Simple RAW for 3.5: 38 pages, and I still don't know how to play D&D

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 89 Beyond increasing your number of HD, and in 1st party 3.5 D&D, the most accessible (and generally, the only) way is the Primary Contact feat from Cityscape, giving you a single rank beyond your maximum.

Additionally, the Codex Anathema (LoM p 214) grants 5 ranks Knowledge (dungeoneering) and 2 ranks each of Knowledge (arcana) and (the planes). Yenejg Togan's Planar Syllabus (Dungeon 88 p 104) grants 6 ranks in Knowledge (the planes). The items don't say you can exceed your maximum, but don't say they cant, DM call.
Finally, the Illithid Savant PrC allows you to gain ranks beyond your maximum, but requires you to be an illithid.

In sanctioned 3rd party, there is at least Laborious Training from Ravenloft: Legacy of the Blood - Your maximum rank in any Intelligence-based skill equals 5 + your character level. Must have Int 13, Knowledge (any one) 5 ranks.

[St Fan]

A88 complement
As pointed out, voluntary XP sacrifices for casting spells or creating magical items cannot bring you below the minimum XP score for your level. You need to have enough XP free to sacrifice before starting either or the activity fails.

The only way (that I know) of losing XP that can reduce your current level is the XP reduction following the loss of a familiar, item familiar or psicrystal; those can drop you a level if you're reduced below the current minimum.

A89 complement
In addition the aforementioned methods, there are also the Bloodlines rules from Unearthed Arcana. Each bloodline level (up to 3 with a major bloodline) raise all of your maximum skill ranks by 1 without changing your character level.

[St Fan]

Q 90

A character gets near an lying-down enemy that he believes is helpless to perform a coup de grâce.

The enemy, however, is playing possum and not helpless. Since a coup de grâce is a full-round action provoking attacks of opportunity, the lying foe takes advantage of this to strike the character.

Since the character cannot perform the coup de grâce action on a non-helpless foe, does that mean his actions are wasted this turn? Or can he still make a normal attack?

[Chronos]

A 90:

It'd be a normal attack.

[pumpkaaboo]

Q91: For the initiator classes from ToB, you're allowed to replace a maneuver you know with a new one at every even-numbered level after and including 4th. However, to my knowledge none of the prestige classes that grant maneuvers have this language. Does this mean that you cannot replace maneuvers gained from prestige classes or replace maneuvers while taking prestige class levels?

[St Fan]

Q91: For the initiator classes from ToB, you're allowed to replace a maneuver you know with a new one at every even-numbered level after and including 4th. However, to my knowledge none of the prestige classes that grant maneuvers have this language. Does this mean that you cannot replace maneuvers gained from prestige classes or replace maneuvers while taking prestige class levels?

A 91:
Yes, you cannot. Replacing maneuvers is a feature of the standard initiator classes, not of the prestige classes. It is common for prestige classes to not provide the full advantages of the classes they emulate. (The same thing happens with the "exchange known spells" feature of sorcerers when they take prestige classes increasing arcane casting.)

Please note, though, that the GM may still allow for the standard Retraining rules from Player's Handbook II to apply to maneuvers, although it'll probably be more limited than the normal class ability.

[St Fan]

Q 92:

Slapping Hand (Evocation [Force])

Level: Sorcerer 2, Wizard 2,
Components: V, S, AF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect: One Tiny hand
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes

You complete the spell and blow into the leather glove. Immediately a blue-white, translucent hand appears next to the enemy and smacks it across the side of the head—not enough to hurt it, but hard enough to give others nearby a chance to attack.

This spell distracts the subject, causing it to immediately provoke attacks of opportunity from creatures threatening its space. The spell allows no saving throw, but a slapped creature can negate the effect with a DC 20 Concentration check.

Focus: A leather glove.

If this spell is timed to strike a spellcaster while trying to cast a spell (with a ready action), must the target makes two separate Concentration checks with different DC (one to avoid attack of opportunities, one to not flub the spell)? Or would the second check (to not flub the spell) only be required if the first is failed?

[Duke of Urrel]

Q 92: If this spell is timed to strike a spellcaster while trying to cast a spell (with a ready action), must the target make two separate Concentration checks with different DC (one to avoid attack of opportunities, one to not flub the spell)? Or would the second check (to not flub the spell) only be required if the first is failed?

A 92

The targeted spellcaster must always make at least two Concentration checks, but the first Concentration check determines how hard the second Concentration check (or checks) will be.

When you ready the act of casting the Slapping Hand spell to interrupt an enemy's spellcasting action, we must (following the rules of readying) first resolve the interrupting action (the Slapping Hand spell) and then resolve the interrupted action (the enemy's spellcasting action).

Thus, the enemy spellcaster must first make a Concentration check at DC 20 to shake off the effect of the Slapping Hand spell. If this Concentration check fails, the spellcaster unavoidably provokes attacks of opportunity, because this is what the Slapping Hand spell causes to happen. Despite being attacked, the spellcaster can still try to cast their spell, but they can succeed only if (1) all attacks of opportunity miss or (2) the spellcaster, after each successful attack of opportunity, both survives the attack and makes a Concentration check whose DC is 10 plus the spell's level plus every Hit Point of damage taken.

If the enemy spellcaster's Concentration check at DC 20 succeeds, they shake off the effect of the Slapping Hand spell. Of course, casting a spell still provokes attacks of opportunity by default. However, the enemy spellcaster, having shaken off the Slapping Hand spell, can avoid attacks of opportunity in the usual way, namely by casting defensively (that is, making a Concentration check at DC 10 plus the spell's level). This is a much easier Concentration check to make, especially if the enemy spellcaster has the Combat Casting feat.*

_______________
*As I understand the rules, the Combat Casting feat adds a +4 bonus to only one of these Concentration checks: the one that the enemy spellcaster makes to cast their spell defensively. Neither the Concentration check to shake off the effect of the Slapping Hand spell nor the Concentration check to cast a spell despite being injured can add this +4 bonus. Thus, readying the Slapping Hand spell against an enemy spellcaster, if it succeeds, prevents the enemy spellcaster from using the Combat Casting feat.

[Chronos]

A 92 addendum:

And if there happen to be no enemies of the target near the target at the time of the Slapping Hand spell, then the target is never at risk of losing their own spell, since the Slapping Hand spell itself does not deal damage, nor do anything else that would interfere with spellcasting.

[Shinoskay]

Q81.e

How, exactly, is this combination meant to work?

I'll preface by saying please do not argue raw vs rai of luck arcane disciple. or any nuance there in of that specific part. I've seen the arguments, its an issue of semantics, really, that is best discussed in its own thread and not here.

shadowcraft mage, sanctum, and earth spell, luck arcane disciple trick to cast miracle

the combination is that shadow craft make can use specific types of spells to copy any evocation spells of 1 level lower then the spell used.
sanctum raises spell level by 1. Earth spell again raises that by 1.
I cant remember which one it is, but one of this caps at 9th level, so the idea is you enhance a spell to 8, then either sanctum or earth spell raises it to 9 (I think sanctum is the one thats capped) then the other one raises it to 10. technically you can just enhance and earth spell if you already have 9th level slots but sanctum has other benefits like that you can do wish (or miracle) with an 8th level spell slot.

Miracle and wish are 9th level spells, it is seen then that miracle allows you to cast cleric spell of 8th level or lower (or any spell 7th level or lower).
Wish does the same thing as miracle, just its 8th level of lower wiz/sor spells. And wish has a minimum gp/xp cost no matter how you use it, miracle tends to be more desired because no minimum and it branches the shadow mage into a new caster list.

So you boost the spell that becomes shadow evocation to level 10... allowing you to cast an evocation spell of up to level 9 (such as miracle (or wish)).

[Vaern]

Q81.e



I'll preface by saying please do not argue raw vs rai of luck arcane disciple. or any nuance there in of that specific part. I've seen the arguments, its an issue of semantics, really, that is best discussed in its own thread and not here.

shadowcraft mage, sanctum, and earth spell, luck arcane disciple trick to cast miracle

the combination is that shadow craft make can use specific types of spells to copy any evocation spells of 1 level lower then the spell used.
sanctum raises spell level by 1. Earth spell again raises that by 1.
I cant remember which one it is, but one of this caps at 9th level, so the idea is you enhance a spell to 8, then either sanctum or earth spell raises it to 9 (I think sanctum is the one thats capped) then the other one raises it to 10. technically you can just enhance and earth spell if you already have 9th level slots but sanctum has other benefits like that you can do wish (or miracle) with an 8th level spell slot.

Miracle and wish are 9th level spells, it is seen then that miracle allows you to cast cleric spell of 8th level or lower (or any spell 7th level or lower).
Wish does the same thing as miracle, just its 8th level of lower wiz/sor spells. And wish has a minimum gp/xp cost no matter how you use it, miracle tends to be more desired because no minimum and it branches the shadow mage into a new caster list.

So you boost the spell that becomes shadow evocation to level 10... allowing you to cast an evocation spell of up to level 9 (such as miracle (or wish)).

The only RAW vs RAI semantics issue I could see to argue with it is earth spell. Its description is prefaced by saying that it enhances the effects of heighten spell, but it then doesn't specify that a spell's level has to be increased specifically by the heighten spell feat, so there could be a bit of argument to be had as to whether enhancing it with sanctum spell will have an effect. Even then, heighten spell is a prerequisite for earth spell so I'm assuming you're just heightening, say, a silent image to 8th or 9th level which would allow the full cheese to work anyway. I only mention this because someone in another thread mentioned combining sactum spell with earth spell to boost something's level by 2.

Anyway, if your DM has decided that Miracle is a valid sor/wiz spell for your character then yes, you should be able to cheese a level 10+ spell slot to shadow cast it like this.
It would not work for Wish, though, as Wish is a universal spell. It does not belong to any school of magic, and is therefore not a valid target for an ability that can only mimic specific school.
Whether you can then metamagic a spell that's cast via Miracle, though? I don't know if that's normally something that you can do, and I don't see why shadow casting the spell should have an impact on whether you could do that.

[Shinoskay]

The only RAW vs RAI semantics issue I could see to argue with it is earth spell. Its description is prefaced by saying that it enhances the effects of heighten spell, but it then doesn't specify that a spell's level has to be increased specifically by the heighten spell feat, so there could be a bit of argument to be had as to whether enhancing it with sanctum spell will have an effect. Even then, heighten spell is a prerequisite for earth spell so I'm assuming you're just heightening, say, a silent image to 8th or 9th level which would allow the full cheese to work anyway. I only mention this because someone in another thread mentioned combining sactum spell with earth spell to boost something's level by 2.

Anyway, if your DM has decided that Miracle is a valid sor/wiz spell for your character then yes, you should be able to cheese a level 10+ spell slot to shadow cast it like this.
It would not work for Wish, though, as Wish is a universal spell. It does not belong to any school of magic, and is therefore not a valid target for an ability that can only mimic specific school.
Whether you can then metamagic a spell that's cast via Miracle, though? I don't know if that's normally something that you can do, and I don't see why shadow casting the spell should have an impact on whether you could do that.

this specific question wasnt whether that combo works. question 81 was about whether one could apply metamagic to shadow casted miracle/wish spells.

So if you dont know, thank you for trying... but thats the question because I dont either.

as for the other place, that was likely me. its not hard to heighten(sorry, ive been calling it enhanced) a spell into your level 8 slot... then sanctum and earth spell that to 10. but thats irrelevant for question 81.... which is about applying metamagic to spells produced from shadow evocation or miracle/wish

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 81 This question falls under "can you duplicate metamagicked spells with Wish/Miracle", the Shadow part of it does not matter here. The text does not say anything in one way or another. Metamagicked spells are not spells, but they might fall into the "Have any effect whose power level is in line with the above effects." clause. An extended discussion on the subject can be found here.

It is also to note that Miracle is an evocation spell because it is in fact a plea to one's deity, and thus the actual effect of the spell is "whatever the deity desires".

[ShurikVch]

Q 93

Some special materials - Alchemical Gold(/Platinum), Kaortic Resin - force to take Exotic Weapon Proficiency in order to use weapon crafted of them.
Question: for example, would Alchemical Gold Longsword still count as Longsword when Longsword required (like Blade Meditation feat for Devoted Spirit, Iron Heart, or While Raven discipline)?


Q 94

Athasian Dragon PrC (Dragon #339) required Epic Spellcasting; would Epic Manifestation be suitable replacement?


Q 95

With the use of Divine Metamagic feat, is it possible to cast spell heightened to 9th level from a 1st-level slot (like there)?


Q 96

Is it possible to use a bunch of +0 metamagics to "pay off" some higher-cost metamagic via Arcane Thesis feat (like there)?

[Xalestra]

Q. 97 - When creature has the mob template, but it also has fast healing. How much is healed?

[Duke of Urrel]

Q. 97 - When creature has the mob template, but it also has fast healing. How much is healed?

A 97

Ask your dungeon master.

A mob is a group of creatures of Small, Medium, or Large size that you treat as a single creature for the sake of simplicity. The rules for mobs, which appear on pages 59 to 61 of the DUNGEON MASTER'S GUIDE II, do not specify how a mob uses the Fast Healing ability (or any similar ability, such as the Regeneration ability). However, I can think of a method that makes sense.

According to the rules, a mob may consist of twelve creatures of Large size. Suppose a mob consists of twelve formian myrmarchs, each of which has the extraordinary Fast Healing ability and heals two Hit Points per round.

If we treat these formian myrmarchs as individual creatures rather than as a mob, then the number of Hit Points healed per round depends on the number of formian myrmarchs that are attacked per round. Thus, if two formian myrmarchs take damage in the same round, then they heal a total of four Hit Points; if three formian myrmarchs take damage in the same round, then they heal a total of six Hit Points; and so on.

If you treat all the formian myrmarchs as belonging to a single Gargantuan creature, that is, a mob, I think it makes sense to say that a mob with the Fast Healing ability applies this ability as many times per round as it takes damage in that round. Thus, if you damage a formian myrmarch mob only once in a round, it should heal only two Hit Points; but if you damage it twice in the same round, it should heal four Hit Points; if you damage it three times, six Hit Points; if you damage it four times, eight Hit Points; and so on.

Your dungeon master may reasonably assume that not all attacks against a mob will be divided equally among its members. Some members will be attacked more than once and others not at all. Consequently, your dungeon master may decide that in a mob of twelve formian myrmarchs, only six are exposed to weapon attacks, so that the mob as a whole can apply the Fast Healing feat no more than six times in one round, even if the mob is attacked more than six times in that round.

We may apply a different method when a twelve-member formian myrmarch mob is damaged by an area spell (which, following the rules, inflicts 50% extra damage on a mob). Depending on the size of the spell's area of effect, the spell may damage part of the mob or all of it; thus, we may assume that the area spell damages some fraction of the twelve formian myrmarchs, or perhaps all twelve of them, all at once. If all twelve of the mob's members are damaged, then the mob should heal 24 Hit Points after the attack. But if only half of the mob's members are damaged by the area spell, then the mob should heal only 12 Hit Points after the attack.

Of course, these proposals are only suggestions. As I admitted at the start, the rules don't dictate what method you should use to determine how Fast Healing works for a mob. The whole point of mobs is to make the rules simpler, not more complicated, and the method that I have proposed here may already be too complicated for some dungeon masters.

So ... ask your dungeon master.

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 93 Yes. A material does not modify the nature of a weapon, even if the material adds special rules such as being forced to take EWP.

A 94 RAW, no. Those are two different feats. Still, considering the flavour of Athasian Dragon, it would not be unrealistic to ask your DM about it.

A 95 Hard to say. Heighten Spell is not that well formatted. Some say that "as difficult to prepare and cast as a spell of its effective level" means that metamagic cost reducers are useless because they would reduce the effective spell level as well. Others say that you apply the feat first, then the cost reducer. Ask your DM.

A 96 Yes, it is possible.

A 97 discussion This is the RAW thread, and Mob is a template. The template's rules say that the mob only retains the special qualities of a single creature, and thus would Fast Heal as fast as a single creature. Yes, RAW can be quite unrealistic at times.

[Rebel7284]

Q98: Is there a list somewhere of highest stats in D&D that can be achieved with Polymorph/Draconic Polymorph/Shapechange? Would be lovely if it was broken down by HD, but highest ever would work too.

Specifically, is there anything with more Con than a titan or with the same Con but less HD?

[Chronos]

A98 partial:

In the core rules, I had thought that the Tarrasque had the highest con, at 35, but it looks like the Titan indeed beats it, at 39. The elder air elemental has the highest dex, at 33. All of the other records appear to be held by the great wyrm gold dragon.

In the epic rules, the highest I could find with a quick perusal was the Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon, at 65 Con. Interestingly, the epic Elder Titan has only 31.

Of course, all of these would be very difficult to Polymorph etc. into, due to their high HD.

[Condé]

Q99

The spellscale ritual (races of the dragon p. 32) specifies you lose any racial traits from your precious race.

But what if your character has a template? Is it considered part of the race? Do you lose the template? Do you keep it?

[ShurikVch]

A 99

The most conservative approach: you don't change the Race unless the RAW says so (AFAIR, none of templates do it)

The popular alternative approach: Race==Subtype - if you have the racial Subtype, you have the Race, if you change(/lose) it - you change(/lose?) the Race. But this approach is problematic for Races which don't have their "own" racial Subtype (like Lizardfolk have only "Reptilian"), or too different without having the distinct Subtype (Avariel and Drow are both "Elf"); IIRR, Spellscale got only "Dragonblood"...

[Samael Morgenst]

What happens if a character with levels in Emancipated Spawn is resurrected? He loses them?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 98 The monster compendium lists all published monsters in 1st party and licensed 3rd party, including most stats. Below are the 1st party non-unique monsters with the highest stats. In italic are the monsters with the highest stats, excluding construct, elemental, outsider, undead.

Ability score	<=10 HD	<=15 HD	<=20HD	<=25HD	<=50HD
Strength	Ibrandlin (MoF, 10 HD, 35)	Night Twist (MM3, 15 HD, 39)	Greater Dusk Giant (HoH, 18 HD, 48)	Nightcrawler (MM1, 25 HD, 48) Ancient Night Twist (MM3, 25 HD, 45)	Hagunemnon, Protean (ELH, 44 HD, 53)
Dexterity	Glamer (Dr299, 10 HD, 30) Will o' Wisp (MM1, 9 HD, 29)	Kelvezu demon (MM2, 12 HD, 31) Legendary Eagle (MM2, 12 HD, 30)	Ha-Naga (ELH, 20 HD, 38)	Gloom (ELH, 25 HD, 46)	Tayellah (ELH, 34 HD, 48)
Constitution	Caller from the Deeps (Storm, 10 HD, 30) Whelp of Zargon (EEvils, 10 HD, 29)	Vathugu demon (Dr337, 12 HD, 34) Mountain Troll (MM3, 15 HD, 31)	Titan (MM1, 20 HD, 39) Hound of the Hunt (Wild Hunt) (MM5, 20 HD, 36)	White Slaad (ELH, 24 HD, 37) Ancient Night Twist (MM3, 25 HD, 34)	Three-headed Sirrush (ELH, 45 HD, 49)
Intelligence	Red Ethergaunt (FF, 5 HD, 23)	Sarrukh (Serpent Kingdoms, 14 HD, 30)	Ha-naga (ELH, 20 HD, 35)	Mature Adult Obsidian dragon (Web, 25 HD, 27)	Mature Adult Force Dragon (ELH, 50 HD, 42)
Wisdom	Owl Archon (BoED, 10 HD, 25) Threskisphinx (Sand, 10 HD, 24)	Pleasure Devil, Brachina (FC2, 12 HD, 24) Thoon Elder Brain (MM5, 12 HD, 23)	Ha-naga (ELH, 20 HD, 35)	Hellfire Wyrm (MM2, 23 HD, 26)	Three-headed Sirrush (ELH, 45 HD, 43)
Charisma	Falxugon (FC2, 9 HD, 22) Gray Glutton (EPH, 9 HD, 20)	Lilitu demon (FC1, 14 HD, 30) Siabrie (Web, 15 HD, 25)	Ha-naga (ELH, 20 HD, 36)	Gloom (ELH, 25 HD, 46)	LeShay (ELH, 50 HD, 47)

So yes, not only is the Titan the creature with the highest constitution and less than 20HD, it's also the highest-Con creature up to 25 HD, and even all the way up to 38 HD, only dethroned by the Uvuudaum. Also props to the Ha-Naga being an epic creature with 20 HD, meaning its absurd stats gave it the crown in four of the six ability scores.

[loky1109]

A100

What happens if a character with levels in Emancipated Spawn is resurrected? He loses them?

No, he'll still have levels in Emancipated Spawn. He will not qualify for this PrC and therefore he couldn't use its abilities, but these abilities anyway are useless if he is resurrected. He still will have HD, skills, saves and BAB.

[Samael Morgenst]

Q 103

If a character used one of the rituals of transformation described in the Savage Species book to become a dragon - using the rules on Draconomicon - (wyrmling, young or juvenile), would he be frozen on that age category or grow with time?

[St Fan]

Samael, you need to give a number to each of your questions. Please check the rules at the start of the thread.


Q 102
Can you combine a Iaijustu Focus attack with a Coup de Grâce? I can't help but feel it would be awkward, but what says the RAW?

[Kaleph]

Q104a
Assuming that a wall of smoke can be created in the space occupied by a creature, does that creature save vs nausea immediately?

Q104b
If the answer is yes, does the creature need to repeat the save every round it remains within the wall of smoke?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 102 Helpless opponents are not considered flat-footed by RAW, so no Iaijutsu Focus. If you somehow can make a helpless opponent flat-footed, it would work, since a coup de grace is still an attack.

A 103 Using a Ritual makes the character actually become a dragon. The character is thus entitled to true dragon rules, including aging.

A 104 "A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object". You just cannot create a Wall of Smoke inside a creature. If your DM says you can, then ask them about what happens. Maybe relevant discussion here.

[Condé]

Q99

The spellscale ritual (races of the dragon p. 32) specifies you lose any racial traits from your precious race.

But what if your character has a template? Is it considered part of the race? Do you lose the template? Do you keep it?

A 99

The most conservative approach: you don't change the Race unless the RAW says so (AFAIR, none of templates do it)

The popular alternative approach: Race==Subtype - if you have the racial Subtype, you have the Race, if you change(/lose) it - you change(/lose?) the Race. But this approach is problematic for Races which don't have their "own" racial Subtype (like Lizardfolk have only "Reptilian"), or too different without having the distinct Subtype (Avariel and Drow are both "Elf"); IIRR, Spellscale got only "Dragonblood"...

My question was really poorly written. Let me be clearer. (My apoligies to ShurikVch)

Q99bis Are inherited templates part of your race?

Example : If your character has a inherited template and undergo the Rite of rebirth or the Rite of Spellscale, does your character keeps his inherited template or is an inherited template considered part of your original race and you lose it in the process of your race swapping via any of the Rite cited earlier?

[Kaleph]

A 104 "A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object". You just cannot create a Wall of Smoke inside a creature. If your DM says you can, then ask them about what happens. Maybe relevant discussion here.

I know that post, but at the end it's pointed out by multiple users (and it remains as the consensus, AFAICT) that in fact you can indeed create a wall of smoke inside the space occupied by a creature (which is not the same as "inside another creature"). But I guess that "ask your DM" is an acceptable answer in this case anyhow.