Simple Q&A D&D 4e Thread II: Electric Boogaloo

[justjakewilldo]

Q517

I've followed the errata for Fighter's Battlerager Vigor, my question (hopefully) will be a new one about their temp HP mechanic.

"Whenever you hit an enemy with a melee or a close
attack, you gain temporary hit points equal to your
Constitution modifier, plus any temporary hit points
normally granted by the power."

Does the temp HP from Lifestealer Weapon or Ebon Armor (or both?) found in Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium, get added into the temp HP you gain from an attack (presuming the attack also reduces the creature to 0 or fewer HP)?

[Dimers]

A 517

"Whenever you hit an enemy with a melee or a close attack, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier, plus any temporary hit points normally granted by the power."

Does the temp HP from Lifestealer Weapon or Ebon Armor (or both?) found in Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium, get added into the temp HP you gain from an attack (presuming the attack also reduces the creature to 0 or fewer HP)?

Those temp-HP are not normally granted by the power (they're granted by an item's property rather than by a power), so by RAW, no.

[justjakewilldo]

A 517



Those temp-HP are not normally granted by the power (they're granted by an item's property rather than by a power), so by RAW, no.

That's what I was thinking, but was hopeful they did combine. Thanks!

[rafet]

Q518 Simple question does Guardian of Faith provide flanking?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Q518 Simple question does Guardian of Faith provide flanking?

Rule of thumb: if it is a summon, yes. If it is a conjuration, no.

Grey Wolf

[YeOldeGrandma]

Q519 First time DM, fairly new to D&D, asking here: How do I find out the magic item rarity for magic items in, for example, Player's Handbook 1? The errata seems confusing/doesn't seem to cover everything.

[Kurald Galain]

Q519 First time DM, fairly new to D&D, asking here: How do I find out the magic item rarity for magic items in, for example, Player's Handbook 1? The errata seems confusing/doesn't seem to cover everything.

Every single magic item in all the earlier books is uncommon. WOTC has an errata document somewhere (it used to be on their site but is hard to find since 5E) that changes about two dozen items to common, but everything else (95% - 99% of items printed) is simply uncommon. Yes, this is one of the reasons why the rarity system doesn't work.

[YeOldeGrandma]

Every single magic item in all the earlier books is uncommon. WOTC has an errata document somewhere (it used to be on their site but is hard to find since 5E) that changes about two dozen items to common, but everything else (95% - 99% of items printed) is simply uncommon. Yes, this is one of the reasons why the rarity system doesn't work.

Wat?
The errata for PH1 does confirm some items as rare - the Vorpal Weapon for example - and at least one item (Circlet of Authority) as common (errata page 22). Then there's this list at the very end listing common and rare items. So is everything else - that is not stated specifically as either rare or common - uncommon?

Because that list seems woefully incomplete (I mean, isn't Magic Armor, of all things, common? It was in some other PDF, which I think was an earlier errata from like 2010 or something). It doesn't match with this list I found either: http://www.captainspud.com/4ecommons/index.php

[Haywire]

Q520 Do a rogue's powers that call for light blades work with thrown knives? Sly Flourish, for example, is tagged as Melee or Ranged weapon and calls for "a crossbow, a light blade, or a sling" so I can surmise it's meant to be usable at range, but will a thrown knife specifically work? What about, say, Piercing Strike, which is tagged as Melee weapon and calls for a light blade only? I wouldn't think so on that one but I'd be happy to hear I'm wrong there.

[georgie_leech]

A520

A Dagger is a Light Blade with the Light Thrown property, and remains as such when used as either a Melee or Ranged weapon; there is no specific weapon that is a throwing knife, merely daggers that are chucked at the enemy. Note that the Shuriken is also a Light Blade with the Light Thrown property, albeit one that isn't used in Melee at all.

[Haywire]

A520

A Dagger is a Light Blade with the Light Thrown property, and remains as such when used as either a Melee or Ranged weapon; there is no specific weapon that is a throwing knife, merely daggers that are chucked at the enemy. Note that the Shuriken is also a Light Blade with the Light Thrown property, albeit one that isn't used in Melee at all.

So then any light blade that can be thrown would in fact work with e.g. Deft Strike? Makes sense. Ah, I feel kind of silly now; I just looked at the weapon section of the PHB again and it specifies that tagged throwing weapons, when thrown, do in fact count as ranged weapons and can be used with ranged powers that have keywords matching the weapon. I guess that's my question answered.

[TurboGhast]

Q521: Can a spiked shield luckblade (both AV 1) can be used to reroll attacks from another weapon?

[Tegu8788]

A 521

No, the daily power specifics "this weapon."

[Haywire]

Q522 4e Rogue has an attack power or three that allows me to slide an enemy before making the attack. Suppose I use such a power to move an enemy to a position where I have combat advantage; could I then declare the attack to be a sneak attack before it resolves?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Q522 4e Rogue has an attack power or three that allows me to slide an enemy before making the attack. Suppose I use such a power to move an enemy to a position where I have combat advantage; could I then declare the attack to be a sneak attack before it resolves?

Yes, because you only choose to make the sneak attack after you have rolled for damage:

You decide whether to apply the extra damage after making the damage roll.

Grey Wolf

[masteraleph]

A522

It's worth noting that Grey Wolf is correct about the specific question, but that the language listed is not actually official any more, and there are huge differences between the Rogue as originally printed and the current rules for Rogue (Scoundrel)- the Class Compendium language is:

When you make an attack with a light blade, a hand crossbow, a shortbow,
or a sling and hit an enemy granting combat advantage to you, that enemy
takes extra damage based on your level (see the Sneak Attack table). You can deal
this extra damage only once per turn.

Key differences-

1) Light Blade, Hand Crossbow, Shortbow, or Sling. This has added shortbow to the PHB list and removed non-hand crossbows.
2) Once per turn, not once per round.
3) Whether or not you apply the damage is determined when you hit the enemy. It's not clear that it's a choice after making the damage roll, but it's certainly done after you've determined that you hit. For the same reason (also true in Grey Wolf's answer), if you're making multiple attacks in the round, you can skip SAing to see if you roll a crit later on, which would maximize the SA dice too. Of course, you also have the possibility of missing later on and not getting to add it at all.

[SugarRush]

Q523

How does concordance work with cursed items? or are they just bad magic items not artifacts?

essentially I'm making a cursed sword that bonds with the wielder, stopping them using other weapons until they get rid of the sword. I can come up with a concordance scale i just don't understand if it's correct to do so, or if high concordance should make it more negative to the player, based on it starting at 5.

[masteraleph]

A523

Usually you would have the sword seem like a normal magic item until its cursed property showed up. Once it does (presumably not right away), the property sticks around and they can't remove it without Remove Affliction, Disenchant Magic Item, or something similar (Book of Vile Darkness covers this).

[Snowbody]

A523

To be meaningful, the sword shouldn't just be cursed for the lulz (or for the evolz, same thing), there should be a purpose behind the curse. Hopefully something that advances the plot. The purpose of the curse on the sword is not (just) to make life inconvenient for the unfortunate PC; it's also to subtly alter that PC in ways that serve the interest of whoever cursed the sword.

Whether you choose "high concordance = matches intent of BBEG and benefits for PC" or "high concordance = against BBEG and more penalties for PC" is up to you. The goal is to make the PC *want* to hang onto the sword even after the curse is removed, so that it can keep driving the plot.

[eggabubu8e]

Q524

I am interested by the Senaste theme, but unfortunately I can't seem to find the exact definition anywhere I look. I know the general jist of it says something to do with gaining temporary hp when using an encounter power, but seeing as I don't know what the actual amount is I am unable to use this theme in any of my builds. Can someone help me out with this?

[NecroRebel]

A 524

The Sensate is in Dragon #414.

For finding where things are, the Compendium is a very useful tool. You don't need an Insider subscription to use it for this purpose - you can search for things and it will tell you the source even without one, you just can't get the actual text.

[TurboGhast]

Q 525: Does the Wizard's spellbook let them prepare encounter attack powers? Reading PHB1 I don't think it does, but I'm not sure after reading a optimization thread wherein the Wizard to be helped had multiple Lv1 encounter attack powers.

[georgie_leech]

A 525 AFB at the moment, but last I checked it only allowed you to learn and prepare Daily and Utility spells. Note that in the event of knowing encounter utility powers, you still choose one at the end of an extended rest as normal; to my knowledge there is no way to change prepared spells otherwise.

[Kurald Galain]

A 525: The 4.0 wizard (from PHB) does not, the 4.4 wizard (from HOFL) does.

[masteraleph]

A525: Same answer as Kurald, but using different language: The Wizard from the PHB, now officially named Wizard (Arcanist) does not, the subclass from HOFL, Wizard (Mage), does.

[Laserlight]

Q 526: Summons: "When you command the creature, the two of you share knowledge but not senses"

What practical effect, if any, does this distinction make? The only thing that occurs to me is if my Summoned is blinded while out of my line of sight.

[Dimers]

Well, couldn't it also matter if you were blinded/deafened/etc? Or if the summoned creature had a sense you don't, like tremorsense?

Getting even more esoteric, consider this situation. You are good friends with a purple salamander named Wixit, but right now you're in a dungeon full of angry purple salamanders. They obviously look like purple salamanders, but they don't look exactly like Wixit. As your summoned Angel Of Slicing The Hell Out Of Purple Salamanders (hereafter "AOSTHOOPS") rounds a corner ahead of you, it sees a purple salamander and needs to decide whether to kill it or offer it a friendly hug. If the AOSTHOOPS shares your every memory and your appraising eye for subtleties of purple salamander markings, no problem, except the vast array of philosophical and ethical problems posed by instant and complete brainshare. If the AOSTHOOPS doesn't "share knowledge" in that particular sense of the phrase, you could end up with a dead AOSTHOOPS or a dead Wixit.

[georgie_leech]

A 526 continued

In addition, a creature doesn't need to be outside of your line of sight for LoS to be an issue. The game doesn't exactly lack for fog effects or the like.

[Laserlight]

Well, couldn't it also matter if you were blinded/deafened/etc? Or if the summoned creature had a sense you don't, like tremorsense?

Or if I were blinded/deafened/etc, yes.

I don't think that "it has a sense I don't" would necessarily make a difference--it senses, therefore it knows, therefore I know.

But I could be wrong, which is why I'm asking.

[Nightgaun7]

Or if I were blinded/deafened/etc, yes.

I don't think that "it has a sense I don't" would necessarily make a difference--it senses, therefore it knows, therefore I know.

But I could be wrong, which is why I'm asking.

You then have to deal with things like you being blinded but your summon having tremorsense - it may know there's an enemy in the square next to you, and therefore you know, but you might still count as blinded when attacking it. And so forth.

This just makes the question more complicated.