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

[KillianHawkeye]

A 1063

The specific details may depend on the exact situation (including positioning), but this is exactly the sort of thing that rolling initiative is meant to resolve.

[willpell]

A1063 additional
Page 25 of the DMG specifically addresses situations like this with a section called "Combat actions outside of combat", and does in fact suggest rolling initiative when one PC tries to stop another from acting (the given example is Lidda trying to pull a level and Mialee intercepting her hand with a grapple attempt, so fairly similar to your situation; yours involves a weapon so going to "combat time" is even more appropriate).

[Duke of Urrel]

A 1058 Follow-up question

Does a rogue's Strength bonus or penalty apply to sneak-attack damage at all?

For example, if a 3rd-level rogue has a Strength of 8 and makes a sneak attack with a short sword, does he inflict 1d6 –1 +2d6, or does he inflict 1d6 –1 +2d6 –2?

[Curmudgeon]

A 1058 Follow-up question: No.

A character's Strength modifier applies to weapon damage and thus you factor it in once normally, and multiple times in the case of a critical hit. Other bonuses or penalties to damage are not modified by Strength unless explicitly stated.

[Duke of Urrel]

Q 1059 Fun Question!

You cast Planar Binding and trap a Nightmare. What requested service could you ask of him/her to let you ride him till the end of days without making it a "open-ended task" to affect it one day per caster level?

A 1059

That's a dangerous request to make of a Nightmare, unless you offer a very tempting reward and craft the wording of your demand VERY carefully. I would imagine that this creature, being cunningly Evil, would prefer to "let you ride him" directly to a very nasty (and probably eternally dark) place, where the "end of days" – for you, at least – would come very quickly. This would of course solve the "open-ended task" problem, but not in the way you had in mind.

If you are very careful with the phrasing of your demand and promise a big reward, you can make a useful steed of a Nightmare, but only for one day per caster level. I don't know any way around that limit, if Planar Binding is all you have to work with.

[Lateral]

A A 1058 Follow-up question

No.

Q 1064

Are there any deities that are nonlawful and nonevil, and grant the Darkness, Knowledge, and Luck domains? If not, and I realize that this isn't strictly RAW, are there any deities who have domains that could reasonably be swapped out so that all of these domains are granted?

Also, relevant: I seem to recall some rule that allowed you to do... pretty much the second part of my question. Where, and on what page, is that from?

[Silvanoshei]

A 1059

That's a dangerous request to make of a Nightmare, unless you offer a very tempting reward and craft the wording of your demand VERY carefully. I would imagine that this creature, being cunningly Evil, would prefer to "let you ride him" directly to a very nasty (and probably eternally dark) place, where the "end of days" – for you, at least – would come very quickly. This would of course solve the "open-ended task" problem, but not in the way you had in mind.

If you are very careful with the phrasing of your demand and promise a big reward, you can make a useful steed of a Nightmare, but only for one day per caster level. I don't know any way around that limit, if Planar Binding is all you have to work with.

So, if you offer to do evil with him till the day you die and share your riches with him while doing so, could subvert the day per level?

[willpell]

A 1064
Since Knowledge and Luck are easily found among neutral and chaotic deities, I'd assume the one you're trying hardest to get is Darkness, which is unfortunately quite rare and nearly always Evil. The only one I can find is Ibrandul, who was Chaotic Neutral, belonged to the Forgotten Realms, is now dead, and didn't offer the other two you're after. All told, about all you can hope for is to convince your DM to allow you to be a cleric of a "force" rather than a deity, allowing you to select any two domains. Pick Darkness and Luck, then make it a Cloistered Cleric (from Unearthed Arcana) and you can add Knowledge as a third domain.

(You're more likely to be able to persuade your GM if you put some thought into fluffling this religion, making it too cool to say "no" to; I'd suggest you try to tie the Luck domain to "quantum possibility" and the status of the Plane of Shadows as the place where alternate Material Planes verge on the Prime, so your "Force" is something like "unseen potential". Maybe your cleric is Cloistered because he likes to document reports of alternate-plane encounters? If you can get the Illumian race it would be particularly fitting, since they have a city on the Shadow Plane and are very scholastic in inclination.)

[KillianHawkeye]

So, if you offer to do evil with him till the day you die and share your riches with him while doing so, could subvert the day per level?

This really isn't a RAW question. The answer is going to depend on the viewpoint of the person answering.

Ask your DM.

[missmvicious]

Q 1065

Does a character with an ECL 3 get wealth by level for level 3 even if they have a LA +1?

[Sith_Happens]

Q 1066

Can a Fog Cloud be placed in mid-air?

[Andezzar]

A 1065

Yes.

A 1066

Sure, why not? At higher altitudes you are very likely to find strong winds and are almost guaranteed to have moderate winds.

[MrLemon]

A 1057 No.

You can use Tumble as part of normal movement with the appropriate check. Unless your character has crawl as a specific listed movement mode, that is not normal movement for them.

Q 1057B Fun Question: Where does it say you can't move regularly while prone? It's not in the condition, and I can't actually find it under Movement

A1066 Yes.

EDIT: Swordsage'd

[Leekos]

I think my questions got skipped over when the questions on the last page got misnumbered, so re-numbering and re-posting:

Thicken Skin:
Your skin or natural armor thickens and spreads across your body, providing a +1 enhancement bonus to your Armor Class.

Augment
You can augment this power in one or both of the following ways.

For every 3 additional power points you spend, the enhancement bonus increases by 1.
If you spend 6 additional power points, you can manifest this power as a swift action

Q1055 Q1067 Since this is an enhancement bonus to armor, does it not stack with the enhancement bonus of magical armor such as +1 Full Plate?

Q1056 Q1068 Are the augments mutually exclusive? Meaning if I augment the power with 6 power points, do I get both effects, or do I have to choose one or the other?

[Andezzar]

A 1068

The rules you posted say nothing of exclusivity, and I am not aware of a general rule about psionics for exclusivity. So you get both benefits if you augment the power by 6 PP.

[willpell]

A1068 correction

Andezzar is incorrect. EPH pg 69:

Many powers can be augmented in more than one way. When the Augment section contains numbered paragraphs, you need to spend power points separately for each of the numbered options. When a paragraph in the Augment section begins with “In addition,” you gain the indicated benefit according to how many power points you have already decided to spend on manfesting the power.

EPH pg 137:

Augment: You can augment this power in one or both of the following ways.
1. For every 3 additional power points you spend, the enhancement bonus increases by 1.
2. If you spend 6 additional power points, you can manifest this power as a swift action.

"One or both" means "not automatically both". Spending 7 total power points on Thicken Skin will either let you gain +3 AC as a standard action or +1 as a swift action. Using both augments at once, to gain more than +1 as a swift action, costs a minimum of 10 pp.

Re: Q1067
The text mentions natural armor, so by RAI it was probably intended to be an "enhancement bonus to your natural armor bonus", akin to that gained from an Amulet of Natural Armor (and thus not stacking with same). As written, however, it does seem as though it's an enhancement bonus to AC itself. Beyond that I'm not sure; you can gain the benefits of both a +1 armor and a +1 shield, so enhancement bonuses to other bonuses to your AC seem not to interfere with each other, but I really have no idea whether it's possible to give an enhancement bonus to your own body's AC directly, or what that even means (in terms of counting toward touch AC for instance; if it was natural armor it definitely wouldn't, and again RAI seems to be that it was meant to be taken so, but that's not what the RAW actually says).

[ahenobarbi]

Q 1069
If a dragonwrought kobold uses alter self to get form of a brass drqagon wyrmling can it:
a) Cast spells with somatic component
b) Cast spells with verbal component
c) Use bardic music singing/oratory
d) Use bardic music using instrument
?

[nyjastul69]

A 1057B

It's under Move Actions (pg. 142) in the PH or here in the SRD.

[NeedsAnswersNao]

Q 1060: How many Hit Dice does an Intelligent Item have?

Bump from last page

[Laharal]

Q1070

It is my first time playing a wizard and my fellow players tell me that, if I want to take my time calculating a precise area of effect for a spell, I need a specific feat to aim a spell that way.

I do not find such feat...does that requirement really exists?

[nyjastul69]

A 1070

There is no such requirement.

Originally posted by the SRD:
Area

Some spells affect an area. Sometimes a spell description specifies a specially defined area, but usually an area falls into one of the categories defined below.

Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point where the spell originates, but otherwise you don’t control which creatures or objects the spell affects.

Emphasis added.

I've only cited the relevant portion. The rules for aiming a spell can be found here.

Edit: The origin point of the spell should be a grid intersection.

[inexorabletruth]

A 1060:
If an intelligent item is made from non-living material, it doesn't have Hit Dice. It will have Hardness and HP that is specific to the materials which make up the item. I can't think of an intelligent item that would have Hit Dice. Perhaps you might want to rephrase the question with the specific item you're asking about?

[Andezzar]

A 1060

As far as I can tell the item does not have hit dice. It does have hit points though as per the normal rules for items.

Q 1071

Since intelligent items "can be considered" creatures, can you use any mind-affecting abilities that are not restricted to certain types or races on them?

Q 1072

Are intelligent items of appropriate alignment and those items that bestow negative levels to certain alignments detected by the various detect alignment spells?

Q 1073

Do intelligent items have a home plane? Do they get the Extraplanar subtype on other planes? Can they be sent home, if they do?

[Duke of Urrel]

Q 1071

Since intelligent items "can be considered" creatures, can you use any mind-affecting abilities that are not restricted to certain types or races on them?

A 1071

As creatures, intelligent magic items belong to the Construct type, which means that Mind-Affecting spells do not influence them.

[Duke of Urrel]

Q 1072

Are intelligent items of appropriate alignment and those items that bestow negative levels to certain alignments detected by the various detect alignment spells?

According to the SRD, the Detect Evil spell can detect "evil auras (creatures, objects, or spells)," and all the other Detect Alignment spells work in the same way. I believe these three categories, (1) creatures, (2) objects, and (3) spells, absolutely must include intelligent magic items, whether you consider them merely to contain aligned magic or to have aligned wills of their own.

All the magic items I am aware of (intelligent or otherwise) that "bestow negative levels to certain alignments" also have alignments of their own, and I believe these are detectable, just like the alignments of creatures. However, if a magic item exists that selectively bestows negative levels upon creatures of a certain alignment without having an alignment of its own, then I suppose no Detect Alignment spell would tell you anything about it.

[Metahuman1]

Q 1074 Is there a way for a Psi-Warrior to get Shared Pain as a known power and a Psi-Crystal?

Q 1075 Is there a way to make it so that a Psi-Crystal can't be destroyed by damage form Shared Pain?

[qwertyu63]

Metahuman1, please correct your numbers.

Q1076:
What is the weight of a vial of poison, and where is it listed?

[Curmudgeon]

A 1057B

In addition to the movement modes link provided in my original answer, see also Rules Compendium Actions in Combat table on pages 8-9, especially this footnote:

A limbless creature, such as a snake, that crawls as its normal movement can crawl at its normal speed.

Crawling must be explicitly stated as normal movement for the creature for it to be able to Tumble while crawling, because crawling is absent from the list of normal movement modes, and such use of the skill is limited to normal movement.

A 1076

That isn't listed in the rules. What the RAW says is this (from page 127 of Player's Handbook):

Vial: This ceramic, glass, or metal vial is fitted with a tight stopper and holds 1 ounce of liquid. The stoppered container usually is no more than 1 inch wide and 3 inches high.

So something more than 1 ounce when filled. Your DM will need to decide what the container weighs if that's important to you.

[willpell]

Q 174 Is there a way for a Psi-Warrior to get Shared Pain as a known power and a Psi-Crystal?

A174
Psicrystal Affinity feat (which everyone needs in order to have a psicrystal, although erudites get it as a bonus feat) is available to anyone with manifester level 1, which includes a level 1 PsiWar, even if he has no power points due to a low Wisdom. Assuming that you mean Share Pain (no "d"), getting this power is possible in at least two ways: multiclass to psion/wilder/erudite/etc., or take the Expanded Knowledge feat. Share Pain is a level 2 power, so Expanded Knowledge can get it as soon as you're capable of manifesting 3rd level powers through your normal class.

[blazinghand]

Q 1077

when making an AoO against an opponent who is standing up from being prone, are you attacking his prone AC (which is -4 from normal AC) or his standing AC?