Simple Q&A D&D 3.5 (by RAW) XXI

[cd4]

Q647a With Up the Walls (XPH) can you run up a wall for most of your move and then jump off the wall at the end of your move action without falling prone for not ending on a horizontal surface?

Q647b If so is the jump at the end a horizontal jump or a vertical jump assuming you are jumping directly away from the wall? You are moving in a horizontal direction with this jump but when you jump you effectively jumped vertically.

[OMG PONIES]

A 647: No--you must have enough movement left to land on a horizontal surface. From the text of the feat:

While you are psionically focused, you can take part of one of your move actions to traverse a wall or other relatively smooth vertical surface if you begin and end your move on a horizontal surface....If you do not end your move on a horizontal surface, you fall prone, taking falling damage as appropriate for your distance above the ground.

This renders 647b moot.

[cd4]

RE 647 If I have enough speed to complete the jump and I land on a horizontal surface does that work? If so what happens about 647b above?

[Lej]

Q 648

Is there any way to turn non-area spells into area spells?

[Tantaburs]

Q649

Can warforged contract Lycanthropy. It is listed as "Curse of Lycanthropy" so i would think it is a curse not a disease but im not sure

[Gnome Alone]

Q 650

Does anyone know if the spell Flame Whips from the Spell Compendium can be Maximized, Suddenly or otherwise? It seems like it would but it also seems a little too good as far as direct damage spells go.

If so, would perhaps only the first round of use be maximized or something like that? I do not understand wizards that well, and am asking for my brother who plays a half-drow specialist necromancer with a particular affinity for fire magic, including the spell in question. Owing to a houserule, he has Sudden Maximize but not regular Maximize or any other metamagic feats. I provide this information just in case it helps. Thanks in advance.

[mattie_p]

Q 649: No.

Lycanthope is a template that can be applied to either humanoids or giants (referring to type). Warforged, as constructs, are not valid targets of the template.

[Medic!]

A650

Maximize wouldn't do anything for Flame Whips, since the effect of the spell is to turn your arms into flaming whips, if that makes sense. Something like extend spell would affect the spell (incleasing the duration) but the spell itself doesn't do any damage and has no variable numerical effects, it just makes your arms flaming whips.

As weapons, your flaming whip arms do 6d6 damage etc etc

[Gnome Alone]

A650

Maximize wouldn't do anything for Flame Whips, since the effect of the spell is to turn your arms into flaming whips, if that makes sense. Something like extend spell would affect the spell (incleasing the duration) but the spell itself doesn't do any damage and has no variable numerical effects, it just makes your arms flaming whips.

As weapons, your flaming whip arms do 6d6 damage etc etc

I knew there was something bothering me about that idea, but couldn't quite but my finger on it. Thank you!

[Inspector]

Q651

What, if any, are the limitations on mitigating the Spellcraft DC's of epic spells? E.g., could a character make an epic spell with a Spellcraft DC of 1? (thus minimizing research costs to only 9000g, 360xp, and one day)

[evil-frosty]

Q652

When using the spell shapechange do you gain the assumed creatures spell ability? Is there a difference between SLA's and casting spells as X Level Caster?

[Andezzar]

A 652

You gain neither spell-like abilities nor spellcasting. You gain only EX and SU abilities.

[Inspector]

Q 653

Regarding the epic Seed: Transform, the SRD says:

For each normal extraordinary ability or supernatural ability granted to the transformed creature, increase the Spellcraft DC by +10.

Is it required to grant every extraordinary ability and supernatural ability of the new form, and thus increase the Spellcraft DC, or is this done at the option of the creator of the spell?

Q 653a

For instance, the spell creator is using the epic Seed: Transform to create a spell which changes him into a Solar. He already has Darkvision in his natural form. Does he need to include Darkvision in the spell creation (and thus increase the DC) since it is an ability of the assumed form, or does he have the option to leave it off?

[Eldariel]

A 652 (correction)
There is some unclarity in rules as written on this front, but the ability to cast spells as Class X is probably a Natural Ability. Some creatures in latter Monster Manuals explicitly have spellcasting as an Ex-ability (for instance the Arkamoi from Monster Manual V) which would explicitly be gained from Shapechange, but the earlier creatures were never errata'd for this.

By strict Rules As Written, you probably do gain any inherent spellcasting a creature has when you Shapechange into them though. To be clear, Spell-Likes are not gained according to any viable interpretation though.

[13_CBS]

Q 654

When gaining levels in a martial adept class (Warblade, Swordsage, Crusader, etc.), are you able to exchange already learned maneuvers for different ones? For example, if at one point my character learned Wolf Fang Strike (Level 1 maneuver), could he later on exchange it for Soaring Raptor Strike (Level 3 maneuver), assuming that he meets all the other pre-requisites for Soaring Raptor? I can't remember whether this is something you can do with martial adepts and maneuvers, or I'm getting this mixed up with Invocations.

[Menteith]

Q655
a -Does the Black Lore of Moil metamagic benefit from the Empower Spell metamagic, if they're both enhancing the same spell?

b -Ditto for the Maximize Spell metamagic.

[Kuulvheysoon]

A 654

Yes. Martial Adepts can trade in maneuvers known at 4th level (and every even level after that), provided that they qualify for the new maneuver.

[Lord Haart]

Q656

If character has one level in a class that grants him animal companion at half rate (sorcerer or wizard with class feature from UA that exchanges familiar for animal companion) and one or more levels in a class that grants him animal companion at full rate (in example, a druid), should his effective druid level for purposes of animal companion advancement be rounded up or down?

[willpell]

Q656

If character has one level in a class that grants him animal companion at half rate (sorcerer or wizard with class feature from UA that exchanges familiar for animal companion) and one or more levels in a class that grants him animal companion at full rate (in example, a druid), should his effective druid level for purposes of animal companion advancement be rounded up or down?

A656

The half levels round down. A Druid 3 / Ranger 3 gets 3 effective druid levels from Druid and 1 effective druid level from Ranger; the extra half EDL doesn't matter no matter how many full EDLs you have.

[Thurbane]

Q 657

Is there any special rules for flying creatures when squeezing through a confined space?

In last night's game, a 1/2 Dragon Minotaur had to move through a section of 5 foot wide corridor. The DM made a "common sense" ruling that the creature moved on foot, because it didn't have room to flap its wings. Is there any RAW support for this?

[A_S]

Q 658

Does Abjurant Champion's class feature Martial Arcanist apply before Sublime Chord's caster level addition (in which case it can contribute to caster levels > character level), after (in which case it caps out at your BAB), or whichever you want?

Example: A Bard 7 / Abjurant Champion 5 / Sublime Chord 8 applies his Abjurant Champion casting and Martial Arcanist to Bard casting. Is his caster level (for both classes) 22 or 20?

[KillianHawkeye]

A 657

There is nothing in the rules for squeezing which explicitly prohibits flying, nor anything in the Half-Dragon template.

However, this essentially comes down to a common sense house-rule. Half-Dragons use their wings to fly, and those wings come with some minimum wingspan depending on the size of the creature. If the creature is too big to walk comfortably down a hallway, it's hard to imagine it flying through the same space.

[mattie_p]

A 657 (additional)

As KillianHawkeye stated, squeezing does not prohibit flying. But let us follow that chain a little further. Each square of a move into or through a narrow space counts as two squares. This is equivalent to the difficult terrain on the hampered movement table. (Note that you can't run or charge through a square that hampers movement either.)

Half dragons minotaurs, due to the template and size, have average maneuverability. This means it can fly as adroitly as a small bird. Additional movement rules for flight maneuverability are found on page 20 of the DMG.

This table explicitly states that average flight requires at least half forward speed at all times, or land, or it will fall prone. Since constricted movement at full speed counts as half forward speed, looks like you don't have to land after all, weird as it is.

[willpell]

Q659
Is there a permanent, non-item source of immunity to energy drain? Ideally one suitable for any character, but I'll take class-specific if necessary, though I'd prefer to avoid prestige classes.

Q660
An Aquatic monster with teeth like a shark and tentacles like a squid. How close can you get me in 3.5 rules?

[Boci]

A660

Farspawn is a template that adds two tentacles to a creature. Similarly there are some templates that add a bite, so you can always modify one base creature to be like the other.
Additionally, krakens could cast a buff to give themselves a bite.

[Madara]

A659

Becoming undead is one such way, and the necropolitan template has 0 LA and can be applied to any humanoid.

[willpell]

A659

Becoming undead is one such way, and the necropolitan template has 0 LA and can be applied to any humanoid.

*facepalm* I meant to exclude that option, which is so obvious even I thought of it, but doesn't fit my intentions.

[DeusMortuusEst]

A659: Divine rank 0 (or higher) does give you that immunity IIRC.

[Menteith]

Q661
Can the Master Specialist's Expanded Spellbook class feature be used to select spells not on the Sorc/Wiz spell list?

[Kuulvheysoon]

A 661

RAW, yes. The class feature only has 2 prerequisites:

1. That it's from your chosen school
2. That it has to be of a spell level that you can cast