Piercing damage metamagic?

[Xhosant]

Long story short, I wanna make Thunderlance qualify for Raptoran's diving charge, and that means being a Piercing weapon. Can Metamagic turn its damage into piercing?

[Andezzar]

There is no problem with the diving charge feat (RotW p. 150). It does not require a piercing weapon to work.

The Raptoran's native dive attack however does require you to wield a piercing weapon. The thunderlance is not a weapon, it isn't even a spell that creates a weapon. It creates a spearlike beam. So changing the damage type would not help.

[The Viscount]

While it may not be quite what they intended, you could theoretically select Piercing for the damage from Elven Spell Lore.

[Andezzar]

No, you can't:
When preparing that spell, you can alter the type of damage it deals to a single type of your choice. You must make this choice when preparing the spell (those who do not prepare spells cannot benefi t from this aspect of the feat). You can prepare the spell multiple times, selecting the same or a different energy type for it with each preparation.Piercing is not one of the five energy types.

[zergling.exe]

No, you can't: Piercing is not one of the five energy types.

That just means you can only prepare it to deal piercing damage once each day. :smalltongue:

[Andezzar]

The short description does not agree with you:
Bonus on dispel attempts, alter energy type of spell

[Necroticplague]

No, you can't: Piercing is not one of the five energy types.

If you read ealier in the feat, though


When preparing that spell, you can alter the type of damage it deals to a single type of your choice. You must make this choice when preparing the spell (those who do not prepare spells cannot benefi t from this aspect of the feat). You can prepare the spell multiple times, selecting the same or a different energy type for it with each preparation.
Doesn't say it has to be an energy type.
And where are you getting 5 energies from? I can think of a few more: sonic, acid, fire, cold, lightning, force, hellfire, divine, vile, profane, dessication, Negative, Positive.

[zergling.exe]

The short description does not agree with you:

Everyone knows that the short desciptions can be misleading. Some are even outright wrong.

edit: Melee Weapon Mastery in the PHBII is one such example being both. Claiming you gain WF and WS benefits with multiple weapons, when it actually gives +2 to-hit and damage (WF is only a +1) with any qualifying weapons, including the ones that you already have the feats in.

[Andezzar]

@Necroticplague: The five energy types are from the glossary (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary&term=Glossary_dnd_energydamage&alpha=E) or PHB p. 308.

@zergling.exe: Nonetheless the short descriptions are no less relevant than the long ones. If they contradict each other, the feat might be dysfunctional, but you cannot dismiss them directly. Elven Spell Lore only becomes weird, if you allow changing the damage to piercing once but not multiple times

[zergling.exe]

@Necroticplague: The five energy types are from the glossary (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary&term=Glossary_dnd_energydamage&alpha=E) or PHB p. 308.

@zergling.exe: Nonetheless the short descriptions are no less relevant than the long ones. If they contradict each other, the feat might be dysfunctional, but you cannot dismiss them directly. Elven Spell Lore only becomes weird, if you allow changing the damage to piercing once but not multiple times

From the PHB errata:

When you find a disagreement between two D&D® rules sources, unless an official errata file says otherwise, the primary source is correct. One example of a primary/secondary source is text taking precedence over a table entry.

The short descriptions are in tables, and thus are 'table entries' so any disagreements automatically make them wrong. By pure RAW, you can choose any one type of damage for the intial preparation, and any additional ones must be an 'energy type'.

[Darrin]

Enlightened Fist 7 can do this, but it's a bit wonky. Cast thunderlance as an Ocular Spell (Lords of Madness), and use Hold Ray (Ex) to change the range to touch. Then use the "Holding the Charge" rules (PHB p. 176) to deliver it as an unarmed strike, and use Versatile Unarmed Strike to make it piercing.

[Red Fel]

Doesn't say it has to be an energy type.

Yes it does. Same quote you quoted, with different emphasis:


When preparing that spell, you can alter the type of damage it deals to a single type of your choice. You must make this choice when preparing the spell (those who do not prepare spells cannot benefi t from this aspect of the feat). You can prepare the spell multiple times, selecting the same or a different energy type for it with each preparation.

This language strongly suggests that when it says "type of damage" it means "energy type." And yes, as Andezzar notes, there are only five energy type descriptors. There are other forms of energy, but only five type descriptors.

It's basically a spell-specific Energy Substitution tacked onto a dispel-boosting feat.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Yes it does. Same quote you quoted, with different emphasis:



This language strongly suggests that when it says "type of damage" it means "energy type." And yes, as Andezzar notes, there are only five energy type descriptors. There are other forms of energy, but only five type descriptors.

It's basically a spell-specific Energy Substitution tacked onto a dispel-boosting feat.

That's not a suggestion. It's a clarification. You can't just read the first sentence of the paragraph and pretend the rest isn't there. You -must- choose one of the 5 basic energy types, else you fail at basic english reading comprehension.