Streamers clarification

[winter92]

So I just came from the misleveled spells thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315252), and I'm having some confusion as I read through streamers.

Specifically, I can't tell whether each streamer ends after it first makes an attack, or only when it's struck by an attack. The relevant lines appear to be:
"A streamer moves on its own, pursuing its target without your concentration, hovering in the same space as the target with a readied touch attack.
Whenever the target next takes any sort of action, the streamer makes a touch attack against it (at the caster's base attack bonus)."
and
"Streamers can be attacked (AC 20), but only magic weapons have any effect on them.
Any successful attack destroys a streamer."

The use of the phrase "next takes any action" makes me think that streamers only last through one attack, but I'm very unsure. Spell strength doesn't seem like a good guide as I'd rate it weak at 1 attack, and strong at multiple. Any help/deeper knowledge?

edit: I don't have Shining South, so a source book check over my Dndtools would also be cool.

[ryu]

So I just came from the misleveled spells thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315252), and I'm having some confusion as I read through streamers.

Specifically, I can't tell whether each streamer ends after it first makes an attack, or only when it's struck by an attack. The relevant lines appear to be:
"A streamer moves on its own, pursuing its target without your concentration, hovering in the same space as the target with a readied touch attack.
Whenever the target next takes any sort of action, the streamer makes a touch attack against it (at the caster's base attack bonus)."
and
"Streamers can be attacked (AC 20), but only magic weapons have any effect on them.
Any successful attack destroys a streamer."

The use of the phrase "next takes any action" makes me think that streamers only last through one attack, but I'm very unsure. Spell strength doesn't seem like a good guide as I'd rate it weak at 1 attack, and strong at multiple. Any help/deeper knowledge?

edit: I don't have Shining South, so a source book check over my Dndtools would also be cool.

Notice that the spell has a set duration and that the line about attacks and streamer destruction is mentioned specifically after the line about people deliberately attacking the spell itself.

[winter92]

That was my first reaction, also. I think the "Any successful attack" is just about people attacking the streamers. The set duration didn't influence me because that determines when the spell dies if targets don't act.

It does occur to me that if the first attack ends the streamer, then no one could ever attack a streamer stuck on them. You start to swing, it goes off and vanishes. I guess others could still hit them off you, but that more than half persuades me it strikes multiple times.

[Thuran]

slight necro, but relevant since i am about to get the spell on my bard.

I am guessing that they stay up after their first attack. As mentioned, the option to attack them would be nonsense if they disappeared, and likewise saying they followed a target around would also not make sense if they vanished right after the attack when the target moved.

In the rules compendium, full attack is listed as a single action, so i guess you only get 1 streamer attack per full attack, and i am assuming that they figured the spell is balanced due to having to hit to deal dmg, and only uses your base attack bonus, not your full attack bonus, so would have a hard time hitting a lot of targets. At least, those are my thoughts on it.