Here in the Old Margreve, adorable woodland creatures are running hither and yon…FOR THEIR LIVES. That’s because Kobold Quarterly issue #20 is out today and this time the focus is on archers! With an all-new elven archer base class for Pathfinder RPG, a shadow fey hunting party on the prowl, and new arrows carrying acid, fog and razor filaments, the debate over whether it’s Wabbit Season or Duck Season just became much more energetic.

KQ #20 features Jeff Grubb on the lost elves of Midgard, a Q&A with Journeys to the West lead designer Christina Stiles and a new Zobeck adventure.

There’s also vile Derro ooze magic, new planar allies, AGE system specialties, 4e racial utility powers for gnomes, tieflings and minotaurs, and much more! Here’s the complete contents, after the jump:

Q: My group has been discussing the nondetection spell and its usefulness against various divination spells. We’re divided into two camps, whose positions can be summed up as follows:

Camp One: Nondetection works against all divinations spells, period. If you’re protected by nondetection no divination spell reveals anything about you unless the divination user makes a successful caster level check.

Camp Two: Nondetection only protects against scrying spells (clairaudience/clairvoyance, arcane eye, scrying, and others), locate spells (locate object and locate creature), detect spells (detect undead, detect magic, detect evil, and others), and magical items that duplicate these effects, such as a crystal ball. Other divination spells, such as see invisibility, true seeing, tongues, moment of prescience fall outside the protected spell groups, and nondetection does not thwart them.

So, which camp is right?

The nondection spell description could say that it defeats all divination spells (regardless of their descriptors or modes of operation), but it does not. Instead, it specifies a broad subset of divination spells against which it is effective. Camp 2 has it right…

Q: Is it possible to use the major image spell to emulate the effects of other spells? Most of us are aware of the three different types of illusions and that things like major image shouldn’t be able to deal real physical damage since that’s the realm of shadow spells, but we’re interested in your advice on just what kinds of effects can be done with major image. Would an illusion of a hail of arrows from an unseen source cause those who failed their saves to believe themselves pierced by multitudes of arrows and have them collapse in unconsciousness? What if you created a swarm of fireballs (as with the meteor swarm spell) through major image?

You cannot use a figment spell such as major image to produce any real effects. Damage—even nonlethal damage—is a real effect. You can use major image to create an illusory hail of arrows, but those arrows cannot harm anything. They cannot even stick into anything; though you can make them look like they’re sticking into something…

Q: Is it possible to “take 10” or “take 20” on an initiative check?

You can “take 10” on a check only when you are not threatened or distracted. Combat, even impending combat, is both threatening and distracting. So, in general, you cannot “take 10” on an initiative check. I can think of one possible exception: when a group plans an ambush and succeeds in surprising the foe, the GM might assume that the ensuing combat will go according to some prearranged plan, and in that case, the ambushers might be allowed to “take 10” when it’s time to determine initiative. Of course, the ambushers must have laid such a plan ahead of time. Anything that disrupts the plan, such as an enemy spotting the ambushers and being able to act in the surprise round, disallows taking 10…

Q: Does a suggestion spell leave the subject any way to evade the spell’s effect? Once the subject fails the save, the spell works continuously and the subject seems to have little recourse. In a recent session, a player character gave an opponent (an active combatant in an encounter) a suggestion to “stand still and don’t move!” I gave the enemy a new save whenever the party attacked or tried to attack, and the opponent finally made the save. Anyway, this seems overpowered for a fairly low-level spell…