Simple RAW Thread for 3.5 #32: More Seasons than the Simpsons

[KillianHawkeye]

A 534 correction

A bull rush cannot crit because it does not involve an attack roll. Abilities which add damage to a successful bull rush cannot be enhanced with a good roll.

If, on the other hand, you have an ability which grants a bull rush on a successful attack, you can get a crit on the attack itself but it won't grant any bonus to your bull rush, nor any additional damage to any abilities which add damage to your bull rush.

[Aggressive_Pear]

A 531

Yes, but as it's a tactical maneuver you should declare it before the attack.

Edit: I misread your question, Directed Bull Rush states nowhere that it has any effect on damage, therefore no.

I asked because Directed Bull Rush states you move your opponent additional squares, which add feet moved to the Dragon Tail Slap, which adds to damage. I'm willing to accept the interpretation.

[Debatra]

Q 535

Are there any official rules for strangulation?

[Thurbane]

Q 536

Normally, an animal will not attack an undead unless it has been specially trained. If an animal is affected by a Confusion spell cast by an undead caster, and the "Attack caster with melee or ranged weapons" result is rolled, will the animal still attack the caster if not specially trained to attack undead?

[Duke of Urrel]

Q 536

Normally, an animal will not attack an undead unless it has been specially trained. If an animal is affected by a Confusion spell cast by an undead caster, and the "Attack caster with melee or ranged weapons" result is rolled, will the animal still attack the caster if not specially trained to attack undead?

A 536

Here's my reasoning within the rules. The Confusion spell is a Mind-Affecting Compulsion spell. Creatures of the Animal type are not Mindless; they have minds that can be affected. Therefore, Animals are affected normally by the Confusion spell. They will randomly attack even Undead, disregarding their own instincts and even their senses, odd though this behavior surely is for an Animal. Of course, trained Animals affected by Confusion will disregard their training, too.

In contrast, creatures of the Ooze or Vermin type are not affected by Mind-Affecting spells because they are Mindless. They "choose" to attack automatically, prompted by their senses and following their instincts. Such creatures can be fooled by Illusion spells, but not magically compelled by Mind-Affecting spells such as Confusion.

In the real world, the distinction between mind and instinct is not so clear, but in D&D, it is. Unless your dungeon master imposes a house rule, of course.

[daremetoidareyo]

Q 537. Can a synad spend more than 1 pp for higher bonuses to knowledge checks?

[St Fan]

Q 538

The Hold the Line feat (Complete Adventurer, among others) allows an attack of opportunity against a charging opponent before the attack is resolved.

The Sidestep Charge feat (Expanded Psionics Handbook) gives an attack of opportunity against a charging opponent if the attack miss.

If a character has both feats (and thus Combat Reflexes too), would he get two attacks of opportunity against a charging opponent that miss? Or does it falls under the "no more than one attack for a given opportunity" case from the rules on Attack of Opportunity?

[tyckspoon]

A 538

You would get both Attacks of Opportunity. They both involve a charging opponent, but they are not the same opportunity - one is based on the charging opponent's movement, and the other is based on the charging opponent's attack. Two distinct things done, two AoO chances. Compare it to having both Hold the Line and something like Robilar's Gambit or Karmic Strike. Or just somebody trying to walk around you (AoO for moving in threatened area) and then performing another triggering action like spellcasting.

A 537
No. The same source rule applies; although the Synad's bonus is untyped and so will stack with any other bonus, every instance of it comes from the same place - the Synad's racial ability. So while you can spend as many free actions and as many single power points as your DM is willing to put up with, when you actually make the Knowledge check you will take only the highest applicable bonus from this source - +2.

[St Fan]

Q 539

The Heroics spell (Spell Compendium) temporarily grant a fighter bonus feat, on the condition you meet all the prerequisites.

I'm wondering if you could cast it twice on the same character, the first time to gain the prerequisite feat to another fighter bonus feat granted by the second casting? Or would this fall under the rule that an effect can't stack with itself?

[Thurbane]

Q 539

The Heroics spell (Spell Compendium) temporarily grant a fighter bonus feat, on the condition you meet all the prerequisites.

I'm wondering if you could cast it twice on the same character, the first time to gain the prerequisite feat to another fighter bonus feat granted by the second casting? Or would this fall under the rule that an effect can't stack with itself?

Nothing to add here, other than I was going to ask the exact same question today!

[Metahuman1]

Q 540: Is there a ranged weapon in 3.5 that doesn't required free hands or being a warforged to use, and uses some kind of ammo. If so, what is it called and what book is it in?

[ksbsnowowl]

Q 541:

What is the fly speed of a Half-Fey Catfolk with 3 levels of Scout?

A catfolk’s base land speed is 40 feet.

Speed: All half-fey have butterflylike wings unless the
base creature has wings already. A half-fey that did not already have wings gains a fly speed equal to twice the base creature’s fastest mode of movement, with good maneuverability.

So a plain old half-fey catfolk would have a fly speed of 80 feet.

Do later effects which explicitly increase the creature's land speed (Expeditious Retreat, Barbarian's fast movement, Scout's Fast Movement) also add doubly to the Half-fey's fly speed?

I could see adapting the Barbarian Fast Movement entry from Stormwrack to apply to fly speeds rather than swim speeds:

Fast Movement (Ex): Barbarians who possess a racial swim speed can choose to apply their fast movement bonus to their swim speed instead of their land speed. The choice must be made when the character gains the class feature and cannot be changed later. This benefit still applies only when the barbarian is wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor and not carrying a heavy load.

Edit: Stormwrack actually has the exact same entry for Scouts (changing all references of "barbarian" to "scout") on page 51.

[Metahuman1]

Q 542: What are all the skills affected by size category of a given character?

[KillianHawkeye]

A 542

Hide and Intimidate are the main ones. Hide has a flat modifier depending on the user's size, while Intimidate has a modifier based on the relative sizes of the user and the target.

While not directly affecting your check results, size also plays a small role in other skills. It directly limits what sorts of mounts you may Ride (it must be at least one size larger than you). It also determines your maximum vertical reach, which may come into play when Jumping. Finally, it doesn't seem possible to Disguise yourself as a different sized creature (or at least, the rules don't mention it as a possibility).

Most skills are not affected by size one way or another.

[Andezzar]

A 541

No, the new fly speed is calculated and applied when the template is added. It is not recalculated every time the base land speed changes.

An optional rule about transferring the movement bonus to another speed has no impact on other speeds. Introducing such an option would be a houserule.

[KillianHawkeye]

This is probably a long shot, but I'll try anyway....


Q 543

Is there any equivalent feat like Ride-By Attack, but for a creature flying under its own power (not mounted)? The standard Flyby Attack doesn't work with a charge.


As an aside, does it bother anyone else that Spring Attack, Ride-By Attack, and Flyby Attack all function in completely different ways?? Even the punctuation is inconsistent!

[TIPOT]

A 543

I believe if you have a psicrystal or a cohort with ride-by-attack that is mounted on you it might be what you're after?

Q544
For a legacy weapon, assuming you've met all the other requirements (done the appropriate rituals etc) can you voluntarily decide to stop paying the personal costs? If so will you still retain any abilities you have already payed for?

[KillianHawkeye]

A 543

I believe if you have a psicrystal or a cohort with ride-by-attack that is mounted on you it might be what you're after?

As, um... colorful as that idea is, I'm really looking for something that doesn't depend on outside assistance. Also, I can't use psionics in this particular campaign.

[Keral]

Q 545


I was reading up the duskblade and I saw that he doesn't get arcane spell failure with selected armor and shields.

However, if one is using weapon+shield, can he still cast? He may get no ASF, but he still need a free hand for any somatic component, right? Making weapon+shield or two weapon fighting not optimal choices?

Or did I miss something?

[ksbsnowowl]

Q 545


I was reading up the duskblade and I saw that he doesn't get arcane spell failure with selected armor and shields.

However, if one is using weapon+shield, can he still cast? He may get no ASF, but he still need a free hand for any somatic component, right? Making weapon+shield or two weapon fighting not optimal choices?

Or did I miss something?

A 545
Use a Buckler.
Take the Somatic Weaponry feat.

[Goladar]

Q. 546

When a swift hunter has a favored enemy, they can apply their skirmish damage to normally immune creatures. If a Swift Hunter has Favored Enemy(Arcanists), will he overcome the precision damage immunity of a wizard Shapechanged into a construct, or who is wearing fortification armor, or who has the synergy bonus from the Heart of X spells?

ETA: Forgot to put Q number.

[KillianHawkeye]

This is Q 546

When a swift hunter has a favored enemy, they can apply their skirmish damage to normally immune creatures. If a Swift Hunter has Favored Enemy(Arcanists), will he overcome the precision damage immunity of a wizard Shapechanged into a construct, or who is wearing fortification armor, or who has the synergy bonus from the Heart of X spells?

A 546

I don't think that "shapechanged into a construct", or being under the effects of a spell or magic item that protects you from critical hits and precision damage are examples of being "normally immune" to those effects. It is referring to creatures that are immune in their normal state, i.e. as a consequence of their natural creature type.

[SirNibbles]

Q 547 Can an Epic character taking a non-epic Fighter level choose a Fighter Bonus Feat from the Epic Fighter Bonus Feat list?

[Andezzar]

A 547

No, the list is only available to epic fighters:

The epic fighter gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic fighter bonus feats) every two levels after 20th.

At 1st level, a fighter gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The fighter gains an additional bonus feat at 2nd level and every two fighter levels thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A fighter must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.

[Khedrac]

A 547 expansion

The main point of taking epic classes (including prestige classes) is that they grant epic bonus feats. Whilst every epic character gets an epic feat every three levels, only the epic classes can grant epic feats, any other class can only grant non-epic feats (if it grants any feats).

[Debatra]

A 546 Yes.

[Andezzar]

A 547 expansion

The main point of taking epic classes (including prestige classes) is that they grant epic bonus feats. Whilst every epic character gets an epic feat every three levels, only the epic classes can grant epic feats, any other class can only grant non-epic feats (if it grants any feats).

This is only true as long as the bonus feat is restricted in some way. The human paragon for example could select an epic feat as his bonus feat if he took the second class level after level 20:

At 2nd level, a human paragon gains a bonus feat. Due to the varied talents and adaptable nature of humans, this feat can be any feat for which the human paragon is qualified (he is not restricted to a special list of bonus feats). The character must meet the prerequisites for the bonus feat normally.

Very few (if any) epic feats require more than 20 levels in a single class.

[Xaroth]

Q 548

Can a Bronze Serpent (MM2) heal itself by biting itself?

[Andezzar]

A 548

Ask your DM. There are no rules for a creature attacking itself. Also this might not be such a good idea, because a successful bite would also deal the normal bludgeoning, piercing, slashing damage. 1d6+10 - (1d8+16)/3 isn't going to be net healing often.

[HeadlessMermaid]

A 547 expansion

The main point of taking epic classes (including prestige classes) is that they grant epic bonus feats. Whilst every epic character gets an epic feat every three levels, only the epic classes can grant epic feats, any other class can only grant non-epic feats (if it grants any feats).

This is only true as long as the bonus feat is restricted in some way. The human paragon for example could select an epic feat as his bonus feat if he took the second class level after level 20:Very few (if any) epic feats require more than 20 levels in a single class.

Unlike other feats, epic feats can ONLY be acquired in 2 ways:

1. From character levels (at 21st level, and every three levels thereafter)
2. From a class that grants, very specifically, "bonus epic feats" (so, epic classes and epic prestige classes)

Therefore, Human Paragon, non-epic Rogue, or anything else that gets you a "bonus feat", does NOT actually give access to epic feats - even if it's without restrictions and you're 21st lvl or higher.