touching fists of spite

[slexlollar89]

Hello all.

I was recently perusing unearthed arcana and noticed a little blurb about how a ghestalt monk/cleric can cast an inflict wounds on top of an unarmed strike. Is this true, or am I crazilly going to consider using this cheesy idea for an unarmed cleric?

[Dhavaer]

Yes, touch attacks can be delivered using unarmed strikes. It's rarely a good idea, though.

[slexlollar89]

Why? This sounds like an excellent idea for a shaman from the oriental camp. setting or a cleric with a diety who favors unarmed attacks.

PS: where is this little tidbit of info located? My picky DM wants proof (sheesh talk about anal!)

[Dhavaer]

It's harder to hit with unarmed strikes, and they don't do much damage. If the target is lightly armoured and you're using something that can take advantage of multiple attacks (say, chill touch) it's okay, though.

I think it's spelt out in Complete Arcane.

[Dan_Hemmens]

I'm not totally familiar with the D&D rules, but if I had to guess, I'd suggest that the problem with putting a touch spell on an unarmed attack is that it stops being a "touch attack".

[AslanCross]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm#touchSpellsinCombat

And yes, it's not really a good idea since you're rolling against the target's full AC instead of his touch AC.

[Dan_Hemmens]

Also, notice that to get the unarmed attack, you have to "hold the charge", so instead of casting the spell and making the touch attack in one round, you cast the spell one round, then make an ordinary unarmed attack the next round.

On the whole, it's going to be better to either just full attack for two rounds, or else to cast two spells.

[Roderick_BR]

You would have to spend 2 or more rounds to cast the spell several times, then use your unarmed strikes to spend one charge on each attack. I.e.: If you have 1 spell charged, attacking multiple times will make the spell go off only once.

The bad thing about using an unarmed attack to deliver a spell is that you need to make a normal attack against the target's AC, it doesn't count as a touch attack.

Also, you can deliver spells through attacks with a spell storing weapon, or with the SpellSword class feature. Classes with good BAB and heavily prepared to both hit easier, and deal more damage, benefits more from it. If you have more trouble hitting (low BAB and low Dex/Str), and doesn't deal much damage at all, keep the normal touch attack.

[KillianHawkeye]

You would have to spend 2 or more rounds to cast the spell several times, then use your unarmed strikes to spend one charge on each attack. I.e.: If you have 1 spell charged, attacking multiple times will make the spell go off only once.

No, you can only hold the charge of one spell at a time. If you cast another spell (or the same spell again), the first spell dissipates.

[Maerok]

You can't cast a touch attack on each hand, foot, or any other striking surface and use it with the monk unarmed attacks?