Simple RAW Thread for 3.5 #36: The Triple Dozen

[Elves]

A 153
Unclear.

- Glossary says RHD are "Hit Dice a monster has by virtue of what type of creature it is", ie your RHD are "by virtue of" being a bugbear.
- Of all racial traits, that class feature only calls out type and stat mods as exceptions.
- But bugbear says you "begin" with three levels of humanoid, which could be construed alternately.

From these, weight of evidence is on losing your RHD, but there might be more info elsewhere.
Neither ruling is degenerative since same type clause prevents having RHD of a type other than your own.

A 155
No: "You only provoke attacks of opportunity when you begin casting a spell, even though you might continue casting for at least one full round."

Q 152 cont

A 152
The rule in question is that class features sporting the same name don't stack with each other unless specifically described as such. The "AC Bonus" from Fist of the Forest and Monk are the same ability, just one being linking to CON and the other to WIS, and thus don't stack. Having both only mean you can use the higher stat (and can switch between the two at will, which can be handy in case of ability damage).

Do you have a source for this?

[Khedrac]

A155 Unclear, probably "No".

The Attack of Opportunity is is listed for when you take the action, and in this case the spellcaster has already taken the action which stronly implies that the provoking has happened.

[Arkhios]

Q 156a
I've been told time and again that unarmed strike qualifies for Improved Natural Attack. Is this correct?
Q 156b
If above is correct, how would Improved Natural Attack interact with someone who has Monk's Belt, whether they have Improved Unarmed Strike feat, levels in monk, or neither.
In other words, would they benefit from a larger unarmed strike damage die?

[Troacctid]

Q 156a
I've been told time and again that unarmed strike qualifies for Improved Natural Attack. Is this correct?
Q 156b
If above is correct, how would Improved Natural Attack interact with someone who has Monk's Belt, whether they have Improved Unarmed Strike feat, levels in monk, or neither.
In other words, would they benefit from a larger unarmed strike damage die?

a. Yes.
b. It would improve from 1d8 to 2d6.

[Debatra]

Q 156 Clarification Request

Where exactly is it stated that an unarmed strike counts as a natural weapon?

[Khedrac]

Q 156 Clarification Request

Where exactly is it stated that an unarmed strike counts as a natural weapon?

The best place to look is the 3 "Rules of the Game" articles by Skip Williams (which I believe unlike the FAQ do count as RAW).

The full list of articles is here of which the one you want is Unarmed Attacks (Part 1) and right at the bottom of the article is the definitive statement:

For purposes of weapon enhancements, an unarmed strike is considered a natural weapon.

Edit: Looking at what you are asking for a clarification for, it's worth reading part 2:

Before we move on, it's worth pointing out that a character making an unarmed attack, even with the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, does not have natural weapons. Nor is a natural weapon a substitute for the Improved Unarmed Strike feat.

Which then goes on to discuss that monk unarmed strikes are an exception to this rule:

A monk's unarmed strikes can be treated as either manufactured or natural weapons when applying spells or effects that enhance either manufactured or natural weapons. For example, either a magic weapon spell or a magic fang spell can enhance a monk's unarmed attacks.

[Arkhios]

The best place to look is the 3 "Rules of the Game" articles by Skip Williams (which I believe unlike the FAQ do count as RAW).

The full list of articles is here of which the one you want is Unarmed Attacks (Part 1) and right at the bottom of the article is the definitive statement:

And to follow up on this, in plain english the reading of the term enhancement does not exclude non-magical ways to enhance a weapon, such as feats.

[hamishspence]

It's worth noting that some things hint that the monk may not be an exception and that an unarmed strike is a natural weapon - just one that follows its own set of rules.

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicFang.htm

Magic fang gives one natural weapon of the subject a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls. The spell can affect a slam attack, fist, bite, or other natural weapon.

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicWeapon.htm

You can’t cast this spell on a natural weapon, such as an unarmed strike (instead, see magic fang).



In other words, you do not need to be a monk to use Magic Fang on your unarmed strike. You do, however, need to be a monk to use Magic Weapon on your unarmed strike.

Perhaps they are "Sorta-pseudo" natural weapons, counting as them for some things but not others.

[Zombulian]

Q 157
How do the same aura effect produced by different creatures affect enemies? Specifically, how do the overlapping Cold Auras created by conjured ice beasts work? The wording is that the damage is done as a free action on the ice beast's turn, so I'm inclined to think that 4 ice beasts with the ability would each deal the cold damage on their turn. Just wanted to make sure.

[Debatra]

A 157 You are correct.

[Elves]

Q 158

With psychic reformation or feat retraining, can a PRC fulfill its own entry requirement under CWar's PRC disqualification rule? It looks like the entry requirement only checks for itself, not for whether you have it without the benefit of the PRC.

Say a class requires 1 rank in a skill. You enter the class with 1 rank and take 1 more rank in it at that level. Then you use psychic reformation to retrain the rank in it you took previously. At no point do you cease to fulfill the requirement so you should retain the class's features.

This unambiguously works for skill ranks which are retained even under the CWar disqualification rule. But seems like it should work for other things too.

Say a PRC required 2 tactical feats to enter and granted a bonus tactical feat at 1st level. You enter the class and then use psychic reformation to alter one of the feats you entered the class with. The impulse might be to say that at this point, you no longer meet the entry requirement. But the requirement is only checking for itself, not for itself independently of anything else, and it continues to be true that you meet the requirement.

Is my logic right?

[Doctor Despair]

Q 158

With psychic reformation or feat retraining, can a PRC fulfill its own entry requirement under CWar's PRC disqualification rule? It looks like the entry requirement only checks for itself, not for whether you have it without the benefit of the PRC.

Say a class requires 1 rank in a skill. You enter the class with 1 rank and take 1 more rank in it at that level. Then you use psychic reformation to retrain the rank in it you took previously. At no point do you cease to fulfill the requirement so you should retain the class's features.

This unambiguously works for skill ranks which are retained even under the CWar disqualification rule. But seems like it should work for other things too.

Say a PRC required 2 tactical feats to enter and granted a bonus tactical feat at 1st level. You enter the class and then use psychic reformation to alter one of the feats you entered the class with. The impulse might be to say that at this point, you no longer meet the entry requirement. But the requirement is only checking for itself, not for itself independently of the class, and it continues to be true that you meet the requirement.

Is my logic right?

A158

Both CWar and CArc both specify that you lose your abilities from their prestige classes if you no longer meet their requirements. Neither specifies that you must continuously meet the requirements by the same methods. There is no mechanism from these books that would cause you to lose your class abilities in this situation.

Psychic Reformation includes no requirement that you need to maintain prerequisites at all, so it has no mechanism that would preclude you from doing this.

In short, there should be no barrier to entering a prestige class with a temporary qualification, then using the benefits of the prestige class to self-qualify.

[Elves]

Q 159
Do you have to make a thrown weapon attack for a returning weapon to return to your hand? What if you just throw it to the ground, will it still return?

[hamishspence]

A159: The Returning property does not say "made a ranged attack with it"

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItem....htm#returning

This special ability can only be placed on a weapon that can be thrown. A returning weapon flies through the air back to the creature that threw it. It returns to the thrower just before the creature’s next turn (and is therefore ready to use again in that turn).

Catching a returning weapon when it comes back is a free action. If the character can’t catch it, or if the character has moved since throwing it, the weapon drops to the ground in the square from which it was thrown.

As such, if you throw it for any reason, even if "just to discard it" without making a ranged attack, it will fly back to you, and if you refuse to catch it, drop to the ground in your square (I treat "won't catch it" as similar to "can't catch it" in this case).

If you "discard it and then move out of your original square in the same turn" it will come back to the square you threw it from, not the square you are currently in. Which means Returning weapons do not work well with Shot on the Run.

[St Fan]

Q 152 cont

Do you have a source for this?

Lucky you, I knew I've heard about it but thought it would be very hard to find, however this old thread discusses it, along with this quote from the 3.5 Main FAQ:

Q: Does the Armor Class bonus ability from the monk, swordsage, and ninja stack?

A: No, each of these abilities provides the same bonus. You are not able to benefit from multiple sources that have the same name more than once.

Fist of the Forest falls into the same category.

Now, I'm not saying the matter isn't argued over.


Q 160

The spell imbue with spell ability specifies that "Only cleric spells from the schools of abjuration, divination, and conjuration (healing) can be transferred."

Does that include Domain spells, even those that are otherwise not on the Cleric's spell list?

[Debatra]

A 160 Domains only give the cleric access to their spells. Those spells are not explicitly considered cleric spells (except for the ones that already are, independent of being domain spells).

[Elves]

Q 161

Are there any printed items equivalent to the gloves of endless javelins but for melee weapons? IE, providing infinite stream of +1 or greater melee weapons.

[hamishspence]

There's the Gauntlet of Infinite Blades in Magic Item Compendium - it's more limited though - if you want it magic, you must spend charges, and you only get 5 charges per day. They also fade away after 3 rounds. On the bright side, one charge gives you a +3 dagger, and the 3 charge and 5 charge options are better still.

[Elves]

Q 162

Is there any way to change the special material of a weapon or suit of armor after it's created that is not a magic enhancement property? What about making something masterwork after it's made?

[St Fan]

Q 162

Is there any way to change the special material of a weapon or suit of armor after it's created that is not a magic enhancement property? What about making something masterwork after it's made?

A 162
I seriously doubt there is any way beyond at least a wish or miracle, and trying to convince the DM it can work.

Even a powerful spell that would potentially do it, polymorph any object, is specifically barred from creating "material of great intrinsic value, such as copper, silver, gems, silk, gold, platinum, mithral, or adamantine." Also, it cannot affect already magic items.

Generally, transmutation of matter, especially to more expensive material, is one thing strictly regimented by the rules.

[Troacctid]

Q 162

Is there any way to change the special material of a weapon or suit of armor after it's created that is not a magic enhancement property? What about making something masterwork after it's made?

Ironwood or transmute metal to wood will do it.

[St Fan]

Q 163

Does the Luminous Sigils, Power Sigils and Illumian Words powers of an Illumian count as one supernatural ability or several?

Meaning, if a Illumian is targeted by the Steal Supernatural Ability power of a Hellbreaker or spells such as spurn the supernatural / expunge the supernatural, does she lose only one of them, or all the abilities linked to the sigils?

[Kaleph]

Q 164

Does the spell Celestial brilliance trigger the Daylight Powerlessness of creatures like the wraiths?

[Elves]

A 163

Power Sigils (plural) and Luminous Sigils are separate su abilities and must be Xed out separately, but illumian words are formatted as a subset of power sigils not a separate ability.

A 164

No, it's magical rather than natural light.

[Nezkrul]

Q 165

If I apply the Twin Spell metamagic feat to the spell Snake's Swiftness, does it get around the limitation built into the spell, for the target (IE the target can make two attacks instead of just one normally)?

[Elves]

A 165

No. That the two effects happen simultaneously doesn't bear on the spell's absolute limit of once per round. You aren't supposed to link those sites here btw.

[Zerryzerry]

Q 166

About DR: I understand how it works, it's a flat numerical value which decreases damage taken by X if an Y condition is not met, as in the formula DR X/Y

The questions are:
A) Does DR reduce damage even from other physical forms of damage other then attacks, like falling or crushing damage? And in this case, if it is a DR X/Bludgeoning, is it negated?

B)Does DR X/Slashing (or any form of dmg, or a material like Adamantine) negate damage from magic spells? Are spells treated differently if they are energy, no-roll damaging spells like Fireball, or rays/similar spells like Scorching Ray, Disintegrate, or an Orb which have an attack roll and are treated like attacks? (I think energy damage is never negated by DR, but I'm asking anyway)

C)What if a spell does physical damage like Ice Storm (which does bludgeoning damage)? Or a physical consequence like being thrown into a wall by Gust of Wind? Or untyped damage like Disintegrate?

D)What means RD X/Magic? Is negated by magic weapons (making it the worse type in my opinon), or is negated by spells, perhaps the ones falling in the categories of the previous question (making it one of the best ones)?

E)Does RD X/- like the barbarian RD, negate everything even from spells and energy damage?

F)A successful poisoned attack (like a spider's bite) which damage if fully negated by DR, still forces a Fortitude save vs poison, or is it negated?

G)Multiple sources of DR stack? Or as i think only the highest not negated one is applied?

[Khedrac]

A 166 A) Does DR reduce damage even from other physical forms of damage other then attacks, like falling or crushing damage? And in this case, if it is a DR X/Bludgeoning, is it negated?
Not certain on this one, I think the answer is "no".

B)Does DR X/Slashing (or any form of dmg, or a material like Adamantine) negate damage from magic spells? Are spells treated differently if they are energy, no-roll damaging spells like Fireball, or rays/similar spells like Scorching Ray, Disintegrate, or an Orb which have an attack roll and are treated like attacks? (I think energy damage is never negated by DR, but I'm asking anyway)

By RAW Spells are completely unaffected by DR (even the ones that state that they count as "X" for the purposes of DR)

C)What if a spell does physical damage like Ice Storm (which does bludgeoning damage)? Or a physical consequence like being thrown into a wall by Gust of Wind? Or untyped damage like Disintegrate?

See B, by RAW the spell is unaffected, RAI is obviously different but RAW is clear.

D)What means RD X/Magic? Is negated by magic weapons (making it the worse type in my opinon), or is negated by spells, perhaps the ones falling in the categories of the previous question (making it one of the best ones)?

Weapons with at least a +1 enhancement bonus through magic (so non-magic enhancement bonuses don't count). Spells other than magic weapon and magic fang are not relevant to this.

E)Does RD X/- like the barbarian RD, negate everything even from spells and energy damage?

Again no, only weapon attacks.,

F)A successful poisoned attack (like a spider's bite) which damage if fully negated by DR, still forces a Fortitude save vs poison, or is it negated?

Unless specified otherwise rider effects are ignored if DR is not penetrated. So poison can be ignored unless specifically a contact poison, but a weapon that does extra energy damage has the energy damage bypass the DR and apply normally.

G)Multiple sources of DR stack? Or as i think only the highest not negated one is applied?

This one is complex, they apply in parallel.
Some examples:
i) DR5/silver and DR10/magic hit for 15 damage by a non-magic cold iron weapon - 5 gets through (the largest DR applies).
ii) DR5/silver and DR10/magic hit for 15 damage by a magic cold iron weapon - 10 gets through (only the DR silver applies).
iii) DR5/good and DR10/evil hit for 15 damage by an evil weapon - 10 gets through
iv) DR10/magic and silver hit for 15 damage by a magic cold iron weapon - 5 gets through - it's one DR that requires multiple types to overcome.

[St Fan]

Q 166

The questions are:
A) Does DR reduce damage even from other physical forms of damage other then attacks, like falling or crushing damage? And in this case, if it is a DR X/Bludgeoning, is it negated?

A 166 complement

The rules aren't very consistent about this, but falling or crushing damage isn't quite considered bludgeoning damage, but a category of its own, sometimes called "impact" damage, for example in this armor property.

And no, damage resistance usually doesn't reduce it.

[Zaq]

Q 167
Are there any magic items that grant additional daily uses of bardic music to a character who already has bardic music? If so, what are they?