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

[Rebel7284]

A99bis: This is never made clear in the rules as far as I know. In general, since 'race' and 'template' are two separate entities in the rules, I believe it is more RAW to treat them as separate things. So dragonborn would not remove template abilities. Of course then there are questions about what happens if the base race changes in a way that makes the template no longer legal or what happens with a template with a variable LA if the base form is no longer the same. (Half Ogre from dragon magazine). Who knows!

[ShurikVch]

A99bis: This is never made clear in the rules as far as I know. In general, since 'race' and 'template' are two separate entities in the rules, I believe it is more RAW to treat them as separate things. So dragonborn would not remove template abilities.

This is kinda arguable, since RAW of templates are peppered with the "racial" word:

Rat Empathy (Ex)
Communicate with rats and dire rats, and +4 racial bonus on Charisma-based checks against rats and dire rats.

Skills
A wererat in rat or hybrid form uses its Dexterity modifier for Climb or Swim checks. It has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened.

Wererats have a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks from their dire rat form.

If you "lose all other racial traits from your original race..." - then shouldn't you lose those too?

Also, Races of Faerûn - in the "Chapter 9: Minor Races" - includes "Lycanthropes" and "Shades", which are templates...

[Samael Morgenst]

Q105 It is regular to use Bone/Corpse Creature (BoVD template human warriors or experts, created with the Create Undead spell, as followers for the Undead Leadership feat?

Can a golem limb be attached to an undead to create an Half-Golem?

Or, can an half-golem (one that superated the Will save and did not became a construct), once killed, be reanimated as undead?

Could an Half-Golem Corpse Creature be a follower? Or be controlled as a normal undead?

[Daisy]

Q106

Can Arcanist's Gloves (MIC p72) affect spells cast out of an item such as a wand?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 105 a Leadership requires you to explicitly work with your DM to determine what are appropriate cohort and followers. A DM could absolutely allow you to use Corpse/Bone creatures as followers of the appropriate modified level (though not as a cohort, since cohorts must have published level adjustments by RAW).

A 105 b No, Half-Golem cannot be applied to undead.

A 105 c A Half-Golem Corpse creature cannot exist, and thus cannot be a follower, or be controlled.

A 106 Yes, as long as you're the one casting it.

[Pezzo]

Q 107
If an incantatrix applies a metamagic effect to a permanent spell effect, like a permanent stinking cloud, would the metamagic effect last indefinitely?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 107 Yes, until dispelled.

[yeetusmcgeetus]

Q 108: The rules for wielding oversized weapons are kinda confusing.
a. Since sickles are light, can a Medium creature wield a Huge sickle two-handed?
b. is the penalty to hit -2 or -4 in that case?

[Vaern]

Q 108: The rules for wielding oversized weapons are kinda confusing.
a. Since sickles are light, can a Medium creature wield a Huge sickle two-handed?
b. is the penalty to hit -2 or -4 in that case?

A 108
a. The measure of effort required to wield a weapon (light, 1h, 2h) increases by one step each time the weapon's size category is increased. A large sickle would be considered a one-handed weapon, and a huge sickle would be two-handed.
b. The penalty on attack rolls for an improperly sized weapon is cumulative per size category. A huge sickle being used by a medium creature would incur a -4 penalty.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Q109: Is there any way to use the earth elemental's ability to glide through earth, but with metal? That would allow a dragon to swim through a ridiculously large pile of coins, which seems appropriate for most dragons.

[Samael Morgenst]

Q110

There is any class, feat or sheningan that allows a spellcaster to obtain the familiar special skills/empowerments for himself?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Q110

There is any class, feat or sheningan that allows a spellcaster to obtain the familiar special skills/empowerments for himself?

A110: A couple that I can think of.

If you are of a race that can be taken as both a familiar and as a PC race, such as the beguiler, you should be able to take class levels while being someone else's familiar (or possibly your own).

Higher-order deities can take any creature as a familiar, so literally anyone could be such a deity's familiar companion.

[Khatoblepas]

Q111

Can a character with the Charming the Arrow feat apply Charisma to their attack rolls with the blade half of a Yuan-ti Serpent Bow?

With a bow or crossbow made for a creature of your size category, you may use your Charisma modifier instead of your Dexterity modifier on attack rolls.

According to the table in Secrets of Xen'Drik, the blade half of a Yuan-ti Serpent Bow is still called a Yuan-ti Serpent Bow.

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 109 The Glitterhaunt can glide through metal as well as earth as an extraordinary ability. Shapechanging, or wild shaping into one through Master of Many Forms, or stealing that ability with Illithid Savant (if your DM considers it's not part of the Glitterhaunt's anatomy, and if you can access the class in the first place) would allow you to do so as well.

A 111 The bow is not a finesseable weapon, and you apply your Str modifier, not your Dex modifier to attack rolls. There is nothing to replace, and Charming the Arrow is useless on the blade part of this bow.

[Pezzo]

Q 112
The "hand crossbow focus" feat from drow of the underdark says that it counts as the weapon focus feat for anything that has weapon focus as a prerequisite.
Does that make it count just as "weapon focus (hand crossbow)" or for any kind of weapon focus prerequisite?

[Troacctid]

Q 112
The "hand crossbow focus" feat from drow of the underdark says that it counts as the weapon focus feat for anything that has weapon focus as a prerequisite.
Does that make it count just as "weapon focus (hand crossbow)" or for any kind of weapon focus prerequisite?

The short answer is that it would only count as Weapon Focus (hand crossbow).

The long answer is that technically, there is no such feat as Weapon Focus (hand crossbow). The name of the feat is always just Weapon Focus. The parenthetical indicates the particular weapon chosen for the feat. So if a prerequisite calls for Weapon Focus (longsword), Hand Crossbow Focus would not count for it: you do have Weapon Focus, but you didn't choose the longsword as the associated weapon.

[Maat Mons]

Q 113

Warm temperatures are comfortable to kobolds, who can sustain their bodies by literally soaking up heat. A kobold who inhabits a region with a temperature of 40°F or above for 24 hours can go for another three days after that time before having to eat normally.

Does this mean a kobold who constantly stays in warm conditions never has to eat?

[Wacky89]

Q 114

Lets say my base land speed is 40

If my character has the weapon called Rapid Wrath from Ghostwalk which says:
"This +1 mighty cleaving shortspear doubles
the speed of a creature that carries it"

and my character also have the fiendish graft called Feathered Wings from Fiend Folio which says:
"The grafted creature can fly at a
speed equal to twice its normal land speed, with average
maneuverability"

My Land speed would be 80
Does that mean my fly speed is 160 or is that also doubled which means 320 fly speed?

[Chronos]

A 114:

You would choose in what order to apply the two effects. In this case, since both effects are multiplications, the end result would be the same either way (160' fly speed), but if one of them were an addition, you would presumably choose the order which gave the higher final speed.

[Vaern]

A 114

Feathered Wings looks at your normal land speed, not your enhanced land speed after being modified by the spear. Your base land speed is 40, and your base fly speed of twice that would be 80. Unless there's a rule somewhere that an increase to speed applies only to base land speed unless otherwise specified, both modes of movement are then doubled by the spear for a final speed of 80 land / 160 flying.

[Sinstar]

Q 115

The SRD lists the octopus (small animal, not the giant variety) as having a grapple modifier of +2, but I can't figure out why. As far as I can tell, it should get +1 from it's BAB, +1 from it's Strength modifier, and -4 for being small-sized. It does have Improved Grab, but that ability doesn't seem to grant a bonus to the grapple check, and the creature doesn't appear to have any racial bonus to grapple checks. Is this because of an unlisted bonus I'm not seeing, or is it ignoring the size penalty?

[RSGA]

A 115

It seems to be an error carried over from the MM 3.5. It's not the only one such mistake. The Blue in the Psionics monsters has an error carried over from the correction in the errata for EPH where they traded out a wrong feat for a wrong feat.

[Auerkan]

Q 116

Sorcerer Divine Companion ACF Shielding says it is "equivalent of an abjuration spell". Does this mean Illumian or Anima Mage can theoretically Persist it?

Q 117

What type is Dragonborn that was not originally Humanoid, such as Tiefling or (assuming there are reasons for it to happen) Troll? Page 8 of Races of Dragon says Humanoid, but page 10 says retain old type and subtypes

Q 118.a

How many Medium Dragonfang arrows can one make from one corpse of Large dragon?

Q 118.b

In case of dragons with dual type breath(eg Pyroclastic), which is used by Dragonfang weapon?

Q 119

How does one determine which additional attack does a creature that does not use iterative attacks gain from Haste? If arbitrary choice, could it make that attack with secondary weapon that usually gets -5 to attack bonus to negate that bonus?

Q 120

Do undead retain benefits of various grafts? If so, Races of Dragon p127 states resurrected creature retains grafts. True resurrection says it can bring back creatures with destroyed bodies, however does not change "target" line. Is there a legal way to repeatedly farm a heavily grafted creature for its body(to accumulate, for example, an arbitrary amount of Raven Zombies with Beholder eyes)?

Q 121

Can Spellblade weapon enchantment work with SLAs and Psionics?

Q 121

So what exactly is deflection bonus to AC of riverine chainmail? And would it get adjusted for enchanting armor for +X?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 116 You're not the one casting the ability (and it's not even cast, since it's just releasing the stored energy in your Companion. Anima Mage or Illumian do nothing.

A 117
The discrepancy is because the lore is very clear that only humanoids should be able to become dragonborn, thus saying that they remain humanoid and saying that they retain their type should have meant the same. That said, they did not include this restriction in the actual template, and thus RAW there can be non-Humanoid dragonborn. There was an FAQ on this exact subject saying : "A warforged who becomes a dragonborn would be a construct with the living construct and dragonblood subtypes.". A nonhumanoid dragonborn of Bahamut retains their type and subtype.

A 118a "A single tooth or claw from a dragon can be crafted into a light weapon of the same size category as the dragon, a one- handed weapon of one size category smaller, or a two-handed weapon of two size categories smaller. A single dragon's body can provide enough material for up to twelve weapons."
You cannot create items of wildly different size from the dragon (in effect, you don't cut a single fang into multiple weapons). Thus, medium dragonfang arrows (light weapons) can only be created from the corpse of a Medium dragon, and only twelve of them can be created from a single corpse. Using the fangs of a Large dragon would just make impractical, unuseable large-sized arrows.

A 118b Unclear, ask your DM.

A 119 The creature can choose which additional natural attack it makes. However, Haste does not negate the "secondary" penalty. "The attack is made using the creature’s full base attack bonus, plus any modifiers appropriate to the situation."

A 120
No, undead creatures do not retain the benefits of their grafts, as the grafts die when the creature dies (from RotD). It's weird to say "die" when talking about Undead grafts, for example, but the principle is the same. A graft is unuseable after death, unless resurrected. You cannot harvest grafts on a dead creature, and you cannot harvest grafts before the creature dies, otherwise the graft isn't considered part of the body anymore when the creature dies, and isn't reconstructed by Resurrection. I don't know of a legal way to make this work.

A 121 Except during the casting, an SLA works exactly like the spell it replicates. A spellblade with Plane Shift would block both a wizard casting plane shift to shift the bladebearer, and a Couatl trying to do the same. With the Magic-Psionics transparency, it is also absolutely possible to craft a Spellblade that protects against a psionic power. However, remember that Plane Shift and Psionic Plane Shift are still two different "spells", and that a spellblade that protects against one would do nothing against the other.

A 122 As far as I know, there is only one mention of riverine in all of 3.5, and this mention contradicts itself. Thus, ask your DM on if you should round up or down the deflection bonus. What is less ambiguous is that a +X armor would also increase the deflection bonus (a +4 riverine full plate would give +6 armor and +6 deflection bonus to AC.

[St Fan]

Q 123

Third Eyes
These objects appear as small crystals, always with at least one wide, flat facet, and contain a variety of powers. When the owner uses the proper command thought, the crystal adheres to the center of his forehead (the same command thought causes the third eye to disengage). Only one third eye can be worn at a time.

A third eye is treated as eyewear or goggles for the purpose of determining which items can be worn on the body.

Considering these psionic items normally need a command thought to stick/unstick...

A) Could one be taken away by a skilled pickpocket?

B) Could one be snatched during a grapple with the proper actions (pinned+snatch item)?

[Auerkan]

Q 124

Does classless creature affected by Mind Seed full arrangement of feats and special qualities/abilities(including spellcasting in case of dragons), or does it lose something?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 123
From Rules Compendium, about Sleight of Hand: "The DM is free to limit what you can take in this manner—coin purses and tiny weapons are fair game, but securely worn items, such as bracers of armor, are not". I think a psionically stuck item can be safely considered as securely worn, and cannot be taken with Sleight of Hand.
The pinning rules specifically state that "You can use a disarm action to remove or grab away a well secured object worn by a pinned opponent, but he gets a +4 bonus on his roll to resist your attempt (see Disarm).". Once again, there is no actual definition of a securely worn object, but I'd say the Third Eyes qualify, and could be taken by pinning an opponent.

A 124
The mind in d&d is comprised of feats, class levels, and mental ability scores. Mind Seed replaces the mind of the target with yours. They lose their class levels anyway, and gain yours minus eight. Their feats are tied with the levels they took, and duplicating the mind duplicates the feats as well, so they have the feats you had eight levels ago (if their physical ability scores make it so that they don't qualify, they can't use the feat). But they keep their racial abilities, and physical ability scores. Mind Seed cannot be applied to dragons (it can only be applied to Medium or smaller humanoids) and it is unclear what happens if the target humanoid had racial hit dice (example : the Dark Stalker from Fiend Folio). My guess is that Mind Seed replaces as many feats as possible and leaves the first few, but this is not RAW.

[Auerkan]

Q 124b

Would Mind Seed work on a dragon polymorphed into a humanoid? Multiple people have argued that RAW Awaken can be applied to a Wizard Polymorphed into Animal, so it should be same process.

Q 124c

Not related to original question, but instead to 124b. Will a corpse under Shrink Item - Permanency retain the effect once raised as undead, and if so, what size would be creature of initial Colossal or Medium size?

Q 125

Is there anything preventing projectiles from benefitting from all four types Quivers of Energy at once?
It seems like arrow taken out of one retains the charge forever(until it is used for attack), and it does not use word "spell"/"power" anywhere in the body so it should not overwrite one effect with another.
A malicious interpretation of my stance would claim it means arrow can benefit from two Quivers keyed to same element as well, however my counter-claim is that arrow charged with one Ice Quiver does not benefit from second because it is ALREADY dealing 1d6 extra cold damage, while same does not apply to cold-charged arrow inserted into acid Quiver.

Q 126

Actually, I would like to put it to completion, once and for all. I am sorry if this appeared already, but my search genuinely did not bring up anything conclusive.

Can several castings of Extract Gift, at same CL and ability bonus magnitude, grant benefit simultaneously? The only cited rule in debates I could find(none of which gave singluar answer) is

The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.

However in PHB itself example given is Polymorph, and I would like to stress the words "None ... actually removed" and "but ... become irrelevant". Bonus to Strength does not make bonus to Dexterity irrelevant, I would think.