Simple Raw Thread for 3.5 #28

[Andezzar]

A 275

No, the prerequisites must only be fulfilled at the acquisition of the flaw. There is no rule for removing it if the prerequisite is no longer fulfilled

Special: You must have a Constitution of 4 or higher to take this flaw.

[Firechanter]

A 274 Per the general rule for saving throws, you roll whenever you are subject to the winds. You only stop rolling when you cease to be subject to the winds.

Thanks again.

And a followup question, again about weather:

Q276
Fog.
Whether in the form of a low-lying cloud or a mist rising from the ground, fog obscures all sight beyond 5 feet, including darkvision. Creatures 5 feet away have concealment (attacks by or against them have a 20% miss chance).

I am confused by the phrasing "obscures all sight" and "5 feet away". How is fog actually supposed to be handled?

A) Adjacent creatures have Concealment (20% miss chance), all creatures further away have Total Concealment (50%),
or
B) Adjacent creatures are clearly visible; creatures further away have Concealment (20%)
?

[Andezzar]

A 276

It's B. Adjacent creatures are 0 ft away.

[Heliomance]

A 276

It's B. Adjacent creatures are 0 ft away.

I would dispute that. Adjacent creatures are 5' away. Something 0' away is in your square.

Q 265 Paimon's Dance of Death ability states "you can move up to your speed and make a single attack against any creature you move past." How is "move past" defined? What happens if you're wielding a reach weapon?

Reposting this question.

[Osiris]

Q 277:
Does Fast Healing stack? In this case it's from Mass Lesser Vigor and the Warlock's Fiendish Resilience ability, if that matters.

[Kalaska'Agathas]

Q 252

Could a Schism be targeted independently (that is, separately from the creature who manifested it) by any spell, power, skill, class ability, or special ability?

Reposting after a couple days' wait.

[Curmudgeon]

A 276 [correction] A)

"Obscures all sight" means creatures more than 5' away have total concealment (50% miss chance if you guess the correct square). Adjacent creatures (5' away) have concealment (20% miss chance, as stated).

A 277 Not unless explicitly stated.

Fast Healing is an ability with a fixed number, not a number with a "+" sign in front of it. Neither Mass Lesser Vigor nor Fiendish Resilience include any stacking language. Fiendish Resilience, in particular, states that the improved Fast Healing at higher levels is instead of the values at lower levels rather than any addition.

Here's an example of stacking language:

Benefit: You gain fast healing 3, or your existing fast healing increases by 3.

[Jowgen]

Q 278

What are the actual mechanical differences between having total concealment and being invisible?

Also, reposting as there has been no answer:

229

In the standard great wheel cosmology, what planes are coterminous/coexistent with which transitive planes?

Q 230

If a medium creature is lying prone underneath a hip-high table that is about a third of the size of its square, what kind of cover bonus against what kind of attack would it benefit from, and conversely, would it be subject to any penalties beyond those stemming from lying prone?

[Firechanter]

A 276 [correction] A)
"Obscures all sight" means creatures more than 5' away have total concealment (50% miss chance if you guess the correct square). Adjacent creatures (5' away) have concealment (20% miss chance, as stated).

That seems very weird. Never in my life have I experienced fog that would reduce visibility below ~60 ft. I can live with spells having that effect because A Wizard Did It, but natural fog?
Well, thanks anyway.

[Heliomance]

That seems very weird. Never in my life have I experienced fog that would reduce visibility below ~60 ft. I can live with spells having that effect because A Wizard Did It, but natural fog?
Well, thanks anyway.

I've been inside a cloud once - that was pretty close.

[Curmudgeon]

Re: A 276

That seems very weird. Never in my life have I experienced fog that would reduce visibility below ~60 ft. I can live with spells having that effect because A Wizard Did It, but natural fog?

You might find a summer on Casco Bay (Maine) enlightening. Long days of sun plus water cooled by the Labrador Current can make for fogs heavy enough to prevent seeing from bow to stern on a 20' boat.

Q 278

Invisibility provides total concealment in most circumstances. Consequently, total concealment and invisibility have most of the same mechanical advantages: +2 to attacks against those who can't see the attacker, and targets are denied their DEX bonus to AC. Both foil precision damage (sneak attack, sudden strike, skirmish). The differences are (1) invisibility also prevents Ranger favored enemy bonuses; (2) invisibility can be overcome by spells (See Invisibility, True Seeing); and (3) ordinary concealment (total or otherwise) provides concealment for any line of sight that passes through it.

[Kafana]

Q 279 If I have knowledge arcane, planes, dungeoneering, nature and religion all be the same value, do I have all monsters covered (not counting psionics)? By "having them covered" I mean are there any monsters that don't fit into these five categories?

[KillianHawkeye]

A 279

You're missing Knowledge (local) for Humanoids.

[AvatarVecna]

Q280

The general rule is that, whenever multipliers come into play (usually, when being applied to damage), they act as if they were a percent increase: a x2 counts as +100%, a x3 counts as +200%, and so on; if an effect is double and then doubled again, it is calculated as if the original effect was tripled, not quadrupled. Is it true that this doesn't apply to multipliers applied to distances, durations, and weights?

Q281

Assuming the general rule above doesn't apply to distance, the distance Character B can use the Spot or Listen skill at without penalty should be -1/40ft, correct?

Character A takes option C once; this option can be taken multiple times. Option C doubles the distance at which penalties accrue for the Spot and Listen skills, and it stacks with itself. Character B takes option C twice.

[Curmudgeon]

A 280 Yes.

Multiplying

Sometimes a rule makes you multiply a number or a die roll. As long as you’re applying a single multiplier, multiply the number normally. When two or more multipliers apply to any abstract value (such as a modifier or a die roll), however, combine them into a single multiple, with each extra multiple adding 1 less than its value to the first multiple. Thus, a double (×2) and a double (×2) applied to the same number results in a triple (×3, because 2 + 1 = 3).

When applying multipliers to real-world values (such as weight or distance), normal rules of math apply instead. A creature whose size doubles (thus multiplying its weight by 8) and then is turned to stone (which would multiply its weight by a factor of roughly 3) now weighs about 24 times normal, not 10 times normal. Similarly, a blinded creature attempting to negotiate difficult terrain would count each square as 4 squares (doubling the cost twice, for a total multiplier of ×4), rather than as 3 squares (adding 100% twice).

A 281 Yes.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Q 282
An invisible character with darkstalker and some form of (not total) cover is hiding from a creature with blindsight whose radius covers the darkstalker. Does the darkstalker get a bonus to his hide check from invisibility?

[Curmudgeon]

A 282 No.

There's a proviso in Blindsight which covers this.

Blindsight And Blindsense

Some creatures have blindsight, the extraordinary ability to use a nonvisual sense (or a combination of such senses) to operate effectively without vision. Such sense may include sensitivity to vibrations, acute scent, keen hearing, or echolocation. This ability makes invisibility and concealment (even magical darkness) irrelevant to the creature (though it still can’t see ethereal creatures and must have line of effect to a creature or object to discern that creature or object).

The creature with Blindsight must still succeed on their Spot or Listen check to overcome Darkstalker, of course; the hiding opponent just doesn't get any bonus from also being invisible.

[Troacctid]

Q 283
How does the modified spontaneous casting from Ordained Champion interact with the PHB2 spontaneous domain casting Cleric variant? It only specifies that I lose the ability to spontaneously cast Cure or Inflict spells, but I don't have that ability, so do I just get the spontaneous War domain casting for free? What if I have spontaneous casting in the Destruction domain, which includes Inflict spells?

[Necroticplague]

Q 284
Does Grappling someone using Telekinesis still require a melee touch attack?

[Zethex]

Q 285:

According to RAW, are there any adverse effects when you put one Portable Hole into another Portable Hole? All I noticed in the SRD was interactions of Portable Holes with Bags of Holding.

[Andezzar]

A 285

There is nothing explicit.

[Jowgen]

A 283

Spoiler: Relevant Ordained Champion section

Show

If you have cleric levels, you lose the ability to spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells. Instead, you can swap out previously prepared cleric spells for any spells of equal or lower level from the War domain. This alteration applies even to levels you gain as a cleric after becoming an ordained champion. If you are not a cleric, modified spontaneous casting does not apply to you, even if you can spontaneously cast some other kind of spell, such as summon nature's ally.

You meet the prerequisite of having cleric levels. You loose the ability to spontaneously cast cure/inflict spells, whether you have it from your cleric levels or from any other source (e.g. a different class with the same ability), regardless of whether you have it now or would gain it in the future (provided you take another level in cleric after gaining the ability from another source). The text says "instead", meaning that there has to be some kind of trade-off, but since this class feature negates the ability to have any form of spontaneous cure/inflict casting (unless you don't take any more cleric levels), you would still be trading in something, even if you do not have the specified casting from cleric levels. For you to not gain the benefit, the text would therefore have to be more restrictive (e.g. "Instead of your cleric ability to spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells")

So by RAW, it works, but don't be surprised if a DM rules otherwise.

A 284

The combat manoeuvres are stated to be resolved "as normal". What qualifies "as normal" is up to the DM to decide, but by a strict reading, it would indeed require a melee touch attack, which can only be executed against a threatened creature (so the spell would still provide some benefits). The only RAW example of a Ranged Grapple (I am aware of), the mechanics of which the DM could easily rule to be the "normal" for this purpose, is the Ranged Pin feat, in which case you would make ranged (non-touch) attack roll for which you'd use your caster-level and Int/Cha as per the spell's description.

A 285

The spell description of rope trick has the following Note: "It is hazardous to create an extradimensional space within an existing extradimensional space or to take an extradimensional space into an existing one."

An astral rift is the only RAW example of such a hazard (AFAIK) and the RAI is likely that it is the default hazard, but the RAW does not outright say this.

It is thusly up to the DM whether the mentioned hazardousness applies to all extra dimensional spaces (e.g. special items/effects, like the Enveloping Pit Relic, might warrant exemption), and whether the astral-rift is the one and only hazards (e.g. DM might choose different hazards).

EDIT: Note that extra-dimensional and non-dimensional spaces spaces are different, in case you have access to the latter.

Q 286

How does one determine whether a spell/effect is affected/unaffected by concealment/cover?

[ShurikVch]

Q 287

From description of Giants

Rock Throwing (Ex)
Adult giants are accomplished rock throwers and receive a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls when throwing rocks. A giant of at least Large size can hurl rocks weighing 40 to 50 pounds each (Small objects) up to five range increments. The size of the range increment varies with the giant’s variety. A Huge giant can hurl rocks of 60 to 80 pounds (Medium objects).

Rock Catching (Ex)
A giant of at least Large size can catch Small, Medium, or Large rocks (or projectiles of similar shape).

And yet another large giants, such as ogres, trolls, and ettins, doesn't have any of those.
What's up?

(Note: aforementioned SA/SQ not limited to SRD Giants, nor required actual word "Giant" in the name, because there are such examples as Fensir (FF), Firbolg (MM2), and Geriviar (MM3))

[Andezzar]

The spell description of rope trick has the following Note: "It is hazardous to create an extradimensional space within an existing extradimensional space or to take an extradimensional space into an existing one."

An astral rift is the only RAW example of such a hazard (AFAIK) and the RAI is likely that it is the default hazard, but the RAW does not outright say this.

It is thusly up to the DM whether the mentioned hazardousness applies to all extra dimensional spaces (e.g. special items/effects, like the Enveloping Pit Relic, might warrant exemption), and whether the astral-rift is the one and only hazards (e.g. DM might choose different hazards).

There are actually two hazards. One from putting a bag of holding into a portable hole (astral rift) and one from putting a portable hole into a bag of holding (gate to the astral plane, anything within 10 ft is sucked in). The rules mention no explicit hazard for the interaction between two portable holes or two bags of holding or any other similar items.

A 287

Those abilities are part of the species you mentioned. They are not part of the Giant type. Only species that have them in their description get them. As to why some giants get them and others don't, that goes beyond the scope of this thread.

[Jowgen]

A 285 cont.

There are actually two hazards. One from putting a bag of holding into a portable hole (astral rift) and one from putting a portable hole into a bag of holding (gate to the astral plane, anything within 10 ft is sucked in).

Huh, totally overlooked that. If one wanted to generalize these effects to satisfy the "hazardous" stipulation noted in rope trick, I suppose it would translate to "smaller into bigger = rift / bigger into smaller = portal". Obviously, DM adjudication is required on how a hazard manifests when the two extra-dimension spaces are equal in size (50/50 maybe?); but some form of Hazard applies in any case, whether it is specified or not.

[rweird]

Q 288

Could a multi classed druid/cleric spontaneously cast SNA with clerical slots, and cure or inflict with druid ones?

[Andezzar]

A 288

No. Spellcasting classes are completely separate.

[Thurbane]

A 288 contention

The above answer is oversimplified. Unless there is a separate general rule that covers this, the wording of the Druid ability does, in fact, allow him to use a memorized spell from ANY class to convert into a Summon Nature's Ally.

Spontaneous Casting: A druid can channel stored spell energy into summoning spells that she hasn’t prepared ahead of time. She can “lose” a prepared spell in order to cast any summon nature’s ally spell of the same level or lower.

Note that the above quote does not state "lose a prepared druid spell".

RAW, I believe you can lose a prepared spell from any class.

[Fax Celestis]

A288Cont While I agree with Thurbane, the FAQ has this to say:

Can a cleric/wizard lose a prepared wizard spell to spontaneously cast a cure spell?

No. The cleric or druid’s spontaneous casting option applies only to spells from the same class.

YMMV.

[TheFamilarRaven]

Q 289

How does DnD handle stacking miss chances? For instance, I have a creature that is blinded (50% miss chance) attacking an incorporeal creature (also 50% miss chance)?

Edit: Q290

Can a creature occupy the same space as an incorporeal creature ... and are they considered to be in the way if a creature wants to charge through?