Simple Raw Thread for 3.5 #28

[Niwrad]

Q 402: Can an individual with enough carrying capacity, freedom of movement, and fly grab and carry another individual without freedom of movement out of a solid fog?

[Curmudgeon]

A 402 Maybe.

There are quite a few rules involved in this proposed operation. If flying with wings you cannot exceed your light load limit; if using the Fly spell you would need to instead abide by its limitations. You would need to use a move action to grab the ally, and another to fly and maintain the minimum forward speed required by your aerial maneuverability, dropping the ally (a free action) before ending your movement to satisfy the following rule:

Ending Your Movement

You can’t end your movement in the same square as another creature unless it is helpless.

Of course, to be able to take the above two move actions you would need to already be in position to grab the ally at the start of your turn.

[Thurbane]

A401 Eldritch essence effects (of which Sickening Blast is one) are in addition to the Eldritch Blast's damage, not in lieu of. Not sure why you're even asking this, considering the text implies damage is still inflicted:

Thank you, was AFB at the time of asking the question. Question was based on a quick flip through at the time of the game a week ago.

As I said, possibly a stupid question, which apparently it was.

[Heliomance]

Q403: Can an Incarnate take Shape Soulmeld to gain access to a meld that they would otherwise be prohibited from shaping due to alignment?

[Fax Celestis]

A403 Yes, but they can't shape it due to their "Aligned Soulmelds" ability.

[PraxisVetli]

Q404
Does armour's Max Dex bonus apply to the number of AoO's possible through Combat Reflexes?

[Curmudgeon]

A 404 No.

Maximum Dex Bonus

This number is the maximum Dexterity bonus to AC that this type of armor allows. Heavier armors limit mobility, reducing the wearer’s ability to dodge blows. This restriction doesn’t affect any other Dexterity-related abilities.

Note the highlighted sentence in the rule citation.

[Heliomance]

A403 Yes, but they can't shape it due to their "Aligned Soulmelds" ability.

Q403-a What happens if they're a multiclass Incarnate/Totemist?

[Fax Celestis]

A403a Aligned Soulmelds doesn't care where they come from: you simply cannot use them. Same thing as a mystic theurge of a good god being unable to cast wizard spells with the evil descriptor.

Aligned Soulmelds: You cannot shape soulmelds with an alignment descriptor that does not match your own. For example, if you are a good incarnate, you cannot shape soulmelds with the chaotic, lawful, or evil descriptors.

[Trisha]

Q404

In the MIC, i found the IRON WARD DIAMOND (pg 26), as i am trying to make a defensive character i thought this would be a great pickup.
but i wasn't sure how this stacks with native DR. particularly in the aspect of preventing X amount of damage.

suppose you have native DR 5/- and had the lesser version of this which grants DR 3/- stacking for the first 30 damage blocked by the item before it becomes discharged.

If you were to stop a 6 damage attack, would it take only 1 damage from the diamond's pool of 30 maximum, and 5 from your native DR, or would it be considered to block 3 with the diamond, and 3 from your native DR? or, would the combined total of the damaged blocked be taken from the diamonds pool, making you drain it much faster if you have native DR?

Thanks
~Trish

[Jowgen]

A404 (Not Found )

As the crystals do not specify any "order" in which they stack, this scenario would be covered by FAQ Sage ruling that states that characters are allowed to apply their effects in the most advantegous order. So you'd get to apply either source of stacking damage reduction first. In general, the Sage's ruling quality milage varies, but this is a pretty well accepted ruling that doesn't conflict to anyting to my knowledge.

Q 405

A classic halfling rogue gets ambushed by 3 orcs while within a Fog Cloud spell. The first orc hits him in melee, the second shoots an arrow at him from 10 ft away, and the third is just waiting around outside the fog. On his turn, the halfling uses a move action to hide using the fog's concealment, and then shoots a crossbow at the orc in front of him.

Is the halfling rogue still hidden from any of the orcs?

If not, the halfling rogue takes a 5 ft step out of melee on his next turn and hides again. Is he at a -20 penalty?

[Chronos]

A 405:

If the halfling wishes to remain hidden, then he must make a Hide check at a -20 penalty when he attacks. If he's successful, then he's hidden. If he's not, then he can attempt a new hide check (at no penalty) the next time he has an opportunity to move.

[Andezzar]

A 405 Dispute

The shooting orc must fire blind, i.e he does not even know which square to hit and has a50% miss chance

The fog obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet.

The orc outside cannot see the halfling either.
The melee orc has a miss change of 20%

A creature within 5 feet has concealment (attacks have a 20% miss chance)

That is before the Halfling moves and attacks.
The halfling need not use a move action to hide but must combine the hide check with his movement

Action

Usually none. Normally, you make a Hide check as part of movement, so it doesn’t take a separate action.

It is true that he must succeed at a -20 hide check to remain hidden during the attack, but that does not remove the concealment or total concealment granted by the fog.
If he is still adjacent to an orc, he is concealed from that orc. Unless the halfling is in one of the outermost squares of the fog, he is invisible to the two other orcs.

Also if he launches a ranged attack adjacent to an opponent, that opponent gets an AoO.

[heavyfuel]

Q 406

What happens when the caster of an AMF gets inside another AMF?

imagine the following chess board: Caster A is standing in square A3, with his AMF extending from A1 to A5. Now, Caster B, standing at A6, casts a widened AMF. Since caster A is now inside an AMF, does caster A's AMF still work? As in, can someone cast spells in square A1?

[Andezzar]

Q 407

Also using the chess notation. A creature is standing in A1 and opponents are in A2 and B1. Can the creature take a 5 ft step into B2 or is the way somehow blocked?

[Curmudgeon]

A 406

Both Antimagic Field spells are active. However, there is no additional effect beyond area/duration extending further than a single casting would encompass. An attempt at casting a spell in the combined area fails regardless of who is doing the casting (with the possible exception of a Cleric with the Initiate of Mystra feat).

[Khedrac]

A 407 Yes usually one can step through.

Diagonal 5' steps are only blocked when the contents of a square extends to the corner. Usually this is a wall turning a corner or similar - one cannot step "through" the corner because there is a wall in the way.

Most creatures do not fill their 5' square (though some are a lot bigger than the space they take up) and thus do not prevent the diagonal movement.

The main exception is the Gelatinous Cube which does fill all of its squares exactly. I think if either A2 or B1 was occupied by the corner of the Gelatinous Cube it should either block movement or treat you as if you had stepped into the cube but I don't know what the RAW is for this special circumstance.

[ben-zayb]

Reposting this question in case somebody figured out the answer:

Q313
What will happen if a caster uses the Replicate Casting spell to copy either:

• Limited Wish
• Bend Reality (considering the citation that psionics is a Spell-like ability)
• Shadow Conjuration / Evocation line
• Silent Image cast by a Shadowcraft Mage
• Spell Matrix line
• Contingency
• Arcane Fusion line

[Andezzar]

A 313 Possibly

Not sure what you are getting at, but the spell description has this line

A duplicated spell or spell-like ability functions as if you had the appropriate spell prepared and were casting it yourself. If the spell or ability has an XP cost, you must pay that XP cost. If the spell has a costly material component, you must provide that component or pay an additional XP cost equal to the gold piece value of that component divided by 5.

So the caster of Replicate Casting can make all the decisions usually made during casting and does not get any benefits from abilities the observed caster has above and beyond his own abilities. He also must provide material and XP components.

[ben-zayb]

A 313 Possibly

Not sure what you are getting at, but the spell description has this line
So the caster of Replicate Casting can make all the decisions usually made during casting and does not get any benefits from abilities the observed caster has above and beyond his own abilities. He also must provide material and XP components.

What I was getting at, is the possibility of choosing a different emulated spell. So for each case:

1. Limited Wish / Bend Reality (I get to choose which spell to replicate, instead of the default chosen spell)
2. Shadow Evoc/Conj line (same as 1)
3. Silent Image (same as 1, even though I don't have that Shadowcraft Mage ability)
4. Spell Matrix (same as 1, or exact copy even though I don't have access/knowledge of the default chosen spells)
5. Contingency (same as 4)
6. Arcane Fusion line (same as 4)

[Andezzar]

Just to make it clear, yes you can choose a different spell than the ones replicated with the observed spells.

Spell matrix is a bit different. If you observe the casting of spell matrix it allows you to use this spell i.e. put one of your spell into such a matrix. If you observe the casting of the spell stored in someone else's matrix you get to replicate that spell. Contingeny and Arcane Fusion function similarly. Both limit you to spells you know and not those the observed caster knows.

[Heliomance]

Q 408 If you use Shape Soulmeld to pick up a soulmeld that has an ability with a save attached, which stat does the ability's DC key off?

[Andezzar]

Q 409

Tongues does not work on written language, right?

Q 410

Is there a spell that translates written text?

[Duke of Urrel]

Q 409

Tongues does not work on written language, right?

A 409

You're right; I think this is the prevailing interpretation of the RAW. Read more about it here.

Q 410

Is there a spell that translates written text?

A 410 Partial

I don't know of such a spell, but if you use the Comprehend Languages spell to read any text, you can certainly translate this text yourself by re-writing it in any language that you know and can write.

[Chronos]

A 409:

Correct.

A 410:

Comprehend Languages will not actually produce a translation, but it will let you understand foreign writing. You could then write your own translation using mundane means.


Q 411:
Is there anything that is immune to all negative levels, or is there any way to gain such immunity? There are plenty of ways to be immune to energy drain, but there are a few ways to gain negative levels without energy drain (such as wielding an opposite-alignment weapon, or the Fell Drain metamagic feat).

[WhamBamSam]

Q412: When the text of the Fleshraker refers do automatically dealing claw and rake damage in a grapple, does that mean both claws and both rakes or just one of each?

Q413: What's the calculation for the Fleshraker's rake damage? I can't see how the standard one is getting 1d6+2 based on its statblock.

[Andezzar]

A 412

The Fleshraker only has 2 claws and one rake, so he gets the damage of the claws and the rake.

A 413

The damage is not based on one of the fleshraker's other attacks. The rake is an additional attack that only happens under certain conditions.

[Chester]

Q 414

Magic Jar is in effect, and I'm possessing a body. May I make an attack, then use my movement action to jump back to the jar?

[unseenmage]

Q415
Say a printed heavy armor had a specific feat requirement to become proficient. Would that feat then make the character who had it proficient even if they normally cannot use heavy armor?
The feat in question makes no mention of replacing the normal requirements for heavy armor proficiency.

Below is the line of text in question.
"Learning to use (the) armor requires
its own specialized feat slot: (feat name)."

[KillianHawkeye]

A 414

No. Returning to the jar is a Standard Action.

As a standard action, you can shift freely from a host to the magic jar if within range, sending the trapped soul back to its body. The spell ends when you shift from the jar to your own body.