Simple RAW Thread for 3.5: Score and Nine

[AvatarVecna]

A 16I don't know how the rock would get enchanted, but otherwise Yes. Hurling Charge counts as a charge for the purpose of triggering a valorous weapon enhancement, as the attack "gains the bonus of a charge" and is part of the charge action.

So ignoring the hulking hurler for the moment, someone using Hurling Charge with a Valorous Throwing Axe deals double damage.

Now, how you get a +1 Valorous Boulder is another question...

I actually discovered a way to do that for one of the "If it has stats" challenges. By RAW, a weapon can't be enchanted if it's not masterwork, and improvised weapons (like boulders) can't be made masterwork, since they're not crafted as weapons. That said, anything can be made of special materials, and weapons made of certain special materials are automatically masterwork. Since it's a weapon, the weight of the special material in question is unimportant; it costs just as much to make a Colossal Adamantine dagger as it does to make a Diminuitive one. Therefore, a boulder covered in a layer of adamantine costs 3000 gp, and is can be enchanted as a weapon.

I think for the challenge in question, I added on the Ghost Touch and Brilliant Energy enchantments (I REALLY wanted to hit). Also, it amused me to have a boulder made of brilliant energy that I'm somehow wielding despite the entire thing being made of solid energy.

EDIT: I'm not entirely certain this is perfectly RAW legal, but it's certainly close; the rules that would make it RAW illegal are probably extremely obscure, if for no other reason than no one but me trying to figure out how to enchant a boulder by RAW. In any case, I didn't include the method of enchantment because how a weapon becomes enchanted doesn't change how the enchantment affects the weapon (except in some rare cases, I imagine).

[Aplostor]

Q17
Does Blizzard spell (Frostburn) inflict damage every turn or only in the first one?

[Curmudgeon]

A 017 Just the first round.

Blizzard creates ordinary cold (only below freezing). According to Frostburn's treatment on cold dangers (pages 8-9), temperatures down to -20 degrees (severe cold) require just one save every 10 minutes for a completely unprotected character.

[kkplx]

Q 018

Assuming both creatures are conscious and not immediately threatened, what action is it for one of the creatures to feed a potion to the other?

Would this allow the other creature to gain the benefit of 2 potions in a single round or cast a spell and drink a potion in the same round?

[Curmudgeon]

A 018

It's a standard action to "Drink a potion or apply an oil". If one character is applying the potion and the other is drinking it, it's a standard action for both. This will only likely succeed if the characters have uninterrupted turns, so one character would need to Delay until the other's turn.

No, this scenario by itself would not allow any speed-up of actions; instead, it would use the actions of two characters instead of just one. Having a second character retrieving potions for the first one to consume might quicken things.

[Andezzar]

Q 019

What happens if a character has mirror image, displacement and blur active at the same time? Do the duplicates look blurred, or is the original easily identified? Do they benefit from displacement?

[Curmudgeon]

A 019

Mirror Image duplicates the appearance of the spellcaster at the time the spell is cast. If Blur is cast after Mirror Image then only the actual spellcaster will be Blurred; if the Blur effect is in place, then the Mirror Images will duplicate the Blurred appearance. The Mirror Images always have the AC specified in the spell description with no alteration due to Blur or Displacement; those spells can only affect creatures, not figments. The Mirror Images will move randomly, meaning as an average over time none of them can be excluded as contenders for being the actual person, but in the short term things like mimicking the spellcaster "walking" in the air above a low bit of ground can give enemies a chance to guess at which "creatures" are actually figments. (These guesses could be wrong; a canny spellcaster might cast Mirror Image then Levitate to be the one "walking" in the air.)

You'll need to talk to your DM about Mirror Image environmental "interactions" which would let enemies make guesses to exclude distinguishable targets from the indistinguishable targets they select from randomly.

[7th son of sons]

Q20

What is the name and source of the feat that allows your Bardic Inspire Courage ability to grant twice the original bonus when used on your animal companion?

[zeifly]

Q21
How do double weapons/multiple attacks work? Because each character only gets one standard action per round so they should only be able to attack once correct? And each weapon counts as a separate attack right? So how do double weapons and multiple attacks work?

[JDL]

A 21

A creature fighting with a double weapon treats full round attacks as if they were fighting with two weapons. Double weapons used in a single attack deal damage as a single weapon.

Example 1:
A level 1 fighter with a two-bladed sword moves 10 feet and attacks. He makes a standard attack, and since he's wielding his weapon two handed he adds one and a half times his strength bonus.

Example 2:
A level 1 fighter with a two-bladed sword makes a full round attack. He fights as if wielding two weapons, one in the main hand and one in the off hand. His primary attack is at -4 and his off-hand attack is at -8 assuming he's proficient with the weapon (if not add -4 to both these values). Having the Two Weapon Fighting feat reduces these penalties to -2 and -2.

See the Two Weapon Fighting special attack in the SRD for further information.

[Andezzar]

A 21 Addendum

1) even as a Full Attack the character can opt to use the weapon as a normal two handed weapon, forgoing the extra attack(s) and not incurring the attack penalty.

2) The exact wording for double weapons is:

A character can fight with both ends of a double weapon as if fighting with two weapons, but he or she incurs all the normal attack penalties associated with two-weapon combat, just as though the character were wielding a one-handed weapon and a light weapon.

So even if both ends are used the character still gets the damage bonus of a two-handed weapon (1.5*STR) on both ends.

[JDL]

A 21 Addendum

2) The exact wording for double weapons is:So even if both ends are used the character still gets the damage bonus of a two-handed weapon (1.5*STR) on both ends.

A 21 Addendum Addendum

Incorrect. A double weapon wielded so that both ends are used adds strength bonus to damage for the primary end and half strength bonus for the off hand end.

This is as per the 3.5 FAQ:

Is a double weapon considered a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon plus a light weapon, for the purposes of feats such as Weapon Finesse and Power Attack?
A double weapon can be wielded in two ways, either as a one-handed weapon and a light weapon, or as a single twohanded weapon. Either way, it follows the normal rules for using such weapons.
Wielding as Two Weapons: The primary end (the “onehanded weapon”) adds your Strength modifier to damage, and the secondary end (the “light weapon”) adds one-half your Strength bonus to damage. When using Power Attack, bonus damage applies only to the primary end. If you have Weapon Finesse, you can add your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with the secondary end (but not with the primary end).
Wielding as One Weapon: Add one-and-one-half your Strength bonus to damage rolls. When using Power Attack, double the bonus damage granted by the feat.
The Sage strongly recommends that characters who wield double weapons record attack and damage values for both methods of use, to speed play.

[Andezzar]

A 21 Correction

The FAQ is not RAW. This is one of the cases where the FAQ contradict the written rules. Since the FAQ are not Errata they cannot change the rules and so are irrelevant in this case. I quoted the actual rule. A double weapon is a two-handed weapon, no rule changes that. It can be used as if you were fighting with two weapons, incurring the penalties of using a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. The different calculation of STR based extra damage is not a penalty. Additionally at no point are you actually wielding a light weapon in the off hand. All attacks are still made with a two-handed weapon.

[zergling.exe]

Natural Bond stuff

Q 22 Can a druid that has lost effective levels for an animal companion by taking a higher level companion (like the Flesh Raker) regain those levels with Natural Bond?

Q 23 Can a beastmaster that has lost effective druid levels for animal companions go above their HD using Natural Bond? IE get to level +3 for your companion.

Q 24 If both of the above are yes, can you combine these two?

Q 25 Does Natural Bond apply to all of a beastmaster's animal companions or do they have to select one?


A 21 Realism

Most double weapons you can apply torque to by both pushing with one hand and pulling with the other to get a 'two hand' feel to the attack anyway.

[Tarvus]

Q 26: Are there established rules for swimming in water poisoned by effects such as the Venom Ooze's Corrupt Water or the spell Water to Poison?

[goto124]

It seems one of those questions in which the the answer should be really obvious, yet it's not provided anywhere in the sources I've managed to find... It's why I didn't want to start a new thread- I figured it could be answered in a single post, since it concerns the very basics.

Sorry for asking lots of vague, general questions. I haven't even started my first game

Q 27:
How does your character grow stronger in DnD 3.5?

To give an analogy: In MMOs, you kill monsters to gain XP, to level up, to gain points, to increase your ability scores (Str/Con/Int/etc) and Skills.

But there doesn't seem to be a way to increase your ability scores. Does it stay static? Is equipment the only way to improve these ability scores? How do I know how much XP I need to level up? What else does leveling up give? From what I gather, even level 20 is treated as a super-high level, so should I expect to level a lot less compared to MMOs, and how will it impact my gaming experience?

I'll be happy to be directed to other sources if they help.

[Andezzar]

A 27 Partial

Some of your question goes beyond the scope of this thread. I will answer what is within its bounds. For the rest please open a new thread.

You may allocate a point to one of your ability scores at level 4 and every 4 levels afterwards. Yes, most of your ability score improvements will come from items or spells.

You gain XP by overcoming encounters. Those can be monsters to kill or other things, like getting information from someone or solving riddles or pretty much anything that impedes the progress to your character's goal. The XP table is on p. 22 of the Player's Handbook (PHB) which shows the total XP necessary to be at that level or you can use, the following formula to know how much XP you need to get from one level to the next: necessary XP = Current Level * 1000 XP

What you do on level up can also be found in the PHB, from p. 58 on.

[No brains]

A 27
Unfortunately, the initial roll or point-buy for the character is about where their ability scores are going to stay. That said, there are a few ways to boost one's scores.

Every four levels, one ability score may be increased by 1.

As a character ages, their physical ability scores decrease, but mental ability scores increase.

Magical items can confer enhancement bonuses to ability scores.

The spell Wish can be used to get an inherent bonus to character ability scores.

Other ways exist, but these are the most common methods.

[ILM]

Q28:
The popular stance on optimization boards seems to be that the Eternal Guardian's Eternal Training (Tome of Battle, page 110) is a free action (since no activation is listed), and that it allows one - including Warblades - to recover an expended maneuver.

Our DM is currently ruling against this and to be fair it does seem a bit fishy to me. What does the RAW thread think about this?

Spoiler: Relevant text

Show

Alternatively, you can gain the use of one maneuver from the Diamond Mind or the Devoted Spirit discipline. You must meet the prerequisite for this maneuver as normal. A crusader/eternal guardian (sic) who selects this option is immediately granted this maneuver.

[goto124]

Thank you so much, Andezzar and No brains!

Q 29:

I don't have a physical copy of the PHB, and the pdf is so huge I didn't manage to load it. Luckily, it seems that online sources provide convenient tables for the different classes, and I'm going to assume they're accurate.

The Base Attack Bonus column has things such as +6/+1 and +16/+11/+6/+1. What do the slashes represent?

[Troacctid]

A 29

The slashes represent the different base attack bonuses used in a full attack. Higher-level characters can use a full-round action to make multiple attacks in a single turn; subsequent attacks after the first are less accurate. +11/+6/+1 means you can make three attacks: one at +11, another at +6, and a third at +1.

[Curmudgeon]

A 028

Eternal Training is an Extraordinary ability.

Using an extraordinary ability is usually not an action because most extraordinary abilities automatically happen in a reactive fashion. Those extraordinary abilities that are actions are standard actions unless otherwise noted.

Eternal Training is not performed reactively, but by conscious choice (an action), and no action type is noted. As such, using it requires the default standard action.

[ILM]

Makes sense that it would be an action, yeah. Thanks again!

[Arael666]

Q 30 Is it written somewhere that you can stand up from prone as a standar action to avoid AoO, or that is just a houserule my DM came up with?

[heavyfuel]

A 30

After checking both the SRD, Rules Compendium, and my memory, this is a houserule as far as my game knowledge goes.

[Curmudgeon]

A 030 additional info

Movement defaults to a move action in D&D, unsurprisingly. Kneeling or sitting has combat modifiers halfway between prone and standing. You can move from prone to kneeling, or from kneeling to standing, as a move action for each position change. As separate move actions these can be done on different turns, or on the same turn with allowance for a 5' step because you won't have moved from your square. Neither of these movements provoke AoOs per the RAW. Thus you can, in two move actions, go from prone to standing without provoking attacks of opportunity. Doing so as a single standard action is a house rule, as heavyfuel stated.

[Thurbane]

Q 031

I* know I've probably asked this before, but I've seen arguments for both answers, so citations are needed.

Do class levels count for determining the DC of monster abilities (i.e. 10 + 1/2 HD + ability mod)?

[Curmudgeon]

A 031 Yes.

Every class level adds one HD to the character's total.

[zergling.exe]

Reposting old questions.

Natural Bond stuff

Q 22 Can a druid that has lost effective levels for an animal companion by taking a higher level companion (like the Flesh Raker) regain those levels with Natural Bond?

Q 23 Can a beastmaster that has lost effective druid levels for animal companions go above their HD using Natural Bond? IE get to level +3 for your companion.

Q 24 If both of the above are yes, can you combine these two?

Q 25 Does Natural Bond apply to all of a beastmaster's animal companions or do they have to select one?

[Deaxsa]

Q32
Can a warlock character take the feat "extra invocation" to grant himself extra invocations of the same level?

Eg; john the warlock used his 6th and 9th level feats to learn dark ones own luck and eldritch spear, both of which are least invocations.

What's in question here is whether the 'special' category extends to taking the feat not just multiple times, but multiple times per invocation level.