Simple RAW Thread for 3.5 #33: Doesn't everything popular die when 33?

[finaldooms]

Q 148 ( i think)
When,lvling,up and acquiring skill points.do you HAVE to spend them,all right then? Or,can you stockpile them for next lvl?

And related...cross class skills require 2 points for 1..can i only put 1 point into it and then another next lvl for the rank?

[KillianHawkeye]

Q 148 ( i think)
When,lvling,up and acquiring skill points.do you HAVE to spend them,all right then? Or,can you stockpile them for next lvl?

You have to spend them.

And related...cross class skills require 2 points for 1..can i only put 1 point into it and then another next lvl for the rank?

Yes, you can have a half rank in a cross-class skill, but it doesn't count for anything until you get the other half.

[Ciolfire]

Q149

Are spider(vermin/familiar/monstruous/...) hindered by a web spell ?

[Blackplaga]

Q 150

All right so the two classes im looking at is Telflammar Shadowlord and also Blade of Orien. Both of them get full attacks when they teleport would that mean you are making two full attacks when you do teleport with the Mark of Passage ability or just one full attack?

[Nion]

Q 151

When throwing Oil Flasks, Acid Flasks, and the like, do characters take a -4 attack roll penalty for lacking the proper proficiencies?

[Ciolfire]

A151
No, as per the PHB:

To attack with a splash weapon, make a ranged touch attack against the target. Thrown weapons require no weapon proficiency, so you don’t take the –4 nonproficiency penalty.

[Darrin]

Q 150

All right so the two classes im looking at is Telflammar Shadowlord and also Blade of Orien. Both of them get full attacks when they teleport would that mean you are making two full attacks when you do teleport with the Mark of Passage ability or just one full attack?

A150:
Ok, a lot to unpack here... First, Blade of Orien and Telflammar Shadowlord are from two completely different campaign worlds, so it's exceedingly unlikely that a human born and raised in House Orien is going to be able to satisfy the regional requirements for growing up in Thesk. But I'm going to presume the regional requirement is being waved or there is some wacky planewalker shenanigans going on.

Next problem would be getting both Shadow Pounce and Orien's Fury into the same build... Telfammar Shadowlord can be notoriously tricky to get into, as it falls into that oh so lovely "fridge poetry word salad + 1d6 useless feats" category of PrCs. Getting into Blade of Orien is somewhat easier, so it looks like this is possible pre-epic... but not by much. Lesser Dragonmark appears to be a sticking point, as the skill ranks prevent you from getting it any earlier than ECL 6. It looks like Rogue 4/Fighter 2/Blade of Orien 10/Telfammar Shadowlord 4 gets both abilities.

So, Swift Leap happens and triggers Orien's Fury: "Whenever you use your swift leap ability to dimension leap as a move action, you can make a full attack at the end of your leap."

Dimension leap is a conjuration (teleport) effect, so Shadow Pounce triggers as well: "Any time he uses an ability, spell, or effect with the teleportation descriptor (for example, his shadow jump ability), he may execute a full attack upon completion of the teleportation."

Looking at the wording of these two abilities... I don't see any compelling reason why they wouldn't both happen. There's a slight wording difference, in that Orien's Fury happens "at the end of your leap" and Shadow Pounce happens after the teleport has completed. This suggests to me that the full attack granted by Orien's Fury happens as part of the same move action that you used for Swift Leap (sort of "piggybacking" on the move action, as it were), while the full attack from Shadow Pounce happens after the Swift Leap action is complete. If those abilities trigger at distinctly different instances of time, then it looks like Orien's Fury would happen first, then Shadow Pounce. Both are (Ex) abilities with no explicit action costs, so I don't really see any solid evidence that they would interfere with each other. If two of your abilities actually happen simultaneously (or nearly so), you usually get to decide the order in which they happen.

The upshot of this, however... if you've used one move action to Swift Leap, and then take two full attack actions... you still have a standard action left. You could use it to activate Swift Leap again and get an additional two full attacks.

Nifty!

[Vaern]

Q 152
If a player has the ability to turn/rebuke creatures due to an elemental domain, can that player expend uses of their domain power to activate feats that consume turn attempts such as Sacred Boost or Sacred Healing?
Bearing in mind, the feats require the ability to "turn undead," but the feats' effects just say "spend a turn attempt," and do not specify that it must be a "turn undead" attempt.

[Ciolfire]

A152

By RAW

divine feats are the province of those who are able to turn or rebuke undead. Instead of attempting to affect an undead creature, you expend a turn or rebuke undead attempt to trigger the benefit of a divine feat you have.

It's also the suject of one of the questions in the FAQ:

Can the turning abilities granted by the Air, Earth, Fire, Plant, and Water domains be used to power Divine Metamagic (CD 80) or other divine feats?

No. Unless stated otherwise, a divine feat requires (and can be powered only by) the ability to turn or rebuke undead. Some feats (such as Elemental Smiting, CD 81) use elemental turning (rather than undead turning); these are specific exceptions to the general rule.

[Thurbane]

Q 152
If a player has the ability to turn/rebuke creatures due to an elemental domain, can that player expend uses of their domain power to activate feats that consume turn attempts such as Sacred Boost or Sacred Healing?
Bearing in mind, the feats require the ability to "turn undead," but the feats' effects just say "spend a turn attempt," and do not specify that it must be a "turn undead" attempt.

A 152

All the feats state is that you "spend a turn attempt", so that would seem to indicate that spending a use of of elemental turning would satisfy the activation requirements.

However, the section on divine feats says the following:

Second, the force that powers a divine feat is the ability to channel positive or negative energy to turn or rebuke undead.

...so if you accept this section as RAW rather than fluff, then no, you cannot use elemental tuning attempts to power the feats.

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Repost for a new page:

Q 145

If I use Animate dead on the skeleton of a Lycanthrope (say, for instance, the sample Werebear in the SRD), does the resulting skeleton retain the HD from the Lycanthrope template? I'm assuming yes, unless there's anything I am missing?

[Metahuman1]

Q 153: Is there a magic item that allows the user to add the benefits of weapons enchantment property's to his Warlock Eldritch Blast and Eldritch Blast Shape invocations? If so, what is it and what book and page number can it be found in/on.

[Andezzar]

Q 154

Where can I find the Blade of Orien PrC?

[Thurbane]

Q 154

Where can I find the Blade of Orien PrC?

A 154

Dragonmarked, p.99.

[KillianHawkeye]

Q 153: Is there a magic item that allows the user to add the benefits of weapons enchantment property's to his Warlock Eldritch Blast and Eldritch Blast Shape invocations? If so, what is it and what book and page number can it be found in/on.

A 153???

I've never heard of such an item, but I don't know everything.

[Vaern]

Q 155
The Student of Chaos ability from the Wild Mage class allows you to roll twice and choose the preferred result when using items with randomized effects.
The ability does not affect spells cast directly by the character, so it would not benefit someone casting something like Prismatic Spray. But would the ability work on something like a Wand of Prismatic Mist or a Staff of Prismatic Spray, which would technically be items that produce a randomized effect?

Q 156
How exactly do runestaves work? Is the spell effect produced by the item, fueled by its wielder's spellpower? Or is the person using the staff considered to be the one producing the spell effect?

[ksbsnowowl]

Q 157

If a psionic Wilder (7th level) is using Wild Surge (to get +3 ML and +3 augment for free), can he also augment the power above what the base power was?

For example, Energy Ray is a 1st level power that costs 1 PP. The Wilder could normally augment it, paying 7 PP to get an extra 6d6 damage, and increase the DC by 6. Can a Wilder do that, plus Wild Surge on top of that, to get an additional 3d6 damage, and increase the DC by an extra 3, for "free?" Thus ending up with a power that cost 7 pp, deals 10d6 damage, and has a Save DC of 20 + Cha mod?

[Zombimode]

Q 158

Do Sneak Attack, Skirmish, Crits etc. work normal with Palm Shot (Master Thrower)?

The resolution of Palm Shot is very similar to Manyshot: one attack roll, multiple damage rolls.
Manyshot has special rules concerning precision damage. Palm Shot has not. Are the rules in Manyshot just reminder text of some general "volley" rules?

[ZamielVanWeber]

A 157
Wild Surge provides free manifester level and PP for augmentation and can exceed your manifester level. You can augment further, so yes you can augment a power further (ex: a level 2 wilder can manifest energy ray, augment it once and then use wild surge to augment it further for 3d6 damage). Note: wild surge does not affect the save DC intrinsically; the DC only scales if the power says so, thus a +2 surge would only increase the save DC by 1. Additionally the RAW text for wild surge says that all augmentation is free during a surge, so be sure to ask your DM how they would rule this.

[NontheistCleric]

Q 159

The psionic power Glorytongue states that it can be used to deliver touch spells. Can it do the same for spell-like abilities based on touch spells (e.g. Shivering Touch, Vampiric Touch, Bestow Curse, Plane Shift etc. as SLAs)?

Q 160

When hiding in plain sight using the Hide in Plain Sight ability, would using it to come within touching range of someone and then using a touch spell on them reveal oneself?

[finaldooms]

Q 161
Does a wizard get a free familiar at lvl 1? Or they have to,pay for,it?

Q 162

Is there a spell that allows you to animate your carried weapons( more than 1 weapon at a time) all i can find via google is this

Spoiler: animate weapon spell

Show

Animate Weapon
(Complete Mage, p. 95)

Transmutation
Level: Assassin 2, Hexblade 2, Sorcerer 3, Wizard 3, Spellthief 3,
Components: V, S,
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Weapon touched
Duration: Concentration + 1 round
Saving Throw: Will negates (object)
Spell Resistance: Yes

Your weapon leaps from your hands, suddenly capable of fighting on its own.
A weapon affected by this spell gains the ability to move and attack on its own and functions in most ways like an animated object of its size (MM 13). Treat a light weapon as an object two size categories smaller than its wielder, a one-handed weapon as one size category smaller than its wielder, and a two-handed weapon as an object of the same size as its wielder. However, the weapon deals its normal damage, not the damage noted for an animated object of its size, and it gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to the ability modifier used to set your spell save DCs. Diminutive or smaller objects are unaffected by the spell.
An animated weapon attacks the nearest enemy to the best of its ability. You can use a move action to direct it to a different target, but if at the end of your turn you are more than 30 feet from the weapon, the spell ends. A weapon held or carried by another creature can't be affected by this spell.
The weapon doesn't gain the benefit of any of your class features, feats, or other special abilities that would improve its combat ability. If the weapon has an enhancement bonus or other special properties, these apply as normal. For example, an animated +1 flaming longsword gains a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls and deals an extra 1d6 points of fire damage on a successful hit

I recall,having a player use such a spell to power 2 greatswords AND keep on casting,spells

[Vaern]

Q 161
Does a wizard get a free familiar at lvl 1? Or they have to,pay for,it?

A 161
They technically have to pay for it. Sorcerers and wizards gain the ability to summon a familiar at level 1, but they are not automatically granted the class and ability description do not indicate that they gain a familiar for free at character creation.
The druid's animal companion feature specifies that they begin play with their pet, and their recommended starting package suggests a wolf for them. Neither the sorcerer nor wizard starting packages include a familiar.

[St Fan]

Q 163

Can a divine caster uses Divine Metamagic to imbue a spell with a metamagic feat during magic item creation?
Thus resulting in a magic item with a more powerful spell but without additional cost?

[Thurbane]

A 163

The is specifically addressed in the official FAQ document (take it as you will):

Can you use the Divine Metamagic feat to create a scroll or wand with the metamagic effect without changing the spell level? If so, how much would it cost to make?
You can use Divine Metamagic in item creation; the cost to create the item is just as if you used the regular metamagic feat.
For instance, using your Divine Metamagic feat to create a scroll of empowered flame strike costs as much as a scroll of a 7th-level spell (which is what an empowered flame strike is). The act of creating the scroll or wand expends three daily uses of your turn/rebuke undead ability, just as if you had cast the empowered flame strike spell using Divine Metamagic, but you don’t have to expend a 7th-level spell slot (only the normal, 5th-level flame strike).

[mattie_p]

Q 160[/B]

When hiding in plain sight using the Hide in Plain Sight ability, would using it to come within touching range of someone and then using a touch spell on them reveal oneself?

A 160: Maybe, but that ability alone is not sufficient. The pertinent rules:

Your Hide check is opposed by the Spot check of anyone who might see you. It’s practically impossible (-20 penalty) to hide while attacking, running or charging.

If the hiding character's hide check (with the -20 penalty) beats the spot check of the victim, then they are not revealed, and the victim cannot even pinpoint the square from which the attack originated.

[Darrin]

Q 155
The Student of Chaos ability from the Wild Mage class allows you to roll twice and choose the preferred result when using items with randomized effects.
The ability does not affect spells cast directly by the character, so it would not benefit someone casting something like Prismatic Spray. But would the ability work on something like a Wand of Prismatic Mist or a Staff of Prismatic Spray, which would technically be items that produce a randomized effect?

A155:
No. Wand/staff of prismatic spray produces a spell effect, but it does so consistently. There's no random table to roll to see which spell effect is generated. If the random table is listed in the magic item description, then I'd say Student of Chaos applies. If the random table is part of the spell description, then I'd say it doesn't.

However, I could easily see a DM choosing to interpret this effect "loosely".

Q 156
How exactly do runestaves work? Is the spell effect produced by the item, fueled by its wielder's spellpower? Or is the person using the staff considered to be the one producing the spell effect?

A156:
The spellcaster is considered to be the one producing the spell effect. Essentially, the spellcaster is expending a spell slot to cast one of their spells. All the runestaff does is allow the spellcaster to select a different spell for that spell slot.

From MIC p. 224:

"By expending a prepared arcane spell or arcane spell slot, the wielder can cast a spell of the same level or lower from the runestaff’s list, as long as that spell also appears on the wielder’s class spell list. The spell is treated exactly as if the wielder cast the spell herself, including caster level, save DC, and any other effects related to the spell." (emphasis added)

[Darrin]

Q 158
Do Sneak Attack, Skirmish, Crits etc. work normal with Palm Shot (Master Thrower)?

The resolution of Palm Shot is very similar to Manyshot: one attack roll, multiple damage rolls.
Manyshot has special rules concerning precision damage. Palm Shot has not. Are the rules in Manyshot just reminder text of some general "volley" rules?

A158:

Short Answer:

If you're using Palm Throw on a standard attack, apply precision damage only to the first weapon in the attack group. If you're using Palm Throw on a full attack, apply precision damage to all weapons that hit, regardless of how many attack rolls are made.

Long Answer:

There were never any 'general "volley" rules'. There were some FAQ rulings in the 3.0 era that addressed certain feats or spell effects, and this is what you're probably referring to as the "volley" rules, but these were removed from the FAQ when 3.5 was released.

In the 3.5 rules, or at least as far as Manyshot was concerned, it looks like the designers intended for precision-based damage to be treated differently on multiple attacks. However, "precision-based damage" is only mentioned once in the entire PHB, and is never defined in the glossary or anywhere else in the Core rules.

When Complete Arcane was released in November 2004, the designers attempted to address spell effects that made multiple attack rolls, most notably scorching ray, which was now a popular Core 2nd level spell. Rules for "Multiple Hits" were added to the section on Weaponlike Spells (p. 86):

"Some weaponlike spells can strike multiple times in the same round. When the caster gets a bonus on damage with such spells (including sneak attack damage), the extra damage applies only to the first attack, whether that attack hits or not." (emphasis added)

However, while this works for standard-action spells such as scorching ray, there are two problems here: 1) it doesn't jive well with how most people understand how sneak attack works on full attacks, and 2) it doesn't address very well all the different ways a well-optimized spellcaster can manipulate the action economy.

(As a side note, it's also unclear if this "first attack only" rule applies just to weaponlike spells, or all spells in general.")

Complete Scoundrel was released in January 2007 and contains many more references to "precision-based damage", and more importantly, we now have at least three different types of precision damage established in various sourcebooks: sneak attack, sudden strike, and skirmish. However, for whatever reason, the designers failed to actually provide any rules for how precision-based damage works in this book.

They finally rectified this in the Rules Compendium, published in October 2007. Page 42 provides more comprehensive rules on how to handle precision damage, including:

"A form of attack that enables an attacker to make multiple attacks during an action other than a full-round action, such as the Manyshot feat (standard action) or a quickened scorching ray (swift action), allows precision damage to be applied only to the first attack in the group." (emphasis added)

The Precision Damage rules in the Rules Compendium don't differentiate between attacks that use a single attack roll or multiple attack rolls. All they seem to care about is what type of action you're using to make the attack. If you're using a full-round action to make multiple attacks, then precision damage applies to all successful hits that qualify for extra damage.

As always with the Rules Compendium, it's unclear how to rectify discrepancies between the Core rules and the RC. Most groups take a "cafeteria" approach to the RC: take what they like, ignore what they don't like. The "Volley" rules are one area where your group may want to adopt a simpler house rule.

[Darrin]

Q 162

Is there a spell that allows you to animate your carried weapons( more than 1 weapon at a time) all i can find via google is this

A162:
Dancing blade in PHBII does something similar. Unlike animate weapon, it doesn't require concentration, and you can redirect it with a free action.

I recall,having a player use such a spell to power 2 greatswords AND keep on casting,spells

For multiple weapons... hmm. Well, he could have cast dancing blade twice. If metamagic was involved, then Twin Spell might be an option. If you add Reach Spell, you could then add Split Ray or Chain Spell.

I think there are some shenanigans with Master of the Unseen Hand that involve telekinetic full attacks with a bunch of weapons, but I forget exactly what the particulars were. Telekinesis + Chain Spell? Or did it involve being a ghost?

An artificer could do something similar with greater weapon augmentation to pick up the Dancing enhancement.

[NoAnonimo]

Q164
Wild Shape. Acording to Rules Compendium

Wild Shape

At 5th level, a druid gains the supernatural abiliy to assume the form of any small or medium animal [...] This ability functions like alternate form.

About Alternate Form

Alternate Form.

A creature tha has this special quality has the ability to assume one or more specific alternate forms. Assuming an alternate form results in the following changes to the creature.

The creature retains the type and subtype of its natural form. [...]

Q164aSo, by RC RAW, should a druid wild shaped into an octopus drown in water? (it doesn't has the Aquatic subtype)

Q165bHow this interacts with the wild shape description on PH?

[Yogibear41]

Q166

A high level shadowcaster is in a long narrow hallway, he casts Curtain of Shadows, can he zigzag the wall several times so any monster running from one end of the hall way to the other would have to pass through the wall several times and therefore take several instances of 15d6 cold damage?

The wall would look something like this(except all the brackets touching and being continuous) with the enemy starting at X and the Shadowcaster standing at Y


X
[
]
[
]
[
]
Y

[Andezzar]

A 165

The description in the RC does not contradict the description in the PHB/MM (post errata) it is merely incomplete. If the druid changes into a creature with the aquatic subtype, he gains that subtype.