have my degree in astrophysics I've been into this stuff for as long as I can remember. There's some really awesome lore with this stuff and it's some of the first well documented. It's funny how long this persisted, I mean Kepler was way into this stuff too. He's known for his planetary laws, but at the end he started going off the deep end with the Pythagoras Cult stuff.

Edit:I said stuff a lot I just realized.

 

[Mark CMG]

I had a player once go bonkers during a D&D game because I used the Pythagorean theorem to give him the range of a levitating opponent. (It's not the only time a player has been surprised that theorem was in use.) It literally took moments in my own mind give him the range (not even a break in the sentence). I was greeted with an odd look and questioned how I figured the distance, as the player counted the squares on the Chessex mat. I didn't want to stall the game so I named the theorem to which he replied, "Who remembers that stuff?" He wanted us to only use 2D geometry when figuring ranges. I couldn't help but think to myself, "Who doesn't remember that stuff?" and explained his character doesn't actually have a top down view nor the ability to count squares, so the number of times he estimates ranges improperly will balance out the added meta-knowledge he has from his enhanced perspective.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

This feat will not interrupt game time for Spontaneous Casters.

"Using a feat in this way increases the spell's casting time to the casting time it would take if the character were a sorcerer or bard (sorcerers and bards using this ability increase the spell's casting time by two categories)"

Under Metamagic feat entry line under sorcerers and bards:
"If the spell's normal casting time is a standard action, casting a metamagic version is a full-round action for a sorcerer or bard."

So "increasing the spell's casting time by two categories" this will turn the spellcasting into a 1 round action (standard to full, full to 1 round). This means the spontaneous caster has until the start of his or her next turn, after everyone else has gone, to succeed or fail on the Math. In my opinion, could be very worth it for a spell with 2 or more metamagic feats stacked at it's normal spell level.

I'm thinking how excellent this could be for a spontaneous caster to apply Silent and Still to spells in social situations out of combat.

 

[Obryn]

Devastating Might: When you declare an attack, do one chin-up. You are responsible for bringing a pull-up bar to the game; PATHFINDER-branded portable pull-up bars are available in the Paizo store. If you succeed, your first attack is a critical hit.

 

[Samloyal23]

The idea is sound, the feat is broken. If it is used outside of combat, I have no problem with letting a player do some math. It adds flavour. If the character is smarter than the player, give the player extra time. If the Character is not so smart, reduce the time allowed for calculations. But first, fix the damned feat.

 

[MichaelSomething]

If a poorly thought out feat could kill Pathfinder, the game would have died long ago...