Simple Q&A (By the RAW) II

[Myatar_Panwar]

Q 079

Ok, so I'm a bit confused on movement through the plane of shadow. The DMG states that the Plane of Shadow allows you to move great strides. And when you read the Shadow Walk spell description, it says that you move 50 miles an hour, which is (by my calculations) 440 feet a round. But then again that is in between the two planes. So my question is: How does movement work on the Plane of Shadow.

(also, any other info about movement on the border of the two planes, etc. would be appreciated)

[Vazzaroth]

Q 080

Does a shield bash incur standard 2 weapon fighting penalties? Does that mean two weapon defence can be used on shields?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 079

I don't think there is anymore RAW information than you have already found.

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 080

Yes, you treat the shield like you would any other off-hand weapon.

Two weapon Defense apply, but it grants a shield bonus that does not stack with the shield bonus to AC granted by shields.

[Zherog]

A. 075

Yes.



Remember that ECL = HD + LA

A. 075 more info:

While the wererat and weretiger have the exact save level adjustment (LA), don't forget that you also acquire animal hit dice when you become a lycanthrope. And the animal hit die is a fairly sucky one overall, which factors into it.

A wererat gets 1 animal hit die; a weretiger gets 6. So if each were 1st level fighters, the wererat would have an ECL of 4 (1 level + 1 HD + 2 LA), while the weretiger would have an ECL of 9 (1 level + 6 HD + 2 LA). Very different characters.

[Charity]

Q81 When a caster uses a scroll of a level they cannot yet use they have to make a caster level check (DC scrolls caster level +1) is this roll modified by anything? ie is a caster level check modified by any stat or level bonus?

As it stands there is no difference between a 1st level caster and a 15th level caster using a 9th (spell) level scroll

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 081

To make a caster level check you roll a d20 and add your caster level (1d20 + CL).

So the difference between a 1st level and a 15th level caster's average caster level check is 14.

Certain class features (like the Archmage's Spell Power) and Cleric Domains also increases effective Caster Level and thereby your chance of succeeding on caster level checks.

[marjan]

Q082
Heart of water spell lets you activate Freedom of Movement as swift action for the duration of the spell. Would you be able to activate it while paralized since you can take purely mental actions? In other words is this swift action purely mental or not?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 082

A swift action is not a purely mental action by virtue of its swiftness.

If it requires the use of verbal, somatic and/or material components it is not a purely mental action.

[marjan]

Q082 more...
In the spell description it says: "while this spell is active you can use swift action to activate a freedom of movement(as the spell) effect as swift action"
What I meant was: what components this activation (swift action) has - same as spell or something different?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 082 Ahhhhh

Yes, that would probably qualify as a purely mental action, since there is no "components" to such an activation, unless otherwise specified.

The FAQ provides the following guideline:

What exactly counts as a “purely mental” action, such as those allowed to the second mind created by the schism power (Expanded Psionics Handbook, page 130)? Does a silent, still spell count? What about a spell-like ability or a quickened spell?

The schism power specifically includes manifesting a power as an example of a purely mental action. Elsewhere in Expanded Psionics Handbook, this is expanded to include “casting spells with no verbal, somatic, or material components.” Thus, a silent, still spell wouldn’t count unless the spell also had no material components (including focuses).
A spell-like ability is essentially a spell without verbal, somatic, or material components (and is described on page 180 of the Player’s Handbook as being activated “mentally”) so that qualifies as purely mental. This would also include psi-like abilities.
Although a quickened spell doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity, it still includes any verbal, somatic, or material components required by the nonquickened version of the spell, and thus doesn’t automatically qualify as a “purely mental” action by virtue of its speed.
The Sage can think of a few other actions that fall into the category of “purely mental” actions:
• Communicating with telepathy.
• Concentrating to maintain a spell.
• Dismissing a spell.
• Directing or redirecting an active spell.
• Lowering spell resistance.
• Making a Knowledge check (assuming you aren’t consulting a text or other resource). Some other skill checks might be allowed at the DM’s option (such as a Spellcraft check made to identify a spell effect), but only if the character makes the check without any movement.
When in doubt, the DM should use common sense and a pretty literal definition of “purely mental” to determine if something fits the bill. If the action requires any physical movement whatsoever (including speech), it shouldn’t qualify.

[RMS Oceanic]

Q 83

I'm not entirely sure about what gets multiplied on a succesful critical attack. I believe it's the following:

*The base damage of the weapon
*Your strength modifier (*1/5 or 0.5 as appropriate), or Dex if you have weapon finesse)
*Enhancement bonuses (Like a +1 sword)
*Other enhancements due to your own skills (Weapon Specialization)

As an example, I believe that if I, a fighter with strength 18 and weapon specialization for it, achieve a critical hit with a +2 Flaming Bastard Sword weilded in both hands, I believe the following is doubled:

*The 1d10 base damage
*The 6 strength related damage
*The 2 damage from the +2 enhancement
*The 2 damage from weapon specialization
*But not the 1d6 from the flaming ability

Meaning the weapon hits for 2d10 + 20 + 1d6.


Am I correct? Are there any other factors that get multiplied on a critical hit, or have I taken too many things into account?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 083

You got it about right.
Extra damage dice do not get multiplied, while static bonuses do get multiplied on a successful critical hit - as you said.

Note: You do not add Dex to damage, not even if you have the Weapon Finesse feat.

Multiplying Damage: Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results. Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage.


Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage are never multiplied.

[Raum]

Q 84 Does CR correlate to ECL? In other words, if I advance a monster via HD, templates with LA, or class levels which raise the creature's ECL, is the CR raised by the same amount, some other related amount, or is the CR unrelated to ECL at all?

[Shhalahr Windrider]

A 084

They are technically unrelated, but anything that increases CR is likely to increase LA and vice versa.

[Douglas]

A84
CR adjustments for adding HD depend on the type of HD as outlined here.
Templates typically have a separate CR adjustment specified, so you can just apply that.
Class levels increase CR by either 1 per 2 levels or 1 for each level, depending on whether the class in question works well for the particular monster. Reference.

Almost everything that increases ECL except associated class levels has a much reduced effect on CR.

[Wamba the Fool]

Q085

Does magical damage from a weapon (the 1d6 from Shock, for example) apply when making a damage roll for a sunder check?

Thanks in advance.

[Fax Celestis]

A085 Yes, unless for some reason the item being sundered has immunity.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Re: A 085

Note, however that energy damage still faces the usual modifications against attacking objects.

Q 86

If you make a sundering attack with a flaming greatsword +1, dealing 10 slashing damage from the sword and 2 fire damage from the flaming ability (after the energy damage is halved as usual against an object), do you apply hardness agains the total 12 points of damage or separately against the slashing and fire? I suspect the latter, but I could be wrong.

[Fax Celestis]

A086 I would say apply against it as one lump sum of damage, but I don't have a RAW source to back me up. You don't apply DR against sword and sneak attack seperately, and I don't see why this would be any different.

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 086

I agree. The attack only constitutes one application of damage, so hardness should only be deducted once.

[Zherog]

You don't apply DR against sword and sneak attack seperately, and I don't see why this would be any different.

That's an invalid comparison. You do apply DR to weapon damage, while energy damage is unaffected. In my opinion, this is the correct interpretation:

separately against the slashing and fire

edit: actually, I'm not sure that's entirely correct either. In my opinion, the hardness reduces the physical damage, but the full elemental damage goes through regardless.

[Fax Celestis]

That's an invalid comparison. You do apply DR to weapon damage, while energy damage is unaffected. In my opinion, this is the correct interpretation:



edit: actually, I'm not sure that's entirely correct either. In my opinion, the hardness reduces the physical damage, but the full elemental damage goes through regardless.

Except the SRD reads (paraphrased) "halve the elemental damage (unless acid or sonic) before applying hardness." So, one would think that you do apply the hardness to the damage. And applying seperately doesn't make sense, since it's still one source of damage.

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

That's an invalid comparison. You do apply DR to weapon damage, while energy damage is unaffected. In my opinion, this is the correct interpretation:

edit: actually, I'm not sure that's entirely correct either. In my opinion, the hardness reduces the physical damage, but the full elemental damage goes through regardless.

Hardness is not DR.
Hardness applies to both physical damage and elemental damage, but when they are delivered with the same attack I cannot see anything suggesting that they should be treated as separate sources of damage.

[Fax Celestis]

Here's the relevant bits:

Hardness
Each object has hardness—a number that represents how well it resists damage. Whenever an object takes damage, subtract its hardness from the damage. Only damage in excess of its hardness is deducted from the object’s hit points.

Energy Attacks
Acid and sonic attacks deal damage to most objects just as they do to creatures; roll damage and apply it normally after a successful hit. Electricity and fire attacks deal half damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the hardness. Cold attacks deal one-quarter damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 4 before applying the hardness.

From this, it looks like you roll damage (weapon and elemental), halve (or quarter) the elemental damage as appropriate, then apply hardness to the whole bundle.

[Zherog]

Given those rules quotes, I agree. I was simply objecting to the comparison to sneak attack with DR, because elemental damage with DR is factored separately, and we're talking about elemental damage.

[crazedloon]

Q087

Blind-Fight does not effect ranged fighting or does it?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 087

No, it does not.

[asqwasqw]

Q088: Are caltrops reusable?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A. 088

Yes.