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Elf shaman favored class option:

(Advanced Class Guide pg. 69 (Amazon)): Add 5 feet to the range of a chosen shaman hex. Multiple bonuses from this ability can apply to the same hex, to a maximum of an additional 30 feet for any single hex.

Healing hex:

Healing (Su) (Advanced Class Guide pg. 37 (Amazon)): A shaman soothes the wounds of those she touches. This acts as cure light wounds, using the shaman’s caster level. Once a creature has benefited from the healing hex, it cannot benefit from it again for 24 hours. At 5th level, this acts as cure moderate wounds.

Does this increase the range of the healing hex to 5ft and then +5ft up to 30ft? Or does it only apply to hexes with a range greater than touch?

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1 Answer 1

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This 2012 post on a vaguely similar topic has Pathfinder designer Jason Bulhman's saying that, essentially, You can't add something to nothing. That is, the designer makes a distinction between something having a value of 0 and a value of no value. An effect with a touch range doesn't have a range of 0 ft. but of no ft.

Thus the elf shaman favored class bonus can add 5 ft. to any hex that already has a range of 5 ft. or more, but the elf shaman favored class bonus can't change a hex with a range of touch into a hex with a range of 5 ft. or more.

(Were a GM to allow the elf shaman favored class bonus to affect hexes with a range of touch anyway, that GM would have to compose house rules to accommodate weird options. For instance, this GM wouldn't even know where to begin if the elf shaman opted to give a range of 5 ft. to a hex like fetish or secret!)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Personally, I would say that fetish doesn't have a range (so the range can't be extended), but healing does have a range - it just starts out as '0'. GM call anyway. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 15, 2017 at 14:45
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    \$\begingroup\$ Side note: Cure light wounds (and the healing hex that emulates it) HAS a range. It has a range of touch. I agree that you wouldn't be able to add 5ft increments to it, but it DOES have a range. Something like Fetish does NOT have a range at all. \$\endgroup\$
    – GreySage
    Jun 15, 2017 at 15:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MartinBonner Personal is a range, too! That is, what it lacks—and would make it really weird—is an activation. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 15, 2017 at 15:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ I felt like this was the answer but couldn't find a source like you did. Good job. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ifusaso
    Jun 16, 2017 at 11:06

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