Ways to affect Undead with Skirmish [3.5]

[hymer]

The obvious solution is of course Swift Hunter. What other ways exist? I'm particularly interested in items or spells doing this.
Gravestrike mentions Sneak Attacks specifically, and so does Greater Truedeath crystals. Is there any rules anywhere showing that this ought to include Skirmish?

[Darrin]

Glyph Seal/Skull Talisman/Shalantha's Delicate Disk + aspect of the wolf (Spell Compendium).

[hymer]

Amusing piece of lateral thinking, there. Thanks. :smallsmile: I'm afraid it isn't very practical, though.

[Fouredged Sword]

Greater Truedeath crystal.

[hymer]

The description of Trudeath crystals mentions sneak attacks and critical hits as things it allows you to do against undead, but not skirmish. Do you know of any way to bridge that gap?

[Fouredged Sword]

One of the books mentions that skirmish and sneak attacks are equivalent for all purposes. For example, you can uses skirmish to qualify for sneak attack feats. It's all just precision damage.

Check complete adventure and scoundrel. I think it's one of those two.

[Segev]

Glyph Seal/Skull Talisman/Shalantha's Delicate Disk + aspect of the wolf (Spell Compendium).

For those of us AFB right now, could you lay out how this one works, please? It sounds neat.

[Chronos]

Sneak Attack and Sudden Strike are equivalent, but I don't think the rule extends to Skirmish.

Of course, the simplest way to get Truedeath Crystals et al to work is to just ask your DM. It's a houserule, but a very reasonable one.

[Chronos]

For those of us AFB right now, could you lay out how this one works, please? It sounds neat.
Aspect of the Wolf is a first-level spell which, among other effects, changes your type to "animal", but it's personal-only. The other things mentioned are all ways of getting a personal-only spell onto someone else. So you use Aspect of the Wolf on the vampire, turn it into an animal, and then attack it.

[Segev]

Hah! Clever. I assume those mechanisms bypass the undead immunity to fortitude-save effects and mind-affecting ones?

[hymer]

Well, Aspect of the Wolf doesn't mention any saving throws, and it isn't tagged as mind affecting.

[Segev]

Well, Aspect of the Wolf doesn't mention any saving throws, and it isn't tagged as mind affecting.

Muhuhahahahaha.

[Fouredged Sword]

But the animal type sets your int to ether 1 or 2...

[hymer]

You retain your own mental ability scores during AotW. It's a mini-wildshape, basically.

[Curmudgeon]

One of the books mentions that skirmish and sneak attacks are equivalent for all purposes. For example, you can uses skirmish to qualify for sneak attack feats.
Nope. That's exactly the opposite of what it says; instead, that's a rule for suden strike only.

From page 8 of Complete Adventurer:
SUDDEN STRIKE AND SNEAK ATTACK
For the purpose of qualifying for feats, prestige classes, and similar options that require a minimum number of sneak attack extra damage dice, treat the ninja’s sudden strike ability as the equivalent of sneak attack. There is no similar rule for skirmish. Pages 71-72 of Complete Scoundrel state the opposite:
Although the skirmish class feature of a scout (Complete Adventurer) doesn’t count as sneak attack for the purpose of qualifying for feats, a scout with the Swift Ambusher feat (page 81) can combine sneak attack and skirmish extra damage for the purpose of qualifying for ambush feats. Even with this feat, a scout can’t sacrifice skirmish bonus damage to gain the benefit of an ambush feat.

[Fates]

The Swift Hunter feat makes ranger and scout levels stack for skirmish and FE, and lets you use skirmish against any favored enemies even if they're normally immune. Makes ranger an excellent dip for a scout, and vice versa.

[Curmudgeon]

Very first sentence in this thread:

The obvious solution is of course Swift Hunter. What other ways exist? I'm particularly interested in items or spells doing this.
Gravestrike mentions Sneak Attacks specifically, and so does Greater Truedeath crystals. Is there any rules anywhere showing that this ought to include Skirmish?

The Swift Hunter feat makes ranger and scout levels stack for skirmish and FE, and lets you use skirmish against any favored enemies even if they're normally immune. Makes ranger an excellent dip for a scout, and vice versa.
Gee, why didn't someone think of this sooner? :wink: