Simple RAW thread for 3.5 #31. By now, your question has probably been answered.

[KillianHawkeye]

Q732

If a creature has secondary attacks but a strength penalty, how is the damage penalty calculated? It doesn't make sense to only apply half penalty...

A 732

A penalty is not the same thing as a bonus. They are both modifiers, but a bonus is always positive and a penalty is always negative. If an attack gets half your Strength bonus to damage, you still apply your entire penalty if you have a Strength of 9 or lower.

It's the same reason that the Armor Class of a character with very low Dexterity does not improve when they are caught flat-footed.

For reference, taking your full penalty on secondary natural attacks is stated explicitly in Rules Compendium on page 100.

[kkplx]

Q 733

What means, aside from not being alive, exist to avoid being detected by lifesense?

[Sian]

A:733. wearing a box, or some kind of Magical Darkness would do the trick

[FearlessGnome]

Q 734: If a character takes Vow of Poverty at a high level, they have to give all their accumulated stuff away. But what if a lot of money has already been invested in grafts? They become a part of your body, and explicitly come back with you if you die and are subject to Resurrection etc. So can a person with grafts benefit from VoP? Even an Illithid installed Weapon Graft of a magical weapon?

[Troacctid]

Q 734: If a character takes Vow of Poverty at a high level, they have to give all their accumulated stuff away. But what if a lot of money has already been invested in grafts? They become a part of your body, and explicitly come back with you if you die and are subject to Resurrection etc. So can a person with grafts benefit from VoP? Even an Illithid installed Weapon Graft of a magical weapon?

Grafts are not considered magic items. Being part of your body should also exempt them from most reasonable definitions of "material possessions." Generally, any grafts you already have will probably not interfere with a Vow of Poverty. (If a specific graft still functions as a magic item, that would be an exception.)

I like to call this the "I didn't ask for this" rule.

[Wacky89]

Q735
Can you only take the 1st level of the half-giant racial class in Complete Psionic?
Not taking the 2nd lvl and the LA.
I guess it depends if you follow the web enhancement rules for savage progression or the rules in savage species right?

[Bucky]

Q736: Generally - Under what circumstances does the two weapon fighting penalty apply? Specifically - I don't have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. I'm wielding a short sword in one hand. I use my move action to draw a spiked shield and then my standard action to attack with the sword. Do I suffer a -6 penalty on the attack for fighting with two weapons? If the shield were a second sword, would I suffer the -6 penalty? If the standard action were a shield bash, what penalty would it suffer (-6 or -10)?

[Troacctid]

Q735
Can you only take the 1st level of the half-giant racial class in Complete Psionic?
Not taking the 2nd lvl and the LA.
I guess it depends if you follow the web enhancement rules for savage progression or the rules in savage species right?

No, once you begin a character using the racial class, you cannot take levels in another class except as permitted by the racial class itself.

Q736: Generally - Under what circumstances does the two weapon fighting penalty apply? Specifically - I don't have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. I'm wielding a short sword in one hand. I use my move action to draw a spiked shield and then my standard action to attack with the sword. Do I suffer a -6 penalty on the attack for fighting with two weapons? If the shield were a second sword, would I suffer the -6 penalty? If the standard action were a shield bash, what penalty would it suffer (-6 or -10)?

Only when you use your offhand weapon to make an additional attack during a full attack action. If you do not take an extra attack during your full attack, there is no penalty, even if you switch between multiple weapons to make your iterative attacks. If you are making a standard action attack, there is no penalty.

[FearlessGnome]

734 continued:

Grafts are not considered magic items. Being part of your body should also exempt them from most reasonable definitions of "material possessions." Generally, any grafts you already have will probably not interfere with a Vow of Poverty. (If a specific graft still functions as a magic item, that would be an exception.)

I like to call this the "I didn't ask for this" rule.

Is there a reason for this? The character that made me think about this question is one that has a Weapon graft attached so it can't be disarmed/lost/etc, who then takes VoP later in his career. He's now in a position where he cannot get rid of the weapon except by seeking out someone to cast disjunction on him or saw off his arm. And with the graft being considered truly a part of him, I think even a Regenerate would result in the weapon growing back.

But on the "I didn't ask for this" note - would a magical weapon he can't get rid of break his vow if he never made the choice to get the graft himself? What if it was a cursed longsword instead - the Core one that teleports into your hand whenever you try to attack something in a real fight?

[Troacctid]

734 continued:

Is there a reason for this? The character that made me think about this question is one that has a Weapon graft attached so it can't be disarmed/lost/etc, who then takes VoP later in his career. He's now in a position where he cannot get rid of the weapon except by seeking out someone to cast disjunction on him or saw off his arm. And with the graft being considered truly a part of him, I think even a Regenerate would result in the weapon growing back.

But on the "I didn't ask for this" note - would a magical weapon he can't get rid of break his vow if he never made the choice to get the graft himself? What if it was a cursed longsword instead - the Core one that teleports into your hand whenever you try to attack something in a real fight?

Vow of Poverty explicitly forbids you from using any magic item of any sort. A graft that is also a magic item would therefore not be permitted. In order to fulfill the vow, you would have to get rid of the graft, just as you would have to get rid of all the rest of your stuff.

If you can't get rid of one of your magic items, then it is probably not a good idea to take Vow of Poverty.

[Thurbane]

Q 721

In the 3.0 to 3.5 update, was there any blanket rule on updating monsters that used to get an extra "partial action" as a racial ability? The only one I'm aware of that got a specific update is the Mithril Golem.

Since we're getting close to this thread being locked and a new one created, thought I'd do a quick re-post.

[kkplx]

Q 737
If a monster casts area dispel magic into a space where an invisible pc is hiding, does the creature know something was hit by the dispel magic if it does not remove the character's means of being invisible?
A) If the dispel does not manage to remove anything from the character, does the monster know something was hit?
B) What if something irrelevant to the character's hiding was dispelled?

[Debatra]

Q 738

Since the rules for LA buyoff are specifically based around Class levels instead of ECL, can a Gestalt LA+1 character buyoff at level two?

[Andezzar]

A 738

There are no rules for the interaction of Gestalt and LA buy off. so ask your DM.

[Xaroth]

Q 739

What creates the +10 damage modifier on the Dire Wolf page on the d20srd? I can see the +7 from the Strength Modifier, but I can't see where the other +3 comes from.

[Blackhawk748]

Q 740

Lets say you have Ride By Attack and Pounce, and lets say that you are allowed to use Pounce with a Mounted Charge (i dont know if this is 100% legal, but that immaterial here). Would you be able to charge, attack one person, keep moving and then hit another person, and keep doing this until you ran out of movement or attacks? Or would you charge, unleash all of your attacks on the first target and then simply be allowed to keep moving?

[Troacctid]

Folks, please use the more recent thread that is stickied at the top of the forum.

Q 738

Since the rules for LA buyoff are specifically based around Class levels instead of ECL, can a Gestalt LA+1 character buyoff at level two?

No. A gestalt level is one level, even though it is comprised of two classes.

Q 739

What creates the +10 damage modifier on the Dire Wolf page on the d20srd? I can see the +7 from the Strength Modifier, but I can't see where the other +3 comes from.

It adds 1.5x its Strength bonus to damage, as is the norm for a creature with only a single primary natural attack. (See the Rules Compendium section on natural weapons.)

Q 740

Lets say you have Ride By Attack and Pounce, and lets say that you are allowed to use Pounce with a Mounted Charge (i dont know if this is 100% legal, but that immaterial here). Would you be able to charge, attack one person, keep moving and then hit another person, and keep doing this until you ran out of movement or attacks? Or would you charge, unleash all of your attacks on the first target and then simply be allowed to keep moving?

Refer to the text of the ability that allows you to pounce while mounted. As no such ability exists in the game (as far as I'm aware), this is not really a RAW question.