Simple RAW Thread for 3.5 #33: Doesn't everything popular die when 33?

(This is a fairly high procedure thread; please read the entire instructions carefully before posting. Thanks.)

Ever have a simple, straight-forward rules question that you can’t figure out the answer to? Ask it here. No question is too simple. No more worrying about whether your question is “worth” starting a thread. Ask here and receive an answer. You are, of course, welcome to start a thread for your question, and if you think your question is subject to many interpretations or will start a debate, you are encouraged to start a new thread for it.

This thread will serve as a catch-all for simple, discreet questions that can be answered quickly according to the RAW (Rules As Written). This thread is for all simple RAW questions about D&D 3.5. If your question is not about the RAW for 3.5, please look in the appropriate threads in the appropriate forums.


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Sample “Bad” Questions:
How do I play D&D? (Great question, but not for this thread.)
What is a good 10 level TWF build? (Far too broad and requires much opinion)
What +2 LA race should I take for my sorcerer build? (Again, an opinion question)
Which is better GURPS or D&D?

Sample “Good” Questions:
Q.1. Are there any Large +0 LA races?
Q.2. As a sorcerer/rogue, do I get to add sneak attack damage to my attack spells?
Q.3. What effect would Dispel Magic have on a golem or similar construct?
Q.4. Is there a feat that allows me to get a familiar?

Please start over with the numbering. When this one reached 50 pages, please report it so that we can start a new one. Thanks.

Q 1

How does the harpoon from frostburn interact with the Returning weapon enchantment?
Does the harpoon return without doing additonal damage?
Does it leave a wound since the "harpoon condition" can only be removed by doing a FRA or a heal check?
Does the harpoon just return doing nothing?

Reposting some unanswered questions from the last thread:

Q2
Assuming undead aren't involved, can Bracers of Entangling Might (MIC 80) be used with Chill Touch to deal extra Strength damage?

Q3
Assuming a caster level of 20, what first-level spell gives the largest bonus (of any type) to AC?

Q4
What if any rules exist for when flight has no listed maneuverability?

Q5
If you have both the Knock-Down and Vae School feats, do you get two attempts to trip an enemy if they're flat-footed when you deal at least ten damage to them with a whip or spiked chain?

Q6
Is a Mind Flayer's Mind Blast a 'mental action' that can be used with the secondary mind of the granted by the Schism power?

Q7

If an elven wizard becomes a necropolitan at level 3 (getting bumped to level 2), can she no longer take the 3rd level elf wizard substitution level because she's undead?

A 7

You can still take the substitution level. Race and type and subtype are three distinct properties. To qualify for the substitution level you must be of the correct race. The Necropolitan template does not change the base creature's race.

A6

Yes.
Mind blast is a spell-like ability. According to the SRD, activating a SLA is a mental action.
I cannot find a limitation in the schism power that says the partitioned mind is limited to psionic powers, or conflicts with the usage of a SLA.

Q8
According to the BoVD addiction rules, what save is allowed to avoid addiction? Assuming the character voluntarily took the drug.

Q 9:

What does a Confused creature do when his Confusion is the result of a trap (something like Symbol of Insanity) and the percentile roll for the round comes up with "Attack Caster..."?

Quote:

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Attack caster with melee or ranged weapons (or close with caster if attack is not possible).

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Does he attack the trap? Attack where the symbol is/was?

A 9 The answer is in the spell description:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SRD

A confused character who can’t carry out the indicated action does nothing but babble incoherently

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by HisHighestMinio

Q8
According to the BoVD addiction rules, what save is allowed to avoid addiction? Assuming the character voluntarily took the drug.

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A008

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BoVD p.41

Upon initial exposure (anytime a character imbibes or applies a drug with an addiction rating), the character must succeed at a Fortitude save or become addicted, as shown below.

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Each drug has it's own listed DC for the Fortitude save, as shown on table 3-4.

Q 10

Does the Saint's Holy Power ability increase the DC of Ravages and/or poisons used by the Saint?

Q11

Can Iron Heart Surge be used to remove fatigue not caused by a spell with a duration?

The wording of Iron Heart Surge says an effect lasting one or more rounds, but fatigue does not have a duration, it is simply removed by resting 8 or more hours.

A 11

Ask your DM. This is one of the many ambiguities of the maneuver.

Q10

No, unless it's a Special attack of the creature, like "Touch of golden ice".

Q 12

The Step of the Wind stance from the Tome of Battle specifies:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords

While you are in this stance, you ignore penalties to speed, movement, or skill checks associated with movement (such as Tumble, Jump, and Climb checks) incurred by moving through difficult terrain.

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I understand this mean you can move at full speed over difficult terrain. The rules on Terrain and Obstacles from the SRD also mentions, though, that "You can’t run or charge across difficult terrain."

Does Step of the Wind also remove this limitation (since you ignore penalties to movement), and thus allow you to run or charge even over lightly obstructed (scree, light rubble, shallow bog, undergrowth) or severely obstructed (natural cavern floor, dense rubble, dense undergrowth) terrain?

A 12

Yes.

Q13
Can a summoned Elysian Thrush (BoED) charge the Energy Transformation Field (SC) which summoned it with it's healing song Su ability?

If so how long does it have to sing before the ETF eats the ability and the bird has to start again?


Q14
Without considering class abilities or magic items, what's the longest one could make a Summoned Monster persist?
Could one ever last long enough to cast Contingency on?

Q 15

Is there a magic item that grants something similar to the empathic link supernatural ability that a wizard or sorcerer has with its familiar?

Q16

Do an Occult Slayer's Magical Defense and Mind Over Magic abilities apply to a Beholder's eye ray attacks?

A 16

No. Magical Defense and Mind Over Magic protect against spells and spell-like abilities. A beholder's eye rays are supernatural abilities.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DeltaEmil

Q 15

Is there a magic item that grants something similar to the empathic link supernatural ability that a wizard or sorcerer has with its familiar?

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A 015

I'm not aware of an exact match, but there's a couple of items that perform vaguely similar functions:

• Collar of Healing (MIC p.89) [know exact hit point total of animal companion, familiar or special mount]
• Helm of Telepathy [send telepathic messages]
• Linked (armor property) (MIC p.12) [telepathic communication]
• Contact Medallion (MIC p.90) [telepathic bond]
• Crystal Ball with Telepathy [telepathic communication]
  

A14

Quote:

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Without considering class abilities or magic items, what's the longest one could make a Summoned Monster persist?
Could one ever last long enough to cast Contingency on?

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This is not a "simple" RAW question, but there is no hard limit - with a duration of 1 round per level (before extensions) then an arbitrarily high level produces whatever duration one needs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DeltaEmil

Q 15

Is there a magic item that grants something similar to the empathic link supernatural ability that a wizard or sorcerer has with its familiar?

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A 15
Also not quite the same thing, but the various symbionts from the Fiend Folio link with their host in a manner quite similar to a familiar empathic link.

A 14 Additional

Also, Contingency is a Personal spell. Unless you have some ability that says otherwise, you can't cast Contingency on another creature.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Debatra

A 14 Additional

Also, Contingency is a Personal spell. Unless you have some ability that says otherwise, you can't cast Contingency on another creature.

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There are a couple of summons that get access to 6th level spells which coukd cast it themselves if they last long enough.

Q16: If you are standing in the midst of an inhaled poison, do you have to make a fort save every round?

Q17: how long does it take to apply a graft? Not craft it.

Q 18

A few about the drug rules from the Book of Vile Darkness.

A: Drugs are described as functioning like poison. If a character has full immunity to poison (for example, a 9th-level druid), does it protect him from all effects of a drug?

B: Drug addictions are described as functioning like disease. If a character has immunity to diseases (for example, a 5th-level monk), does it make him immune to any risk of addiction?

C: Assuming A) is true, if a character is already addicted to a drug, and then gains immunity to poison, does this mean the satiation effect of the drug no longer apply to him, and thus he's forced into withdrawal?

Q 19

If you activate a Talisman of Undying Fortitude, can you then stop holding it (drop it, stash it away) for the duration of its effect, or do you need to keep holding on to it (presumably with one hand)?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kkplx

Q 19

If you activate a Talisman of Undying Fortitude, can you then stop holding it (drop it, stash it away) for the duration of its effect, or do you need to keep holding on to it (presumably with one hand)?

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A019

There's nothing in the item description that states you need to keep holding the Talisman, it simply states the immunities that you gain when you activate it. So yes, so could put it away, or hand it to another creature to use if you wanted to.

The entry for the item in question lists its slot as "- (held)", indicating a non-slot item. Further on in the MIC (p.219) it specifies that for items of this type "You must hold the item or otherwise manipulate the item with your hand for it to function or be activated.".

The Talisman in question is quite specific that the benefits are granted to you upon activation. It could be argued that the "to function" clause means you need to keep holding it throughout the duration.

I think this is a case of "ask your DM", as I believe it could be argued both ways.

Q20

So the item slot "held" has no meaning outside of where you have to have the item when you activate it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kkplx

Q20

So the item slot "held" has no meaning outside of where you have to have the item when you activate it?

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A 020

As far as I know, "held" isn't actually a slot as as such. The slots are Arms, Body, Face, Feet, Hands, Head, Rings (x2), Shoulders, Throat, Torso, Waist.

The entry for the item in question lists its slot as "- (held)", indicating a non-slot item. Further on in the MIC (p.219) it specifies that for items of this type "You must hold the item or otherwise manipulate the item with your hand for it to function or be activated.".

This may be a DM call on an item by item basis. The Talisman in question is quite specific that the benefits are granted to you upon activation. It could be argued that the "to function" clause means you need to keep holding it throughout the duration.

I may need to go back and change my previous answer to "ask your DM".

Q 21

I just noticed that Alter Self has the mention "The new form must be within one size category of your normal size." That means a medium creature can turn small or large with this spell...

A:Does the subject receive the appropriate size modifiers (as with Enlarge Person or Reduce Person)?

B: Is there any creature with the Humanoid type who is large-sized?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by St Fan

Q 21

I just noticed that Alter Self has the mention "The new form must be within one size category of your normal size." That means a medium creature can turn small or large with this spell...

A:Does the subject receive the appropriate size modifiers (as with Enlarge Person or Reduce Person)?

B: Is there any creature with the Humanoid type who is large-sized?

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A21

A: Yes and no. The new form will have the appropriate modifiers already built in, you don't add them again.

B: Chameleon, Asp, and Cobra nagas from 'Oriental Adventures' are large humanoids with few enough racial HD to work with Alter Self.

A 021B further info

Unfortunately the Nagas mentioned above from OA had their type changed to Monstrous Humanoid in the Dragon 318 3.5 update of Oriental Adventures.

If your DM does not recognize this as an official update, you should still be able to use them though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thurbane

A 021B further info

Unfortunately the Nagas mentioned above from OA had their type changed to Monstrous Humanoid in the Dragon 318 3.5 update of Oriental Adventures.

If your DM does not recognize this as an official update, you should still be able to use them though.

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Hmm, then there's the hornhead saurial from the Serpent Kingdom web update.

Q 22

The Combat focus of the Chameleon prestige class reads as such:

Combat Focus: You gain proficiency with all martial weapons. You also gain a +2 competence bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls and a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves. At 5th level, the bonuses improve to +4.

a) It seems pretty clear that the +2 on attack rolls would apply to ranged touch attacks for an Eldritch Blast, but would the +2 on weapon damage rolls apply to the Eldritch Blast's damage?

b) If I use Eldritch Glaive and then attack with that, would it be considered a weapon, and therefore receive a +2 bonus to damage?

A22
No, and no. Eldritch Blast and Eldritch Glaive are both weaponlike spells because they use an attack roll. Weaponlike spells do not get extra damage from bonuses to weapon damage rolls.

On the other hand, weaponlike spells do get precision damage and they do benefit from combat feats.

Q 23
Limited wish has this line of uses in it's description "Produce any other effect whose power level is in line with the above effects, such as a single creature automatically hitting on its next attack"

What exactly is the limit of this, does it just ignore everything including miss chances, mirror image? Does it still work if the target is out of range? If it does work if the target is out of range can it be done cross planes?

Q24

Can aboleth slave non-humanoids?

A 24

Not unless you're using the psionic version.

The standard aboleth's Enslave ability works like dominate person, which as you've noted only affects humanoids. The psionic aboleth trades its SLAs for psionics, and uses the more versatile psionic dominate (basically dominate person and dominate monster rolled into one).

Q25

A vampire's Blood Drain ability is Extraordinary. However, a vampire lord's Blood Drain ability is Supernatural. If a vampire becomes a vampire lord, does he gain another Blood Drain ability that is Supernatural, or does his existing Extraordinary Blood Drain change to Supernatural?

A25

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wizards Archive Vampire Lord

A vampire lord retains all the special abilities of the base vampire, except as modified below, and also gains those noted below.

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His existing Blood Drain becomes Supernatural

Q26

A vampire has a Dominate special attack. A vampire lord has a Domination special attack. Does the vampire becoming a vampire lord get a new Domination ability or does his Dominate attack become Domination?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flappeercraft

Q 23
Limited wish has this line of uses in it's description "Produce any other effect whose power level is in line with the above effects, such as a single creature automatically hitting on its next attack"

What exactly is the limit of this, does it just ignore everything including miss chances, mirror image? Does it still work if the target is out of range? If it does work if the target is out of range can it be done cross planes?

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A 23

Wish and Limited wish are kind of notoriously DM-discretionary, but assuming you want to target that specific example of a usage:

"A single creature automatically hit[s] on its next attack."

For this effect to be relevant, the creature still needs to make the attack. You cannot make an attack against an enemy you're unaware of, or that is outside of the maximum range of your weapon. The effect of wish can never be applied because you can never even designate the attack in the first place.

If, within the normal rules, you make an attack while under this effect, it will hit. Evasion, cover, concealment, misc. miss chance, AC, or anything else that can cause an attack to not hit doesn't apply to this attack, because this attack automatically hits. Unlike some mechanical sets (Magic the Gathering comes to mind) there is no space in D&D between the declaration and the resolution of an attack. You could, for instance, prepare a spell to remove you from the current plane to be fired when an attack hits you, but it would go off after you take damage, not the moment the d20 lands on a result that is higher than your AC.

Mirror Image isn't relevant. You just hit whichever image you targeted. You would not, under this effect, get to say "I attack the real one," because you still don't know which one the real one is, just like if your DM sets a group of identical looking cultists in masks in front of you they won't just let you say "I attack the leader." Whichever target you attack, be it one of the images or the real enemy, will be hit. If that was a mirror image, you have now wasted your perfect hit, but you DID hit your target. Your target was just wrong.

Note that Damage Reduction, Resistance, Immunity, etc. would all still work against this attack, as they lower or prevent damage instead of lowering the chance of an attack, or preventing an attack from, succeeding.

Q27

Although it say other, spell target for shield other is just one creature. Can do it on yourself?

A27
You could, because spell names have no mechanical effect and you are one creature in close range.

It would be a pretty useless spell though, because you would take half damage and the other half of the damage would be transfered to... you. So the only effect would be +1 to AC and saves. Resistance is a 0th level spell that grants the same bonus on saves.

Q 28

Can one use Plane Shift or Gate to traverse from one Material Plane to another. As in from Toril to Eberron, or to Oerth to Krynn?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Someguy231

Q 28

Can one use Plane Shift or Gate to traverse from one Material Plane to another. As in from Toril to Eberron, or to Oerth to Krynn?

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A 28

If you mean literally traveling between campaign settings, then that's up to DM discretion. 3.5 settings don't (generally) share a universe, but there's no reason a DM can't have a universe with both Eberron and Toril or whatever.

If both of those planes exist in your DM's setting, there's probably nothing stopping Plane Shift from traversing them. But again, this isn't really a defined mechanical thing you're trying to do.

Q 29

Are the chakra slots as used by the Incarnum Blade prestige class usable by anyone, even if the character has no previous affiliation with incarnum? A player's interested and wants to know if he can "have a free use of chakras" to make the class work, but from my reading it looks like the class just sort of gives them to you anyway.

A29: Correct, a character does not require any other levels in an incarnum class or incarnum feats

Q26

A vampire has a Dominate special attack. A vampire lord has a Domination special attack. Does the vampire becoming a vampire lord get a new Domination ability or does his Dominate attack become Domination?

Q30

Can a PC take a feat that applies to magic if he's not yet a magic user? For instance, if I know I'm going to take levels in Wizard or Sorcerer, can my Rogue take Spell Focus at character creation?

A030

You can take any feat you meet the prerequisites for whenever you can choose one. If the feat doesn't require any spellcasting ability you can still take the feat, even if it does nothing without spellcasting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tiri

Q26

A vampire has a Dominate special attack. A vampire lord has a Domination special attack. Does the vampire becoming a vampire lord get a new Domination ability or does his Dominate attack become Domination?

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You don't have to repost this every three days if it doesn't get answered.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tiri

Q26

A vampire has a Dominate special attack. A vampire lord has a Domination special attack. Does the vampire becoming a vampire lord get a new Domination ability or does his Dominate attack become Domination?

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A26: The dominate (by gaze) is unchanged, gains new ability of domination by voice. See below

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SRD

Dominate (Su)
A vampire can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 12th). The ability has a range of 30 feet.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by WotC

Special Attacks: A vampire lord retains all the special abilities of the base vampire, except as modified below, and also gains those noted below. The saving throw, where applicable, is 10 + 1/2 the vampire lord's class and nonclass HD + the vampire lord's Charisma modifier, unless noted otherwise.

Domination (Su): As base vampire, except that a vampire lord can do this either by gaze or voice. It does not require line of sight to the target, but the target must be able to hear the vampire lord's voice when it speaks at a normal volume level.

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Gaze requires line of sight and is a standard action, voice does not require line of sight nor line of effect and is a standard action.

Q 31

Character has an Item Familiar, and invest his life energy in it, thus gaining a 10% bonus on his current XP, and on any XP gained afterward.

Same character get drained of one level. According to the rules, his XP total is now half-way between the minimum for his lost level and the previous (now current) level.

Does he immediately add 10% to his new XP total thanks to the Item Familiar?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by St Fan

Q 31

Character has an Item Familiar, and invest his life energy in it, thus gaining a 10% bonus on his current XP, and on any XP gained afterward.

Same character get drained of one level. According to the rules, his XP total is now half-way between the minimum for his lost level and the previous (now current) level.

Does he immediately add 10% to his new XP total thanks to the Item Familiar?

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A 31: No, as it is not gained XP, it's setting XP to a specific value, so any modifiers to XP gain don't apply. If it did, then characters subject to XP penalties would have the penalty apply to this value as well. And that's just cruel and unusual.

Q32

If a vampire lord's Domination ability is a new ability separate from the vampire ability Dominate, what is the Domination ability based off of and what effect does it have?

A32: it is "as base vampire", meaning the same save DC off of 10+1/2 HAD +Cha mod, and has the same effect as Dominate.