Simple Q&A (By the RAW) II

[Shhalahr Windrider]

A 050 (cont.)

You would take the highest BAB, subtract two for the base two-weapon fighting penalty, then finally subtract five for Improved Two-Weapon Fighting. This gives you a total of the highest BAB minus 7.

Such is demonstrated in the second example in my post above.

[cupkeyk]

A 050 (cont.)

You would take the highest BAB, subtract two for the base two-weapon fighting penalty, then finally subtract five for Improved Two-Weapon Fighting. This gives you a total of the highest BAB minus 7.

Such is demonstrated in the second example in my post above.

And notice that your off hand's attack bonuses mirror your primary hand attack bonuses (assuming you're meeting optmal twf use). Iterative BAB functions at minus fives and TWF functions with a -2. Since ITWF and GTWF follow suit you need only mirror your primary hand full attack bab.

BAB: 11, 6, 1
BAB+TWF: 9, 9, 4, 1
BAB+TWF+ITWF: 9, 9, 4, 4, 1
BAB+TWF+ITWF+GTWF: 9, 9, 4, 4, 1, 1

[crazedloon]

Q 051

(last stupid question today )

If you are a multi-armed character (thri-kreen for example) and you take ranger levels. Do you gain two weapon fighting (if you choose that combat style) or multiweapon fighting. It would apear that you gain multiweapon fighting becuase it says that it replaces two weapon fighting for creatures with more arms however does that include instences when the feat is given by name?

[Winged One]

A51
You gain multiweapon fighting. It's mentioned somewhere in the thri-kreen player race entry of the XPH.

[reorith]

q52
can a spell prepared with a metamagic feat be used to scribe a scroll as if it was in the appropriate spell slot?

[cupkeyk]

Q 54

How do templates function when they vary by hitdice. Say a level one character has the psuedo natural template and is as such LA +0. What happens when he gains enough hitdice to have an LA+1 or +2? QWhen does buy off become available for him?

How does one calculate LA and hitdice for acquired templates? Say a level 3 Rogue with 3000 xp is bitten by a wererat and gains the afflicted lycanthrope template. Does he gain enough xp for an LA of +2 and one hitdice of animal to garner 15,000 xp so his fourh level of rogue is available at 21,000 xp? Again, when does buy off available for him?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 052 (Not A. 053)

q53
can a spell prepared with a metamagic feat be used to scribe a scroll as if it was in the appropriate spell slot?

You can use metamagic enhanced spells to create magic items.

Costs would be determined by the spell level the metamagic version of the spell would use, whether you have to actually use up a higher level spell slot to cast the spell.

If the metamagic version would use a spell level higher the maximum for that kind of item you cannot craft the item.

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 053 (Not A. 54)

When you suddenly and abruptly gain HD or LA adjustment your progression halts until you have obtained enough xp for your new ECL.

An option might be to use the savage progression rules and let the character grow into the template.

The optional LA Buy-off rules do not mention anything about variable LA, but it seems reasonable to use the highest LA the creature will obtain to determine when Buy-off is possible.

How should a character afflicted with a template (such as a PC who becomes a werewolf) deal with his newly acquired level adjustment? What if he later gets rid of the lycanthropy?

The simplest method to adjudicate this is to use the character’s new ECL to determine the point at which he gains his next level. A 4th-level barbarian who contracts lycanthropy from a werewolf (and thus gains 2 Hit Dice and a +2 level adjustment) becomes an ECL 8 character, and thus wouldn’t gain another class level until his XP total would advance him to 9th level. In the short term, this means the character has an advantage over his comrades (since he hasn’t yet “paid” for his level adjustment), but this is a self-correcting problem.
If the curse of lycanthropy is later lifted, the character loses the level adjustment. Technically speaking, he should then gain any class levels “due” to him according to his XP total. At the DM’s option, these levels could be applied gradually rather than all at once. One option might be to give the character one level immediately and then two class levels every time he would gain a single level until his character level is appropriate for his XP total. This makes the change less abrupt, but also represents a significant penalty to the character, so this option should be used only if everyone is comfortable with it.

[Maxymiuk]

Q 054 (Is that right?)

If I have the Improved Disarm feat, but not the Improved Unarmed Attack feat, do I provoke an AoO on a disarm attempt when fighting unarmed?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 054

No, even when making an unarmed disarm attempt the feat prevents an AoO.

Benefit: You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when you attempt to disarm an opponent...

...
If you attempt the disarm while unarmed, you end up with the weapon in your hand.
...
(If you have the Improved Disarm feat, you don’t incur an attack of opportunity for making a disarm attempt.)
...

[Sutremaine]

Q55

From the notes on the Survival skill:

If you have 5 or more ranks in Survival, you can automatically determine where true north lies in relation to yourself.

From the notes on the Know Direction spell:

You instantly know the direction of north from your current position. The spell is effective in any environment in which “north” exists, but it may not work in extraplanar settings. Your knowledge of north is correct at the moment of casting....

Apart from the duration, do these two abilities produce identical results?

Q56

Once per day, a paladin may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack.

Are unarmed strikes considered normal melee attacks for all intents and purposes? Is it possible to achieve a "Subdue Evil" effect using a merciful weapon or a nonlethal unarmed strike?

[Shhalahr Windrider]

A 055
Yes, they are identical.

A 056
I know of no clause that restricts smite evil to only dealing lethal damage. You can use it to "Subdue Evil" instead.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Q 057

If you are wearing a ring of evasion, do you have to wear light or no armor to use it?

[Fax Celestis]

A057 Yes. Evasion only works in light or no armor.

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 057 Correction

No, the ring functions regardless of armor, since there is no reference to Monks or Rogues in the description of the ring.
The restrictions on monks and Rogues are exceptions.

Evasion: This ring continually grants the wearer the ability to avoid damage as if she had evasion. Whenever she makes a Reflex saving throw to determine whether she takes half damage, a successful save results in no damage.

EVASION AND IMPROVED EVASION

These extraordinary abilities allow the target of an area attack to leap or twist out of the way. Rogues and monks have evasion and improved evasion as class features, but certain other creatures have these abilities, too.
If subjected to an attack that allows a Reflex save for half damage, a character with evasion takes no damage on a successful save.
As with a Reflex save for any creature, a character must have room to move in order to evade. A bound character or one squeezing through an area cannot use evasion.
As with a Reflex save for any creature, evasion is a reflexive ability. The character need not know that the attack is coming to use evasion.
Rogues and monks cannot use evasion in medium or heavy armor. Some creatures with the evasion ability as an innate quality do not have this limitation.
Improved evasion is like evasion, except that even on a failed saving throw the character takes only half damage.

(My emphasis)

[Shhalahr Windrider]

A 057 Clarification

Silvanos is correct. The ring says the wearer acts "as if she had evasion," not "as if she had evasion as per the rogue class ability." The general description of Evasion clarifies that armor restrictions are only in place when specified in the Class Feature or racial ability description. It is not a property inherent to the ability itself.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Ahh, thank you. And now for something completely different...

Q 058
Does your offhand weapon when two weapon fighting apply your strength to damage? I've checked the PH and it seems to say nothing on it, but I thought I heard something about this earlier. And if you cant apply strength, then what other things could you contribute to damage besides enhancement bonuses? (this is sort of a non RAW question, and more of an opinion. answer it if you please)

[marjan]

Ahh, thank you. And now for something completely different...

Q 058
Does your offhand weapon when two weapon fighting apply your strength to damage? I've checked the PH and it seems to say nothing on it, but I thought I heard something about this earlier. And if you cant apply strength, then what other things could you contribute to damage besides enhancement bonuses? (this is sort of a non RAW question, and more of an opinion. answer it if you please)

A 058 You apply half of your STR modifier to your off-hand attacks. For the second part you could apply Weapon Specialization, Sneak Attack(and similar), Favoured Enemy bonus...

[Morty]

Q 059

Does the speed bonus from Expeditious Retreat multiply?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 059

Spontaneously? No.


But if you were to run (on the ground) for instance, your land speed (including the enhancement bonus from Expeditious Retreat) speed would get multiplied by a factor.


Where you thinking of something else?

[cupkeyk]

A59

Uhh would you like to rephrase that?

It increases your base speed so running, charging, hustling multiplies it appropriately. (if i guessed at yer question right.)

[AdversusVeritas]

Two newb questions:

Q 060This may not count as a RAW question since the RAW appears contradictory on this issue, so I apologize ahead of time. The PHB says that web does not allow for spell resistance, but the DMG uses web as a specific example of a conjuration spell that does allow for spell resistance. I don’t have the page numbers on me, but it is under the spell resistance section in the DMG (I may actually be thinking of grease and not web, but I know that the DMG contradicts the PHB on at least one of these spells). Which book should be considered correct?

Q 061Does the Cleric ability to spontaneously cast “cure” spells include “mass cure” spells as well?

[Zherog]

Two newb questions:

Q 060This may not count as a RAW question since the RAW appears contradictory on this issue, so I apologize ahead of time. The PHB says that web does not allow for spell resistance, but the DMG uses web as a specific example of a conjuration spell that does allow for spell resistance. I don’t have the page numbers on me, but it is under the spell resistance section in the DMG (I may actually be thinking of grease and not web, but I know that the DMG contradicts the PHB on at least one of these spells). Which book should be considered correct?

WotC's errata policy is that primary sources take precedence over secondary sources. One real simple look at this is table entries vs text entries. The text (for example a spell or feat description) is the primary source, so if it disagrees with the table entry, the description is assumed to be correct unless they specifically say otherwise.

This applies directly in this instance. The description of the web or grease spell is the primary source for the rules of that spell. Anything in the DMG used as an example is a secondary source. If the DMG conflicts with the spell entry in the PHB, you should assume the PHB is correct and the DMG is wrong.

Q 061Does the Cleric ability to spontaneously cast “cure” spells include “mass cure” spells as well?

Yes - any spell with the word "cure" in the name can be spontaneously cast. In fact, the various mass cure X spells were added in 3.5 to give this ability more oomph at higher levels, because 3.0 had no options for spontaneous casting at those levels.

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 060

It did not check the actual wording, but if two RAW sources contradict each other it is a matter of primary vs. secondary sources.

The Primary sources on spells are the spell descriptions in the PHB. If they are contradicted in the DMG the actual spell description takes precedence.

Edit: As always Zherog puts it more eloquently. ;-)

[cupkeyk]

Q 62

How many times can a binder contact a vestige? Am I correct that a binder with Expel Vestige can contact, bind and expel any number of vestiges in a day as long as he stays within his binder level's allowed number of pacts?

[henebry]

Q 63 Spot and Listen checks
I'm confused about how to handle spot and listen checks, especially when one group is trying to sneak up on another. In the case of spot, there doesn't appear to be anything in the skill description to help in cases where more than one creature is trying to hide from more than one opponent. This is a problem, because if you roll enough times, someone on the hiding side is bound to roll poorly while someone on the spotting side is bound to roll well, with the result that the spotting side will win, every time.

By contrast, the Listen skill appears to have a system in place for large groups. The skill suggests the DM should do an average of group one's Move Silently checks, and use this as the DC for a single 1d20 Listen check. I gather this means rolling all four Move Silently checks and averaging them (12.4, for instance). Rounding down, this becomes DC 12 for group 2's Listen Checks. If I then roll 10 for group 2's Listen check, and if group 2 is 20' away (for a -2 penalty), all those creatures in group 2 which have Listen of +4 or better hear the sound, while those which have lower scores don't hear it. Is this correct?

And is there something in RAW for handling Spot without making everyone roll spot every time there's something to be seen?

[Winged One]

A62

The Expel Vestige feat can only be used once per day.

[Matthew]

A 063

You could simply assume such characters are 'taking 10'. That gives a fixed DC for Spot Checks. It works the other way around as well (multiple onlookers, one hidden person).

[Dr. Weasel]

Q64
If an archer draws an arrow as a free action at the end of their turn, do they threaten attacks of opportunity (with the arrows acting as improvised daggers as mentioned in the PHB)?

Q65
Also, if a spontaneous caster increases their casting stat through Eagle's Splendor or other such means, do they get bonus spells according to the resulting Ability score. (I know this does not work with prepared casters, but I am not sure about Bards/Sorcerors/Shugenja and the like)

[Raum]

A64 They can threaten with the improvised weapon at melee range. They do not threaten as a ranged weapon.

A65 Not normally, though if the spell lasts 24 hours (or at least through resting & spell recovery) an argument can be made for it. Even then, the extra bonus spells are lost when the stat bonus is lost.