Simple Q&A D&D 3.5 (by RAW) XXI

[Lord_Gareth]

Q1302 - Antimagic field is a spell. Now, I'm not asking if an instance of AMF negates itself. What I am going to ask is this: If two AMFs are in each other's areas, do they negate one another?

[mattie_p]

Q1302: No.

Check the descriptive text of Antimagic Field.

Two or more antimagic fields sharing any of the same space have no effect on each other.

[Andezzar]

Q 1303

If a character with dragon wings {url broken} is hit by a Hold Person/Monster spell, does he take full damage from the fall or only 1d6?

[Telonius]

I have two questions about the Spectral Hand spell.

Q1304

The spell states that the hand created is Incorporeal. Does this mean that it has a 50% miss chance to attack corporeal targets (per the update to Incorporeal in MM3)?

Q1305

Is it possible to deliver an unarmed strike through Spectral Hand? The description says that "attacking with the hand counts normally as an attack," but I'm not sure if that's just referring to delivering a touch spell or attacking in general.

[mattie_p]

Originally Posted by Andezzar

Can't remember how often I already asked that question, but here I go again:

Q 1295

Is the CON damage multiplied on a charge with a valorous wounding weapon?

Apologies if the question has been answered and I only missed the answer.

A 1295: Yes.

A Valorous weapon deals double damage on a charge, and follows D&D multiplication rules for stacking purposes. It even compares the valorous special ability to spirited charge. The Wounding special ability (DMG p 226) states that it is never multiplied on a critical hit, but omits the Spirited Charge feat, which is in the PHB (and came out at the same time).

Rules compendium (p 42) states that bonus damage dice are never multiplied, meaning that static damage is.

[Vaern]

Originally Posted by Andezzar

Q 1303

If a character with dragon wings is hit by a Hold Person/Monster spell, does he take full damage from the fall or only 1d6?

A 1303

Originally Posted by DMG

A paralyzed character cannot move, speak, or take any physical
action. He is rooted to the spot, frozen and helpless. Not even
friends can move his limbs.

I would rule that the creature's wings become rigid and unable to unfurl properly for their falling-while-helpless perk. He would take full damage from the fall, unless he was already prepared to make an emergency crash-landing when he was paralyzed.

[willpell]

Q1306
The spells included in a Golem Manual cannot be activated except to create a golem, but could they be copied into a wizard's spellbook as they can from another spellbook?

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Re: A 1293
Yes, and there's one attack action which specifically fits the action requirement: the standard action attack (Player's Handbook, page 139).

Well then why didn't the gaze attack text say "a standard action"? Why would the term 'an attack action" even exist if it was no different from standard?

[Andezzar]

Originally Posted by willpell

Well then why didn't the gaze attack text say "a standard action"? Why would the term 'an attack action" even exist if it was no different from standard?

Because there are all sorts of standard actions that a) provoke attacks of opportunity b) do not constitute an attack (especially with regards to invisibility). A Gaze attack does neither.

[willpell]

Originally Posted by Andezzar

Because there are all sorts of standard actions that a) provoke attacks of opportunity b) do not constitute an attack (especially with regards to invisibility). A Gaze attack does neither.

Okay, point, although gazes don't work when you're invisible anyway.

[mattie_p]

Originally Posted by willpell

Q1306
The spells included in a Golem Manual cannot be activated except to create a golem, but could they be copied into a wizard's spellbook as they can from another spellbook?

A 1306: No.

From the Golem Manual:

The spells included in a golem manual require a spell trigger activation and can be activated only to assist in the construction of a golem.

Originally Posted by willpell

Well then why didn't the gaze attack text say "a standard action"? Why would the term 'an attack action" even exist if it was no different from standard?

This is not a simple question, and, to be honest, do you really need to ask this?

[Andezzar]

Originally Posted by Vaern

I would rule that the creature's wings become rigid and unable to unfurl properly for their falling-while-helpless perk. He would take full damage from the fall, unless he was already prepared to make an emergency crash-landing when he was paralyzed.

Normally I'd agree with you regarding paralysis, but the dragon wings explicitly have the fall damage reduction working when the character is helpless. Being paralyzed is being helpless plus being unable to flap the wings and falling if in the air. To fly/glide in the first place the wings must already be unfurled. So the flying character is hit with the spell which causes him to be helpless and fall and make the wings rigid. Paralysis or Hold Person/Monster says nothing about negating abilities that reduce falling damage and require no action on the target's part.

[cd4]

Q1307 Apart from Ruby Knight Vindicator and classes in Complete Divine are there any prestige classes that have full BAB and progress divine casting?

[Curmudgeon]

A 1303 Full damage.

A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act.

Because the creature is unable to move, the following doesn't happen:

Originally Posted by Dragon Wings

If you become unconscious or helpless while in midair, your wings naturally unfurl, and powerful ligaments stiffen them.

It would be "natural" for the wings to unfurl and the ligaments stiffen if the creature could move. Because it cannot move (naturally or not) the character falls normally for a winged creature: 150' in the first round, and 300' each round thereafter.

A 1304 No.

I've read the "Incorporeal" Glossary entry in Monster Manual III (pages 214-215) and checked the Errata file for the book, and I don't find any support for your concern.

any melee attack an incorporeal creature makes with a magic weapon against a corporeal target has a 50% miss chance

Originally Posted by Spectral Hand

A ghostly, glowing hand shaped from your life force materializes and moves as you desire, allowing you to deliver low-level, touch range spells at a distance.

A Spectral Hand is not an incorporeal creature; it's a spell effect. It's also not making melee attacks with a magic weapon.

A 1305 No.

A Spectral Hand has only the capability listed in the spell description: "to deliver low-level, touch range spells at a distance". The descriptive text "attacking with the hand counts normally as an attack" means that the spell uses the spellcaster's actions for each attack rather than having its own attacks.

[Andezzar]

@Curmudgeon: As I said before, the wings must already be unfurled if the character is flying/gliding.

Q 1308

Is initiating Iron Heart Surge a physical or a mental action?

[Story]

Q: 1309

Spontaneous Divination says that you can cast "any spell you know" from the Divination school. But what does knowing a spell mean? Any spell in a spellbook you currently own? Any spell you've ever learned?

[mattie_p]

A 1308: Both.

Tome of Battle, p 38, specifies that "To initiate a maneuver or a stance, you must be able to move." Since any physical action requires a mental trigger to act (this is not RAW in any 3.5 book, but the way it works in the real world. See DMG sidebar "BEHIND THE CURTAIN: HOW REAL IS YOUR FANTASY?" p136), any and every maneuver is both physical and mental.

[mucco]

Q 1310

Is it possible to Bull Rush a grappling foe out of grapple?

[Curmudgeon]

A 1310 Probably not.

Escape from Grapple

You can escape a grapple by winning an opposed grapple check in place of making an attack. You can make an Escape Artist check in place of your grapple check if you so desire, but this requires a standard action. If more than one opponent is grappling you, your grapple check result has to beat all their individual check results to escape. (Opponents don’t have to try to hold you if they don’t want to.)

Since being Bull Rushed isn't on the list of ways to escape, it will only extricate someone from a grapple if their opponents don't try to hold them. The consequences of trying the Bull Rush against determined grapplers is unclear, but moving any one grappler requires moving all of them.

Move

You can move half your speed (bringing all others engaged in the grapple with you) by winning an opposed grapple check. This requires a standard action, and you must beat all the other individual check results to move the grapple.

You can't even use Aid Another to help someone escape from a grapple (you can aid an attack, but not a grapple check). Your best bet may simply be to attack the other grapplers.

[mucco]

Q 1310, clarification

Can an ally of a grappling creature, not in grapple himself, bull rush the grappling enemy (or ally) out of it?

[Curmudgeon]

A 1310, clarification: No.

That is not on the list of ways the rules permit someone to escape from a grapple. (The exception is if the other grapplers simply permit the escape.)

[Vaern]

A 1310 Dispute

Move

You can move half your speed (bringing all others engaged in the grapple with you) by winning an opposed grapple check. This requires a standard action, and you must beat all the other individual check results to move the grapple.

Moving during a grapple is a special action that a grappler chooses to make on his turn in place of normal attack. He can not attempt this action during another character's turn.

Step 4: Maintain Grapple. To maintain the grapple for later rounds, you must move into the target’s space. (This movement is free and doesn’t count as part of your movement in the round.) Moving, as normal, provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents, but not from your target.

If you can’t move into your target’s space, you can’t maintain the grapple and must immediately let go of the target. To grapple again, you must begin at Step 1.

Maintaining a grapple requires that the two characters remain in the same space. A successful bull rush forces its target to move at least five feet, removing it from its opponent's space. Therefore, the forced movement from a successful bull rush would break the grapple.

It is a rather ambiguous subject. I would suggest making a house rule for it, such as making the bull rusher's target attempt an opposed grapple check to maintain his hold and bring the other grappler along with him, rather than saying that the bull rush automatically breaks the grapple or that the grapple automatically defeats the bull rush.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Vaern

A 1310 Dispute

Maintaining a grapple requires that the two characters remain in the same space.

Since you just quoted the rule text, you know that's not what it says. Maintaining a grapple after the grapplers are in the same space requires no action; the grapple is continuous until someone escapes or dies. There is no provision for escaping from a grapple via an external Bull Rush impetus, only the two listed mechanisms: a successful grapple check or Escape Artist check.

[Vaern]

The "escape from grapple" action is from the list of options available for a grappler to attempt on his turn as part of a the grapple, in place of a normal attack. It does not account for other characters attempting to break the grapple for him. Let's review what the rules do and do not say about grapple.

The rules for grappling do not state that you become immune to forced movement.
The rules for grappling do not state that forced movement causes both grapplers to move.
Therefore, we can assume that a bull rush against a grappler functions normally.

The rules for moving a grapple do state that doing so requires a standard action.
The rules for moving a grapple do state that doing so requires an opposed grapple check.
Therefore, we can conclude that a grappler who is moved can not bring his opponent with him, unless he has a standard action to spend on another character's turn and wins an opposed grapple check.

The rules for escaping a grapple do not state that it is impossible for a source outside of the grapple to break the grapple.
The rules for maintaining a grapple do state that doing so requires you must enter the target's space.
Therefore, we can conclude that a bull rush that removes one grappler from the other grappler's space, which spoils the necessary conditions of maintaining a grapple, is capable of breaking the grapple.

[Sith_Happens]

Q 1311

If I cast Luminous Armor on multiple creatures via the War Weaver's (HoB 112) Eldritch Tapestry ability, how many times do I have to pay the sacrifice cost?

[Sith_Happens]

Q 1312

Does the Master's Touch spell in PHBII replace the one in the Spell Compendium? (They are of different levels and do completely different things, but have the same name.)

[willpell]

Originally Posted by mattie_p

A 1306: No.

From the Golem Manual:

Exactly, the spells can be "activated" only to make the golem. Copying a spell from a spellbook does not activate it (if it did, no wizard would ever know Explosive Runes).

This is not a simple question, and, to be honest, do you really need to ask this?

Courtesy of Curmudgeon's response, yes I do. The standard action is the default; it applies when nothing is specified. This clearly does specify a nonexistent type of action-as-unit-of-time, and thus I want to know what the RAI here is. I believe it was intended that you could perform multiple direct-gaze attacks if your BAB allows more attacks in combat. Perhaps this is not explicated by RAW, but I am not Curmudgeon and do not obey even the most obviously unreasonable details of the as-written text, because I know that writers and editors are human and fallible, and so take it as read that they screwed up sometimes when attempting to communicate the mechanisms they thought they were explaining. To me, the use of a (literally) non-standard term in this context is an obvious clue that an exception to the usual rules exists, and was simply not spelled out correctly.

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by willpell

and thus I want to know what the RAI

Then you should make a new thread. This is the RAW thread.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Originally Posted by Sith_Happens

Q 1312

Does the Master's Touch spell in PHBII replace the one in the Spell Compendium? (They are of different levels and do completely different things, but have the same name.)

If they're different levels and do completely different things, I'd say no. They're two different spells that unfortunately share the same name.

[willpell]

{Scrubbed}

[mattie_p]

Originally Posted by willpell

Exactly, the spells can be "activated" only to make the golem. Copying a spell from a spellbook does not activate it (if it did, no wizard would ever know Explosive Runes).

But the spells required are not stored in the golem manual in the same fashion that spells are stored in a spellbook. Wizards can copy spells from scrolls into their spellbooks, which consumes the scroll. Scrolls are spell completion items. Even if the spells were stored in the manual as spell completion, you still would not be able to do so, as it would consume the spells.

But the spells in the golem manual are spell trigger, basically like wands and staffs. As a wizard can not learn a spell from a wand, neither can they learn spells from the golem manual.

(Incidentally, wizards cannot learn the explosive runes spell from reading cast explosive runes either).