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

[YellowJohn]

Q35
A) Does a Sublime Chord consider Sorcerer/Bard spells of 3rd level or below to be on their spell list? For example: can a sublime chord use a wand of the Sorcerer 2 spell 'Wings of Cover'?
B) If a spell is L4+ for a Sorcerer but level 3- for a bard, can a Sublime Chord learn it?

[Yora]

A35-a: A bard/sorcerer/sublime chord has three separate spellcasting abilities and three separate spell lists. To be able to use a wand, a spell has to be on the spell list of any of your classes. As a sorcerer, all sorcerer spells are on your sorcerer spell list.
A 1st level sorcerer could use the wand, so a bard/sorcerer/sublime chord can still use it.

A35-b: No. A sublime chord uses the bard spell level for spells that are on both the bard and sorcerer spell lists. And a sublime chord has no 3rd level spell slots.

[Dromuthra]

Q36
A) For a Dragon character (specifically a Wyrmling Tome Dragon (casts as Sorc 3)/Sorcerer 2), can they take the Domain Access alternate class feature that appears at Sorcerer 5? I'm don't think so, even if they cast as a 5th level Sorcerer, but I'd like a spot-check.
B) For another Dragon character, could a Spellhoarding Wyrmling Tome Dragon (casts as Wiz 3)/Wizard 1 pick up various level 1 Wizard Alternate Class Features on its most recent level, even though it casts as a Wizard 4? This should be the same ruling as above, I think (unless I'm misunderstanding something, hence my question).

[Yora]

A36-a: The Monster Manual says about spellcasting "A spellcasting creature is not actually a member of a class unless
its entry says so, and it does not gain any class abilities."
If an ability requires being a "5th level sorcerer", it does not qualify. If it requires "ability to cast spells as a 5th level sorcerer" it does qualify.

A36-b: When it gets the 1st level in the wizard class, it gets the class features of a 1st level wizard, and can replace them with an alternative class feature for that class. Class features from class levels are seperate from the spellcasting ability.

This situation is very much like a spellcaster taking a prestige class that improves their spellcasting level.

[H_H_F_F]

A35-a: A bard/sorcerer/sublime chord has three separate spellcasting abilities and three separate spell lists. To be able to use a wand, a spell has to be on the spell list of any of your classes. As a sorcerer, all sorcerer spells are on your sorcerer spell list.
A 1st level sorcerer could use the wand, so a bard/sorcerer/sublime chord can still use it.

A35-a clarification/contention

The question didn't refer to a bard/sorcerer/sublime chord, and is presumably about a sublime chord that isn't a sorcerer.

The answer is still yes. RAW, the Sublime Chord uses the sorcerer and bard lists as their class list. Not having spell slots to take Wings of Cover in doesn't inhibit a Sublime Chord any more than it does a first level sorcerer.

[St Fan]

Q 36

The Complete Adventurer introduces a new use for the Balance skill:

Resist Trip: If you have 10 or more ranks in Balance, you can make a Balance check in place of a Strength or Dexterity check to avoid being tripped by an opponent. You take a –10 penalty on your Balance check. If you succeed on this check, you are not tripped. When you succeed on a Balance check to resist being tripped, you may not attempt to trip your opponent.

Does a character with the Stability racial trait, such as a dwarf, still gets a +4 bonus to the above Balance check?

Stability: A dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).

[St Fan]

Q 37

Belt, Monk’s
This simple rope belt, when wrapped around a character’s waist, confers great ability in unarmed combat. The wearer’s AC and unarmed damage is treated as a monk of five levels higher. If donned by a character with the Stunning Fist feat, the belt lets her make one additional stunning attack per day. If the character is not a monk, she gains the AC and unarmed damage of a 5th-level monk. This AC bonus functions just like the monk’s AC bonus.

A) A non-monk gains the unarmed damage of a 5th-level monk (so, 1d8 hp for a medium humanoid). However, he gains no other unarmed strike advantage of a monk, right? Not even the Improved Unarmed Strike feat...

B) A non-monk gains the AC bonus of a 5th-level monk. That means, Wisdom modifier +1 (and not just +1 for level 5), correct?

C) If a non-monk has a monk's belt and the Kung Fu Genius feat (which can be taken before having any level of monk), can the AC bonus granted by the belt be switched to the Intelligence modifier?

[Awrysight]

Q 38
If a characther with four arms, like a Thri-kreen, wields two Two-Handed weapons, each in two hands;
a) Do both weapons get the normal benefits from THW, like the extra Power Attack damage?
b) Does this qualify for two-weapon fighting as if it was a normal character with two weapons?

[Yora]

A 36
Stability gives a +4 bonus to ability checks to resist being bull rushed or tripped.

The Balance skill use says you make a Balance skill check instead of a Strength or Dexterity (ability) check.

Ability checks are separate from skill checks. The bonus does not apply to the Balance skill check.

[Yora]

A37: Yes, to all.

a) It only talks about AC and unarmed damage. It does not mention monks' Unarmed Strike ability, of which the unarmed damage increase is only one effect among many.

b) "AC bonus" is the name of one of the monk's abilities. The ability grants the character's Wisdom bonus plus a fixed modifier (+1 at 5th level) to the character's armor class.

c.) Since "AC bonus" is the name of a monk's class ability, and this ability normally relies on Wisdom, a character with Kung Fu Master adds the Intelligence bonus instead of the Wisdom bonus to AC.

[Yora]

A38-b: The Multiweapon Fighting feat in the Monster Manual specifies that "A creature without this feat takes a –6 penalty on attacks made with its primary hand and a –10 penalty on attacks made with its off hands. (It has one primary hand, and all the others are off hands.)"

It also says "This feat replaces the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for creatures with more than two arms."

A creature with four would never use Two-Weapon fighting but always Multiweapon fighting (even if it only uses two hands to hold weapons and attack with).

You could have two two-handed weapons, both held with two hands each.
One weapon would be held in your main hand and an off hand. Just like all two-handed creatures would, and as such be a main hand attack.
The other weapon would be held in two off-hands, and as such be considered an off-hand attack.

Without Multiweapon Fighting, the penalties would be -6 for the first weapon and -10 for the second weapon.
With the feat, the penalties would be -4 for the first weapon and -4 for the second weapon.

A38-a: Power Attack only talks about "two hands". It does not distinguish between main hands and off hands. So by the letter of the rule, you would get the double bonus to both your two-handed weapons.
Though I am not certain that there are no other rules in some other sources that would override that. This answer is based entirely on what I find in the PHB and MM.

[St Fan]

Q 39

Carmendine Monk [General]

You have learned that study is just as important as insight to finding enlightenment.

Prerequisite:
INT 13, member of Zealots of the Written Word monk order (see page 105),

Benefit:
You can use your Intelligence bonus instead of your Wisdom bonus for determining your monk AC bonus and for determining the save DC against your stunning fist and quivering palm attacks. You can study your thesis notes for 1 hour to treat your monk level as two higher for determining one of the following monk abilities: unarmed damage, AC bonus, or unarmored speed bonus. This benefit lasts for 24 hours, at which point you can study your notes again to gain the same or a different effect. You can't study your notes more than once in any 24-hour period.

A feat can no longer be used if you lose one of its prerequisites.
"Member of Zealots of the Written Word monk order" (or whatever equivalent organization fitting the campaign) is a prerequisite for this feat.

Does that mean that a character that has been cast out of the order, or abandoned it, would no longer be able to get the advantages of Carmendine Monk?

[Yora]

A39: Correct. While it is possible that the writer of the feat meant that you can only learn the feat while being a member of the order, since membership is listed in the Prerequisites, the rules say that you lose its benefits when you stop being a member in the order.

[Yora]

Q40: Air Walk says "A strong wind (21+ mph) can push the subject along or hold it back. At the end of its turn each round, the wind blows the air walker 5 feet for each 5 miles per hour of wind speed."

So a 20 mph wind will not push a creature at all, but a 21 mph wind will push a creature 20 feet at the end of each turn?

Q41: What exactly does Antiplant Shell do? It "keeps all creatures within the shell protected from attacks by plant creatures or animated plants." Is this meant like the third effect of Protection from Evil?

[Duke of Urrel]

Q 34

A character, upon reaching... let's say level 6, picks the Item Familiar feat with the general feat gained at 6th level.

She invests life energy and gains a 10% bonus to her XP.

Unfortunately, the item familiar is stolen from her and she cannot recover it before 6 days have gone by.
Thus, she loses not only the XP bonus, but also 1200 of her existing XP (200 XP/level).
This is enough to reduce her level to 5 (yes, item familiar loss can explicitly lower your level, unlike XP paid to cast a spell or craft an item).
With this reduced level, she also lose the level 6 feat, and thus lose Item Familiar as a feat, further breaking the link.

A) Since she does not have the Item Familiar feat at this step, even recovering the original item will not grant her back the lost XP, right?

B) If she regains level 6 the hard way, by leveling up with enough XP, and takes again the Item Familiar feat, she'll have anew the 10% bonus of invest life energy, but even if the item is the same, she never regains the 1200 XP, since the link to the item had to be recreated from the ground up...

A 34 A

Incorrect. When you recover an item familiar, your lost XPs are restored.

If you ever lose the chosen item (have it removed from your possession for a continuous period of more than one day per level) or if the item is destroyed, you automatically lose 200 XP per level […]. If you recover the item, you regain these XP.

This rule appears on page 170 of UNEARTHED ARCANA v. 3.5 (2004). I added the boldface for emphasis.

In my understanding, it is the loss of the item familiar itself that causes you to lose XPs, not the loss of the Item Familiar feat, though of course losing the item itself may cause you to lose a character level, and losing a character level may cause you to lose the use of the Item Familiar feat as well.



A 34 B

Correct. When you replace an item familiar, your lost XPs are not restored.

In my understanding, once the loss of an item familiar has caused you to lose 200 XPs per character level, you can restore these lost XPs only by recovering the item itself, which can only be the self-same item that you originally bonded with. If you start all over by supernaturally bonding yourself with another permanent magic item, you must start “from the ground up,” as you said. Investing your life energy in a new item familiar adds 10% to your XP total, but this must be your reduced XP total.

[St Fan]

Q40: Air Walk says "A strong wind (21+ mph) can push the subject along or hold it back. At the end of its turn each round, the wind blows the air walker 5 feet for each 5 miles per hour of wind speed."

So a 20 mph wind will not push a creature at all, but a 21 mph wind will push a creature 20 feet at the end of each turn?

A 40
Correct. Although you shouldn't see this as a case of numerical RAW silliness, and more as a "DM decision over whatever fits best the drama." Since it's the DM who decides the wind speed (unless there is some wind-control magic involved), it's essentially a decision between "wind speed is not enough to affect the character" and "wind speed is strong enough to either slow down or speed up the character for whatever reason is justified by the plot".

Q41: What exactly does Antiplant Shell do? It "keeps all creatures within the shell protected from attacks by plant creatures or animated plants." Is this meant like the third effect of Protection from Evil?

A 41
Mostly, since most "abjuration barrier" spells work the same way. Although unlike protection from evil this is a 10-foot emanation, so the affected plants will be stopped at a distance, and not on contact. (What isn't entirely clear is whether this spell would stop ranged attacks by plant creatures.) A spell even more similar to it is antilife shell.

[St Fan]

Q 42

Word Given Form

Prerequisites:
Truespeak 12, Tumble 12, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Spring Attack.

Benefit:
When using the Dodge feat against an opponent, in addition to the +1 dodge bonus to AC you also gain total concealment (50% miss chance) from that opponent as your form blurs and shifts.

A) This technique is introduced as a martial art. Although it has a minimum rank in Truespeak as a prerequisite, it doesn't require any Truespeak check. To my knowledge, martial arts are considered Extraordinary abilities, like general feats. So, does Word Given Form would work even in an antimagic field or dead magic zone?

B) From the description, the practitioner gains total concealment but doesn't turn invisible (its form "blurs and shifts"). Thus, neither see invisible, invisible purge, corpse candle or similar spells, nor Blind-Fight would be of any use against it, right? (Although a blind-fighter could simply close his eyes...)

C) Blindness, blindsense or blindsight, on the other hand, would negate the advantages of Word Given Form, right?

D) I am wrong to think true seeing would counter it, too? (The spell is said to work on "blur and displacement" effects, magic or not, after all.)

[Yora]

A 40
Correct. Although you shouldn't see this as a case of numerical RAW silliness, and more as a "DM decision over whatever fits best the drama." Since it's the DM who decides the wind speed (unless there is some wind-control magic involved), it's essentially a decision between "wind speed is not enough to affect the character" and "wind speed is strong enough to either slow down or speed up the character for whatever reason is justified by the plot".

There are also several spells that allow characters to create winds of specific speeds.

[Debatra]

Q 42



A) This technique is introduced as a martial art. Although it has a minimum rank in Truespeak as a prerequisite, it doesn't require any Truespeak check. To my knowledge, martial arts are considered Extraordinary abilities, like general feats. So, does Word Given Form would work even in an antimagic field or dead magic zone?

B) From the description, the practitioner gains total concealment but doesn't turn invisible (its form "blurs and shifts"). Thus, neither see invisible, invisible purge, corpse candle or similar spells, nor Blind-Fight would be of any use against it, right? (Although a blind-fighter could simply close his eyes...)

C) Blindness, blindsense or blindsight, on the other hand, would negate the advantages of Word Given Form, right?

D) I am wrong to think true seeing would counter it, too? (The spell is said to work on "blur and displacement" effects, magic or not, after all.)

A 42

A. Feats are not any of the three Special Ability types (Ex, Su, Sp) unless noted. That said, they will work in an AMF or dead magic zone unless noted.

B. You are mostly correct. As you are not invisible, things that specifically work against invisibility do not matter. Blind-Sight however, is not one of those things. It cares about concealment and functions normally.

C. Yes.

D. This part I admit I am not quite 100% certain on, but I am inclined to believe True Seeing would work against this.

[Chronos]

A 42 nitpick:

Feats default to being Extraordinary, unless specified otherwise. That said, an ability being Extraordinary works the same way, for an AMF, as it not being any type.

[St Fan]

Thanks to you all, guys and girls, for taking the time to respond to my annoying questions.

Q 43

Disruptive Attack
More than perhaps any other character, a rogue's ability to fully contribute to a fight varies dramatically based on the enemies she faces. Against a mummy, flesh golem, or shambling mound, the rogue's damage-dealing drops precipitously. The disruptive attack alternative class feature allows a rogue to be effective in combat against such creatures by making them vulnerable to the attacks of her and her allies. It's also useful against creatures vulnerable to your sneak attacks, creating interesting tactical decisions for you in such fights.

Level: 4th.

Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain uncanny dodge at 4th level. Instead, you gain uncanny dodge at 8th level (when you would normally gain improved uncanny dodge).

Benefit: Beginning at 4th level, through careful study you're able to find exploitable flaws in any creature's tactics and defenses. Whenever you hit a target that is flat-footed against your attack, or whenever you hit a target that you flank, you can choose to sacrifice your sneak attack damage in order to apply a -5 penalty to that creature's AC for 1 round. Multiple hits on the same target don't stack. This extraordinary ability works even against creatures normally immune to extra damage from sneak attacks, such as undead.

I understand clearly that the "creatures normally immune to extra damage from sneak attacks" part imply those with no "discernible anatomies"; however, given the wording, it seems other conditions preventing sneak attacks would be ignored by this ACF.

A) Firstly, it works on targets that are flat-footed. NOT on "targets who are denied their dexterity bonus to AC" (a condition I personally call "off-guard") like a sneak attack. So, a character with uncanny dodge (which isn't off-guard when flat-footed, but is STILL flat-footed) would be vulnerable to a disruptive attack, right?

B) Secondly, it works on targets that are flanked. Improved uncanny dodge "denies another rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking her unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target does." Disruptive attack not being a sneak attack, improved uncanny dodge wouldn't protect from it, whatever the target's level, right?

C) Thirdly, disruptive attack not being dependent on reaching the vital spots of the target, unlike a sneak attack, it wouldn't be impaired by concealment, total concealment, or the vitals being out of reach, right?

[Daisy]

Q43 sub-query

If you have to sacrifice your sneak attack damage to apply the effects of disruptive attack, can you apply those effects if there is no sneak attack? Specifically, if we are distinguishing between flat-footed and denied dexterity bonus to AC. By the questioner's admission these may be considered different things at certain tables.

[Khedrac]

A 43 A) Correct. I don't think this is the intent of the ability, but it is correct by the way it is worded - uncanny dodge does not prevent this ability.
A 43 B) Wrong. Improved uncanny dodge prevents the charcter form being flanked (so no flanking bonus to hit).

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): A rogue of 8th level or higher can no longer be flanked. This defense denies another rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking her, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target does.

If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.

A 43 C) Correct. again, I don't think this is the intent of the ability, but it is correct by the way it is worded.
A 43 D) Wrong - the ability specifically states that it works on creaures immune to sneak attack.

That said, I would expect many DMs to rule out options A and C.

[St Fan]

A 43 B) Wrong. Improved uncanny dodge prevents the charcter form being flanked (so no flanking bonus to hit).

Yep, you're right, I misread improved uncanny dodge. No flanking means no taking advantage of ability dependent of flanking.

A 43 A) Correct. I don't think this is the intent of the ability, but it is correct by the way it is worded - uncanny dodge does not prevent this ability.

Probably not the intent, indeed. Like many such cases, I believe it is a result of the conflation between off-guard (i.e. denied Dexterity and Dodge bonuses to AC) and flat-footed, despite being two different conditions, because of the lack of a proper game term for the first one. Hence you have several attacks working on flat-footed characters even if they have uncanny dodge (such as Iaijustu Focus, or Hit-and-Run Tactics for drow fighters).

[Pezzo]

Q 44
Are there any rules about "sorcerer only" and "wizard only" spells?

[Khedrac]

A 44 Yes
More seriously what is your question? Barring spell research a sorceror-only spell is not on the wizard spell list and a wizard-only spell is not on the sorceror spell list.

[Pezzo]

Just wanted to know where to read up the rules, how these spells interact with spell list expansion abilities, feats and so on. They are all worded differently.
Q 44 A
My main question is: is it possible for a non-sorcerer or non-wizard spell caster to learn sorcerer-only and wizard-only spells?
B Can a spell to power erudite convert one of these spells into powers?
C Can a chameleon prepare and cast them?
D Does the advanced learning class feature of classes like the beguiler let you learn these spells (assuming spells of the right schools do exist)?
E Does the extra spell feat allow to select one of these spells?
F Can these spells be mimicked by shadow-conjuration-type spells?
G Recaster?
H Ultimate magus?

[Khedrac]

A 44 all the point of "Sorcerer only" and "Wizard only" spells is not that they are proscribed to all other casters, it is that they are only on the sorcerer or wizard spell lists not both.
Normal ways of learning spells from other lists still apply, but be careful - if the ability says the equivalent of "drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list" then it does not cover them as they are not on the shared list.

[Yora]

Q45: What is the meaning of arcane mark having a range of 0 ft. instead of touch?

[Chronos]

Re: 44

I'm not convinced that there are actually rules for sorcerer-only or wizard-only spells. RAW, a sorcerer does not learn spells from the sorcerer list, and a wizard does not learn spells from the wizard list: Rather, both classes learn spells from the "sorcerer/wizard" spell list. When a spell, such as Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer, is listed as just "Wizard", it's easy to infer the intent from that, but is it ever actually spelled out?

Which, I think, makes this not a "simple question".