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

[Kred]

Q647
About Psicrystals: its HD rises with any manifesters or psion only?

[rockdeworld]

A647

Any manifester (with any classes). Although all psicrystal abilities are "based on the owner’s levels in psionic classes," HD is not an ability, nor is it mentioned under the Psion class. The only reference is in the psicrystal monster entry, where it says "As master’s HD (hp ½ master’s)."

[_felagund]

Q648

Assume a bowman with point blank shot feat, atacking into melee.
Are my assumptions correct?

1. he provokes aoo.
2. he takes -3 to his atack. (-4 atacking into melee with range weapon + 1 pbs)
3. he can take 5ft step backwards (without aoo) then shoots normally.

[Khedrac]

A648
1 - if an archer is threatened by an opponent when (s)he takes a shot he provokes. The opponent may choose not to (or be unable to) take an AoO.
2 - If the target is in base-to-base contact with your ally then the -4 "shooting into melee" penalty applies. If both the target and your ally have reach they may not be in base-to-base contact in which case the -4 penalty does not apply. If the target is large enough you may be able to shoot part of it far enough away to negate the penalty (PHB page 140).
If the only person on your side the enemy is in base-to-base contact is you then there is no "firing into melee" penalty.
If the target is within 30' then the point blank shot bonus applies.
Check also the Cover rules - cover for missile fire is different to melee cover (PHB page 151).
3 - Depends if the target is still in base-to-base contact with an ally and has reach or not. If no to both then no AoO and no penalties, if yes then apply whichver the "yes" applies to.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Q649a
When casting an epic spell, a spellcaster has to make a spellcraft check or the spell does not work. Do any rules prevent the aid another action from being used on this spellcraft check? I'm specifically envisioning a number of lesser spellcasters cooperating to help an epic caster reach the necessary DC. The paragraph about "you can’t aid another to grant a bonus to a task that your character couldn’t achieve alone" means the aiding casters also have to have epic spellcasting, right?

Q649b
The SRD says that "a caster can take 10 when casting an epic spell, but he or she can’t take 20." Does this rule allow the caster to take 10 on these spellcraft checks when he couldn't normally take 10 (such as in combat)?

Q650 (unrelated enough to get its own number)
What is the action to aid another on a skill check? The SRD only says: (quote spoilered for length)

Spoiler

Show

Aid Another
You can help another character achieve success on his or her skill check by making the same kind of skill check in a cooperative effort. If you roll a 10 or higher on your check, the character you are helping gets a +2 bonus to his or her check, as per the rule for favorable conditions. (You can’t take 10 on a skill check to aid another.) In many cases, a character’s help won’t be beneficial, or only a limited number of characters can help at once.

In cases where the skill restricts who can achieve certain results you can’t aid another to grant a bonus to a task that your character couldn’t achieve alone.

See also: Aid Another in Combat

Aiding another in combat is a standard action. Does that apply here as well, or is it the same action as the skill check being aided? (It seems odd that you can spend days or weeks crafting an item or practicing a profession, but an ally helping for less than 6 seconds has a noticable impact on the result. Then again, "odd" and "RAW" are hardly mutually exclusive.)

[Kred]

Q651

Elan's Resilience ability: She can reduce the damage. She must do it after knowing the result or before?

[Pickford]

A650

(unrelated enough to get its own number)
What is the action to aid another on a skill check? The SRD only says: (quote spoilered for length)

Aid Another
You can help another character achieve success on his or her skill check by making the same kind of skill check in a cooperative effort. If you roll a 10 or higher on your check, the character you are helping gets a +2 bonus to his or her check, as per the rule for favorable conditions. (You can’t take 10 on a skill check to aid another.) In many cases, a character’s help won’t be beneficial, or only a limited number of characters can help at once.

In cases where the skill restricts who can achieve certain results you can’t aid another to grant a bonus to a task that your character couldn’t achieve alone.

See also: Aid Another in Combat

Aiding another in combat is a standard action. Does that apply here as well, or is it the same action as the skill check being aided? (It seems odd that you can spend days or weeks crafting an item or practicing a profession, but an ally helping for less than 6 seconds has a noticable impact on the result. Then again, "odd" and "RAW" are hardly mutually exclusive.)

What you can do to aid in combat is severely limited (for example, the character can't spend weeks crafting something while in combat) so the aid action takes 6 seconds there. (See the in combat of Aid Another on page 154)

There aren't rounds out of combat, so aid another would take as long as whatever action is being taken (i.e. minutes, hours, days, weeks.)

[Larkas]

Q652: I remember seeing a table once, which related a creature's length and height with its in-game size. Where can it be found?

Eeep, disregard this, just found it.

[Curmudgeon]

A 649a

In cases where the skill restricts who can achieve certain results you can’t aid another to grant a bonus to a task that your character couldn’t achieve alone.

This means that Epic Spellcasting [Epic] is indeed required to Aid Another. Additionally, the following restriction applies to any spellcasters who attempt to assist the Spellcraft check via Aid Another:

Because epic spells require Spellcraft checks, a spell is beyond the caster’s ability if the final Spellcraft DC is greater than 20 + the spellcaster’s Spellcraft modifier.

A 649b No.

All the existing restrictions on when you can "take 10" continue to apply.

[G.Cube]

Q652: Why are there so many feats for TWF and none (at least none that I have found yet) for two handed weapons?

[Khedrac]

Q652: Why are there so many feats for TWF and none (at least none that I have found yet) for two handed weapons?

A652 We cannot answer "Why" - a lot of the decisions taken by the game designers are somewhat "odd" in hindsight. One short answer is that two-handed weapons give up a shield (unless animated) for damage, two weapon fighters get extra attacks which was presumably thought to be more powerful.
It is also simply a lot harder to wield two weapons effectively than one and a shield or a two-handed weapon.

[Flame of Anor]

A650

There aren't rounds out of combat, so aid another would take as long as whatever action is being taken (i.e. minutes, hours, days, weeks.)

This seems right, especially as the character who is doing the Aid Another is said to perform the "same kind of skill check", which seems to imply the same duration.

[Phelix-Mu]

Q653

What is the action that it takes to make the Knowledge checks mentioned in Knowledge Devotion?

[Arkusus]

Q654

There are several abilities that rouge-like classes can use by sacrificing one d6 of sneak attack damage. My question is this, assuming you have more than 1d6 of sneak attack damage, can you use multiple abilities in a single hit?

For example, a Spell Thief can both steal/suppress an ongoing spell effect, or steal a spell out of the target's spellbook. Could you do both on a single hit by sacrificing more than one sneak attack dice?

[Curmudgeon]

A 653 None.

Knowledge Devotion gives you bonuses based on your Knowledge check when you see a creature. This takes no action. (Note that you cannot retry a Knowledge check.)

A 654 Yes.

Using multiple such abilities, or Ambush feats, is possible if you have enough sneak attack dice. You must still have at least 1d6 of sneak attack damage left. From page 71 of Complete Scoundrel:

You can apply multiple ambush feats to the same attack as long as you still deal at least one extra die of damage with the attack.

[Urpriest]

Q655

Suppose I am a Barbarian with the City Brawler ACF from Dragon Magazine, and I wish to purchase a Necklace of Natural Attacks to enhance the Unarmed Strike attacks that I, as a City Brawler Barbarian, may make with Two-Weapon Fighting. If I wish to enhance all such attacks, do I pay the price to enhance one natural weapon, or two?

[Venger]

Q656

If I take a pseudodragon familiar, then does his natural SR of 19 apply in addition to his SR from being a familiar, or does only the highest value apply?

[TuggyNE]

A656: Only the highest applies. The description of spell resistance states, near the end, "Spell resistance does not stack. It overlaps." No exceptions are listed in Improved Familiar, the familiar class feature, or the Pseudodragon entry.

[Curmudgeon]

A 655 One.

You've still got only the one natural attack (unarmed strike). The ACF provides an exception to the general rule which requires you to wield a second weapon in order to take advantage two-weapon fighting.

[Kred]

Q657

Can i use an immediate action right after damage roll? E.g. A foe rolls damage dice, after that im using an immediate action to reduce damage.

[Khedrac]

A657
Now this is where it gets tricky and the best answer is "Ask your DM". It will also depend on the exact wording of the power in question.

Normally once the damage is rolled (or announced if it is rolled out of your sight) the damage has been taken and you can only use actions which state they can be taken after the damage is rolled.

For example Delay Death should be cast before the damage is announced. It is usually accepted to call it before the damage but after the successful hit - i.e. the caster sees the weapon slicing in to their ally and casts before they see the extent of the wound.

Now unless the ability specifically states that it can be used after damage is rolled then RAW it must be used before, however without knowing what ability we don't know if it states this or if is one that only makes sense to use after.

[willpell]

A 638 Yes.

If you're a 1st level Rogue you can get Poison Use in place of trapfinding; see the ACF in Drow of the Underdark on page 58.

So you don't need to be a drow to take the "Drow Rogue" ACF (or others in the same list)? The text does say "any" character can take the ACFs, but they have "Drow" right in the name...something of a mixed message, IMO.

There is, the Unearthed Arcana PC class, akin to a generic skillmonkey.

Ah, I guessed as much. I had been assuming that this (and the other two generic classes from the same variant) are only accessible in campaigns where they are the only classes which exist. Is it actually legal to play these in a RAW-only campaign, despite them being listed as an optional rule?

[Pickford]

Q655

Suppose I am a Barbarian with the City Brawler ACF from Dragon Magazine, and I wish to purchase a Necklace of Natural Attacks to enhance the Unarmed Strike attacks that I, as a City Brawler Barbarian, may make with Two-Weapon Fighting. If I wish to enhance all such attacks, do I pay the price to enhance one natural weapon, or two?

A 655

None. The unarmed strike of a non-monk is not a natural weapon. As such, the Necklace of Natural Attacks provides no benefit.

Unarmed strikes do not qualify as natural weapons (there is an exception for the monk unarmed strike).

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Natural_Weapons
Creatures do not receive additional attacks from a high base attack bonus when using natural weapons. The number of attacks a creature can make with its natural weapons depends on the type of the attack—generally, a creature can make one bite attack, one attack per claw or tentacle, one gore attack, one sting attack, or one slam attack (although Large creatures with arms or arm-like limbs can make a slam attack with each arm). Refer to the individual monster descriptions.

The enhancement bonuses on this necklace are applied to attack and damage rolls involving one or more of the wearer's natural weapons.

A monk's unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons

So a city brawler barbarian with no levels of monk (and who isn't, for example, a lizardman) would have no natural weapon attacks to use the necklace with. If you can figure out a way to get a bite or claw attack then the necklace would have some use, or you could take a level of monk and use it on your unarmed strikes.

[Newoblivion]

Q658

Can I use a combat maneuver (trip, disarm, etc') as an AoO?

[Kred]

Q659

Is the any official rules for psionis tattoo drawing? Who can do it? And what he must to draw it?

[Curmudgeon]

Re: A 655 [correction]

None. The unarmed strike of a non-monk is not a natural weapon. As such, the Necklace of Natural Attacks provides no benefit.

Unarmed strikes do not qualify as natural weapons (there is an exception for the monk unarmed strike).

The rules say otherwise. Unarmed strikes are always natural weapons. For Monks they're also treated as if they were manufactured weapons.

You can’t cast this spell on a natural weapon, such as an unarmed strike.

You can’t cast this spell on a natural weapon, such as an unarmed strike (instead, see magic fang).

Magic fang gives one natural weapon of the subject a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls. The spell can affect a slam attack, fist, bite, or other natural weapon. (The spell does not change an unarmed strike’s damage from nonlethal damage to lethal damage.)

A fanged ring grants its wearer the Improved Unarmed Strike feat and the Improved Natural Attack (unarmed strike) feat.

The RAW citations are clear: unarmed strikes are natural weapons. They have special rules, but really, it's obvious: what blacksmith or factory produces your unarmed strikes? They're not manufactured.


A 658

Yes, if it's a maneuver you can take in place of a melee attack. Disarm and Trip qualify on that basis. Other maneuvers like Bull Rush, Charge, and Overrun do not.

[Malreave]

Q660

I am trying to create some custom magic items that have feats attached to them e.g two weapon fighting and its tree
as well as some class ability's the 10th leveal ability for swift blade http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=uk apologise if the link does not work, what would the costs for these be or would it be ?

Q661

sorry if this is a bad question, I am having trouble locating the book that has the barbarian alternate class feature that grants bonus feats its marked as SSt but I have not been able to find which book this is.

thanks for the help in advanced.

[Mongrel]

Q662: In the Monster Manual for the Barghest entry (p.22) under "Combat," the first line is "Barghests can claw and bite, no matter what their form, and usually disdain weapons." This is directly contradicted on the same page under their "Change Shape" power, which states: "A barghest can assume the shape of a goblin or a wolf as a standard action. In goblin form, a barghest cannot use its natural weapons but can wield weapons and wear armor. In wolf form, a barghest loses its claw attacks but retains its bite attack."

Which is correct?

[Curmudgeon]

A 660 Ask your DM.

All custom magic items are subject to individual DM approval, including whether they are allowed at all, and what the appropriate price would be in their setting. You might read the Arms and Equipment Guide sidebar on page 128 for some general pricing guidelines.

A 661

"SSt" seems like it might be an abbreviation for Sandstorm, which has a Barbarian bonus feat ACF on page 44. Note that's a single bonus feat, not multiples.

[Arkusus]

Q663

The Kensai class has the following feature:

Withstand (Ex): When a kensai of 5th level or higher is forced to make a Reflex save to avoid damage from an area of effect spell (such as a fireball), he can make a Concentration check instead of a Reflex save to resist taking full damage. If a kensai has the evasion or improved evasion ability, those
benefits apply on this Concentration check as well.

My question is this, are there any reflex saves that AREN'T based on an area of effect spell? I'm having trouble finding examples...

Is it the spell keyword that's important? For my purposes magic/psionic transparency rules are in effect, but if they weren't would this specifically NOT work on psionic area of effect powers? And are there some common mundane area of effect abilities that wouldn't be affected?